The following was written 7-10, waiting for my 11PM bus in Pai.

6:26PM The bakery stand reappeared a bit ago, providing me with one donut coated with sugar, and another glazed with chocolate.

It started pouring again after I bought the donuts, but I’ve taken cover in front of a general store – there’s tables and a slightly-leaky awning.

I’ve only 30 pages remaining in my book, which I’m trying to save for later. 4 hours left. There’s a stand across the street selling BBQ Pork. I’ve been contemplating crossing the street for a couple of pieces the last 20 minutes or so. Keep hoping the rain will let up. If I do get soaked, I won’t have any guaranteed place to dry off in.

A dry restaurant is a tempting place to kill a little time, but I’m not hungry enough for a full meal.

It’s funny to see Muslim women decked out in their black robes and headdresses cruising down the street on their motorcycles.

I respect them for being able to wear all that in the heat.

There is a poncho in my daypack…

I’ve seen a couple minivans with “Aya Services” plastered on the side. That’s probably my ride for tonight.

Is taking off in the dark of night, on the windy, steep roads that are surely by now wet and muddy, the greatest idea?

A guy just got on his motorcycle dressed in a shiny silver rain suit – coat and pants. He looks like a space man.

An angry mother screeched her SUV to a halt and yelled at two kids across the street at the noodle stand.

I’m not having much luck waiting the rain out.

Waiting for the words to come. Writing passes the time.

Two Aussies sit down beside me. Beer and smokes.

They ask if I’ve seen Loose Change. And if people believe it in the States.

Poncho out of the daypack. That’s a start to moving, I suppose.

8:03PM I picked up a couple sticks of pork (they’re skewered) and ventured back to the guest house seating area.

In only a few minutes I finished reading Off the Map. It’s been, I think, 3 years since I first read it. Maybe 2. I don’t know. Anyway, it deserved a re-read. Especially while on the road.

They’ve some bad 70’s disco playing here. And a TV with a dubbed American-looking movie.

And so what to do? Still 3 hours to go till the bus leaves.

Just remembered to take a Malarone.

This movie looks really bad. They’ve been desperately leading up to a sex scene with a blond bimbo for the past 10 minutes.

Oh, and the music has now changed to elevator piano-jazz.

There’s not much to do in Pai at night, but drink.

And speaking of drinking, I need to pee before getting on the bus.

I’m tired, for it being only 8PM.

The mosquitoes are chewing me up. I’m tempted to grab my pack and find somewhere else to sit.

I wonder why they chose to have an 11PM bus? Why not push it back till tomorrow? Does the van not get here till 11PM? Who knows.

They just popped a DVD into the TV. It’s got a trailer for some action flick that looks pretty intense (“The Duelist”). All I can tell is that it comes out, or comes to DVD, December 2005. But I digress. At this rate I’ll be out of paper by Tha Ton.

The following was written 7-10, in the reception area at the guest house in Pai

12:10PM Whatever knocked out the power last night must have snapped a few other wires, too.

I checked out of the guest house this morning at 11:30AM, leaving my pack in the back room. The first internet cafe I stopped at said the connection was down. So I took the long way around town and had my usual lunch at the burger joint. Alaska’s cell phone wasn’t working – “no network,” it said. Across the street at the used bookstore, I browsed every English title they had. Nothing jumped out at me for a purchase, so I was gone in about 30 minutes.

Then it was back out into the heat, walking back down the street to the internet cafe I stopped at yesterday. (Or was it the day before? Yesterday, I think.) The high speed connection there was out, but they still had working, if slow, dial-up. A few minutes of that – before I had a chance to save any of the posts I was typing – the dial-up went down.

For the past hour or so I’ve been sitting here in the open but shaded reception area at the guest house, reading and sucking on pineapple juice. It catches a nice breeze.

I keep forgetting to buy more pens. Running low on paper, too. I saw a nice hand-made journal at a gift shop across from the coffee place earlier. Perhaps I’ll wander down there and buy it.

It’s still too hot to attempt a walk to the Wat outside of town – or anywhere not within a few blocks of here, without a destination promising air-con or a fan.

Think I’ll go back to reading now. Maybe the internet will be back in another hour, maybe not.

Obviously the internet is back up. I’m at an internet cafe/bar, sitting at an eMac. The keyboard is a bit stiff, making my typing funky, but at least it works. Speakeasy says 203k down and 187k up.

I walked back down to where the gift shop with the journal was, but it seemed to have vanished. I can’t find it anywhere. Was I dreaming this morning? I can still remember the feel of the paper on my fingers – it must have been real. I must make another attempt later.

I did finally go to 7-11 and buy more pens. I found some soap with Tea Tree Oil, too.

You know what else vanished? The Muslim bakery with the donuts. I wanted another donut, but no…

The clouds and the mist have crawled back over the hills, cooling down the valley. A strong wind was blowing earlier as I walked around. Could rain, but I hope not. I don’t want my already questionable bus ride to become more questionable.

Speaking of which, I wonder when we’ll arrive? I don’t think Tha Ton is more than 3 or 4 hours away. Arriving at 3AM in Bangkok is one thing, but a small town in the middle of nowhere – getting into a guest house could be a trick.

The following was written 7-9, hiding from the rain in Pai

5:48PM It’s amazing. The roof really isn’t anymore than dried leaves and it’s pouring outside, yet I’m dry in here. Or, rather, I would be dry had I not been on the other side of town when it started. Point of the matter is that those leaves really work.

On the way back across town, I stopped and bought some pineapple and, across the street, a decent donut at a Muslim bakery. I’m enjoying those now, with a Malarone. I think I’ll call this dinner – I’m not very hungry, anyway.

The following was written 7-9 in Pai, by a glowing green light

9:00PM Power out. One more reason to never be without a flashlight, kids.

Power on.

The following was written 7-9 in Pai

6:55PM Pai is a lot harder place to get out of than it is to get into. The main buses only go to Mae Hong Son and back to Chiang Mai – effectively making a loop around Doi Inthanon National Park. Trouble is, I don’t want to go to either of those places. I want to head N.E. to Tha Ton.

It’s possible to hop on a Chiang Mai bound bus, get off at the juncture of highway 107, and hope for a north bound bus to come by and pick you up, but I’d rather not risk that.

It’s also possible to rent a motorbike and drive yourself to Tha Ton, but knowing the steep, windy roads around here and the way most Thais drive, I’d rather not risk that, either.

So I’ve had to resort to the bottom of the barrel, the scammiest of the scammers: a private travel company. I’ve bought a 400 Baht ticket (it would be cheaper to get a bus to Chiang Mai, and another from there all the way up to Tha Ton) on what I’m told is an air-con minibus direct to Tha Ton. When the lady was filling out the paperwork for my ticket, it looked like I was the 15th to book.

The worse part of the whole thing, though, is that the bus doesn’t leave till 11PM. Well, I’m supposed to be there 30 minutes early, so 10:30PM, but what am I to do the entire day? I checked with the front desk here at the guest house, and it’s fine if I leave my backpack here all day, but still. There’s really not much to do in Pai but lounge around the cool, covered, bungalow. I’ve been to all the shops around town, have been being satisfied with only one or two meals a day. We shall see.

I’ll save an air-con internet cafe for the heat of the day – I can kill a couple hours there. Perhaps pay a visit to the bookshop across the street from the burger place – It’ll take me a little to browse all the titles there. Perhaps in the evening I’ll try walking to the Wat outside of town.

Let’s hope I don’t have any trouble or regrets from the “bus” ride. It’ll be an experience, anyway.

I had lunch again today at the burger place. There was only one other customer in the place, an old ex-pat from San Francisco, in purple tank-top, who hadn’t been in a while, but remembered Seattle as “far out”. He spent the majority of his meal attempting to explain the concept of smoked salmon to his Thai wife.

Told me to give Pike Place his regards when I get back, “dude”.

Usually when exchanging money, I slip my bills under the window and get back a fat stack of Baht. Today, after lunch, I went to trade $100 and the guy wanted to know my name, where I was staying, who I was traveling with. He also checked each twenty to make sure it wasn’t fake. The little name tag he was wearing said “trainee”, perhaps that explains it.

By the way, fifties and hundreds get slightly better exchange rates than twenties. I’ll have to remember that.

Speakeasy tells me I’m getting 360k down and 168k up.

I thought it would be a good idea to google the side effects of Malarone, but, as usual, they seem to be every disorder under the sun. The diarrhea medicine I took before I left had a listed side effect of diarrhea. I think someone needs to go back to the drawing board for that one.