Pai

Spent the past 3 days in the little northern town of Pai (pronounced "bye"). Getting there was half the adventure. We had heard from a fellow traveler that taking the local bus up there was not the way to go - it's a windy 3 to 4 hour drive, and the local bus she was on was full of people puking. Does not sound like my idea of a fun ride, so took a bonine and opted to use the hourly minivan service. Windy is putting it mildly, and the way these guys drive is enough to raise your blood pressure. And of course there are no seat belts and no guard rails to keep you from plunging down into the ravines if an accident does occur. Yikes. And we had to do this twice - flying those scary little puddle jumpers suddenly looked quite attractive.

The town itself is small and walkable and surrounded by green mountains. Stayed in a great place a little outside the town center (Pai Chan) - lovely bungalows with rice fields outside the windows. The only downer is that it is still burning season up north, so the air is smoky. At one point there were actually flakes falling from the sky - looked like a volcano has erupted nearby! The owners told us that 2 weeks ago they could not even see the mountains nearby. Would be great to go back during the cool, non-burning season. Fantastic place for a little R&R.

One of the activities is hiking to hill tribe villages. After much discussion, we opted not to do this - seemed a little strange to go look at people. Maybe will do it next time with some activity in the villages, so the entire thing does not seem so voyeuristic.

Oh, and I had the best massage of my life at the Pai Massage Center. Still glowing.