Keeping up with the writing for this Blog has been happening less and less as of late. I suppose that this may be attributed to there just not being as many adventures, new occurrences, and the fact that my days are occupied with so many other things that I enjoy doing. Going to the language school, studying for the language school, golf, reading, painting, writing and guitar are taking up pretty much all of my days and hours. Then again, I am easily entertained and carry few expectations in this little mind of mine. Who knew that doing a bunch of nick knack things could take up an entire day. Focusing on just the things that I want to do, sure is a damn fine feeling and I will miss it when I have to go back to work in the monetary paradigm. The paradigm of the egalitarian nomadic societies from back before the imposed agricultural revolution, sounds more like the archetype that I would prefer to lend my labor to, but hell, the grass is always greener on the other side I suppose. Besides, I do love my flat screen and pseudo cheese block melted with cans of processed chilies and tomatoes from time to time. Now there are still a few adventures left out there and I do take random little step abouts from time to time I guess that is why I have a reason to punch the keys tonight.
Eliminating expectations and retaining a flexible schedule has allowed me to experience a good deal of serendipity in this modest life of mine; the trip to Pai is a good example of this serendipity. Before I go into the story of Pai, I feel the need to say that I may have to curtail a few things stated in this Blog as well as alter a few identities of those mentioned there within this bit of writing. Now that I am meeting new people here and there. I am finding that these new people may be interested in reading these little annotations of mine and may not appreciate their names being mentioned; also, they may not like the things that I have written about our shared experiences. My sense of humor is unique - so I am told - and there are those that may take offense to a few statements of mine. So in the interest of keeping friends and keeping friends out of trouble, I will do my best to save face for all listed parties, myself not included, I’m not too concerned with losing face. Now on to the story of Pai. Sorry, I have just one other preface prior to moving onto the trip to this little hippie town in Thailand. Chris is the person that invited me to go to Pai and who was kind enough to drive myself and seven others to Pai with him. He is someone that I met randomly at the Hong Thong bar that I mentioned in an earlier post. And on a side note, he owns an Eco-lodge in the mountains of Chiang Mai. The lodge sounds and looks amazing, this according to a few Kiwis that I met as well as the pics I have seen of his place on Facebook and his website. If you want to check out the place, it is called limeleaf eco lodge, www.limeleaf-thailand.com . So, Chris calls me up, I hadn’t spoken to him in several weeks and just thought that he might have a lot going on. During the phone conversation he let me know that he and a few friends would be heading up to Pai and asked if I wanted to go. Now I knew nothing about Pai or where Pai was, but shit it was Friday and I had no job and nothing to do, so why not go to Pai. One other thing about Chris, the guy has a pretty nice set up when it comes to the work side of things. He is a chef for those that need to have tasty morsels of nourishment on their large world traveling yachts. Six months out of the year is he required to be out on the seas or based in Spain, Greece or some other romantic port of call. Then he lives in Thailand for the other six months working on the Eco-lodge and enjoying his time off. There will be more to tell about the lodge once I go for a visit. 
On Saturday afternoon, I took a little thirty minute stroll on over to Chris’s place to meet up with him and the others that were headed out to Pai. After introductions, we all packed into Chris’s truck. Introductions included the following, in no particular order of worth, value, or importance; actually, listing will begin with those names that I am able to remember, Thai names are tough for me to remember. There was Kay, sounds like Ki, who is a German that made it here to Thailand by way of New Zealand. Kai calls New Zealand home now after traveling the world for 9 years of his life. He made his way here with his lady friend Louise. Louise is from New Zealand as well and has done a fair amount of traveling herself. Traveling is how she met Chris; she met him in Antigua while working on a yacht – I may have to check out a job in this yacht industry. Louise does landscaping and Kay is a stone mason. Their professions are only mentioned here because they put their skills to use on the set of the movie “The Hobbit”, which they have been working on for the last year and half and I really was dieing to mention that they were working on the set of this 600 million dollar movie. Then there is this little Thai guy, who’s name is Wainai – I am about hundred percent sure that I have misspelled this name. The fellow is a little over five feet tall and looked like a Thai Mr. Miyagi. He may be a little tougher than the wax on wax off guy though. His body is tatted from neck to toe with several Buddhist images and prayers, many of these he received during his time living in Buddhist temples; Mr. Miyagi is also a guide at the Eco-lodge. He is able to survive in the woods with nothing more than a knife, and I tell ya, if there is some sort of cataclysmic event this time next year - as the Mayans have foretold - then I want to look this fellow up. When I go to the lodge, he plans on taking me out to find a tasty blue tarantula to bite into. Can’t say I’ve ever tasted tarantula but I sure bet that the blue variety are tender once cooked up and served over rice. The others joining us were Mr. Miyagi’s lady friend, young fellow, the young fellow’s young lady friend, and a guy in his late 20’s. 
The drive to Pai was a little under three hours and was through and over the mountains on some very winding roads. I guess I should say something about Pai so that you know why people go to the place. Of course there is plenty of info on the net about the place but I will do my best to give a little run down. Initially the place was filled with a bunch of dread head hippies wearing drawstring hemp pants. There are hot springs that are set up in a way to allow a person to lay back in a natural spring of warm water, rather than in a hot tub of thermally heated water – I hate those damn hot tub hot springs. Due to the elevation of the town the temps in Pai are much cooler than those here in Chiang Mai, which makes for a perfect location in which to enjoy thermal waters running across and wrinkling the skin. But, like many cheap places where hippies and artist inhabit, the masses wondered what the hippies enjoyed about this place in the middle of nowhere and so decided to go and take a look. More and more tourist began making Pai a weekend spot in which to take a little holiday. Then the death nail - as far as the hippies were concerned - to weekends of tranquility was pounded in once a Thai movie - some sort of love story - was shot in Pai. Now, from what I hear, the place is always booked up on the weekends, the hot springs are now closed at six pm – no more candle lit evenings laying back in the trickling tranquil warm waters, damn - and the price has doubled everywhere. Our trip to Pai was a last minute affair, so we had no reservations. Which was fine by me, I figured, if need be, I would just bundle up in a heavy cotton hoodie and lay my head upon my rucksack under the undisturbed blanket of a star laden evening. We did attempt to find lodging once we arrived and stoped at several bungalows and inns, all were booked and all those we spoke with, when asked if they knew of another place, said that every place was booked and was always booked on the weekend. Also, it didn’t help that there was a festival going on this weekend, the Rice Harvest Festival. There were several tents set up around town and many of these tents turned out to be for rent. So we ended up paying a chunk of change, by Thai standards, to stay in tents on a person’s front yard; a front yard that was at the corner of an ever moving vein of traffic that connected with an equally busy concrete thruway. And next to what was to be our resting place for the evening was the town’s busiest bar, which didn’t usually shut down till around three or four AM. After shelling out my three hundred baht, ten American dollars, for the tent, we all headed into town in order to get the evening on track.
Louise mentioned that a lunar eclipse would be occurring that night and that she wanted to find a nice vantage point in which to get a good view. Chris mentioned a Reggae bar that would be a good place to view it from, now we had a destination to make our way to once we finished walking through the crowd that filled the streets. We all just grabbed a bite to eat from one of the street vendors, and then sat for a bit to grab some cold beverages. Sitting in this little side street bar that had some white hipster serving drinks along with a little hipster Thai girl, I was thinking to myself, that this place would be a better venue to visit during the week. All of the streets were just too full of people. Let me say this though, there sure was a fair amount of eye candy that my gaze took much benefit from. I do enjoy those pale hippie girls with their loose-fitting attire and their nonchalance. Still, I was more in the mood to simply kick back and enjoy some relaxation, so it was nice when we headed off to the viewing area to watch the eclipse. We ended up at the Reggae bar on another side street which was a little less crowded than where we had been. The bar was like many of the bars in the town, in that it had an open patio that led into a deeper recessed sitting area. There was a pool table, a stage, reggae music, and some pretty laid back individuals milling about. This place was going to be perfect. It was nice to sit, have a beer, and watch the vanishing luminous orb that sat resting above us and the rest of the hemisphere. I can’t even remember the last time I watched an entire lunar eclipse. It was fortunate to be there with people that I found to be so very enjoyable. After about five hours, the moon began to peak out from the shadow of this rock we were gazing from. And the night went from darkness into a slowly illuminated evening that was just now beginning to adjust and to settle into its normal state of existence. It’s such a strange thing to watch an eclipse occur; although there are no physical changes to speak of, there seems to be a transformative development occurring. Maybe it’s the moon shedding it’s old self, relinquishing the skin of past experience and starting anew. Well, this is at least the thought that arouse as neurotransmitters were sent firing between the synaptic connections in this tangled web of mine. With this thought of transition floating about in my thoughts, we headed off towards our little camp site. Chris and I made a final stop at the bar next to the yard our tents were staked up in for just a few more beverages prior to our search for the sandman. After finishing a whiskey on the rocks I purchased a final tall bottle of Leo beer to take back to the camp site. Chris climbed into his tent and went on to sleep. Me, I stayed up a bit longer, kicked back on a portable hammock, and finished my purchase as I swayed to and fro enjoying the fresh night. 
Morning light is just as bad as the loudest waking bell or squawking feathered creature. Unfortunately for me and my pounding head, two of these three got me started for the day. First the light began to cut through the tent and then through the thin flesh veils keeping my sleep guarded; now, the light it not the best thing in the world when trying to continue in a fine state of slumber but my slumber has many tactics at its disposal in which to employ in order to continue in a place of existence for an extended amount of time. Too bad my slumber had no sort of back up for that squawking fowl creature that was only in the mood to scream in celebration of the new day. Everyone else was up as well and here it was just seven thirty in the AM. After a cup of coffee, I thought to myself that a Bloody Mary might be a better call at the moment. For those of you that drink, you know that feeling you have after a heavy night of consumption without enough sleep. For me it’s as if I just took a small break from drinking and I still had that same buzz from the night before. The impending hangover had not set in yet and I knew that within a few hours I would be in the back of a truck on a winding road that would keep going up and down as it jostled for grip from side to side. I sure wish that I would have just had a beer or something with a bit of the hair of the dog from the night before. So be it, I went with coffee, water and a fried egg sandwich; I have to take my lumps sooner or later, might as well get it over with. We didn’t make it to the hot springs, which was fine by me and my rapidly falling into a hangover self. However, we did head towards a waterfall that was on the way back to Chiang Mai. According to Chris, this was his favorite waterfall in the area. On our way to the waterfall and home I found out something that I did not know or had forgotten that I knew. I was unaware that sitting in the back of a truck for a long period of time while facing your vision towards the tailgate would create the sensation that you are continuing to move once the truck stops. This is a damn awful feeling in itself and if you tag on a full blown hangover, it’s a pretty nauseating affair. Although there were signs signifying stop offs in which a person on this twisting road could vomit, I guess car sickness is a common thing on this road, I did not get sick. Once we arrived at the waterfall my hangover was at its peak but the moist dewy air began to chip away at the symptoms a bit, this was a nice reprieve. Our little band climbed out from our cramped positions in the truck, stretched our legs and arms, and then trekked towards the roaring sounds of a mass amount of water falling into it self. A thunderous sound greeted us once we made it to the falls, and man, this thing was immense. There was a crisp wet air surrounding us and at the elevation we were at it was flat out cold but this chilly temperature was not going to prevent me from getting into the even cooler water - thank you Barton Springs and Deep Eddy for prepping me for the jump into cold depths. Boom, once I pulled my head from the refreshing cool water my hangover dissipated a great deal. Damn I do love me some water falls. There were a few other wonderful things that we were able to see as we hiked through the waterfall area, a wonderful Bamboo forest, a deep crack in the rock that served as a home for a large family of bats, and a few other things, but I’m getting tired of writing and really want to finish a documentary I started, so I am going to finish up here. 
Once we got back to Chiang Mai I had to bid my new compatriots farewell and get back home to that slumber. Maybe I could get back a little of that sleep that I missed out on earlier in the morning. On my walk home I pondered; life is so much better for me when I simply limit the expectations and plans for the day. Keeping a good deal of flexibility along with being open to the whims of the day has provided me with some great experiences. Also I thought, how nice it is to be so easily entertained and find pleasure in such modest undertakings. So if there are no crazy or hair raising adventures that find their way to me, then I am still just as content doing the little things that currently fill my life. This contentment with self and life is a wonderful coin of value that I carry with me. This currency allows me the procurement of many unforgettable and indescribable experiences; it allows me to give fully of self and to enjoy fully those that I love in my life. Thank you to all those that I give and take love from, you are appreciated.
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