Bus to Pai - Type R

So, after a few busy days in Chiang Mai, we decided to slip up to the 80's hippie refuge of Pai. I could not imagine trying to get here with a VW bus. The road from Chiang Mai is a bit of a local bragging topic, as it's only 140 km, has 762 curves, and shound take an aggressive driver about 4 hours to cover. We did it in under 3. Our driver was nodding off for the first hour (maybe the road was too straight there?) but after a short rest stop, things got interesting. Maybe the racing steering wheel modification and the Type R cell phone holder should have tipped me off from the start, but this guy was sure he was in the grand prix. Lane lines were only there to make the road prettier, and crossed simply because the asphalt 'looked smoother over there' or something. He made the tires squeal in a 10 passenger minibus! Anyways, we made it alive after Sarah convinced me to think of it as an amusent park ride. But here is our real dilemma: either we get back in the van and do it over again, or rent a scooter and brave the road on our own, and deal with the dozens of oncoming busses in our lane delivering another group of terror stricken travellers to Pai. The lesser of evils may be dealing with just one crazy driver.

In Pai we found a little riverside hostel called The Golden Hut. It's built of unfinished lumber, on a concrete pad, with mesh in the windows, but gaps in the siding I can put my hand through. Authentically Thai, and perfect. As warned in our guidebook, Pai is a but played out, but there are still some signs of the towns former glory. This is the first town we have seen any authentic craftsmanship in the sea of 'handmade' Thai souvenirs. Even if they are nestled in among the start of another bangkok style market. I'm still not sure if it's sad or amazing that's it's sometimes very hard to tell between the two.

No matter the content of the local market, there is a marked culture shift in this town. Bartering is all but absent, the pace is slow, and the local enforcement (and i dont mean Sting) is singing a Thai rendition of happy birthday in the bar across the street... In uniform. Amazing. This is the Thailand i came to see. Big smiles, great food, cheap beer and elephants...

Sander