Last days in Pai

Back in Chiang Mai. Ursula and Lotte just left to go to Koh Chang. We luckily found a nice hotel/guesthouse to stay in that I will continue to stay in for the next 4 nights until I go Koh Lanta.

Its really humid here. I opted for the cheaper room, so I only have a fan, but there is a pool if I need a quick dip. Last night the girls and I ate Mexican food. Recommended by a guy on our bus ride back from Pai. He was from Santa Cruz, and Mexican himself, so I trusted him. I don't think I would ever go eat Mexican food in Thailand if I was by myself, but Lotte had never had nachos before, so we went for it. And treated ourselves to a couple of pitchers of fruity margaritas.

Sometimes I feel bad about not eating Thai food all of the time, but it really gets tiresome after a few weeks. I do want to take a Thai cooking class in the next couple of days, however, so that will most definitely be a lot of Thai food. I might try to go see Doi Suthep today. We'll see. I think the dairy farm thing is not going to end up happening. Craig kept trying to get ahold of Korn while we were all in Pai, but he couldn't. That wouldn't be until the 19th though I think.

The heat is making me forget everything. I have had so many awesome, funny experiences that could make great stories for this post, but my brain is in a fog.

Lets see... In Pai, we made friends with a Thai guy who had a fruit shake stand during the day and then played music at a local bar at night. He was really nice and a true Thai hippie. Long hair, mustache, bandana, big 60's looking sunglasses. Loved to chat about concerts while we sipped our shakes.
On our second to last day in Pai, we had a big morning of eating a delicious breakfast at a small cafe called the "Witching Well" that was definitely something straight out of West County. It had an actual well in the middle of it with a fountain of water for effect, and a bookshelf with books about Wicca. One was even called Gay Wicca. The food was so good we wanted to come back for dinner that night and then breakfast again the next day before heading back to Chiang Mai, but unfortunately we were sorely disappointed that evening when we discovered it was closed. After breakfast we said goodbye to Craig who was off to Mae Hongson (I think?), and then we browsed the English books at the little used bookstore down the street. I bought a couple that I'm excited to start reading. Afterwards, we hopped on our scooters for a drive down the highway and over to a beautiful waterfall. It was tucked away, so you had to walk along this little dirt path and then over a (scary) wooden bridge and then wade up the river through the rocks before you got it. But it was gorgeous.
The heat was stifling so we headed back to town to treat ourselves to a spa. 3 and half hours of spa-ing actually. Most was actually pretty painful. Like the full body scrub, I thought my skin was going to rubbed off! Lotte and I were laughing out of shear pain at how ridiculous the situation was. Luckily it ended on a good note with an oil massage. Except for my ticklishness, it was pretty relaxing. From there, we picked up our clean laundry that we had washed after the day before's activities of swimming with the elephants in the river, and said goodbye to our scooters. You know, I kind of liked riding around on that little scooter. Maybe I'll look into getting one when I get back home.
We took photos of the nearby Wat all lit up at night, and then wandered the street food vendors tasting little things here and there. I tried this yummy snack that was like a gooey red bean paste that was flattened like a pancake and then placed on a grill till it puffed up and was hot, then they put nuts and sweetened condensed milk on top and cut it into little pieces to eat with a toothpick. After dinner we ate ice cream (of course, like every day), and then sat at a little "white people" bar (thats what I called it) and ordered a couple of buckets of mojitos to share. It was truly a lovely evening.