4000 Islands to Pai

Hello again. Since the last post I have travelled from Si Pon Don in the far south of Laos, through the North East part of Thailand (Isaan) and then up north to Chiang Mai via Bangkok on two overnight sleeper trains. The last journey I took was a bus from Chiang Mai to the small town of Pai, up in the hills in the north-west.

From Si Pon Don in Laos I took a bus to Pakse and then over the border to Ubon Ratchatani. The journey took 6 hours but the bus was quite nice, it flew by really. It was a bit of a culture shock going into Thailand, with their fancy paved roads with white lines painted on, glossy magazines and bloody cars. I was interested in visiting Isaan as it is meant to be the least touristy part of Thailand, and I wasn't disappointed on that front. Ubon city is quite big, and strangely the airport is closer to the town centre than the bus or train stations are. There are a hell of a lot of temples, a fairly interesting museum focusing on the North East part of Thailand (Isaan), hardly any whities and hardly any places to eat. I went to the Indochine Restaurant, which was recommended on some of the travel sites, but it wasn't that great. I only found out after I had left that there is a vegetarian restaurant. There is a nice little cafe by the park (the park in Ubon is cool by the way), run by two old ladies who have been there since the sixites, I can't remember the name of the cafe though. I had just started speaking Thai, and asked at the English-Thai school on Ratchabut street for some useful words. I came away with the word for vegetable (pak), rice (khao), and vegetarian (gin jee), also with a nice pink book, "Thai for lovers", which not only has the Thai for things like "Touch me there" and "I never want to see you again", but basic words and some food words. It will be a good souvenir! There are a lot of Angkor-style temples in the area surrounding Ubon, but it seemed like a hassle to see them so I went to the station and booked a train to Bangkok. While waiting for the train I managed to get egg fried rice and a beer from a little restaurant stall. The old guy who owned it didn't speak much English but seemed impressed with my Thai for lovers book.

Huge golden statue of Garuda in Ubon park

The overnight train was cool, I actually got a good sleep. I decided to book a train to Chiang Mai that same day, so I had a day to wander around Bangkok while I waited for the next overnight trip. I wandered through the China town, but there wasn't much to see during the day. I took a boat trip thought the canals of Old Bangkok (on the other side of the river to the new city), which was great. I had no idea Bangkok had such an area, with little wooden houses on the side of the canal. I saw a couple of monitor lizards at the side of the canal which also rocked. Canal in Old Bangkok

After another overnight train journey I arrived in Chiang Mai and took a tuk-tuk to the SpicyThai backpackers, which I had booked a dorm bed in the day before (I stayted with SpicyLaos in Luang Prabang and made a few friends there). The hostel was great, one of the few places I've been to that made me actually want to hang out there. They have a DVD player, a guitar, free internet, free breakfast, I had a space to do yoga outside, sweet. The food in Chiang Mai was very good, lots of vegetarian food, and lots of cheap eating options. There is an organic cafe off Nimmahaemaen road which did me rice, tofu cashew nut and vegetables and a fat ommelette for 35 Baht (70p). While I was sitting outside a cafe I randomly met someone I'd befriended in Cambodia (two months ago now!), she was staying at a friends place and I got invited to visit. For the equivalent of 300 pound a month they had a two-storey house, with free electricity. The house was made of wood and bamboo, and the cooking area was in the back yard. No TV, but they had internet and an ipod for tunes. The main downstairs room had a large floor space, which would be great for yoga. They had this weird contraption set against one wall, where you could hang off straps and do yoga moves in the air. It would be amazing to live in a place like that in the UK, maybe not made of bamboo though, might be a bit chilly in the winter. Reclining Buddha in a Chiang Mai Wat

A lot of people do treks out of Chiang Mai, they all seemed to involve a stint in a jungle, an elephant ride, a bit of rafting and a visit to one of the fabled hill-tribe villages. I'm a bit cynical to be honest, maybe the elephants would prefer not to be rode on, and aren't the villages now just like zoos? I did my own trek, 3 hours up a big hill (at the side of a road unfortunately) to Wat Suphet. The temple was very nice, if over-run with tourists (I did arrive at lunchtime though). There are lots of bells to ring, each one producing a different tone. After three days in Chiang Mai I was ready to move on north.Steps guarded by the Naga leading up to Wat Prathat
Wat Prathat, Doi Suthep national park

A couple of people had said to me that Pai (north-west of Chiang Mai) was a cool place, so I got a bus there. Some prices - Songthaew (red wagon thingie) from my hostel to the out-of-town Arcade bus station cost 40 Baht (80p), the bus cost 72 Baht (1 pound 40 ish). Bargain-tastic. The public buses are a lot slower than the more expensive minivans, but in this case thats an advantage as there was a lot of winding mountain roads on the way (I didn't want to have the Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng experience again).

Pai is a small town, with lots of restaurants, a river and loads of places to stay. The main street which runs past the bus station becomes pedestrianised at night, and becomes a night market (mostly tat, tonnes of I love Pai t-shirts and funny hats). I'm staying at Charlies, which is basic but only 3 pound a night. That price also includes watching two cats humping, as I did last night. I chose that after wandering around the town for about an hour with my backpack on, trying to find a plce that sounded good in my Rough Guide and failing miserably. I went in the opposite direction to the river and the main bridge, where there are loads of places with bamboo huts, I'd recommend anyone arriving here without a booking to go that way.

A main attraction for me to come to Pai was the walking options accessible from the town. Today I went to another temple on a hill, and then walked to the Mae Yen waterfall (was supposed to be 7km but took nearly 6 hours for the round trip, a nice river walk though). I didn't see much wildlife except for birds and a small black and white striped lizard, which I think is called a Skink (or a Newcastle fan maybe). Tomorrow I'm going to look into trekking options, which are allegedly more interesting than the ones you get from Chiang Mai.

Okay then, goodbye kids!