Pai and the Art of Motorbike Maintenance

In northern Thailand a small paved road winds 140 kilometers from Chaing Mai to the beautiful city of Pai. Rather than subjecting myself to three hours of motion-sickness torture in the a public bus, Philip and I decided to rent a motorbike instead and make the journey at our own pace.

Those of you from Brandon may remember my early driving record and cringe at the thought of me weaving along the side of a mountain on a motorbike. I too had this fear and almost abandoned the idea after we had an accident (not a crash, just a small encounter with the pavement) after driving off about 10 meters from the bike shop. (Oh, and for the record, I wasn't driving). We took this as a minor bump in the road and had a few more practice rides before heading out on our big adventure.

The road to Pai brought us over a high mountain pass along a winding road that has numerous side trail options to visit waterfalls, hot springs, and beautiful overlooks. We savored our time on the road and descended into a gorgeous green valley that cradles the city of Pai. Unlike many of the tourist towns of Thailand Pai has managed to create enough infrastructure to make backpacking possible while still preserving the traditional farming lifestyles of its surrounding villages. Rice paddies sprawl out from the river and small bungalows dot the countryside; waterfalls lie within several kms and a relaxed attitude permeates the town - perfect.

Aside from relaxation our main event was elephant riding/bathing in the river. At the elephant camp we hoisted ourselves onto Ham Noi, a ten foot tall beauty and set out for our trek. Spiny - that's the word I would use to describe what it feels like to ride an elephant. Ham Noi's thick, tough, reptile-like skin was covered in one to three inch hairs that were so sharp Philip tried to hold up his legs while riding (a bad idea considering the length of the fall to the ground). Nevertheless we loved our ride and bath - we actually ended up bathing more than the elephant...our guide's favorite game to play in the river was "climb on, climb on, higher! onto the neck" and quickly thereafter command the elephant to thrash its head violently and toss us eight feet into the shallow river below. It was really really fun, until Philip scratched his chest on the river's rock bottom. Apart from small battle wounds we loved our adventure and highly recommend it.

The rest of our time in Pai included relaxation and a proper american hamburger in celebration of the fourth of july (cooked by a real american vet living in pai). After a few days, we made our way back to Chaing Mai along the same route. Our trip home needs less commentary - simply five hours of pelting rain with Philip and I wearing bright orange ponchos to make ourselves more visible on the road. It wasn't the most pleasant, but we made it and lived to tell the tale.