Day 6: Thailand trip (13-24 Dec 2014)

view from the train on the way to Chiangmai

Day 6: 

Wanted to catch the sunrise but woke up a bit too early for it, because I haven't really been sleeping well too, waking up from time to time because of the uncomfortable stomach. Poor E had to wake up everytime I felt uncomfortable to soothe me and make me feel better. So thankful for him, tiding me through that horrible night. And since we woke up too early, and everyone is still asleep, so time for pictures!

We reached Chiangmai about 930am, managing to catch the mini van to Pai. The ride to Pai from Chiangmai is about 4 hours, and there were only about 6 of us in the mini van, not including the driver. E and I fell asleep on the way, with my tummy still feeling unwell. After about 2 hours, the van made a pitstop at this cafeteria along the road. It was rather chilly, and we got some hot kway teow soup to warm my tummy and a kha prow moo. Geh kiang I went to order a passionfruit juice as well because Emily said it was very nice, but it came ice blended lol GG. The way up to Pai from there onwards have like 762 turns, and the driver came to give us a "warning" to tell us that the road will be bumpy and gave us all a plastic bag lol. I tried counting the turns though, but I lost count and ended up falling asleep. Pai is a super nice town, small but quaint. There were many foreigners when we reached, and the locals could speak mandarin.. totally didn't feel like Thailand at all. Checked in at our villa and it was nice and comfy, with aircon, fan and a shower with heater etc. But it gets super cold at night so we didn't even on the fan.

E and I has been very excited about being able to ride a bike here because Emily told me that you can ride as long as the person thinks you can pass. So we tried asking at the different rentals but all were afraid to let us ride because we had no experience. But the last one and the biggest one we went to, Aya Services, which was also the one we took the bus up to Pai from, allowed us to try out at this barren ground at the back of some villa, first teaching E on how to operate the machinery, then letting him do a pre-run himself, before trying with me as a pillion. And we passed! So hi to our ride for the next few days in Pai!

First stop after getting our bike was to go pump some oil, and then we just aimlessly rode down the roads, pitstopping at pretty things we see. First stop was a place with colourful houses, windmills and swings. Next up was Coffee In Love, a place with a small cafeteria on the right and a colourful house on the left. Behind them is a sight of mountains and greenery, absolutely stunning. When we arrived there were quite bait of people so we just quickly took some photos and continue driving down the road. Wanted to look for Pai Canyon, but it was a bit too early because many people said its nice to catch sunset there, so we decided to head to Pam Bok waterfall instead, since we found the signboard. But while riding in we can't find our way so decided to make a uturn. It was getting dark, and toooo chilly and we were both in our shorts so riding against the wind was quite a task, especially when E's hands are getting so cold its hard to ride. 

Headed back to the main Walking Street which is where the night market is. There are some further downtown, but they are more like singular stalls set up along the roadside. The Walking street is made up of about 3 connected streets, with many hawker pushcarts, caricature, souvenirs and even postcard stations where you can purchase a postcard and stamp set, write it on the spot and mail it out at their in-store postbox. E and I of course got damn excited at looking at all the different food variety. 

They have many different and interesting food items like fried sandwiches with different fillings, crispy black glutinous rice, gyoza, pancake wrapped sausage, sour and spicy cold noodles. One of the more interesting one was drinking from a bamboo cup. You get to choose what you want to drink, and you can request to have it in the bamboo cup or a normal plastic one. 30 baht for the drinks with the bamboo cup, and 10 baht for a refill. The lemon black tea was so good we go back for it every night at least once.