A view of the Pai River from the nearby mountain

We’ve just uploaded photos from our last two days in Pai. Instead of joining an organized trekking tour, we decided to ride around by ourselves and explore different villages, waterfalls, wats and farmland. It was fabulous.

Check out the photos from day 3 and day 4.

We are now back in Chiang Mai packing our bags and getting ready to say goodbye to each other and to Thailand. Tomorrow morning we both fly out of Chiang Mai – I am flying back to HCMC for 1 night before flying back home (via Tokyo) and Kevin is flying to Malaysia to start his adventure!

Pam Bok Waterfall Near Pai

We’ve uploaded new photo albums from our first two days here in Pai in the North of Thailand. Check out photos of our motorbike travels:

Pai, Thailand – Day 1
Pai, Thailand – Day 2

We’ve been in Pai since Sunday afternoon when we arrived by bus from Chiang Mai. The name of the town is pronounced with a hard “B” sound, as in, “Bye Bye”, not, “American Pie”. The weather is quite different up here in the mountains of Northern Thailand and we wake up to the chilly morning air protected by a couple of blankets and a mosquito net in our cabin. The cabin is the ideal setting for a little morning stretch and exercise, complete with a straw mat and a beautiful view of the gardens.

We decided to skip the included “American Breakfast” as it’s called and cross the street for something a bit more interesting and healthy. We first dropped off our dirty laundry, also across the tiny street, where they wash your clothes for 20 Baht (50 cents) and it’s ready by 6PM the same day. The breakfast cafe was small and charming with statues, flowers and little offerings of food in dishes which the passing dogs seemed to enjoy very much. Tamar had a fruit, yogurt and muesli cup and I enjoyed a mushroom crepe and some very strong and good coffee.
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Hiking up the Mountain in Koh Chang

The only part of my body that doesn’t actually ache at the moment is my fingers which is why I am able to type this post. This morning Kevin and I got picked up at our resort and drove to the northern tip of the island for a full day of trekking in the jungle. We sat in a back of a pickup truck while the driver took us through steep mountain roads. As we were driving north, we had a chance to meet the other members of our small group (a French couple and a Scottish couple) and I noticed that all but me were wearing professional trekking shoes. Hmm. I definitely have a pair somewhere at home in New York where I will never ever need to use them.
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While in Laos we rented a tuk-tuk and drove 32km south of Luang Prabang to see the wonderful Tat Kuang Si waterfalls. The drive up the mountain through lush green land was wonderful and we saw cows, water buffalos and many smiling kids who were waving “hello” at us. We got some exercise climbing up to the highest point and cooled off on the way down. It was fun!

We continued touring Angkor temples, this time driving further out to see Banteay Srei – “Citadel of Women” and Kbal Spean – “River of Thousand Lingas”. While climbing up to see the waterfall (more like a puddle during this season), we ran into a few friendly Cambodian students who were happy to chat for a bit and give us recommendations. After getting back to the city, we went to a wonderful French Cambodian restaurant and enjoyed the closest thing we’ve had so far to a fancy dinner.

Today we decided to explore the island across from us, Don Det. For the price of $1 a day you can rent a bicycle which is the best way to explore this area. We rode to Don Det and took a tour to see the Khon Phaoheng Falls (largest waterfall is south East Asia by volume, not height) and the rare Irrawaddy dolphins. Watched another wonderful sunset and chilled on the veranda eating a wonderful Lao dinner.

We woke up super early, probably because of all the roosters around the island who simultaneously began screaming at 4am. We had breakfast and rented bicycles for the day and rode all around the island meeting people, water buffalo and chickens. We rode all the way to the southern tip of the island where we saw the beautiful Tat Somphamit Waterfall. Back at the bungalow we hung out on the balcony sleeping in the hammock and reading. It’s a tough routine.