Pai a la mode, Chiang Rai and Baan Ruamit

We soon grew restless in with the backpacker action in Chiang Mai and desired to check out the slightly more boho scene in Pai about which we had heard rumblings, where apparently the real hippies still hung out. We arranged seats for ourselves on the vomit-rocket minibus from Chiang Mai and, with a fully-packed van, negotiated the 762 curves that separate the two towns on Route 1095. We were happy to roll out of the bus onto the dusty streets of Pai and find our home for the next number of days. 

It was very hot when we arrived at midday, which gave no clue to how cool the nights would become! The first hint arrived when we checked in to Mr. Jan's and found very heavy duvets on the bed. The next clue was in the myriad secondhand shops, which all featured racks of flannel shirts and ratty sweaters. It was unquestioned as the sun set and we began to prowl the nightly market. Temperatures were decidedly cool as we discovered the eclectic selection of foods on offer. Highlights   were the grilled, sweet black rice patties (Liz and Remy), miniature pancakes (the boys), and a variety of teas served in re-usable bamboo cups (everybody!). We would often just graze the night market for dinner, gobbling cheap eats to the point of bursting. The only down-side was that everyone suffered gastrointestinal problems to one degree or another after arriving in Pai, which we attributed to eating at the night market. It became apparent that this is an extraordinarily common experience in Pai, to the point where it is a common topic for discussion on travel chat rooms.

Mini-hotcakes on the street! The best ones came smeared with chocolate sauce. Much of the food was served in the sustainable banana leaf boat featured here. Photo-bombing zombie Hollis in the background, fitting right into Pai with his long hair and hippie shirts.

Bungalow row on the Pai river, which was crossed on a very rickety bamboo bridge. The road home would be risky at night after a few too many in town! 

More  of the awesome (if possibly mildly toxic) street food at night. 

In the boys' room before things got bad. Good thing this blog does not have Smell-o-Vision!

We rented motorbikes for a day to explore the countryside around Pai. Connor had his first experience motorcycling, and our boys got chances to drive too. It is the best way to tour, generating your own air conditioning ands being able to stop and start on a whim.

Nagas guarding a temple in the countryside around Pai.

Bowen is obviously thrilled to be ridding the pink Scoobie Doo bike with his mom. "Please don't tag me in this photo, I don't want my friends to see!"

One of the many quaint and beautiful resorts around Pai. You could probably rent one of these beauties for $10 per night.

One of the waterfalls we visited. You can see the Darwin Award candidate being launched off the first section of the fall. The landing was not pretty.

Connor and the boys leading the pack.

One of the highlights of the mototour was at the "Land Split", where some inexplicable geotechnic anomaly has caused huge fissures in the land to form overnight in separate incidents over a period of years. The farmer, who has suffered economically as a result, has turned the site into a tourist attraction and offers free samples of some of the products that he is still able to grow, just asking for a donation in return.

The spread laid out before us at the "Land Split". We all left with bellies full of passion fruit, home-grown peanuts, banana chips, tamarind, hibiscus jam, hibiscus wine and took home a jar of the tart jam.

One of the land splits, some of which were 10 or more metres deep.

At dinner one night we heard the now-familiar but still sickening crash and scrape sound of a motorbike going down. Connor leapt to action with his ever-present first aid and administered succour to the unfortunate victim. She showed much greater favour to Connor than to her boyfriend, who had been driving. Farangs with gauze-tape patches are a familiar sight in South East Asia.

Another strange natural feature near Pai. The path in the background was along the top of a razorback ridge with a 10m fall on either side. Naturally we did it while wearing flip-flops!

One has to be aware of heavy equipment on the roads all over rural Thailand! As you can see in the photo, motorbikes get third priority on the roads.

The main drag in Pai, no cars allowed after dark when the night market is on. That doesn't keep drunks on motorbikes from trying to negotiate the crowds, though.

Have we ever said how much Liz admires big, tropical trees?

Connor fighting the Great Battle of Pai in his lower GI tract. Note the coconut for rehydration and the basin at the ready. Bowen anticipates the next eruption, and went on to suffer the same fate the following day.

American Eric, who we met at Shanti Lodge in BKK and whose friend Mike came to meet him the same night that Connor arrived. We ran into them again in Pai and earlier in Chiang Mai. It shows how narrow the tourist track really is and taught the boys the value of extending oneself to others, as later it is possible to trade stories and gain valuable information.

All these stupid tropical flowers, taking up space in the roadway and stinking up the air!

Pai was really cool, and Remy took an inspiring fermentology course, learning to make pickles, keffir and kambucha. Look out when we get home - everybody will be subjected to sampling various homemade sour-tasting things once full production is reached! But we all tired of dreadlocks, patchouli and sour-smelling white people and knew it was time to get back to the real Thailand.

We took another vomit rocket back to Chiang Mai, then transferred to another minibus for the second terrifying leg (this time due to the speed travelled at night) to arrive at Mr. Chian's Guest House in Chiang Rai. It was novel in that it had a pool, which was actually very cold, despite the daytime temperatures. It is still cool here at night.

Remy and Connor's favourite, deep fried bananas. If they keep it up, however, they may begin to resemble the purveyor!

One of the prettier bus stops we have seen on this trip.

A friendly reminder that we are touring a Buddhist temple. Watch where you step!

Temple touring fashion for the inappropriate dressed tourist!

We have finally succeeded in teaching the boys to stop and smell the flowers!

The fauna is as beautiful as the flora!

A mellow yellow fellow.

Connor taking a polar bear plunge into Mr. Chian's cold pool. Remy, whose gonads were nestled warmly up under his jaw by this point, was quite comfortable.

After spend a day touring Chiang Rai, which is fairly sleepy for a regional centre, we signed up for an overnight hill tribe trek, led by the affable and effusive Kai. We piled into his truck, stopping to pick up morose David From Barcelona from another guest house before heading into the countryside. We stopped to tour an underground cave and do a short but very steep hike up a small mountain on the outskirts of town to visit the improbable statue of Buddha that has undoubtedly been built on site by hand. It is likely that Kai uses this little side trip to assess the fitness of his clients, which I dare say we passed with flying, if slightly sweaty colours. We then moved on to have lunch before setting out on the proper hill trek, which led us past hot springs, along paths hacked through overgrown bamboo thickets and up steep jungle hillsides. After a trek of many hours, we arrived at an Akha village atop a mountain, where we were invited to the bamboo meeting platform to refresh with some tea and fruit. We were shown to our accommodations(!) and the ablutions area(!!) and given the remainder of the afternoon to rest, wash up and explore the local area.

We stopped along the way to get a view a portrait in front of Baan Ruamit, where we will be heading in a few days.

At the hot springs, you can buy these baskets of quail eggs to boil in the spring water for about a dollar.

Kai proved that he is capable of making just about anything out of bamboo, using only the BFK that hung from his hip. Here is a drinking cup. By the end of our first day's hike, we all had sets of cups, chop sticks, spreading knives and spoons.

Kai told Bowen that if he blew hard enough, he could produce a note that would attract panda bears. Actually, we were taught how to obtain drinking water from the lower segments of the bamboo, just in case we got lost in the jungle.

The hill tribe people collect stalks of this grass for making the brooms that we saw everywhere. They have to beat them  like this to remove the seeds, then bundle them for transport into town, where they make just over a dollar per kilo. And it takes a lot of dried grass to weigh one kilo.

An overview of our hilltop village. Liz, Remy, Hollis and Bowen slept  in the thatch roofed hut in the centre, while Connor and David slept in the tin roofed hut in the foreground. Thousands of bugs and lizards slept in both with all of us.

Our host family outside their kitchen. They now sleep in a concrete house, but used to inhabit the huts now devoted to housing  tourists.

The meeting platform where we rested our filthy, weary feet after the first day's hike. David From Barcelona is in the floppy white hat. We got to drink tea from the ancient, cracked bamboo cups provided.

The host family's kitchen with their newer house beside. When you live on a hillside, most everything has to be built on stilts.

The Tompkins digs for the night with the beautiful valley beyond.

Liz and Remy's bed for the night. Not too sure how old the mattress is, or what we will be sharing it with. Yes, you can see through the walls!

Modern plumbing in the indigenous areas of Thailand! Cold bucket showers and hand-flushed squat toilets are actually an advance on what they used until very recently.

Villagers bundling the broom grass to take to market. Everybody lends a hand.

A typical Akha house, with the kitchen on one side and sleeping platforms on the other and flow-through ventilation throughout.

Connor got the traditional bamboo mat-covered sleeping platform built to keep him above the bugs and lizards. Initially we thought we were luckier to have a mattress for a bed, but through the night we realized that there is wisdom in the old ways. The flimsy walls meant that we all got to enjoy David's snoring.

Liz could not wait to pamper herself and wash off the day's grime in these opulent surroundings! There was a nice view of the valley under the eaves, and a pretty good view into the bath house over the door. The cold water and the algae was an added bonus.

We all hung  out in the kitchen sipping rice liquor from the recycled Jaegermeister bottle while the host family and Kai prepared dinner.

By special request, they prepared a local chicken dish for us. Recipe: take one chicken from the yard...

Liz getting in there.

Remy being introduced to the local rice liquor, which is mixed with an herbal tonic he named "Tiger piss" to make both substances taste better. Remy represented well, matching Mr. Akho drink for drink and suffering less effect.

Everybody toasting the evening. It's amazing what we will drink when this is all that is available.

The final spread of food, all of which was exceptionally tasty, even the rubber "black chicken" dish.

Ok, maybe Remy had a bit too much of the rice liquor. Love you, man!

Handing out some small gifts to the village children.

"Stairway to Heaven" has never been played like this!

Group shot with the village kids.

Kai had brought some clothes from his own home to be distributed amongst the village kids. It was fun to see them trying things on and making their selections, which revealed a lot about their individual personalities. Moms and grandmas got in on the act too for kids that could not attend.

A local vendor before we headed out on Day 2.

Turned out she was Mr. Akho's wife! Good choice1

It must be hard to grow tall when the air is so thin. Or maybe when your childhood is impoverished. The next generation is already much bigger than their parents'.

Remy and Hollis whittling on some bamboo with Kai. We did a lot of that in the jungle.

Portrait with our host family and Kai. We felt like giants!

Padding through the paddies.

One of Kai's dogs caught us lunch - squirrel- seriously!

The view of our village from across the valley - that is it just visible on the ridge in the far middle ground.

Getting our monkey on using liana vines in the jungle. Free fun!

A nice cool, if slippery, break on our hike.

Our second guide, who accompanied us for the day, wove bamboo rings for all of us as we marched.

Lunch time! We had grilled meat (note the squirrel in the foreground) along with soup, rice and eggs all cooked over the fire in bamboo tubes. An extremely unique culinary experience!

Kai and his assistant preparing a "pot" using a ring of rocks and banana leaves. This was used to prepare the soup, which was poured over instant noodles and served into our bamboo bowls with bamboo ladles. A totally sustainable and biodegradable way to cook!

Eggs being scooped into the "serving platter".

After the trek, it was nice to be back at Mr. Chians where we could have a proper (hot!) shower, a swim and a beer.  We also met new friends from Inglewood!

Our hill tribe experience was fascinating and challenging, but two days was enough. When we returned to our guest house, we finally got to meet Ted, Tina, and their daughter Elliot, with whom we had connected through the Inglewood Community website and whom Liz had been in contact for several weeks before. They are taking a year off, like us, but their travels are slightly more wide-ranging, including Greece, South East Asia and Europe. We have many friends and neighbours in common back home, but had never met! What are the chances? Liz and Tina managed to have our paths meet in Chiang Rai, and Liz arranged through our friend Jackie Hamilton (an honorary lifetime Inglewood citizen) to stay with her husband's family at their resort in Baan Ruamit, a Karen village not far from Chiang Rai.

Our group, now numbering eight people, piled into two vehicles and did some last-minute shopping for food and supplies before making the short trip to the village. Nui took us to the central mall in Chiang Mai where Liz and Ted were thrilled to find a Sunterra-esque grocery store, where they were able to provision us with some of the finer foodstuffs in life. We arrived in style, with Remy and all the kids piled into a pickup, while all the other adults drove to the village in a luxurious Mercedes and finishing the last mountain leg of the trip with Ted driving the  WWII-era jeep with no brakes and Liz driving the Mercedes! We installed ourselves at Phu Karaing View, a beautiful lodge overlooking the town and hosted by the beautiful Nui and Sunissa.

The stay at Baan Ruamit was highlighted by a bamboo river raft trip, elephant rides, and a trip to the hot springs. We tried our hands at fishing, and the boys honed their slingshot and frisbee skills. Breakfast overlooking the valley every morning was balanced by great dinners prepared by our hosts. It was definitely a highlight of our trip! Oh, and the chilled white wine and cheddar cheese shared with our new friends was greatly enjoyed as well.

We got all our valuables loaded into the back of the truck and are ready to drive to the resort!

The view from the terrace was nice, except where obstructed by all those stupid mountains.

Another exquisite terrace with the infamous Jeep in the background.

The family room for four. One of the nicest rooms of our whole trip!

Panorama from the resort.

Ridin' like the locals. In the back of the pickup on our way to the rafting trip.

Bamboo raft passing under a bamboo bridge. More bamboo in the background.

Ted, Tina and Elliot on their barge.

Connor and Remy readying to brave the murky waters. Turned out they were about four feet deep with a sandy bottom most of the way - nice!

Gotta love those Canadian women! Setting a good example for the younger members of the crowd in the back of the pickup.

Liz' hair had been darkening at the roots, so she enlisted Tina's aid in applying a dye kit. Liz ended up with a hairdo that looked like what she had paid for it. No offence, Tina.

Walking out of the village to the trunk road. Connor had learned by now which end to pat an elephant on. 

Commuter in Baan Ruamit after a long days work.

Liz was trying to buy this woman for our mantel piece until she moved.

Sunissa giving us the tutorial on Thai barbecue. We all made a mighty effort, but there was still food left at the end. 

Mmmm! Mmmm! Mmmm! and fun!

Guess who has been having more of the rice liquor! Remy with Nui and Sunissa. Note also the relative states of dress, with Thai winter feeling like a Calgary summer.

The Inglewood posse with our hosts, all of us sporting our new scarves courtesy of Sunissa. We were sad to leave.

We had engaged with Kai earlier to transport our horde to the border for the crossing into Laos. We had a day's worth of destinations before being delivered to the riverside town of Chiang Khong where we would cross into Laos and begin a 2-day boat trip down the Mekong River to Luang Prabang. First we went to the Black House (Baan Dam), which had been the bizarre estate of Thai artist Thawan Duchanee up until his death and is now a tourist attraction. Set on beautiful grounds is a series of ornate timber buildings in old Thai style, filled with a bizarre collection of skeletons, skulls, skins, musical instrument, boats, and countless other artifacts, including Duchanee's art. Next was a monkey temple, then the town of Mae Sai, the northernmost point of Thailand on the border with Burma. Afterward, the Golden Triangle, where Thailand, Burma and Laos meet and once a hub for heroin production and trafficking. Finally, as evening fell, we installed ourselves into an anonymous hotel to await our morning crossing into Laos.

A couple of the houses at Baan Dam. Words do not do justice to the beauty or the bizarre nature of this place.

Locals at the Monkey Temple, dressed for prayer and not for tourism.

Cousins!

In Mae Sai. Next stop - Burma! where they drive on the right side of the road, and which now looks strange to us.

In Mae Sai with my sweetie. That wet feature behind us is the border.

A couple of cool cats at the chaotic crossing.

Uh, does this really need a caption!

A bunch of dopes at the House of Opium.

This would be cool art to collect, but would probably slow our passage through Customs.

Last moments in northern Thailand, excited to see Laos.

All in all, our time in northern Thailand has been a real adventure. We have met up with friends from home (old and new) and gotten a good taste of real Thailand. This portion of the trip will undoubtedly  be a highlight of our entire journey, but we are also excited to experience new sights, sounds and smells. Onward! (to borrow from the Calgary motto) It's so cool that we get to share in this epic border crossing with our new friends from Inglewood. We are about to get on a long boat and take a two day trip down the mighty Mekong River!

~Remy

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