All Pai Myself

Ever since booking our trip, Karl had been toying with the idea of spending a few extra weeks in Thailand to learn Muay Thai kickboxing. It's not something he'd done before, but it seemed like it'd be an amazing thing to learn whilst in the country. When he was handed a leaflet in Chiang Mai for a local kickboxing school, with a two day trial period available, it seemed silly not to give it a try. He loved it (as we kind of knew he would!) and decided he wanted to stay in the city for a few weeks to train. It's very intense, with two training sessions a day, seven days a week. But a week's training costs just 2200baht (45 pounds), which is fantastic considering a kickboxing lesson in London can cost around 10 pounds per session. All in all, it seemed like an opportunity way too good to pass up.

This was all well and good for Karl, but it did leave me in a bit of a pickle for a couple of days. What the hell was I going to do for three weeks?? I didn't fancy just hanging around waiting for Karl to get home from training every day. After uhming and ahhing over my various options (volunteering, solo travel, a course etc) I packed my bag and set off on my own to spend a week in a town called Pai – it's in the north of Thailand, three hours drive from Chiang Mai.

Naturally, I was very nervous about the idea of travelling alone. I needn't have worried, because I actually ended up having one of the best weeks of the trip so far.

Pai is an amazing place. It's nestled in the hills (as all the best places seem to be!) so the weather is cooler than in the city and the views around town are stunning. It's a small town, with just four main roads, a bunch of little lanes, two traffic lights, and a river running alongside. It's very peaceful and chilled out, and the people (locals, tourists and expats) are incredibly friendly. So while Karl punched and kicked his way through the week, I kicked back and relaxed.

I really lucked out when it came to the guesthouse I stayed at. I chose a place called Happy House, which is run by Fritz, a Dutch Australian who retired here a year ago. He runs the place with his partner, a really lovely katoy (ladyboy) called Arnon. Fritz is a great guy, who really looks out for everyone staying at the House. He worries if anyone has been out all day and not returned by sunset, is always happy to give guests a lift into town or to local sights, and he always makes a point of introducing everyone to each other.

I met a truly great bunch of people at Happy House. There was Kali and Linda from the UK, who were staying in the big bungalow. A Swedish couple Erik and Sandra were in the little bungalow. Later that week, we were joined by another couple from the UK, Tom and Kate.

Happy House has an open-air living room upstairs with dining table and chairs, sofas, free tea and coffee, a stove if you want to cook your own meals, and great views of the hills. It's very homely and I spent a lot of time just lounging around with a book or my journal. It was a bit like being back at uni, where all your friends live close by, and there's always someone hanging around to have a chat and a cup of tea with. And before you know it, three hours have passed and the rest of the gang returns home in dribs and drabs from wherever they've been that day.

Living room with a view

In the evenings, we'd all gather at the bar, where Moo the resident guitarist would play for a couple of hours and we'd join in for a bit of a sing song if we knew the words. Then we'd all go out for dinner together, before ending up either on Kali and Linda's balcony with a bottle or two of Sangsom (Thai rum, always a welcome guest at any Pai party!) or at a bar listening to some of the town's great live music.

Towards the end of the week we hired a few motorbikes and went for a long drive through the hills. I know I keep saying this, but seriously, the landscape in Pai is just incredible. Look!

Our motorcycle convoy!

Our drive ended with a trip to the waterfalls. You'd think I'd be sick of waterfalls by now, but this one was super cool. It'd been quite a sunny day, and the water was cool and refreshing.

After a bit of a swim we sat on the rocks with a couple of beers, and later on our way back to the bikes we met a guy who recommended a mini hike up to another part of the waterfall. The walk up there was like an adventure playground. We made our way over rickety bamboo bridges, hopped from rock to rock over little streams and gripped bamboo railings as we inched across sloping walls of rocks with little nooks for footholds.

Rickety bridges and dodgy railings - at least there wasn't far to fall!

Eventually we came to a magical little cave with a little opening at the top through which the waterfall cascaded down, bathed in sunlight. My camera couldn't quite cope with the light, but Linda got a great shot:

The swim and the walk had made for quite an energetic day (especially for Pai, where an entire day can pass by without you actually having done anything at all), and we were starving by the time we returned home. A feast was definitely in order. We popped out to the market and bought some salad, and a whole roast chicken flavoured with garlic and herbs. Some mayonnaise, drinks and baguettes from the shop completed our spread and we had the biggest and best chicken sandwiches I've had in a loooong time.

Earlier that morning we'd decided to book ourselves in for a Thai massage. I've always thought of massage as being something relaxing, but Thai massage is something else entirely. I asked the woman if I should take off my dress and lie on my front. She looked at me strangely before double checking that it was a massage I wanted. It turns out that clients stay fully clothed for Thai massage.

It's basically a bit like having someone bend and twist you into different yoga positions, while occasionally doing some sort of acupuncture with their thumbs. Once I'd gotten over the fact that there are no scented oils or gentle hands, it was actually brilliant. She pulled and stretched my arms and legs every which way, and kneaded my muscles with her elbows, knees and feet. By the end of it I felt limbered up and good as new. Although there was one scary bit when she stood on the back of my thighs and pushed all her weight on my lower back. If I'd been able to breathe I might've told her that I was worried about throwing up my sandwich.

I'd looked into massage courses amongst other things (Tai Chi, Thai language etc) before I'd left Chiang Mai, but at that point hadn't really known what traditional Thai massage was all about. Now that I'd had one, I decided that it would be a great thing to learn. After some research, I picked an accredited place called Sunshine Massage School in Chiang Mai. My ten-day beginners course would begin the following Monday!

The next day was Fritz's one year anniversary of being in Pai, so after a day at the swimming pool we set about organising a bit of a celebration. Another feast was in order! Fritz whipped up some homemade crisps to eat with our beers while we prepared a huge batch of fried rice flavoured with pineapple and bacon (sounds weird, tastes great), a plateful of sausages (they'd run out of chicken) and an enormous salad.

Tom fries the bacon (top), while Fritz makes homemade crisps and
Erik cooks up a batch of sausages (bottom).

We also had a bash at making balloon animals to decorate the place. Animals proved a bit difficult and while Sandra managed a three-legged, multicoloured giraffe, the rest of us settled for abstract shapes.

Sandra and her fabulous 'creation'!

Eventually at around 10pm we all sat down to our meal. Fritz opened his presents – a novelty hat, and a glass decorated by us with gold stickers. We had a great evening that started off with food and drinks in the bar, while Moo entertained us with his guitar playing. Fritz very kindly opened up a free bar for the evening, but we also bought a our own bottles of Sangsom from the shop to prevent drinking him dry!

Fritz with his gifts

Later on the party moved up to Kali and Linda's balcony. Some of the others had purchased harmonicas earlier that day, and it was only a matter of time before these were brought out for a bit of a singsong, which eventually turned into an impromptu 'jamming' session. We acquired a tambourine from behind the bar, Kali had a little rattle and another girl who had joined us for the evening brought along her flute. I was on 'percussion' with the rattle – I have no musical ability so I couldn't really be trusted with anything else – and we played and chatted until daylight slowly began to creep over the hills.

I hope you like jammin' too...

The next day was a Saturday, and time to head back to Chiang Mai. Pai is one of the only places that I've actually felt sad about leaving, it's one of those places that really gets into you and makes you want to stay forever. It's beautiful and peaceful and safe. For such a small town it has an wealth of interesting and talented people – musicians, jewellery makers, Reiki experts, artists, writers, everything. As I left I decided that I would definitely return again some day for a longer stay. But for now, it was time to head back to the city for my first day at school.


Note: Some photos courtesy of the lovely Linda