Pai...

Hey crew, a few days ago andre and I left sunny Chaing Mai, for sunny Pai. We did quite a bit of bludging around in Chaing Mai, shopping (I am now the proud owner of some very stylish black fisherman's pants) and just generally shooting the breeze with some people that we met trekking. But onwards and upwards. Pai is about 4 hours mini bus ride away from Chaing Mai. It is this totally hippy town set into the middle of northern thailand nothingness. it's ace. Andre and I set ourselves a personal challenge and have thus decided to learn how to ride a motor scooter. Honestly, not as god awful as it sounds! We've had no tumbles or stacks yet, of course this could have something to do with the fact that i adamantly refuse to go more than 40kms an hour. no matter what. So hardcore bikers we're not, however our new form of transportation has opened up a whole new world for us (other than one where dogs darting across the road are to be considered "the enemy"), we can now see a lot more of the countryside. So today we went and visited some hot springs and tomorrow we're going to visit some waterfalls. Too cool. We try to pack our days for a variety of reasons.
1) it's the point of us being away
2) it stops us from slow graze eating all the time. which given the choice, we would do.
3) it tuckers us out so we don't have to spend heaps of money on Chang beer to do the job.

Oh yeah, one other cool thing. Andre and I are currently the happy renters of our very own bamboo hut. it has no toilet, shower and only one light which is on a series with every other light in the place (ergo, if someone turns a light on in their hut, our light dims). There are shared toilets and showers. It's a bit like camping at Lorne... without the Guiney's, but with a bamboo hut!

So after this... and this may last a few days yet... we're going to head to Laos I think. We were going to see the long necked Karen tribe, but we've heard a few terrible things about tourist practices there and believe it or not, I try my best not to encourage human exploitation. So we're going to give it a miss. Hmm... Laos... wish I knew anything about it! Any facts would be gratefully accepted as at this juncture I know... well... nothing.

Please write and tell me about your lives. I really enjoy your emails and messages, and though i am notoriously rubbish at answering them, I promise they are joyously recieved.

Stay safe,
Simone x