Pai

I don't have a whole lot of the trip left. Less than three weeks. Honestly, I don't mind the thought of coming back at all. As fun as this all is I realize I just kind of hit the pause button on life. I miss a lot of the people and things I have back home. The only thing I don't miss is work.

Pai is a tiny town in the extreme Northwest of Thailand. I took a scooter out into the countryside today and it has to be one of the most fun things I've done on the trip. Everything was beautiful. It made the 2.5 hour trip winding up and down mountains worth it, even though I was a little hungover and only got 4 hours sleep.

Oh yeah, last night in Chiang Mai was great too. I took an all day Thai cooking class and became friends with the instructor's son. He picked me up on his motorcycle (a real one, not a scooter) and took me out to local bars. It was awesome, miles better than all the tourist bars I see lining the streets on the walk from my guesthouse to the night market, full of 50 year old men and 20 year old Thai girls. Do the math.

Anyhow, at one point I took a sip of Chang beer and turned my head to see the eye of a baby elephant looking back at me. A guy was leading it around, looking for money to feed the elephant with. This on a packed street of open-air bars. No one batted an eyelash, except me.

I'm back in Chiang Mai tomorrow for the lantern festival, then it's back to Cambodia.