BACK TO PAI, THAI

Our arrival in the Bangkok airport was JOYOUS. Free from the ridiculous expense of Australia! Free from boxed wine! Back in the land of beer and liquor and cheap grubs!


Chang's were promptly purchased.


We had a 5 hour layover before our flight to Chiang Mai. We enjoyed watching a Thai family take about 120+ photos of eachother in different groupings and knew we were officially back in Asia. That and the dirty looks I received for my shorts.


We didn't really sleep on the plane or in the airport and by the time we were on the bus from Chiang Mai to Pai we were DELIRIOUS.


Arriving in Pai cheered us up and gave us a nice jolt of energy. The hotel we'd stayed at last year had vacancy and so there was little thought necessary which was a very good thing. After cleaning up and unpacking we headed to get our first dollar meals!


Totally didn't appreciate the food enough last trip. Being in Australia really opened my eyes to the true level of awesomeness that is SE Asia.


Potato twists! These things are BOMB. We saw them for sale in Sydney for $6 each. $.66 is a bit more reasonable, no?


Flavor choices.


Pai is WAY different in November. The whole main area of town is transformed into a walking street market area every night. There were only a handful of stands here during low season. Way more fun now!


Puppy friend. There is a stand selling dog clothes.


We managed to party for a bit before succumbing to exhaustion.


And in my case, sleeping for 12 hours.


We couldn't rent a motorbike the first day because they were all sold out. Hella tourists! Anton woke up at a decent hour the next day and fetched one.


He'd done some exploring and discovered that one of the three 7/11's in town had hot dogs! The flooding has caused issues in the shipping lines, diet cola is nearly impossible to find (amongt other things). Anyways. Away we went.


Mmmmmm....


Time to explore.


ONE OF US cares about safety...


Around town.









Visiting the pigs.





Beer break.







Style king.



Anton found some sunflower seeds to chomp on while riding.


We decided to treat ourselves to Mexican food even though it's way expensive for Thailand. It's super good though.


And they have frozen margaritas.



Noble pups.


The next day we went sightseeing.



Pai Canyon!


















Not sure what happened here.


STRAWBERRY.



Wat.





Holy butthole.


Buster?


Next up!


Pretty pretty.






Refreshments.


The way back to town.






Lots of these lettered signs around town.




There were dozens of Thais taking pictures with this sign...it's just the name of a cafe.


Although who knows what the hell this says.


Lovely.


That night we got waaasstteeedddd. We hadn't smoked cigarettes in over a month and I ended up smoking like a dozen.


So stupid. Felt like shit the next day, it was a waste till the evening. Went to the restaurant with the cheapest Changs and watched the crowds go by.








Mushroom stick!


The next day (yesterday) we vowed to be more productive. Went to scope out the mighty Pai Airport. So small!



Just kinda drove around the outskirts of town...





















Slightly lost.



Back near town.





Beer break.


We then headed out in the other direction.



Saw a sign for Noi's Elephant Camp!


Had to stop and feed them some bananas.











Love love love them.


Heading home.








Pups.


We came home and washed up. Anton went to get waters while I was in the shower. When we were about to leave I opened the door to grab my shoes only to find a Smirnoff Ice awaiting me, perched innocently in my sneaker. ICED AGAIN!



I did my duty.





We set off and had beers and grubs and watched the street for awhile.




Made my noodles SUPER spicy. I am getting so bad ass at spice.


Afterwards we went to a few bars, one was having bucket specials ($5!) and we had a couple too many. Talked to some obnoxious Israelis and Brits, yelled about America, met a kitten, the usual.






We were supposed to leave today but we woke up too late. Shocker! We're heading back to Chiang Mai tomorrow though, no ifs ands or buts. Only got like 12 days till our flight to Phnom Penh, MOVE IT MOVE IT MOVE IT!


Oh. Now it's the morning and we're preparing to leave. Didn't post this last night WUHHOHHHH.