2022: Pai

Pai is a small village in the north of Thailand. Besides tourism, there's not much there, you can still see the impact of Corona. Many shops and hostels are still closed. However, most people there are tourists. There's a lot to see, every evening there's a night market on the main street, about 300 meters, and there are also a few bars and clubs. Pai is known as a hippie place where you can get all kinds of intoxicants and where the police turn a blind eye.

Day 05: Headed to the bus station with a motorcycle taxi (I highly recommend the Grab app), the quality of the drivers varies a bit. Took a van to Pai (150 Bath) and had a good conversation with my seat neighbor Yvonne from Kenya. There are 762 curves to Pai, luckily I'm tough. The driver's driving style was a bit too aggressive. The hostel is nice and Chang is a very helpful host. Later, I explored the city a bit and then spent time on the terrace with the other residents, nice group. There are a lot of Israelis here.

Day 06: Rented a scooter, named it Sascha. Sascha is old and tired and struggles uphill. Gas is only half as expensive compared to Germany. Unfortunately, Sascha only has a 3-liter tank, so I occasionally had concerns about making it back to Pai, but in the end it was always enough. In the morning, I set off to the Morpang Waterfall. Marvelously refreshing, probably spent an hour there. There are natural slides on the smooth rocks as well. Then it rained heavily for half an hour. Right after, I went to a viewpoint, wonderful landscapes. The Chinese village next to it was a disappointment, but it didn't cost anything either. Starting Sascha is difficult. Luckily, a Chinese man saw me struggling and showed me how to start the thing with the kickstart. My hero. The World War II bridge was also disappointing. Then I went through the forest, over rocks and stones, to the Bamboo Bridge. It's a wonder Sascha didn't fall apart on the road. A challenge for the driver as well, up and down the mountain. This bamboo bridge leads through rice fields, there are swings, cafes, and other attractions. Very cool. However, I got sunburned during the day on the scooter, need to be more careful. By the way, in Thai, many things depend on the gender of the speaker and not on the gender of the person being spoken to. For example, thank you, men say "koorb-kunn krabb," women say "koorb-kunn ka," regardless of the gender of the person they are addressing. In the evening, I met Yvonne again on the main street. We had some drinks and played billiards. It was fun.

Day 07: Some people in the hostel are going to a monastery, others are going to or coming from Chiang Mai. I'm driving about 1 hour with Sascha to visit some caves in the mountains. Unfortunately, only one cave is open due to flooding. You have to rent a guide and cross to the cave on a small bamboo raft. Many stalactite formations and also bats. Cave people are said to have lived here once. There was a short hike in the area to another cave. It was full of swallows and bats and guano, smelled very bad, so I didn't go in. Later, I went to the Pai Canyon, an interesting natural phenomenon. Many people watch the sunset there and there's music and beer. A girl entertained us with her guitar, very nice. In the evening, Avi asked who wants to go to a party outside of town. We all went there, it was a hippie party with painting, fire show, and all kinds of drugs for those who wanted. There were also a few stuck old hippies there.

Day 08: Got up a little later. No sun today, very good. Time to relax. Drove with Sascha for about half an hour to some hot springs. There are many in northern Thailand. I stayed there for quite a while and just enjoyed it. After lunch, I returned Sascha and went on a small hike to the White Buddha. There's a staircase at the foot of the mountain, okay no problem I thought. But when you think you've made it, the next staircase appears after a turn. I stopped counting at 500 steps. When I finally reached the top, I was really exhausted, and someone ran past me up the hill, crazy people. Spent the rest of the afternoon organizing things (bus, money/credit card, accommodations, rafting bookings). In the evening, there was beer again at the hostel. I immediately got along great with Kevin from Freiburg. Everyone is very open and every evening you meet new people from different backgrounds with very different life plans.

Day 09: Today was rafting day, I was really looking forward to it. In total, there were 6 of us, the drive up into the mountains was long and through the jungle. No wonder a girl from Ireland threw up. The Khong River is quite large compared to the Saale River. It was a lot of fun and the current was strong, we were shaken quite a bit. Unfortunately, there are hardly any pictures because you naturally don't take your phone with you. We saw gibbons, water buffalo, and hot springs. No one went overboard, we had lunch by the riverside. Our guide was in the military and told us a lot of stories. The highlight was when a girl discovered a spider the size of her hand on her foot. The panic among the 4 girls was boundless, they almost jumped into the water willingly. I laughed heartily. In the evening, I made plans with Avi and Kevin at the hostel.