So, this last blog will cover the last two days – Friday & Saturday. As my last days in Thailand, I definitely had mixed emotions. On the one hand, 10 days is not nearly enough time here. I could easily have spent a week in Pai and a week in Chiang Mai alone, plus several days in Bangkok. That doesn’t even cover the south of the country! Jess and I agree that northern Thailand is the perfect place to hide away from the world and write a book. On the other hand, I am definitely missing Danny and home.

Travel has really morphed for me over the years. Of course, I love the adventure and discovery. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of that bit. But, the manner in which I travel, the things that I enjoy and the comforts (or lack thereof) have changed a lot. I suppose this is normal as you get older. It’s been interesting to experience, though. On our last trip in 2015, I was kind of in this middle ground of feeling like an adult and wanting to avoid the party scene and loud hostel situations, yet also not quite willing to admit to it or make the changes to my travel mode. This time, however, I fully embrace my desire to pay more for comforts (ie: location and air conditioning in Pai). I also realize that Home is not something to dread or fear. Home is wonderful and comfortable; travel kind of acts as a contrast that makes one really appreciate home. This has become so much more apparent now that I am engaged and have someone to miss.

Anyway, on to the good stuff. Friday morning we had an open schedule (yay!!) and agreed to go back to the restaurant we’d had on Wednesday night for breakfast. We got up and packed some of our stuff, then headed down the road to the restaurant. It was about 9:30am, and Jess ordered Eggs Benedict, but I couldn’t resist the Massaman Curry. It felt so weird to eat that so early, but I suppose most Asian country’s breakfast fare is incredibly similar to every other meal. So really, I was just being authentic.

We took photos in the beautiful back patio area, and relaxed with our meal. Once we were finished, we went back to the hotel to finish packing and getting ready to head to the airport. Our flight was at 1:15pm, and we decided to leave the hotel by 11:30am in order to get there in time. Rather than deal with trying to negotiate a fare with a taxi, we had the hotel arrange a car for us for only 100TBH each. Well worth the extra ~20TBH to not deal with the hassle. Once we had collected all of our luggage and headed down stairs, we checked out. The hotel actually gave us each a cute cloth elephant keychain as a souvenir. I thought that was so nice!!

The car that picked us up wasn’t a taxi; I actually think that one of the hotel workers or owners probably contracted their friend to drive. But, it was comfortable and, like I said, not much more than a taxi would have likely been. We got to the airport in about 25 minutes, and dropped our bags at the counter. Chiang Mai is technically an international airport, but it is very small. From the time we walked in the door to sitting down at our gate was no more than 15 minutes. Such a breeze!

The flight to Bangkok was fine; a bit of turbulence but ultimately uneventful. Jessica was sitting across the aisle form me, and there was a Sweedish couple next to her. The man was trying to get Jessica to change seats so he could have the aisle without actually asking her to do so, and she wasn’t having it! I would have done the same thing, I think… aisle seats are prime real estate, particularly on small regional flights like this one.

Anyway, we got to Bangkok and got our stuff from baggage claim and headed to get a taxi. When we’d each landed in Bangkok before, we’d had a private car arranged, so this was our first experience with a taxi. We walked with the crowd towards the Taxi sign. We turned a corner and ran into the end of a HUGE line. It led into a room with glass walls where it split into 6 different lines. These lines all led to terminals where you told the attendant where you needed to go and they would make sure the taxi knew where to go and that they would use the meter. It was a good idea, but the line was huge and the room was packed with people. I had my big backpack on my back and my small pack on my front, and I was not looking forward to waiting in that line with 25lb or so on my shoulders. But, wait we did. The couple in front of us tried to split between two lines to then pick the fastest when ropes started. However, we edged the wife out of line when she dawdled at one point. Ultimately, it probably didn’t make much difference, but it felt like we got further! Finally about 40 minutes later we got to the front of the line and told them where we were going. The taxi driver was very friendly and we took off to our final hotel: Lebua @ State Tower.

This hotel was 5-star and was actually featured in the Hangover 2 movie. I had gotten an amazing price on Hotels.com, and thought that we could end our trip with some luxury. It was definitely fancy! Jess and I marveled at the beautiful fresh flowers all over the marble and glass lobby. The staff were extremely good as well. Once we got checked in, we headed up to our room. The places we’d been staying were nice, but basic. Jessica was particularly excited to be in such a nice place for our final night. We got into our room and were really floored! It was a suite, and you walked into a sitting room area. The hallway had a kitchenette and closets on the right, and big etched glass double sliding doors on the left that led into a stunning bathroom. Finally at the end of the hall was the bedroom, with two twin beds and a balcony with a fantastic view.

The balcony was locked but when the porter came with our bags, he offered to unlock it. We accepted and the porter left. When we stepped out on the balcony, it was kind of surreal! The city stretched out before us. It wasn’t night yet, the view would only improve, but it was really cool. We were on the 22^nd floor, and there were still SO many above us!

We decided to relax in the hotel for a bit then went out in search of some sustenance. We had skipped lunch, and it was around 5pm when we found a bar about 0.5km away. We ordered a pizza and some cocktails. Tonight was treat-yo-self night! The pizza was decent, but we were still planning to have a nice dinner later on. The bar was owned by a foreigner; I placed my bet on Canada based on his very slight accent. We never found out since he only informed us of the happy hour specials then left. The waitress, on the other hand, spoke no English whatsoever and even her Thai was questionable; when we ordered, we said the English words but pointed to the menu which had the Thai translation. This girl had to write out the words for pepperoni and garlic in Thai letter by letter, as if she was not literate at all. It was really strange.

Rejuvinated, we headed back to the hotel to rest and get cleaned up for our last night in Bangkok! We decided to go to the rooftop bar in our hotel for a drink with a view. I borrowed a dress from Jessica, as I hadn’t brought anything too nice. We cleaned up nice!

We had to go to the ground floor and change elevators in order to access the bar on the 64^th floor (!!), and there was a line for that one. As we were waiting in the line, two guys were arguing with a staff member who was playing bouncer for the elevators. Rather than checking IDs, though, he was checking dress code. These two guys were in shorts and ratty flip flops and sneakers. They were definitely not up to snuff, and were trying to beg the guy to let them in since they “came from so far.” Nope, he wasn’t having it.

When we got up to the bar, we walked out to the patio area and got a good look at the view. Amazing!! We grabbed an available cocktail table and each ordered a drink. Mine was a martini and it was 590THB – more than any other meal I’d had, and even more than some of my entire day’s worth of meals! When a couch seat opened up, we moved over and were able to sit by the edge of the patio. We took some photos and enjoyed the view. The drinks were good but horribly overpriced. We were definitely paying for the location.

When we decided it was time to find some food, we paid (the final bill adding 10% service fee plus 7% VAT… ridiculous) and left the bar, and a staff person asked if we wanted to go to the other bar. I figured, why not just go take a look? She guided us to the opposite side of the floor and out the door. This side was a bit larger and more grand. We skipped the overpriced drinks in favor of just some quick pictures, then left.

We’d originally planned on a nice dinner, but after paying the equivalent of $20 USD for a single drink, we decided we were happy enough with the type of food we’d been having, which typically set us back around $3 per meal. In our cockatil attire, we headed out on the street and got some good ol’ Thai street food. I had noodle soup, which was pretty good. As we were walking back to the hotel (not a far jaunt by any means), a beggar who had approached us while we ate on the street again stretched out his hands pleadingly. I couldn’t tell if he was blind or had a mental illness. I held up my hands, palms out about chest level and said No (once again, Jess teasing me that I couldn’t ever just ignore them), and this fool REACHED OUT AND TOUCHED ME. Not just touched me, but touched my breast! I was completely blindsided and appalled, and let out a squeal of disgust and shoved his hand off me.

After a second of shock, my mind righted itself and I realized that I do not think he did this intentionally. Of course, it’s horrifying either way, but it made me feel just a bit better to think that it was an accident. Like I said, besides being dirty, he appeared to have something wrong with him. Regardless, I was reeling and agitated. It was definitely time to call it a night!

We got to the room and spent the rest of the evening watching Bravo on TV and taking turns enjoying a soak in the big bathtub.

The night morning, Saturday, both Jess and I slept in with the blackout curtains drawn. I hadn’t been able to sleep past about 7 or 7:30 the entire trip, and it wasn’t much later than that, but it felt so wonderful to lounge in the bed for as long as I wanted. We had decided to stay at the hotel, once again, until we had to check out. We had plans for the day, but didn’t need to leave for the airport until about 7pm, so that gave us about 7 hours from check out.

We enjoyed every possibly moment of the air conditioned luxury before heading downstairs at 11:50am. At the desk, the porters asked if we wanted to store our luggage, and we happily handed it off to them. We left the hotel and before we got to the sky train station, we stopped for lunch. I’d found Nalin Café on TripAdvisor and it did  not disappoint. I’d been waiting for my “WOW” meal (well, outside what I cooked myself in Pai), and the Pad Thai here was definitely it!!! So delicious. Our spring rolls were also wonderful and fresh. We were now properly fueled up and ready to hit the Chatuchak market once again.

We took the sky train to Mo Chit like old pros, changing trains at Siam with ease. You’d think we’d been here before! We got off the train and headed into the throngs of people crowding the vendors that lined the street. We spotted some fresh pomegranate juice being sold, and grabbed two bottles for refreshment in the mid-day heat. Since we’d been here before, we knew exactly where we were heading: Section 7… the Art section.

I’d spent the last week dreaming about the art I’d seen at the market, and one artist in particularly. I’d talked with Danny and had decided to get at least one, if not more, piece. I would have to bring it home without a frame, then have it stretched in Austin. But, the price was too good to pass up and I was enamored with it. 

The artist recognized me, I think. I asked about the price of three pieces I particularly liked, and checked the dimensions against the walls I was considering hanging them on. I then asked him if he would give me a discount for buying multiple, and he agreed to 20% off. I did some calculations and decided to buy three. It would set me back just under $500 total. I was/am SO THRILLED with these purchases… Not only is it beautiful, but its actual art. Not a print, not an Ikea reproduction. This might be one of the most adult purchases I’ve ever made!

The artist and his assistant told us to come back in 30 minutes while they prepared the canvases and rolled them into a canister to be transported. I was going to check the canister as one of my bags, rather than spend money mailing it. So, for about an hour or so, Jessica and I prowled the market for last minute items we wanted to pick up. I got a few more gifts and an elephant card-holder I’d seen my hotel use that I was now obsessed with having for my office. We picked up my box containing the three canvases and headed back to the hotel. I really wish I’d have just broken down and gotten either a tuk-tuk or a taxi to the hotel, because that box made the sky train quite miserable! But, I finally made it, hauling an almost 5 foot long box along. I suppose the benefit was that no one crowded me for fear of getting whacked by my parcel.

At the hotel, we stored our recent purchases with our luggage and cooled off in the lobby for a while. Around 4:30 we headed to an early dinner at another TripAdvisor recommendation, but this time for one last Thai curry. My red curry with chicken did not disappoint! I am proud, also, that I can handle authentic Thai food ordered “spicy”! I sometimes think that when I order spicy in America, what I get is somewhere around medium for what the same meal would be in its home country. However, I realized on this trip that nope! I can actually handle real spicy.

We finished up our delicious last supper and trekked back to the hotel to change for our flights. We had both strategically packed so we’d be able to access our plane outfits (yoga pants, a comfy t-shirt, and a sweater for me) without completely unpacking. We made use of the clean bathrooms at the hotel and got ready to get our taxi. We left around 6:20, earlier than I’d planned, but it was fine because there was quite a bit of traffic. We got to the airport around 7:30 or so, and since Jessica couldn’t check in for her flight online, this was perfect timing.

I dropped my bag off and had took my box of art to the oversized luggage drop off point. No extra fees – yay! Jessica had to stand in a big line to check in, so I, like the wonderful friend that I am (heh heh), waited with her. When she got to the counter, I noticed a sign advertising seat upgrades for only $15 USD. I pointed it out to her and she decided to go for it, so she’d have the front row. Turns out it was a great investment, since she had the entire row to herself and was able to sleep the entire flight! Lucky girl!

We got through security and headed towards my gate. Again we were disappointed not to be on the same flight to Incheon, since that was where my layover was. We got some gelato near the gate and I spent the rest of my Thai Baht on two scoops. It was crazy how perfectly my finances worked out – I literally had just a few baht left in coins, and gave that to Jessica before we said our goodbyes.

Saying goodbye at the end of a trip like this is always bittersweet. We face the end of a break from reality, but the prospect of future adventures. What was particularly weird was that the next time I see Jessica, I will be MARRIED. This blows my mind!! She will be staying in Korea for a third year, and won’t be coming back to America before 2017. By then, I’ll be a married woman. Absolutely crazy. We said our goodbyes; no tears were shed. We are old pros at this by now. We’ll see what our next adventure is together. Life is full of changes and who knows what will happen by 2018.

For now, my next international trip should be my honeymoon in St. Lucia in December! Not sure how I’ll handle blogging that one, but I’m sure I’ll have something to update. J

Xx,

Chelsea

Postscript: On my flight from Bangkok to Incheon, I sat in a row across from a Caucasian family with two small children; one newborn and one 2-year old. The 2-year old was so incredibly friendly, he kept giving me high-fives. He couldn’t sleep and I could tell his parents were exhausted. I ended up holding him on my lap for a bit and letting him play with my tv screen. (With the parent’s consent, of course!) His name was Caleb, and his parents were from Georgia but living in Uzbekistan now for the husband’s job. They’d gone to Thailand a month ago to give birth to their newborn son, Landon. Caleb basically made my day J I hope my child is that sweet one day!

Chelsea in Pai

Since we had to reschedule our days in Pai due to the cooking class being shifted to Tuesday, our Monday was now free. Sunday night as we browsed the market and ate the most amazing baked goods and street food, we toyed with the idea of doing some kind of tour. Pai has a lot to offer the tourist - there is a cave exploration tour, bamboo rafting, canyons, ziplining, etc. I was so tempted to sign up for one of these, but at the same time, we'd been so scheduled thus far that I was definitely looking forward to the idea of sleeping in!

So, Monday morning, we decided to take it easy, as see where the day led us. Yes, there were loads of adventures to go on, but we were also on vacation and part of vacation is just relaxing. We got up and headed to breakfast at a nearby cafe that had WiFi, and I regaled you all with our Sunday adventures. Blog written, we decided to just explore Pai!

We walked around the town, which we decided was much different at night than during the day. The previous night, it was bustling with street vendors set up along the two or three major roads. Today, it was so much more chill! We poked around some different shops, and I am so pleased to have gotten some beautiful, handmade jewelry. We then continued walking to a part of the town we hadn't seen yet: the riverside.

We got to a bamboo bridge connecting each side of the small river that runs through the side of Pai. This was probably the most ramshackle bridge I've ever seen - there were long bamboo rods on the bottom, with flattened bamboo woven like straw on top. You could see through to the rods below in spots where the flattened bamboo had broken, and it was so rickety that having any other person on the bridge at the same time made my heart skip a beat. Thankfully it wasn't too high and the river not too intimidating that it made me too afraid. Plus, there were loads of other people walking across. One girl even rolled her suitcase across (I wanted to smack her).

The nearer side of the river was lined with a restaurant and bar; the other side had cottages/bungalows. We walked across and took some photos and explored the beautiful riverside. The mountains in the background were incredibly picturesque. However, the sun overhead was beating down and we got HOT. After hanging out on the swing sets along the river and taking some pictures, we decided to see about some cold beer and lunch!

As we walked back in the direction of our hotel, we took a side street we had not been down yet. Our tour guide back in Bangkok had mentioned that today (Monday) was a holiday in Thailand. I hadn't really factored that into our plans, but we could definitely tell as so many places, particularly restaurants, were closed. We finally found a place called Dang Thai Food ("Daaaaannnnng! Thai Food!") and walked in the covered porch. When the proprietess saw us come in, she looked around and saw that there were no open tables; she scurried over to a table of two guys who looked like they'd ordered a drink just to use the power outlets and were busy instagramming and.... kicked them out. While we felt bad that she told them they had to leave, I secretly thought it was hilarious. I was also glad, because by then I was hungry!

We sat down at the recently-vacated, four-person table, and as we did, another couple came in. Not one to pass up an opportunity to make a buck, the proprietess pointed to our table and said "You share!" Welp, looks like we were going to make some friends! The couple sat down and we started to chat a bit. Once we ordered food, we started to really talk with them. They were from Canada and had been in Thailand since early January. They were making their way through all of the major areas, from the south and the islands, all the way through to this province. They were currently in progress of doing the Mae Hong Son (that is the name of this province) loop by motorbike. I seriously can't imagine doing this loop; the road from Chiang Mai to Pai was plenty for me!

We talked with them over beers for quite a while, actually, but they needed to get on the road so we eventually said goodbye. Once we left the restaurant (thankfully we weren't kicked out!), we decided to take a mid-afternoon siesta. It was so hot at that time of day! We went back to the room and watched Anna & the King, as we were now interested in a bit of the history of Siam/Thailand. (When we went to Japan, we watched Memoirs of a Geisha, so this is basically a continuation of the tradition.) Around 5:30pm, we decided we'd cooled off enough to enjoy going back out.

Since the lighting was now WAY better, we went back to the riverside and took some photos. We had a fun little photo shoot then decided to walk around the Walking Street market again. As it was a holiday, the market was a bit smaller than Sunday, but still plenty of vendors. We moseyed through and eventually found a restaurant that looked good for dinner. We keep marveling how we are spending the most on our breakfast, a middle amount on lunch, and then very little on dinner. Completely the opposite than I had expected.

I suppose that, as a national holiday, restaurants and shops were not supposed to sell alcohol. Obviously the restaurant from lunch had, and our waitress at dinner told us to be sneaky. Okay, she didn't SAY "be sneaky" but she mimed for us to hide the bottle under the table and winked. Ergo... "be sneaky".

As we were enjoying our dinner (& sneaky beer), another caucasian couple sat down near us. Jessica was facing them, and said they kept looking back at us (they weren't even facing us). I laughed, but soon I noticed it too. It was kind of weird, how much they kept looking at us! As we were finishing dinner, we heard some drums and gongs and cheering. I got up and looked out the front of the restaurant (almost all the restaurants have open fronts) and saw a small parade coming down the road. I can only guess it had to do with the holiday, because it was there and then it was gone and that was that.

After dinner, we walked around some more and looked for our baker-vendor from the night before. I can't get over the chocolate-chip scone I had (amaaaazing) and wanted another. But, sadly, they must be really religious because they weren't there. Around this time, the helpful guy from the guesthouse, the one who wanted to return our money, texted me and we arranged to meet at the hotel. By arranged, I mean the conversation went like this: Him: "Where are you" Me: "Come to new hotel" Him: "Okay see you". He ended up refunding us for two nights minus the commission the booking agent collects (15%). Hey, its more than we expected to get back!

After this, we walked back into the hub of things to look for a bar that the Canadians had recommended to us earlier at lunch called the Yellow Sun. We walked up and down the street several times without seeing it, before we realized it was closed for the holiday! Oh well, we were tired and headed back to the hotel to call it a night. Next day was an early start for cooking class, so we got some rest.

Next time, MasterChef Thailand!

Xx,
Chelsea

Pai Out of Town or Pai In Town?

Today was a day of travel. We left Bangkok to head to the north of Thailand. Our day started early, as we woke up at 4:30am. We had packed the night before, but still needed to get ready and head to the airport. We left our hostel and asked the concierge of the hotel at the bottom floor to call us a cab. We explicitly said we only wanted to pay by meter. Both Jessica and I had heard about cabs to the airport trying to scam you by "agreeing" to a price beforehand, not running the meter, then asking for a higher price once you arrive.

The guy called a cab who, when he told him we wanted to use the meter, shook his head and said 400TBH. We said no, we would wait. He left, and another arrived. This guy, too, refused to use the meter. We had gotten out of our room earlier than we expected, so we again refused and waited. Finally, the third cab to arrive agreed to use the meter.

We packed our stuff in and got into the cab. It seems to me that Thai drivers are all pretty crazy, but I think we had the fastest cabbie on the road Sunday morning. I pulled up the route on my phone to make sure we were heading the right direction, and he took every turn exactly as Google expected him to.

We got to the airport in blazing time, and because there was no traffic, we didn't have to use the tollway. Yay! That saved us 75TBH. When we finally got the curb at DMK, the fare on the meter was 189TBH. Less than HALF what the first cab wanted to charge us. We agreed to each throw in a 100TBH bill for a small tip. Tipping is not necessary but we felt like something small was deserved.

Once we got into the airport, the line at AirAsia for check-in was HUGE. However, we had already checked-in, and only needed to drop off our bags. The line for that was much better! We dropped them off, took advantage of the restrooms, then headed for security. The security line was super quick; the girl who checked my passport and boarding pass looked at me, then at my passport, pointed to my photo, and said "Beautiful!" Awwww :)

After we got through security (quick and easy), it was time for breakfast. We went to (gasp!) McDonalds. To be fair, though, our options were McDonalds, Burger King, Subway, KFC, and Krispy Kreme. And really, I thought what I got for breakfast was delicious! We got to our gate with a little over an hour to spare and I wrote Saturday's blog. When it was time to board the flight, we had to take a bus to the jetway. I had done something similar on another flight, although I can't remember where. We got to our seats on the plane, and I really appreciated Korean Air's ample leg room. I don't have super long legs by any means, and it was still quite cramped for me!

The flight to Chiang Mai was super short, and I read my book the entire way. When we landed, we grabbed our bags and headed into arrivals. The first thing I saw was a sign that said "bus to Pai" and thought, oh good, we need that. Then I realized underneath that on the sign was my name! I told Jessica that I'm starting to feel like a celebrity with all of these signs greeting me at airports recently!

When we got to the guy holding the sign and confirmed that we were who he was waiting for, he took off heading out of the airport. We caught up to him and asked him if we can go to the bathroom quickly, and he held up two fingers and told us strictly "Two minutes!" We nodded and rushed to find a bathroom.

Now outside the airport, we got into a mini-bus and took off. I vaguely wondered if this was our bus to Pai, but the guy told Jessica he was taking us to the bus station. Hey, nice! We were getting this transfer service because when I booked the flight, I added the bus transfer onto our tickets. We were dropped off at the bus station and boarded another mini-bus. Over the next 30 minutes before we left, the bus filled up. When we left to Pai, every seat was filled.

At first, I was reading my book. I'd gotten enthralled in it on my flight and was excited to read more. I was able to do that for a little bit, but eventually we turned onto the main highway to go to Pai, and the road started to weave.  Slowly we started climbing into the mountains and the road became more and more curved, and I got more and more nauseated. I was sitting on the "aisle" and couldn't see out of the windows well. I was seriously feeling ill when we finally pulled into a rest stop, about an hour and a half into the drive.

As we climbed out, I struck up a conversation with the girl riding in the solo seat near the front. I told her I felt sick and then asked if she wanted to switch seats so she and her boyfriend, who was in the seat behind her, could be together. Not only did she agree, she gave me some motion sickness medication! Wow, so sweet!

When we boarded back into the bus, Jessica took the seat her boyfriend had been in (also a solo seat, but behind my new seat), and she and her boyfriend took our two seats next to each other. Between the medicine and my new seating arrangement, I was starting to feel a lot better. The road was still incredibly windy with hairpin turns and the bus had to go into first gear plenty of times to chug up the steep road, but I did not throw up!

About 30 km outside Pai, we were stopped at a military checkpoint. As a soldier walked towards our bus, I wondered if we would need to show our passports, but no one said anything. The soldier opened the door and looked around. When he saw the girl who switched seats with me's boyfriend, we'll call him Bob, he said something and Bob produced his ID. The man looked it over then said something to Bob which I interpreted as "You're going to have to come with me." Bob got out of his seat and they headed towards the guard shack. I tried to see what was going on but it was on the other side of the bus, so I couldn't see too much.

After a few minutes, I saw Bob come from around the back with a small cup in his hand. I could only assume this was a urine sample, as he and the soldier sat down at a small table and waited with the cup on the table. They were talking, but I couldn't tell if it was amicable or not. The girl in the van didn't seem concerned, so I wondered if this was a common occurrence, perhaps they expected it. I thought it was maybe to do with him being Thai, but they didn't ask for her ID, or the other two older Thais in the bus. My only conclusion was that perhaps Bob was "randomly" selected for drug testing (he was tattooed and scruffy looking), OR because he was a young male, that they suspected him to dodging military service. However, I looked it up and Thailand does not conscript their soldiers, so that couldn't be it.

Ten minutes later, the girl got out of the bus and went to talk to the crowd around Bob. She came back and got her things. I expected her to take them and go wait with Bob, but she just talked to the bus driver and got into the front seat. We finally took off, leaving Bob behind with the soldiers. Since I'd spoken with the girl, I'd hoped to ask her about it when we got to the bus station. However, about 10km outside Pai, the bus pulled over and she got out and the bus left her.

Jessica and I are both absolutely dying of curiosity about this whole thing, but I suppose we'll never know the real reason, or the outcome for poor ol' Bob.

Once we arrived into Pai, we got a motorbike taxi to our guesthouse. This meant each of us on the back of a motorbike, with our luggage in tow. Jessica had her hardcase rolling suitcase in front of the driver, and I had my backpack on and smaller backpack in the basket at the front of the bike. We took off, and I definitely had a surreal moment of "Oh my gosh I am on a motorbike taxi in a tiny village in the Thai highlands!" I looked in the rear-view mirror of the taxi and all I could see is Jessica with a HUGE smile on her face.

Our guesthouse was about 2.5km from the city centre, and I hadn't realized that it would feel so "out of town". When we arrived, we asked out taxi drivers to wait and return us to the town so we could rent a motorbike. They were so kind, both older and spoke almost no English. We checked in (there was some confusion over how many rooms I booked) and headed back with them. They dropped us off at a motorbike rental store, and we inquired the price - 140TBH per day. We decided to shop around and headed towards the restaurant where our Thai cooking class was to take place.

Along the way, we asked at several motorbike rental places, and they were all most expensive. Looks like our taxi drivers knew what they were about! We got to BeBe Spice, the restaurant, and walked to the back to meet BeBe. I had made our reservation back in October or November, and was instructed to contact her the day before. However, I've since deleted my facebook and had no way to contact her other than in person. I explained to her that we had a reservation for tomorrow, and she looked confused and said she was not doing a class tomorrow.... Uh-oh! She was actually very kind and good-natured about it, which made me not fret. She offered to do it the next day, Tuesday, and since we'd planned that to be our free day, we agreed to it. SHe invited us back for dinner that night at 9pm, but we weren't sure if it was free or paid, as the cooking school pupils were making it.

After we put our deposit down, we continued to walk, as we now needed to go to the bus station and buy our ticket for returning to Chiang Mai on Wednesday. While I'd planned to leave in the morning, our cooking school offered free practice the day after your lesson, so we changed our plans to leave Wednesday afternoon in order to take advantage of the practice offered. We got two of the last three seats on the 2pm bus for Wednesday. Glad we booked it out early!!

Finally, we headed back to the original motorbike rental shop and got a bike for three days. When they showed me how to use it, I felt okay with it. However, Jessica and I had planned to ride together (she did not want to drive one) and when she got on the back, I definitely felt less confident. In fact, I felt honestly very nervous!! We took off - shakily - towards our guest house. Somehow, I managed to drive it all the way there without incident, although turning was HARD and scary!!! Jessica was very good natured and trusting!!

Once we got to the guesthouse and got off the bike, I realized how much I was shaking, both with effort of controlling the bike and with nerves. I realized that I did not want to do it again, and the thought of doing it for three days was terrifying! I felt awful doing so, but I realized I wanted to return the bike. The biggest problem with that plan was that since our guesthouse was so far out of town, it would be difficult to be spontaneous with our plans. After a bit of waffling, I decided to ask our guesthouse person to help me return the bike.

I headed down to the front desk area and the guy was super helpful and agreed to help me take it back. He even got his buddy to go along and bring us back to the guesthouse afterwards. I ran up to tell Jessica, and with this decision made, we then agreed to look into another accommodation closer to town. I found one with availability AND A/C, and booked it. Our guesthouse was only $10 per night, and the new one $27, so we agreed that being centralized and with more comfort was worth losing the $30. I then went back to tell the worker who was going to help me return the bike that we were going to check out early.

His response to my explanation that we were not going to stay there was "Hold on, let me check my schedule." Errr...? I was super confused so I followed him to the desk and asked if he understood me. He said yes, but wanted to check his schedule. I tried again to explain that we would be leaving, changing guesthouse. He again said okay, no problem. Long, broken-English story short, he wanted to give us our money back for not staying in the guesthouse. I told him it was okay, he did not have to do that. But he kept saying "I want to give back to you!" I mean, I won't turn down a refund! He explained that he would have to wait a little bit to give me the refund, which I said okay no problem. He seemed relieved.

We then got our luggage together and hopped on two motorbikes - mine and one of theirs. They dropped us at the new hotel and then went to return the bike. He returned only 10 minutes later with our refunded money - we were only out the cost of 1 day's rental plus insurance - a total of 180TBH or about $5. Phew!

All checked into our new hotel, aptly named Pai in Town, we took showers and cooled off under the A/C (I'd been roasting all day). Finally we headed into Pai to just see the town and find some food. I was now able to actually relax and enjoy this CUTE little town! I'd read wonderful things about it online, and I can definitely see the appeal. It's a slow-pace, hippy town. The weather is somewhat more pleasant than in the city, and the evenings are downright cool. We wandered the Walking Street market and I found some souvenirs to take home as well as some delicious street food. Sunday night in Pai was the first time it REALLY felt like a vacation - nothing to do, nothing to worry about, just focused on relaxing and enjoying ourselves. And, part of enjoying myself is sleeping. We called it a night at 9pm once again and, with nothing planned for the morning, enjoyed sleeping as late as we wanted.

We've got two full days plus half of Wednesday to enjoy this town and I plan to do just that: ENJOY it!

Xx,
Chelsea

Chelsea in the Air

Hello again, devoted readers (all 3 of you) :) I’m on the road again, and excited to be blogging once more. It’s been a while since my last international trip, but work and life have kept me busy. I’ve met someone, fallen in love, and gotten engaged. I still can’t believe it sometimes! His name is Danny, and we will be getting married this December. Tthe trip I am about to blog will likely be my last international foray as a single woman. But, that just means another life-adventures awaits.

For now, though, I am off to THAILAND! For those loyal readers who remember my February vacation last year, to Korea and Japan, this is like Round 2, but in another country. I am going with my same girlfriend from college, Jessica. We are meeting in Bangkok this time, rather than Korea. I love having a friend that not only likes to travel, but also has the means to do so, and most importantly, prioritizes travel like I do. Not many people do that! Everyone says they want to travel more, but when it comes down to it, it’s not a high enough priority to dedicate the time and money it takes. I’m so thankful that Jessica can be my partner-in-travel, at least while she lives/works in Seoul.

So, this year we are headed to southeast Asia. I began planning (at least the idea of) this trip almost immediately following our last one. So, it’s been almost a year in the making. At first, we considered New Zealand, but I ultimately decided to go with a cheaper country. Plus, Danny (my fiancé) wants to go to New Zealand with me, so I wanted to save that destination for us. Once Jessica and I decided on SE Asia, we had to narrow down the country/itinerary. Honestly, had we more time (or more funds) I’d have loved to do both Thailand and Cambodia. I think Cambodia has a lot of very interesting places I’d like to see: Angkor Wat (of course), plus all of the historical stuff (Killings Fields, etc). However, as I started to plan the itinerary, it felt like we were trying to do too much in too little time. We decided to limit our destinations to spend more quality time in each place, plus reduce the stress of traveling between too many cities.

So, Thailand won out, primarily due to its Bucket List points. So, I researched and plotted out all of the things we wanted to do. Honestly, our 10 days in-country won’t be enough to do it all, but I am super happy about our chosen itinerary. We will be doing Bangkok and northern Thailand. A lot of people choose to go to the islands, and I’d love to go there one day as well, but, like I said, I wanted a more Bucket List heavy trip. I don’t want to spoil the coming blogs, so I’m zipping my lips about our plans, but I’ll say that adventure definitely awaits!

For now, I am 7.5 hours into a 15 hour flight to Seoul (ironic that my layover is in Korea), then onto another 6 hour flight to Bangkok. I’m really happy that my layover is at Incheon Airport, though, as it is extremely nice!! I departed from Houston directly to Seoul; I prefer not changing planes in somewhere like San Francisco as it can be so chaotic.

I’m flying Korean Air, and maybe I am spoiled by Asiana & Singapore Air, but I’m not super impressed thus far. The food was pretty good (I had bibimbap – Korean rice and veggies in a spicy sauce), but the snacks are minimal and infrequently offered. Plus, I am in a section of 3 seats, with the middle being unoccupied. The Korean guy in the seat on the other end has decided that the middle seat is his proxy seat, putting his backpack in front of it, his newspapers and doo-dads in the seat, and his drink on the middle tray table. -__- It’s definitely not a big deal, I just find it annoying. I’m one of about 4 white people on the flight; there are more toddlers/babies on the flight than white people. Alas, such is flying on an Asian airline.

Honestly, not much else to divulge at the moment. Maybe I’ll have some crazy story to tell after my layover (unlikely, but possible). Either way, I’ll be sure to document an update when I get to the hotel in Bangkok. Until then… adios!

XX,

Chelsea