A Piece of Pai

Pai, apparently pronounced more like bye, was the next stop on the itinerary. Opting for the comfort of AC and faster ride we chose to take a mini-bus there. This turned out to be the scariest ride endured in Thailand. Everything started out fine on a normal highway, then we hit the steep mountain curves, something like 860 of them. Passengers were complaining of dizziness and holding onto the seat backs for dear life while our driver threw us from side to side. Three hours later we arrived unscathed and thankful to be rid of the drive.

Not wanting to search long we took the first bungalow offered to us. Cute from the outside, a little dirtier feeling on the inside but still quite manageable. 

Picture of the bridge crossing to get to our sleeping corridors. 

Not wasting time we went and got our first motorbike of the trip. Nick is now a pro driver, Kaitlin... not so much. 

The first and probably only hot springs stop of the trip, quite a nice place to watch the night falling.

 Unfortunately our night to party with the real dirty hippies was cut short by a rainstorm so we opted to get up early and check out a mountain temple, Wat Phra That Mae Yen, with great views from the top. 

Lovely set of stairs we climbed to get the temple. 

Oddly enough, the only people we met on the bus (and Pai) were also the one's we kept running into for the rest of this visit. They were nice enough to take our picture at our favorite spot in Pai, Pai Canyon. 

The trail, sheer walls on either side of the small path. Not to worry, most of the falls wouldn't have been from  very high up. 

Most of them.. The trail was wider here at least. 

Next on the day's agenda, waterfalls. Here's a picture of the nicest one, Nam Tok Mo Paeng.

View from the top of the fall. 

And some of Thailand's great English phrases. 

The final stop was in a Chinese village outside of Pai, Ban Santichon. What you're looking at is actually a man powered Ferris wheel. Not sure that would fly in the USA. 

Yunnanese lunch, a whole fish covered in chili. Guess who ate rice after our waiter forgot the other dish and the fish was deemed "cat food"?

We arrived back in town and ran to the 'last bus' to Soppong our next stop. Last bus is in quotes because we rode in the back of a truck with bench seats and were also pretty sure we could have caught a ride in an actual mini bus. Gotta love that language barrier.