Pai Pai Miss American Pie

We just got back from a much needed holiday last night. We went up North to Pai and Chiang Mai. Both were great - pretty, quieter than Bangkok, and inexpensive. We flew to Chiang Mai last Saturday and then took a minibus directly to Pai. It is a really windy, mountainous road there and we were glad to reach our destination that night. Pai is only about 3000 people small so it was really easy just to wander around and explore. We rented a scooter (only 180 THB for 24hours!) and toured the countryside, had some great coffee, ate some good food and relaxed. All until the third night that was, when we both came down with food poisoning. I'm putting my blame on the eggs at the resort's breakfast. Food poisoning is never fun.

After Pai, we went back to Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is the second largest city in Thailand, but at only around 400000, it is so much slower paced and quieter than Bangkok. Our first night there we laid low because we were still feeling the effects of the food poisoning and the bus ride back. The second day we did an Elephant tour. It included a show of what the elephants could be taught (very impressive), a jungle ride on the elephants (a little scary), a ride on an oxcart (very bumpy), a ride down a river on a jungle raft (so relaxing), a stop at an orchid farm (beautiful) and a show at a monkey school (they teach them to get coconuts down from trees.) It was a great day. The next day in C.M., we went to a cooking school to learn how to make some authentic Thai food. It was fantastic. The chef was great - very helpful and knowledgeable. We made AND ate 6 dishes altogether. Needless to say, we didn't eat dinner that night. The next day we did a walking tour around the old city. There are more than 300 wats in and around C.M. so we wandered around and looked at a few of them. On our last day in town we went up Doi Suthep to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep - one of the holiest wats in Northern Thailand. The views of C.M. were worth the trip alone, not to mention the beauty of wat itself.

We are now back in Bangkok, getting ready for school tomorrow. This trip has made me look forward to the next opportunity to travel and will hopefully make the next couple months bearable.

Check out the photos at my Flickr site.