Pai was the perfect place to get ill. Up in the mountains, full of (nice) hippies and loads of little cafes doing smoothies, super shakes, ginger tea, that kind of thing. Annie had a bit of a bad throat, perked up and then crashed (to be fair there were a few cocktails involved in this); Lizi developed some sort of recurring nausea and I felt really rough as though I was about to get man flu. We all soldiered on and, many ginger teas later, Pai had nursed us back to health.
Lizi and I went Piranha fishing at a nearby lodge. It was well cheap but as neither of us have a motorbike we had to get a taxi out there. Time for bartering with the driver...
The first rule of bartering: Start much lower than you expect to pay. (Duh, everyone knows this)
The second rule of bartering: If your first offer is accepted then you've paid too much.
I started too high and we paid too much.
Dave who ran the lodge looked at us in despair when we said that we'd never done any fishing before. He taught us how to cast off. I was crap. Lizi was very good. A bucket of bait and we found ourselves a quiet corner on one of the lakes where hundreds of piranhas would soon be trying to eat us alive.
I was picturing something out of James Bond. It was more like Countryfile.
An hour or so later with little more than a nibble at the bait, I went to try a different corner of the lake and got chatting to a guy who was clearly a bit of a pro.
Me: "So you caught much?"
Him: "Not today, it's not hot enough for the fish"
I don't know how hot it has to be for fish, but it was bloody roasting.
Me: "Has anyone caught anything today?"
Him: "Yeah, a couple of people have caught a few small ones today."
Me: "So what are my chances of catching some piranha today?"
Him: "Well none in that lake cos it's just catfish in there."
Annoyed, I went and told Lizi the bad news. We stuck it out though, safe in the knowledge that the catfish were awake, even if the piranhas weren't.
An hour later our taxi turned up and we left empty handed.
Cocktails later with Annie and her yoga mates and we all ended up in a bar with a Thai band doing Nirvana, Green Day etc covers. Fun times but I was feeling tired and ill so got a bit stroppy on the way home.
Back to my hut for sleep and the next day I felt surprisingly good, while Annie crashed and spent the whole day in bed. Lizi was up for tubing on the river so we got our swimming shorts on and got going.
Tubing (n - gerund) A leisurely sport involving sitting in big rubber rings and floating down a river. 'If you're going tubing, make sure you get back before the sun goes down'.
Unfortunately, Lizi and I had not had time to check the dictionary definition of tubing before we got in the van and were driven up the river. We hadn't checked the time or thought about sunset. The sun set over the mountains as we were floating along a very rural stretch of the river Pai. Really beautiful, but it gets pretty chilly when your arse is in a river and there's no more sun around.
Floating helplessly past local women washing their hair in the river like something off the Timotei advert, I felt like a proper tourist dressed in my bright blue shorts, blue t-shirt, sunglasses and wicker man-from-del-monte hat. Smooth.
By the time we got back it was dark. We trudged back along the main street where hundreds of (nice) hippies were trying on knitted hats and toerings. We must have looked pretty cool, shivering, with our wet arses and big rubber rings.
Tubing man: "You're back!"
Me: "Yes"
Tubing man: "It gets pretty cold at night you know."
Me: "Yes it does"
A well earned burrito for dinner, more ginger tea, and the next day I jumped on a bus back to Chiang Mai. Had to say goodbye to Lizi and Annie which was a real shame, but I'll catch up with them in a few weeks time.
I wish I'd been able to stay in Pai for longer, but I'm really excited about Vietnam tomorrow - Ho Chi Minh city here I come. Gran says there's a war on and I shouldn't go, but the Foreign & Commonwealth Office assures me it's fine.
Lizi and I went Piranha fishing at a nearby lodge. It was well cheap but as neither of us have a motorbike we had to get a taxi out there. Time for bartering with the driver...
The first rule of bartering: Start much lower than you expect to pay. (Duh, everyone knows this)
The second rule of bartering: If your first offer is accepted then you've paid too much.
I started too high and we paid too much.
 | |
| Not representative of actual piranha |
I was picturing something out of James Bond. It was more like Countryfile.
 | |
| 1 hour in |
Me: "So you caught much?"
Him: "Not today, it's not hot enough for the fish"
I don't know how hot it has to be for fish, but it was bloody roasting.
Me: "Has anyone caught anything today?"
Him: "Yeah, a couple of people have caught a few small ones today."
Me: "So what are my chances of catching some piranha today?"
Him: "Well none in that lake cos it's just catfish in there."
 | |
| Even with this massive kebab of bait I got nothing |
Annoyed, I went and told Lizi the bad news. We stuck it out though, safe in the knowledge that the catfish were awake, even if the piranhas weren't.
An hour later our taxi turned up and we left empty handed.
Cocktails later with Annie and her yoga mates and we all ended up in a bar with a Thai band doing Nirvana, Green Day etc covers. Fun times but I was feeling tired and ill so got a bit stroppy on the way home.
Back to my hut for sleep and the next day I felt surprisingly good, while Annie crashed and spent the whole day in bed. Lizi was up for tubing on the river so we got our swimming shorts on and got going.
Tubing (n - gerund) A leisurely sport involving sitting in big rubber rings and floating down a river. 'If you're going tubing, make sure you get back before the sun goes down'.
Unfortunately, Lizi and I had not had time to check the dictionary definition of tubing before we got in the van and were driven up the river. We hadn't checked the time or thought about sunset. The sun set over the mountains as we were floating along a very rural stretch of the river Pai. Really beautiful, but it gets pretty chilly when your arse is in a river and there's no more sun around.
Floating helplessly past local women washing their hair in the river like something off the Timotei advert, I felt like a proper tourist dressed in my bright blue shorts, blue t-shirt, sunglasses and wicker man-from-del-monte hat. Smooth.
By the time we got back it was dark. We trudged back along the main street where hundreds of (nice) hippies were trying on knitted hats and toerings. We must have looked pretty cool, shivering, with our wet arses and big rubber rings.
 |
| Ginger tea - a true saviour |
Tubing man: "You're back!"
Me: "Yes"
Tubing man: "It gets pretty cold at night you know."
Me: "Yes it does"
A well earned burrito for dinner, more ginger tea, and the next day I jumped on a bus back to Chiang Mai. Had to say goodbye to Lizi and Annie which was a real shame, but I'll catch up with them in a few weeks time.
I wish I'd been able to stay in Pai for longer, but I'm really excited about Vietnam tomorrow - Ho Chi Minh city here I come. Gran says there's a war on and I shouldn't go, but the Foreign & Commonwealth Office assures me it's fine.
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