More Pai Please

One morning in Pai we stopped at an elephant camp and were invited to feed the elephants. However the elephants were a bit more affectionate than we bargained for and they quickly wrapped Zak and I up in their trunks. Luckily, our feet remained on the ground but the quiet strength of these animals was truly awe inspiring. After carefully extricating ourselves - we had to explain that we weren’t those kind of guys - we headed down the road for a relaxing soak in the Thai Pai Hot Springs. We were there fairly early in the morning so we could get a good soak in before the heat of the day and we had the pools to ourselves. From a distance, we could see the steam rising off the pools through the shafts of sunlight filtering through the overhanging trees. Idyllic. You could select your soaking temperature depending on which pool you chose, the cooler pools being further from the source of the spring. The source pools were awesomely hot, bubbling and boiling like a group of nature’s cauldrons. Zak bought a bag of raw eggs and carefully cooked them by dangling the bag in the water from a hooked bamboo pole.

Later that day, we cooled off with a swim at the base of the local Mo Paeng waterfall. Zak and I were two of only four souls brave enough to get into the chilly water. The other two were semi-intoxicated Aussies who were trying to impress two bikini-clad Montreal girls by climbing up alongside the waterfall then sliding down the falls over 25 feet of only moderately smooth rock into the pool at the bottom. At the same time, but between splashes, a young Thai bride and groom, in full formal attire, were having their wedding pictures taken at the base of the falls; we tried to blend in with the locals but only Maya was able to pull it off. It turns out that a lot of European youth have jumped on the tattooed/pierced white trash bandwagon and, presumably because they are unable as a consequence to find gainful employment in their home countries, many seem to traveling here in Pai. It's the kind of place with a lot of fliers advertising live music jams at various "bars" by the river until the wee hours. We stayed an extra day in part to attend a large reggae fest on Saturday night; it was kind of fun. Definitely a big production. I was about to say the bands could have been better but we were in a small town in Northern Thailand so what can you say; It is what it is.