I felt the fever all right, with the escalating prices of goods and food!
A bowl of kampua mee is RM 4 and laksa RM 5 on Chinese New Year’s eve! @@
Crazy! Can they take advantage just like that? The same thing will happen again, during the first few days of CNY, opening after closing for few days.
My parents are surprisingly hardworking with some decorations this year. 
Happy Dragon Year 2012!
Sincerely wishing everyone great health, wealth and happiness always. =)
I spent a week in Chiang Mai. Taking my own sweet pace, bicycling around town, from the area of the University of Chiang Mai up to the river side restaurants. Had a day trip to Chiang Rai, the golden triangle (Burma, Laos and Thailand) and long neck tribe people. But later on that because Pai was more interesting!
Like I said, after nearing a week in Chiang Mai, boredom creeped in after seeing much of the town. Pai came into the picture. I was contemplating whether to go. In the end, my heart said,
“Let’s go!”.
That morning of my departure began with a nice start.
My sturdy companion. =)
After breakfast, I was waiting for my pickup to Pai, by the roadside of my guesthouse. Mark, the Englishman, spotted me from across the street, and gave me a friendly nod. After a few minutes, he came over with the usual introduction and chatted for a bit. Before he left, he complimented me saying I’m beautiful.
Good sign to head to Pai, I was thinking. =) He came another two times checking I’m okay because my pickup was late for nearly an hour, picking up other passengers at different hotels. Maybe, it was God’s assurance too, telling me through Mark, that the trip will be a-okay. =)
The minibus ride (it’s actually a 12 seaters van, but Thais like to termed it minibus instead) was rewarded with beautiful scenery once we ascended the hill up to Pai. When we stop for a short break along the way, the Thai driver asked me,
“You kah sik?”
I shook my head for a bit, and he repeated a few times. He meant,
“You car sick?”
Haha. I told him I’m fine. It was a winding mountain road, and with the exhilarating speed that he was driving, it was torturous for other passengers. Luckily, I was seated in front, and I felt okay. With my that response, the remaining trip up was even more exhilarating with his F1 driving skills, missing by an inch on the car from the opposite side, while he was overtaking, on a curve. On a hill. -.-
I got a feeling he tried very hard to make me car sick.
After reaching Pai town under 3 hours (that’s a record), I decided to search for Tacomepai, the organic farm with bamboo bungalow, from my list of accommodation. For TB100 and to be with nature, why not. It was about 6km from Pai town, which was inconvenient for me, but my heart said,
“Just go!”.
Took the motorbike taxi and arrived at the farm, not seeing a soul. A local lady and little boy was sitting at one of the hut. They signaled me to follow them. We did some trekking, me with my heavy backpack before they showed me to a simple and very humble hut.
I thought it was their house at first and before long, it was actually where I will be staying; my bamboo bungalow.
Everything was very basic and true to its theme, back to nature and environmentally friendly.
The verandah leading to my wash basin and outdoor bathroom.
The wash basin. I don’t know where’s the source of water coming from, but the cylinder hanging mid-way was where I drew the water from to brush my teeth and wash my face.
My bathroom. Yes, there’s hot shower and thanked God for that! Oh shoot! I just realized I missed the sitting bowl in the picture! Hidden behind the bamboo poles on the right. The sitting bowl was buried into the ground inside the bathroom, just like that.
My room.
The mosquito net covering over the mattress.
I hanged out at the verandah for a while, adjusting to my surrounding, feeling it and thinking,
“What have I gotten myself into? Where the heck is everyone? It’s so quite.”
The view a few metres in front of my bungalow.
The other type of bungalow, some with electricity, some without.
I was contemplating whether I should get back to town and find other guesthouses there. I packed up my bag and trekked back to the main area. Not a single soul was around and then, I saw her.
I heaved a sigh of relief. Mod, the Bangkok student, was sitting at the lounge area, surfing the internet. Yes, the wifi was only around that area. Through her very very basic English, she was struggling to let me know everyone was away working, some guests were at Pai town and weren’t back yet.
The cat meowing non-stop.
The lounge or recreational area.
The kitchen.
And I knew, I’m not alone judging from the list. Later that evening, Mr Sandoz told usually they were full and I was lucky to get a place that day. =)
I decided to stay when Mod said she’ll fetch me back to Pai town to rent a motorbike.
Now, that’s another problem. I don’t really know how to ride a motorbike, had only ridden once like 10 years ago, and I don’t have a license.
And, like a force pushing me forward, I ended up renting an automatic motorbike for a day. -.-
It was only so because it would be easier for me to get back to Tacomepai later. I’ve observed along the way when I took the motorbike taxi back, there were a lot of slopes making it very challenging to use a bicycle instead.
Anxious at first but after a while, I got hold of it.
“It will be okay,” I thought.
Decided to ride back to Tacomepai first because along the way, the view was breathtaking.
See what I meant?
I could fall in love with the view. =)
One of the few hip cafes outside the town. There was quite a lot of Bangkok-ians lounging around. Later that evening, Mod told me the day before I arrived, Pai was crowded with Thais from Bangkok because of the long holidays over the new year’s weekend.
So beautiful!
Can’t take a picture of me riding the motorbike myself, so I took my shadow instead.
Made a mental note to be back by 5pm and shower before it gets dark at 6pm. Besides, Mod asked me to join her at 7pm to hang out at a jazz bar in town. =)
The motorbike I rented. =)
It was kinda cute to watch the pigs, ducks and chickens all snorting, quacking, and clucking so loud when they saw the lady came over with a bucket. It was their food. Looked like leftover rice plus some other stuffs to me, but they didn’t mind but gobbled up everything! The pigs were fighting over some food soon after.
Through the translation of Mr Sandoz, the owner of the farm, Mod and I will use by rented motorbike to follow her friend in a truck to town. I asked Mod to ride the motorbike with me as the pillion as I am certainly not efficient to handle one with a passenger behind! Mr Sandoz asked if I would like to join him with the rest tomorrow working in the jungle. I said yes.
A two-seaters old red truck zipped passed us and we followed from behind. I asked Mod,
“How do you know your friend? In school or university?”
After a while, she finally got what I meant and said she knew him in Pai. She added,
“He is good people”.
I said, she is too. =)
We rode through the dark, dim roads, with barely any street lights, cutting through local residents’ houses, with barely any lights on too. I wasn’t afraid because I trusted Mod. And as I looked up the clear sky of the night, millions of beautiful star adorned the sky, with the moon shining the night. I haven’t seen such a night for quite a while and I etched a smile on my face. =)
The old red truck came to a halt at a house. It was so dark that I couldn’t make the structure of the house. A long hair, thin Thai guy got off the truck. That’s Na.
At first glance, some people would have second thought to be around such person. A torn rugged jeans, with sandals and long thick lush hair ala bohemian braiding hair style. But I remembered what Mod told me earlier,
“He is good people”.
I told myself too, don’t judge a book by it’s cover. But still, I wasn’t afraid.
Na spoke to me in a surprisingly better English, that he would need to unload the truck first before heading to town with us. As it turned out, there was a horse nibbling hays in the dark, in its pen. A Pai local guy greeted us together with a youngster lady. They were unloading hays from the truck, the horse’s food.
The Pai guy chatted with me in a stammering of English and with Mod in Thai. I knew then, Mod met them for the first time as well.
We headed to the jazz bar soon after.
The unplugged music that night but it’s not jazz related.
There were a few dogs at the bar and this one-eyed dog was the popular one. She’s a cutie!
The sweet Mod and Na.
The night was getting colder and Na decided to start a bonfire nearby the bar. Mod said to leave it to him because,
“He is professional.”
Before long, all of us surrounded the bonfire for the much needed warmth.
Na is an interesting character. He learned his English by conversing and asking tourists that came to Pai. He learned it well too because throughout the night, he became my trusty translator.
He was studying political science at a local university before dropping out because he protested against his university’s chancellor over some issues. Government agencies were a deterrent to him after knowing the ugly pictures inside.
He shared about his younger crazy days, drinking like mad, fighting around with others just because boys his age like to show their macho-ness, power and coolness at that time. The turning point was when he was 18 years old, when he saw his own best friend being stabbed to death in a drunkard fight. He was totally off alcohol 2 years after that.
At one point during our conversation, he said,
“Why worry too much about tomorrow? Who knows what will happen? Live life as it is now. Appreciate now, only then we will be happy. Simple life.”
I nodded in agreement. I saw it as a sign that other people are passing the message that I have known long with affirmation and perhaps, a reminder.
We left the jazz bar and with just one motorbike, the 3 of us rode to Na’s friends’ Reggae Bar. 3 on a motorbike is nothing unusual in Thailand. It was very very cold.
For a second, his friends were a bit more intimidating; long hair, rugged jeans, bohemian kind of style, reggae music and Bob Marley. You get the picture.
As the night progressed, all of them were nice and interesting people who love music very much. One of them is a drummer, few of them know how to play the guitar. The whole night, the guitars were strummed to beautiful melodies over the bonfire. I saw how passionate they are over music, going deep into their soul and just let their fingers strumming over the strings of the guitars.
Mod could sing and play the guitar very well. Na earlier was hogging the electric guitar inside the bar and practicing his chords. He joined us later outside and once the guitar reached his hand, it never left. All night long, they sang beautiful Thai songs. I didn’t understand a word, but I appreciate good and nice music when I heard one.
It was Mod’s last night in Pai and she wanted to stay out late that night. I was very okay with that, although half-way, she kept apologizing for keeping me up late.
I was a farang but they made me felt like I was part of the gang. I didn’t know what their conversation was about, but I never felt left out at all. If there’s trouble understanding, we had to interrupt Na, who was buried deep into playing his guitar, to do the translation.
At about 3 am, we decided to call it a night. Na’s friend, the owner of the bar, sang me a song,
“Malay, Malay, Malay… Malay, Malay, Malay…,
She is from Malaysia…
Malay, Malay, Malay… Malay, Malay, Malay…
Malaysia…”
I laughed and we bade goodbye. Mod and I were without our jackets and it was freezing cold in the middle of the night. The owner without hesitant, lend us one earlier.
I told Mod I will need to hug her tight and she said,
“Hug! Just hug!”
I hugged her real tight from behind, hands inside her jacket, clamping her left hand, trying to give her warmth, while her right hand was kept at the motorbike’s handle, maneuvering the machine. Na’s old red truck was in front, together with one of his friend.
We reached the farm. Na and Mod chatted for a while. I didn’t understand a word, but I think Mod likes Na.
She told me earlier during the night,
“He is kind. Kind people.”
And she got Na’s contact number then after knowing him for 2 years. =) Sweet.
The farm was pitch dark with no lights at all. Mod insisted to accompany me to my bungalow. With the light from my phone, and the farm dog guiding us in front, we trekked carefully on the path, but Mod fall along the way and I felt bad.
We stop when we reached the bungalow and looked up to the sky, admiring the stars. She said,
“Nice view!”
She kept saying that night,
“If you scary, find me at my place. You okay?”
I said yeah. And I hugged her and thanked her from the bottom of my heart. She didn’t know for what, but it was the best day I ever had with her and the rest.
The farm dog stayed behind even when I shooed her away to accompany Mod back to her place. Mod shouted back,
“She wants to follow you.”
And disappeared into the dark. I shouted back at her to be careful.
I patted the dog lovingly. The dog went around my bungalow, sniffing and checking around. It went up the stairs up to the verandah, went down under the bungalow and around it. I brushed my teeth and used the “natural” bathroom and still found her at the verandah waiting and looking at me walked into my room. From her eyes, I know she wanted to know that I’m okay and safe.
After a while, I heard she’s gone. There I was, all alone in the jungle, but I wasn’t afraid because I felt God was with me.
The only thing that I was really afraid of was the cold. I fall asleep with a smile in my heart and couldn’t wake up in time to help Mr Sandoz with his work.
Pai will always be a good memory for me, forever. =)
A new dawn, a new day, a new year.
Just as the sky turned dark, the whole night, Chiang Mai was illuminated with bright dots. It was a beautiful sight.
The whole night was a sight to behold. The smile etching on people’s face as they happily lighted the lanterns, holding it for a while and releasing it into the air. Everyone’s head was docking up to the sky, smiling, laughing happily, making a wish for the new year.
I released a small lantern too, writing up my wishes, so that God can read it up there. I joined the rest of the people when I looked up at my lantern, slowly lifting up the air, further up and away, and feeling happy with a smile on my face.
The main street near Tae Phae Gate was closed. A main stage was erected with some local stars entertaining the crowd, a larger crowd walking down the street looking at local wares and food sold. Some sat by the side restaurants or pubs, people watching or looking up at the sky. I was soaking up the whole atmosphere, absorbing all the happy vibes from the locals or foreigners alike.
The temples all had their new year eve’s ceremonies and prayers. The monks were selling the air lanterns too and people were releasing it from temple compound. It was more serene and a beautiful sight to see.
Happy new year to all my friends, where ever you are.
Whatever your wishes are for the new year, I wish all of you the best of health always and happiness for all the blessings in your life.
Here’s to a brand new year. =)
