Lern Yoga, Easy 1 Day
I don't have pictures of most, or you saw them on page I. But the really interesting thing about Pai was the sheer number of people you can interact with, without the need to really seek people out, hang out in bars (or Convenience Stores, but it helps). This is due to the general environment, maybe summed up by ads like this one:
Lern Yoga, Easy 1 Day
It's not a touchy-feely-yogurt-muesli kind of place, it's just... gentle.
Here's a run-down of two days' interactions:
Oovit the Curmudgeon. Danish Pensioner who hold strong opinions on everything, and they get stronger as the beer flows. I wouldn't invite him to a party with alcohol, but he was fun to meet and talk to. Articulate (a good quality if you're going to be opinionated...) and outstanding command of English.
Moonsit (above right). Thai. Genuinely nice guy, good English speaker and eager to learn more.
Gary the Kiwi that sells the fancy hammocks on Main Street
Ben the Brit, the Aussie, the Kiwi, the Kenyan and the Canadian, and Scott over beers, cards, etc. Friends of about 24 hours, two of them are going off to cruise another country together.
Swiss Miss, the Kick Boxing candidate. What's a nice girl like you, doing in a sport like this? Violent, violent sport.
Beth and Salone(?) from Colorado. We meet while they're looking for a little fancier place and check out where I'm staying. They're closest to my age of anybody I've seen traveling, and two of very few Americans around. On the other hand, there are Canadians everywhere. We talk for a hour or more about the region, whether to trek or not, parallels between the Thai hilltribes and Native Americans... they're backpacking i.e. all their possessions in big packs. Not our style yet. Maybe we should think more about it.
Juliet the Eye Studded, cheek studded, tongue studded Girl and Boyfriend Evan(?) whose impressive roadrash has pretty much stopped bleeding from dumping his dirt bike on some back road. They're 20-somethings. French. They smoke a lot.
Eva and her husband, two kids 7 and 4. Israelis. He's just met up with her in the kids in Thailand, having been on a solo sojourn in India, "in between jobs". She and the kids (who are adorable) are on the siilor back to CM with #6, #8 and #9. Husband will join them in Chiang Mai — on his motorcycle. They buy too much hilltribe junk, and pay too much for it.
Ali (guy) and his brother Ian. Scotsmen from Aberdeen. Don't know what Ali does, but he's making his way around Thailand with a drum of some sorts which he plays for spare change. It's a living, literally. Ian certifies construction for oil pipelines.
Two Thais. One's young, maybe late teens and is wearing a long-sleeve sweater. It's 85 degrees out and sunny. Seems disinterested in our antics in general but smiles in such a Thai way when the kids are having fun. Thais adore kids (and spoil them a great deal). The other has his eyes closed for most of the 3+ hours back, but he's not asleep (unless he's tapping his fingers rhythmically on his knee while sleeping).
Part the Fourth: 3 hours in a Toyota pickup truck converted into a songtaew ("two bench") bus, traveling a break-neck speeds across Thailand with about eight adults, two children, and a Thai drum.
