Pai's bus station
Pai's bus station
As made abundantly clear in the first chapter of this epic saga, the bus from CM to Pai... sucked. From the time I arrived, I dreaded the idea of going back on it — but what choice was there? I even hung out at the bus station around the times of the first and 2nd bus of the day to see whether the busses filled. Each did.
However, at some point on Monday (I was to leave on Tuesday) I spotted one of (it turns out) many "taxi" services, between Pai and Mae Hong Son, and Pai and Chiang Mai. Moongsit the Cop operates one of them (but he was going to MHS on Tuesday, not CM). Recall that a siilor (songtoaw) is basically a pickup truck with two rows of padded seats in the bed, and covered. There are grab bars on the roof, they're necessary.
I'd "scheduled" a pickup at my cottage at 10am. It didn't show. I'm neither especially surprised nor the least bit upset. "Commitment" is a relative term here. I walked up to where the bus station was, lo and behold there's Moongsit the Cop. He's about to head for MHS. I ask him if he can help me with a taxi to CM. Apologizes but walks me over to somebody else. "No problem". The price is a fixed 150baht (2 1/2 x the bus fare, we're now talking more than $3). They put as many people (up to about 10) they can get into the taxi: more people, more profit. So there's incentive to hang around a little while. Which we did.
As I wait, the group (#'s 7 thru 10) slowly comes together at the siilor: Ali and his brother needed a quick meal (Ali's thin as a rail, Ian... isn't). Eva is blowing kisses at her husband, who is making the Lisu (hilltribe) traders very happy by buying everything in sight without the slightest negotiation. Assuaging their guilt, Eva says. The husband has negotiated a far of B200 for the wife and 2 kids; he's driving himself down on their motorbike. They'll meet in CM. Or Bangkok. He blows kisses as we drive away. This whole thing must be weird for the kids. Or wonderful. Or both. They seem to take it in stride.
Ali's headed for India. His girlfriend is there; he's never been. "Buy antibiotics before you leave Thailand", I recommend. Ian is returning to Aberdeen which we conclude is about as warm as Boston this time of year. He will go and see one of Ali's ex-girlfriends (or ex-wives, it wasn't clear) and one of their (Ali's) children, all by different women, and will let this woman, whatever relation, know that Ali's not coming back to Scotland just now. It will not be good news.
The French couple smoke cigarettes and between their accents and them being in the diagonal corner of the bus from me, I can't tell much of what they're saying over the din of the road. She's got an apartment in CM (bet it isn't quite as nice as mine, nah nah!) .
The time passes pretty quickly. We make no stop at the half way point (where the bus stopped on the way up), but we later stop at a Shell station. Everybody pees (OK I'm making assumptions about Eva). The urinals are outside, maybe a dozen in a long row, unprotected from the elements but with a nominal (1 foot?) wall at the side so there's a illusion of privacy. In this part of the world boys get used to peeing in relatively "public" places (and in Bangkok, in totally public places...); womenfolk when exposed, are just not supposed to notice, nor we they, I presume. And here, as well as in Japan, and in China, they're usually in the restrooms cleaning the place, anyway.
Back on the bus. Ali breaks out his drum; this is an African-looking thing (it's actually Thai) that looks like a huge wooden hourglass with a (whatever you call the surface of a drum — skin?) on top. Ali's clothes (both changes) are inside, they have to come out before he can play it. He does this unceremoniously, and starts playing. It's a bit loud, being a confined space, but it amuses the kids no end and breaks up the monotony. When he's finished, the French guy helps him stuff his clothes back in the drum. Yuuch!
I've negotiated (in Thai, tah dumm!) with the Driver to let me off at my condo. Trouble is, he doesn't know where the street is. I don't drive in CM, so I don't really know the streets aside from where I walk or regularly visit. We're going up the "Superhighway" (two lanes + a median strip, traffic gets to about 40mph) and it starts to look familiar. Having learned but not remembering "Turn left", I motion. It not only works, it's the correct turn! Moments later I'm smack dab in front of my place.
Not only have I been spared the bus ride home, I've saved an hour, met a bunch of interesting people (as I left I wished them "great lives") and eliminated the 30 baht rip-off it'd have cost and the 20 minute trip it would take from the bus station back to my place. Net cost: an extra 60 baht. And I got to share part of the Frenchman's chocolate doughnut. Does it get any better than that?
