The Life of Pai

We've been in Pai, Thailand for just over a week, and I've personally been proving out the old adage about doing the least when one has the least to do. I'm not sure where the last 7 days went, but at this point we've pretty much scrapped the 2 last cities we'd intended to hit on our way back to Bangkok and are embracing the sloth.

Pai is a beautiful little hippy refuge. There are quite a few crusty dreadlocked geezers wandering the hills, but also huge numbers of Thai folks from Chiang Mai and Bangkok that come in on the weekends. It feels a little touristy, but in the most low key, hempy way. There's nothing here, per se, its just beautiful and super laid back. It would be like if someone travelling to the US ended up hanging out in the Poconos for 8 days. Not the Hamptons, not the Cape, but the Poconos. Where its chill and people fish and there isn't shit to do but drink beer and grill. That's what Pai is, but with weed and curry instead.

In our time, we've visited a waterfall, a canyon, some hot springs, and had daily walks in the fields during the gloaming to see the sunset. Each night the main streets close to pedestrians and one can wander for hours, trying on knit hats and Malaysian fisherman pants; eating noodles and street food and watching the rest of the town do the same.

Its basically heaven. And accomplishing anything, including slopping together a few sentences to make a blog entry, really takes it out of me. Its like when I used to have something work related to do over the weekend. Even if it was just an email that needed sending and I had a full 56 hours to get her done, I would invariably let it sit and fester until 9 pm on Sunday evening when I no longer had a choice. Pai is like that. We lengthened our visit here from 4 nights to 6 to 8 and now plan to leave on the 12^th. After our 2^nd extension, the owner of the bungalows where we're staying said “Why don't you just tell me the day before you're leaving. That way, you can stay 2 months if you feel like it.” Its so tempting that, to cement our resolve, we went and purchased our bus tickets back to Chiang Mai. 

Being here has made me think that I could get used to small town life. We see the same people again and again. There's an insanely good coffee place in the mountains. I've found a good yoga class that meets at 10 am everyday. Sunday night is live ska at the Reggae Bar. An excellent Italian restaurant sits on the main street. We're used to being spoiled by choice, but I'm starting to think that the limitless options we had in NYC aren't germane to our happiness.  In fact, I like running in to the same strangers. They're nice and we make dumb jokes about being extras in a Woodstock documentary.   If it weren't 24 hours from the east coast, we might just settle here.