Why Pai

Monk Chat is a place in Chiang Mai University where the local monks teach novices (mostly Westerns) about the basics of Buddhism and their ways of meditation. They take you into this board room and go through the meaning of Buddhism and what it means to Thailand and their people. Religion here is far more prominent then anywhere in NZ, everybody respects the religion even if you are a non believer, Monks have particular priority over the common man, you are expected to get up of your seat for them in public and you regularly see a monk walking over a busy road without waiting or even looking and every car will gladly spot for his pass. They then take you on the back of a truck to a centre about 2hours out of Chiang Mai city which is basically designed for the programme and you must then line up with a partner of the same sex where you are issued with a key to your own room. Now this place is completely free and to get a room with your own bathroom and five meals is pretty luxurious as I have discovered since backpacking. There are then white robes waiting for you on your bed where you are then told to go into the temple. This course runs for 2 days and in that time no-one can talk. We were taught all sorts of meditation and it's quite bizarre, sitting there for half an hour thinking only about your breathing, it's quite hard and I assume takes a lot of practice, the whole experience was very interesting and very beneficial in South East Asia when Chaing Mai alone has over 400 temples and not knowing what they mean it a pretty sore excuse. When I got back I spent most of the next day planning the rest of my trip, I had the feeling of leaving Thailand and starting Laos but is was too early for my Vietnam visa to fit in with it so on a complete whim I decided to travel to a place even further North called Pai. In Lonely planet it is described as a passing hippy town and now I'm here I can see it's exactly that. It is very beautiful, all the romantic ideas people have about Thailand with the Giant hills with sweeping valleys coverd in banana tree's and rice paddies all comes out true here. I don't know if I fit in here yet though, I seem to be the youngest in this small town with the average age been around 24-26 and everyone is here to get stoned. I met this French guy on the minibus up here and he asked if I wanted a cheap place with him and since he knew where one was a gladly accepted, the place is quite literally a bamboo hut with a mattress but what the hell, I'm in Pai so we hired a motorbike each which I quickly realised is a manual which I have never used before. So I have already learned how to drive a manual motor bike pretty much since I had no other choice and of course I asked for a helmet which I later found I'm the only one to even consider wearing one. So I'm driving along following my experienced French guide who soon stops in what seems like the middle of nowhere and he is buying the biggest amount of pot I've ever seen. We then make our way to the waterfall which is very beautiful and 10 minutes of us been there French boy tells me he wants to go back to smoke his stash. So I'm in the local Internet cafe updating my blog because when we did get back he cranked out his homemade bong and after two puffs said he wanted to go to sleep but who cares I guess, I'm in Pai.

My First Third World

There are no words to describe how insane Bangkok is, I was lucky enough to hook up with Sofia( Old work buddy) and her brother Andrew for my first few nights because I completely underestimated the enormity of where I am. There are a few things you notice pretty quickly in Thailand, 1. EVERY Thai loves their King, I don't believe he holds much power but the respect he holds is astonishing, no matter where in Thailand you go the King is looking down on you in the form of huge photographs in large golden frames usually accompanied with his really unattractive wife. 2. You can buy Anything, Anywhere, Anytime...... Literally, Every spare footpath or alleyway there is a street vendor trying to sell you something from meat sticks to tazer guns. 3. The Thais are incredibly happy people, they have a lot of pride in their country and although it's just complete Chaos, everything works. Consider the amount of people in Bangkok, and Auckland would have 4x the amount of Graffiti and litter even though rubbish bins are pretty scarce to non exist int here. You feel so safe here because of that temperament, I would and do walk down any Rd in the middle of the night by myself and wouldn't even think twice. 4. The smell and heat, you get the smell of open sewers, raw and cooked meat with car fumes fermenting together and you have Bangkok. The smell of meat with the constant heat can get quite claustrophobic at times and quite unbearable, it's like not been able to get any real air. You basically walk down Bangkok for 5 seconds and you have another completely new more potent smell every time. 5. The food here is amazing and so cheap, I have eaten things I didn't even know existed and still don't know what they are.
The first day, after getting my Vietnam Visa we went out of town to Kantabuata which is near the river Kwai which runs parallel to the 'Death Railway'. There is a place called the Tiger Temple where a senior Monk takes in Tigers and the Soi Nak Falls which is where the Death Railway ends and you can watch the rest of the day go by in the water hole. We got back that night and decided to hit Bangkok's' street life. Bangkok is so much more alive at night, nothing closes and nobody sleeps, we ate, drank, shopped and of even saw a show. When you're in Bangkok you can't avoid people advertising the infamous Thai Ping Pong shows, so after been quite inebriated we all decided to have a look. We chose one called 'Ping Pong Pussy' and for 100Baht you get a beer and a show, it was anything but erotic but the old men seemed to enjoy it. One of the the girls offered themselves to Sofia for 150Baht (approx $6.50NZD)
Day two we went on a tour, which I can highly advise avoiding. It took us to the famous floating markets which was nice but very expensive and very commercial, it's only designed for tourists to say they've been which is funny because I foolishly forgot my camera, then the bus took us to a very cruel cobra show and an elephant dancing show then a fake Thai kick boxing show, pretty much a very expensive tourist trap. That night Sofia and Andrew left for Chiang Mai in the North of Thailand and I decided to stay since I hadn't seen enough of Bangkok.
Day 3 I had to go and see the temples and monuments of Thailand, Wat Pho, Grand Palace, Golden Mountain, all very impressive the reclining Buddha was more then anything I then hopped on the train that night for the 14hour trip to Chiang Mai.
Chiang Mai is much more relaxed then Bangkok and much cheaper, I'm staying in a room for 80Baht a night (Approx $3NZD) I got sick the first night which led me to bed early, I'm been a bit slack with fruit, it's just so good here even if I'm not meant to eat it.
I had organised a two day trek up in the Chiang Mai mountains with the Hill Tribes, there were about 7 of us and we started off with an Elephant ride through the hills where we went past the indigenous Hill tribes of Thailand. We eventually got to one were we stayed the night with them and all their family. Very primitive people who literally live in Huts and grows and hunts for all their food, very interesting night with wild pig for dinner. We then Hiked for most of the next day until we finished it by bamboo rafting down the river Won.
Today I'm going on a mediation training night with a Monk at the Monastery down the Rd, you can't talk for 24hours and they teach you more about the ways of Buddha and meditation which starts in 1 hour. My next stop will be Pai and maybe Chaing Rai.