Wee Kev's Blog

    Our visas only had a couple day left, so Aaron and I decided that Northern Thailand needed to be explored a bit further, so we decided to make a visa run up to Burma.  We decided to take motorbikes as we'd get to enjoy the scenery far better than sitting in a cramped bus.  We met up with Julia in the morning and she decided to come along, so we left our bags at our old guest house and the 3 of us rented 2 little 125cc scooters and headed for the northern burma.  The trip was supposed to take a couple days so we packed pretty light.  The first day we got to Chiang Rai, which is a smallish town, a 200km north of Chiang Mai.  Here we ended up spending 4 nights, as it was a great little town with a night bazaar that ran every night, with live music, few tourists, great food, and a phenomenal reggae bar which we stayed at until the wee hours of the night, every night.  Finally it was time to say good bye to Chiang Rai, and head to Pai, which is at the end of a famous scenic incredibly windy road.  The journey itself was worth it just for the scenery we enjoyed, but then we got to Pai town, and quickly I understood why this town is so popular with traveling Thai.  It's the number one vacation spot for Thai's and for good reason… it's amazing.  Sure it's not a hidden mountain gem that it once was and has certianly been overrun by tourism, but it still holds a bit of magic if you just go looking.  It's surrounded by waterfalls, hot springs, and in the evenings, campfires are abundant.  We stayed in a hut near the river, but right off the main part of town, and thus had the best of both worlds.  We met a load of people at the guest house and spent the better part of the next 3 days with them.  They were a fun lot and it was a pretty diverse group, an Ozzy, 2 Yanks, 2 Germans, a Frenchy, a Japanese, 2 Brits and occasionally an Estonian.  Julia had made some local friends one night that recommended that we take the 4 hour drive down to Mae Hong Son, as it was meant to be like Pai but without the tourists.  So we thought, we'd check it out.  So we left, and that drive was somehow even better than the one to Pai.  But unfortunately, the town turned out to be a dud.  The night market was average, there wasn't much food, people were semi friendly and there was just nothing to do.  The only bar open after 11 was REALLY expensive, charging 5x what most places do.  So we decided that one night was enough and we should spend a few more days back in Pai.  So we headed back and spend the last 3 nights on a organic farm, living in huts made entirely of bamboo.  It was truely and experience and I'll surely be back as this farm is magical.  The owner Sandot, is a man who has a vision for the future of renewable sustainable living and his farm is his proof.  He runs an amazing place on that is virtually 100% self sustained.  It's only $3 a night per person and he even feeds you.  He offers a bamboo course where he takes you into the woods and you run around with machetes cutting down bamboo and turn it into useful things like spoons, bowls, cups, plates, baskets, chopsticks and in Aaron and my case a bamboo bong.  They cooked all their food with bamboo pans and all the tools for eating were also made from bamboo.  The course was fun and a bit exhausting, but the best part of the farm are the nightly campfires.  Every night, all the residents sit around a warm fire, eating food that's generally made from the farm, and spend the evening talking about their days and their plans for tomorrow.  It's like having a family dinner, but there are new people all the time, and everyone is just as elated as you are to be in such a wonderful atmosphere.  Unfortunately, Aaron and my visas were again on the outs, so we had to head back to Chiang Mai, return the bikes, and head to Laos.  So we said our goodbyes, determined to come back again soon, we left but only temporarily as we both know we'll be back someday, hopefully sooner than later, and we headed down to Chiang Mai.