A Slice of Pai

Well, I never thought I would learn how to fire dance, feed a pregnant elephant and race motorcycles through a wild jungle all in one day, but I have successfully checked those off the bucket list, friend, and you can, too, if you visit Pai, Thailand!! Woocha!

Firstly, I would just like to state that the GREATEST THING about traveling (forget what they all tell you) THE GREATEST THING, HANDS DOWN is that when you travel, you feel invincible, like a video game character who can’t die. How could you die? You’re in Thailand, not real life. So that risk detector in your mind, with all of its anxiety provoking, alarm blaring intangibles, is somehow, turned off and what ensues is you living, and I mean truly living, like each moment is your last. For example, yesterday in Pai some travelers I met were renting motorbikes (which, by the way, cost about $1 a day here!) and they said I should join them. Had I ever ridden a motorbike before? No. Was a terrified that I might die? A little. But I’m in Pai, Thailand! When will I ever have the chance to ride a motorbike in Pai, Thailand, again?? I should definitely try. Besides, what happens in Thailand, stays in Thailand.

OKAY but let’s rewind. How did I even get to Pai?! And where did all of this fire dancing and elephant feeding go down? Well, I’m glad you asked.

After Ayutthaya, I took an overnight train straight up to Chiang Mai. My ticket cost about $30 and I found it on ThaiRailway.com. A Thai friend from Wyoming had recommended this method of transport, it is apparently how the locals travel, so it tends to be cheaper. However, if you are taking an overnight or planning to nap, make sure you ride 2nd or 1st class. If you ride 3rd class, you run the risk of having your bag stolen, etc. with far lower security. Don’t get the wrong idea, Thailand is extremely safe and the people very kind, but there is immense poverty, so it is something to remain aware of.

My train arrived in Chiang Mai, and I met four travelers about to take a car up to Pai, Thailand. Of course, me being a city avoider, heard “A small jungle town,” and immediately accepted their offer to join. The road from Chiang Mai to Pai is infamously treacherous, encompassing a whopping 762 turns! And I was introduced to the horrors of carsickness for the first time in my life.

Our motley crew grabbed a hostel and, with the sun setting above us, we headed towards “The Paradise Hostel,” with promises of a fireshow unlike any we had seen before.

They didn’t lie.

I asked the dancers how we could learn and they invited us to come back tomorrow morning when they would be practicing and they would show us some moves. So the next morning, my friend Alli and I returned to The Paridise and the dancers were true to their word, tossing us some toys and encouraging us to mess around. A few of them gave us private lessons, not asking for anything more than a good time.

My favorite toy was the stick. Learning how to delicately balance it with your body and anticipating where it would roll just naturally became this amazing dance… I guess Fire “Dancing"… makes sense :)

Well, I’ve got to run, so that’s all for this post! Check back for A Slice of Pai pt. 2, coming soooooon!!

Love you guys,

Clara

Two Days in Ayutthaya

“I think we went the wrong way.”

“What?” I shouted. The rain was sloshing down my ears and eyes now, melding the street lights and car lights into one bleary mess.

It was my second day in the ancient city of Ayutthaya, Thailand. Paula, a German girl I met at my hostel, and I had decided to visit a local light festival when, of course, monsoon season began.

Paula pulled her bike out of the traffic and turned, wincing in the downpour.

“I think we’re lost,” she cried.

Some local guards were clustered in an overhanging behind us. “Let me go ask them,” I said.

I approached the crowds of men who were successfully avoiding the same rain that was now soaked beneath my skin. They chuckled when they saw me. “Hello, how do we get to the light festival?” I asked.

They furrowed their brows and turned towards each other, murmuring.

One guard pulled out his phone and beckoned for me to approach. He pointed towards it and I realized that he had pulled up google translate. I glanced at him and he nodded, pointing towards it again. I leaned in. “Light Festival,” I said.

Instantly, the phone announced the Thai translation and the guards shouted, “Ahhhhh!”

They laughed and patted my back, excitedly pointing down a road, beyond. I started laughing, too. The Thai are infectious.

I had come to Ayutthaya by train, two days earlier. Bangkok’s steamy heat had inspired flight ANYWHERE outside the city, so I hopped on a train towards the ancient city, Ayutthaya.

If I could describe Thailand with one phrase, it would be “finding calm in the chaos.” Like the Monks in my previous post, Thai people have tranquil souls that drift amidst the circus that is Thailand. I will never grow tired of watching them.

An old women sitting across from me didn’t even seem to notice the shouting children around her or the sweltering sun’s heat. She just sat quietly, eating her boxed lunch and laughing with the conductor.

The train swept us past crumbling shacks, construction sights and chemical plants, until the shacks became sparser and the trees, denser.

After a ninety minute ride, we arrived in Ayutthaya.

Tuk Tuk tours commonly cost 200 baht an hour (around $6) but I was able to bargain a driver down to 150 and began exploring the city!

Ayutthaya was formerly a thriving merchant town and the northeast’s main trade port. However, in 1767, the Burmese ransacked the city and overthrew the government. Many temples were destroyed and the Buddha heads, stolen. Some heads were too heavy to carry and were dropped, allowing trees to grow around them and hold them forever in an embrace.

A sweeper man who let me take his picture. He was the most beautiful thing I saw that day.

My second day in Ayutthaya, I rented a bike for 50 baht. I would highly recommend this! It was absolutely liberating to bike with Paula wherever I pleased and we saw the town at our leisure.

Ayutthaya has been a magical experience. The city has a strange energy, perhaps it is the history here- the tragedy.

I’m heading out this evening to move father north. Where will I be tomorrow? Who knows.

Catch you down the road,

Clara

A Morning in Bangkok

When I first booked my ticket to Thailand, I have to be honest, I had no idea what I was doing. The old travel bug had hit so I searched the web for the farthest place that I could go for the cheapest (which turns out, is Bangkok, Thailand), I booked my flights, packed my bags, and left in less than a week.

Had I researched anything about Thailand? Hardly nothing.

Did I know the language or customs? Not at all.

Did I know where I would be staying? Hadn’t really thought that through.

But I had seen the pictures of exotic beaches and zip-lines in the jungles- it had to be dreamy.

So when I stepped outside the airport, bogged down by an aggressive heatwave, which felt like a hot towel was smothering my face, I was a little shocked. And when I walked through Bangkok’s crowded streets, dribbled on by wet overhanging canvases and attacked with rotting seafood stenches, I will admit I wanted to go back to Wyoming more than anything else in the world.

Wyoming is safe, where people love and support me and there is food to eat that won’t possibly poison my insides. But I had to do this. My mind was hardly working anymore from five straight days of traveling and no sleep, so I hunted down a hostel and slept for thirteen hours.

I awoke the next morning and lay staring at the ceiling, contemplating my most recent life decision. What was I doing here? It felt like I had just run away and not thought anything through, and now I was stuck...in the northeast...for thirty days. I forced myself out of bed and washed my face. The sun was barely peeking over the city’s horizon and I thought, maybe it will be quiet and peaceful and I’ll take a morning walk in the empty city.

I have never been more wrong in my life!

Before I knew it, I was hopping over beggars and running away from speeding mopeds, barraged by the city’s aggressive heat. I squeezed into a side alley, which turned out to be a throbbing marketplace, buzzing with bargains and laughter and hacking of fish and bagging of vegetables.

Families in tuk tuks and mopeds slowed momentarily on the road and shouted purchases to venders, who bagged their orders and threw them over the sidewalk. Street food sizzled. Buyers haggled with vendors. It was an absolute zoo, and I loved it.

One thing that particularly caught my eye were the Buddhist monks. They walked through the crowds, holding bowls. When a street vender threw a food donation into the bowl, the monk stopped and prayed with that person. I first noticed this when a women, who I was trying to purchase some apples from, suddenly ran over to a monk with glowing eyes and knelt at his feet for a blessing. All of the Thai people showed immense respect towards these monks, and it was hard not to revere their very presence, as they traveled silently through the chaos.

I smiled at these little wonders and walked back towards my hostel. The streets seemed less aggressive on my walk back, and the heat, less unbearable. Because I remembered why I was here. Regardless of whatever pains travel offers, and whatever discomfort, I must do it because it reminds me that I am alive! It reminds me to love whomever I stumble upon and to live every moment with such passion, that I will remember it forever.

Tennessee Williams once wrote, “There is a time for departure, even when there’s no certain place to go.”

So here I am, exploring the unknown. Where will I be tomorrow? Who knows. But that's the fun of life, isn’t it?

Catch you down the road,

Clara