Meditative visit to the northern mountains
Trip Start
Feb 14, 2010
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72
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Trip End
Sep 15, 2011
Pai, Thailand
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
The motor bike ride from Chaing Mai was a thriller. Shortly out of town we ran into a sudden downpour, and had a to pull off under a roof to seek shelter from the falling buckets of water. The wild road twists and turns acute corners, threading a needle through the forest, rising and falling steeply across the mountains. I pushed that bike to its limit and loved every minute of it.
I could spin a long story about my stay in Pai, but to avoid the development of eye-strain for the reader, I'll abridge the full version. Arriving into town, Vince and I immediately clicked with many local people - merchants and families, offering a more wholesome experience we'd otherwise be without. We befriended the owner of a tattoo shop, who's hospitality of inviting us for free bbq's and various gatherings in the backyard behind the shop was just amazing. We passed a restaurant with a table full of eatible mushrooms out front and inquired into joining along to help gather them. Early the next morning we were back in the woods, on the hunt collecting a variety of fungii, and the lady prepared and cooked them for us that evening - they were rediculously delicious. While sitting for a mug-full of Indian chai tea at a local cafe, we got to talking with the owner who informed us of a free guided meditation later that morning. So, we returned, for an experience entirely new to me, following my thoughts into some layer of semi-cognitive existince, and without words to further describe justly.
We caught up with friends who we met in Chaing Mai, and booked a 2 day trek through the surrounding jungle wilderness, staying overnight with a local family living the simple life on a small farm. It was a unique glimpse into a lifestyle entirely apart from you and I. Arriving back in town, I took a wonderful yoga course to balance myself out before the bike mission back to Chiang Mai.
I'd arrived in Chiang Mai having never heard of Pai. A random conversation over a bowl of curry easily persuaded me to rent a bike and check it out. I left Pai with one of the better memories of my entire stay in southeast Asia. I love spontaneity.
