Pai in the sky

The last couple of days in Chang Mai were great. We recovered from the trek and then we went to the 'walking' market on Saturday night. I have never seen so much stuff to buy in one place and so cheap!! I really wish I could fill a huge bag load. The area around Chaing Mai is renowned for Thai silk and so many of the stalls had the most beautiful silk clothes, cushion covers, throws, scarves and table runners I've seen in a long time. I bought four silk cushion covers for 60p each! It was all I could do to stop myself buying more - I can see how people who import the stuff make a fortune. The silk table runners (the like of which you'd see in habitat of 30 pounds) were about three pounds or less. The market as a whole was fantastic because Thai people out-numbered westerners easily and so you really felt a part of something Thai. There was a real buzz in the air and I've realised I really like markets - especially ones where they have stuff I've never seen before (the food markets are something else as you ponder what fruit or veg or [even animal] you're looking at). The food at this market, once again, was amazing and Jon did his best to eat pretty much everything. He described Thailand as having food 'porn' which I think is a pretty apt way of descibing it...

On Sunday we took the three hour minibus journey along snaking (being careful to remember travel sickness pills!) roads to a place called Pai.

Pai (pronounced Bai) is great. It's quite far north in Thailand so it's actually cold in the evenings and at night... this is a bit wierd for me and my body doesn't know whether it's coming or going in terms of acclimatising. In fact, all the skin on my face is currently falling off (a wierd mental image I'm sure) as it's gone from reasonably cold (UK) bloody boiling (Bangkok) Warm (Chang mai) and now bloody freezing. I dread to think what will happen when we hit Koh Chang in two days (Island off east coast where we'll spend christmas). Back to the point, part of Pai's beauty lies in the etheral feel of the hills surrounding it.... the mist helps too.

The hills surround Pai

Pai is incredibly laid back and full of hippies, so I feel very much at home!! There's lots of tea and cake and healthy eating shops as well as the obligatory street vendors (god - i really must stop shopping!) although many of them are hill tribe people here rather than the regular Thai people. Pai is surrounded by green mountains/hills and the view from just out of town in amazing.

I've been investing in doing nothing much, whilst Jon's become action man of the moment with white-water rafting and bicycle rides to waterfalls and the like. Ended up with some good bruising for his troubles too - I always knew sport was bad for you but no-one ever seems to take heed....

Actually, to say I've been doing nothing is a bit of a lie. Being as I love Thai food so much, I invested in a cooking course the other day at 'Bebe's Wok n' Roll' cooking school (groan) . I made green curry paste from scratch and then a green curry with it. I also made Pad Thai and coconut, lemongrass and prawn soup. Have to say the soup was gooooood! Will have to try out my new culinary skills when I get back (if I ever come back - very tempting not too!) if I can get hold of the ingredients needed... Anyway, it was good to learn about the food, but the people were a little too laid back for me - maybe I'm finanlly realising that I can't sit still, or maybe they were just a bit too 'chilled'? - I don't know, but what I do know is that people being half an hour late and then having breaks every ten minutes (for around 20 minutes) doesn't do much for my patience levels! By the end of the day I was fit to burst... and very hungry! Perhaps this was the idea?

Have also done a little yoga at 'Mam's Yoga' class but have to say James always managed to fit more than five moves into an hour session, so five moves for a two hour session seemed a little too laid back again.. Oh dear, maybe there's a pattern here?!

Off to Chang Mai again tomorrow before heading down to Ko Chang...