"Greetings from Pai"

   Well we arrived in Pai (pronounced "bye"), a hippie town, on Tuesday afternoon and not to my surprise, I love it here. It is a little town located in this valley surrounded by beautiful mountains dense with bamboo and rosewood trees. To get there, we hired a minivan to take us through the mountains to this little gem. There were many bends and curves in the road leading us there so it felt almost like riding a little kiddie roller coaster to our destination. When we arrived it felt like a small version of Chiang Mai, which was a smaller version of Bangkok and that being said, the smaller the better. The people here are very laid back and easy going. The restaurants and bars are more personal, especially one place called the "Witching Well" where, besides the Thai food I have eaten it is the best food out here so far. We ate there for breakfast yesterday, lunch today and I'm sure we are to make another visit before we leave on Saturday afternoon. The art culture is the basis of this community. Everything has a very unique flavor to it and the inspiration here is endless.
    The first place Annie and I stayed at didn't seem too bad when we checked it out but as we got settled in Annie laid down the bed and then she followed with nervous question, did you feel the bed? Besides the first hostel we stayed at in Bangkok we didn't really have a comfortable bed and this one took the cake. I don't think Thai people know the difference between a box spring and a mattress. That bed was probably as comfy as two pieces of cardboard laid out on a marble floor. To say the least we only stayed the one night there and then Annie found this awesome little place around the block. We made the reservation and before we booked they showed us the place. We walked through the back crossing a small bridge over a koi pond and down the gravel path alongside a man made creek that would occasionally zigzag underneath us. Bamboo huts on stilts  were scattered around all with their own front deck. When we walked inside there was nice queen sized bed, a bathroom with a separate shower stall (most bathrooms in Thailand double as a shower and toilet in the same area) and a small couch made of bamboo and covered with cushions. The place was awesome. The bed wasn't too bad either so we took it.
    Annie and I decided to rent a motorbike to explore the outskirts of Pai. It was nice to have the control to do what we wanted to on our own schedule. We cruised up a small mountain to a look-out point and from there we were able to see what we have been looking at only on our maps. A beautiful view of the valley surrounded by mountains with sharp peaks. The only unfortunate thing was the intense dry hot season were causing brush fires to take away small portions of the greenery on the mountains. None of which was too threatening though.
    We then took off and headed to one of the waterfalls not too far from where we were. After a few minutes we arrived to the waterfall which was pretty but I noticed that because of the dry weather the waterfall wasn't at its full capacity. Areas that you could tell the water carved the rock over many years were dry and hot. Some of the plant life that should be a lush green color were brown and dry. Its nothing I'm sure this area hasn't seen it just needs some rain soon.
     We are off to explore some hot springs and rest of the evening here so I will catch up to you guys later.