Auyatthaya, the ancient city...

I took a study break one Friday to make a day trip up to Auyatthaya.  I went up with two friends, a girl I met in the immigration office, Sophie, and her friend Sophie :)

We left early one morning on the train, a local train which really is an experience! All locals except us and CONSTANT sellers coming up and down the isle... you would think after the 3rd or 4th walk through they'd realise that no one wanted their food! or those who did would have bought it already!  

When we arrived we crossed the street and rented bikes for the day to bike around the ruins and temples. 

We had a beautiful setting with a large group of monks visiting the first temple at the same time as us. Appeared to be a school group of young monks. 

Unfortunatly about 1h after our arrival and right in the middle of one of our temple tours it started to torrential down pour!  We got back on our bikes and rushed to find a restaurant for lunch! Luckily by the time we finished lunch not only had it stopped raining but the sun had also dried off the roads. 

So with the Buddha in the tree... well we didnt know at the time but our first picture had us standing, a guard came over and started yelling at us for "standing over the Buddha" we couldnt figure out what he meant and then we realised we couldnt stand beside it we had to squat to take the picture... ooops!

This is apparently one of the biggest in Thailand.  

Pai Day 3 & 4 - Trekking in the mountains

Our main purpose of going to Pai was to go on a trek.  After a couple days of waiting finally there were enough people for the trek to go.  We decided to do a 2 day trek so we would spend one night at a homestay at a village in the mountains.

We were hiking in a bamboo forest!  It was a very unique experience! The hiking itself wasnt too treacherous but it was a good hike and we were trekking through areas where I could not tell that we were on a trail, it was essential to have a guide who knew where you were going.

We brought packed lunches which the trek company provided for us.  We stopped near a stream for lunch.  Our guide built a fire our of bamboo and also made us bowls and cups out of bamboo!  Also in the fire he made us tea.  If you look at the fire the green bigger piece of bamboo has hot water and tea boiling in it!

My bowl made by our guide out of bamboo leaves.  

the cups made out of bamboo... 

pouring the tea into the cups... 

We then continued hiking and arrived in the village where we were to spend the night some time in the late afternoon.  It was a cute village, all the huts were made out of bamboo and leaves.  The guides always stay in this village but switch around which hut they stay in so to spread out the wealth in the village. 

Ben and Marten in the hut with snacks after our day of trekking.

Right in the hills beside the village are some caves.  After our snacks and a brief rest we went and explored the caves.  The first cave was pretty big with narrow winding tunnels, we went in one entrance and out another... 

The second cave was significantly smaller but had a greater significance.  It was used for the burials and still contains a couple of the coffins! 

This is a coffin that would have been used at some point. 

That night our guide made us a wonderful homecooked meal!  Well more of a feast!!! There was so much food and it was all so delicious!  We were also treated to Thai whisky made from sticky-rice, it was a little strong but better then some of the other alcohol I've tried here in Thailand!

preparing all the pumpkin for the soup and stirfry!

One of our guides cooking dinner.

One of our guides, Ben, the child who lives in the house, me and Marten at dinner. 

The next morning we woke up for another day of trekking!  After another feast of a breakfast we started our day once again.  This day the main site was a waterfall!  The trek was more of a nice walk, not many uphills and along a trail.  We had lunch at the waterfall as well as a nice swim!

Jumping from the tree :) 

The plate/bowl our guide made out of bamboo! With handmade bamboo chop-sticks too!

After lunch I realised we were running a little late as I needed to catch a bus back to Chang Mai to then catch my flight back to Bangkok.  I had started to feel sick a couple days before our hike but was fighting it off knowing that being sick while hiking wouldnt be much fun... I wasnt feeling great but I got everyone moving and we hiked to the village in 45min... it was supposed to take 1.5h!!!!! 

I made the bus just in time but it was on the bus that I realised how sick I was.  I was able to fight off the cold for my entire trip which is what mattered!  I did spend the last 2 weeks with what I think was the flu... one of the reasons why I am so far behind on my blog!

Pai Day 2 - bike in the countryside

The next morning we woke up early and rented bikes for 20baht a day! (that's around 68cents).  We did a big loop that included all the main sights around Pai.  We figured we biked close to or maybe over 40km!  It was a long day of biking, in scorching hot weather but wow I loved the workout! 

Our first destination was going to be a waterfall, we saw on the map around where it should be, made the turn and started on the search... there were no signs so we had no clue if we had made the right turn or not but we decided we may as well check it out... we started biking and then walking along any trail we could find in search of this waterfall... we were literally in the middle of no where.  We didnt see a single human being on our entire search for this waterfall!

Well it was a beautiful hike and bike in the jungle (as you can see by the pictures above), we truely felt isolated, but we did not find the waterfall... after finally deciding to turn around and head back to the road, we saw the turn off about 300m's further down the road!  Although we did not find the waterfall we loved the hike in the middle of no where so it was not at all a waste!

Next stop was Pai Canyon.   

Again great views but this time a good number of other tourists around...

Next was the Memorial Bridge.  The original structure was built by the Japanese POW's during WWII but was torn down after.  The village people had gotten used to the bridge so after it was torn down suddenly had major troubles crossing the river, the used boats but eventually rebuilt the bridge.  It is now there in memory of all the POW's who died in the construction of the original bridge. 

Then on to the hot springs... Pai Hot Springs is in a National Park with many pools flowing down into one another... The Thai's seemed to be loving the water! I felt it and there was no way I was going to get in the boiling hot water... and boiling I mean it literally!

At the end of those sticks are bags filled with eggs, literally BOILING in the water! It's one way to get your hard-boild eggs!

We were now starting to feel the heat and hadnt had food for breakfast so decided it was time to re-feul... after a little detour (it was confusing... we didnt know we had already made the turn... it seemed to be a straight road) we stopped at Pai Treehouse for lunch.  Very cute guesthouse with amazingly manicured gardens that go all the way down to the river!

Our final stop on the loop was a small watt with over 300 stairs to climb up to get to! Once again beautiful views and we started to see the sunset here... it was a long and tiring day but one I loved!

I am half wet from locals kindly splashing water on me as a sign of respect, still for Songkran.  The locals do it out of respect usually while most of the tourists do it solely to get people drenched. 

Pai Day 1 - Arrival and roaming around

Pai is a backpackers paradise, or that at least is the best was I can think to describe it.  It is layed back, in the valley and surrounded by countryside.  It is one of, or maybe even the most picturesque place I have been in Thailand thus far!

I arrived and in my usual fashion just decided to roam and see what I could find.  Well I found a cute small town with a river, dreadlocked-backpackers chatting on porches, bamboo bridges crossing muddy rivers and farmhouses with mountain views.  There are of course the odd watt here and there to make sure you know you are still in Thailand... 

Songkran was technically over but of course it being the weekend people like to extend the festivities a few days longer... needless to say I did not stay dry on my walk, passing trucks were my downfall!  

Well at one point on my walk I was walking accross a bridge and noticed a group of young boys swimming in the water below, it was such a cute scene I had to take a picture, next thing I know they are all calling for me to join them!  I was already drenched so figured why not!? 

The boys LOVED posing for the camera! I have a whole series of these pictures!
That night Ben Wolf (Steph and Jake's triplet... Steph and Jake go to Dartmouth with me...) joined me in Pai.  We had a nice hot-pot dinner outside our guesthouse and roamed through the market where we found really good tea in carved bamboo cups!