Crystal healing- 250 B

Wow. We found the epicentre of the enlightened hippy, dreads are cool, thai pants and leather moccasins, silver beads in the hair fashion capital of Thailand.
It's called Pai.
Pai is a tiny little town by a river about 3 stomach churning hours NW of Chiang Mai. It's primarily an artistic getaway for both Thai and Farang muscians and artists. However it's become a bit of a mecca for the 'alternative' traveller.

It's something that Toby and I find pretty funny- when some of the westerners completely adopt the full-on, all-out, no holds barred Thai Backpacker Fashion. I mean, it's obvious you're going to end up buying local clothes and be influenced by the culture- but there's a particular 'look' that certainly isn't Thai, it's a weird bastardised western hippy version of an 'aware' backpacker. Most of them seem so far up their own arses, they'd never see the humour in it.

We did met some nice people though! There's a cool nightlife- some great little bars. We spent a few evenings set up with Changs and Thai whiskey on foldout beds by a campfire at our local bar the Buffalo Exchange. Groovy old Thai rockers serenaded us with lots of classics- Dylan, the Stones, Clapton.

We also took a cooking class and learned how to make a mean Thai green curry and a few other favourites. It was really fun- except that I kinda lost my appetite as I had just started a course of anti-malaria tablets and felt a bit queasy.

Spent a lot of time at our guesthouse by the river, relaxing in hammocks, reading on our balcony, swimming at the hot springs, riding the motorbike around town and being lazy. The saying in Pai is "Do Nothing in Pai". So we did.

Actually, the anti-malarials have kinda kicked the ground out from underneath me, and it's taken a few days (and some anti-nausea tablets) to get settled. Seems ok now though..def don't want malaria, so will persist... left Pai this morning, in Chiang Rai tonight and we head to Laos tomorrow.