So the New Year did not get off to a terribly auspicious start for the Dude, with break-ups, bombings, cancelled trips, and what have you. On January 3, Bee came to get all of the things for her shop from our house. She told me she would come at 4 pm, and I had everything outside and waiting for her. She said that a guy with a pickup going to her home village would come by between 4 and 5, but that he had a worse record for puncuality than even United Airlines does, which is hard to believe. We waited and waited and waited and waited. She called him, and he'd say "one more hour!" Finally, at midnight, he came. I got to spend eight quality hours with the ex. Oh boy! But in the end, we seemed to make peace, and there was a nice feeling of closure to what had been a great relationship until that point. However, she since hasn't seemed to feel that closure, but I digress.
Anyhow, the day after this fiasco, as I still had over a week of midterm break left, one of my friends and co-workers, Colin Harrington, and I decided to get out of the city, which was something I desperately needed to do. We went north, to Chiang Mai, and then checked around a little to decide what to do. We decided on Pai, a little town nestled in the mountains of Mae Hong Son province, the northwesternmost in Thailand. And a great choice it was.
Pai has experienced a tourism explosion in recent years, due to its idyllic setting and pleasant climate (although it did get into the 50's at night - pretty chilly when you're used to 90's all the time!) Lots of people are beginning to retire there, and there are several artists who base themselves there. It's really a lovely place.
The thing to do when you go to Pai is to rent a motorcycle. So, that's what Colin and I did. It's not too expensive, and there are lots of things to see around the town - waterfalls, hot springs, and scenic overlooks. This was a great idea, and was great fun, until we had about an hour left on our rentals, and were headed back into the town on the main highway, Route 1095. I was in the lead, with Colin following behind me. All of these cars, trucks, and vans were whizzing by our little 125 cc motorcycles, so I was doing my best to keep to the left (as traffic here moves on the left.) Well, the road was not in such good shape, and there was a bit of a chunk out of the side of the road that my front tire caught. I started driving on the gravel, going at about 40 - 45 kph, and I tried to get back onto the highway. Well, the gravel had other ideas, and gave way underneath me. I was thrown from the bike, with some pretty nasty scrapes on my right forearm, shoulder, back, and both hands. The motorcycle lost a bit of plastic, but was okay. Colin went and got help, I put some hand sanitizer on my wounds (man, did that hurt!), and then the people from the company we rented the cycles from came and picked me up and took me to the hospital.
At the hospital, I was shuddering in pain as they cleaned up my wounds. The doctor, who I think was younger than me (they say that you don't feel old until you have a doctor who is younger than you, so now I feel old,) perscribed me some antibiotics, gave me some ibuprofin, and sent me on my way. A week later, the wounds are starting to heal nicely. This all could have been much, much worse. I picked a relatively flat place to fall - could've been on the edge of a road with a 1000 foot drop, after all! So I'm pretty grateful, actually, for my red badge of courage.
To the pictures!
A picture showing the HM The King of Thailand (second from the right) with the King, Elvis. What a great picture! This is on display in Chiang Mai.
Colin enjoying sheesha, or Egyptian tobacco, in Pai.
A street scene from Pai town. This is a popular area to retire, and lots of artists live here, from Japan and Western Countries at well.
A lovely sunset, just out of Pai.
Another lovely sunset near Pai.
A view from a scenic overlook we motorcycled to, only twenty minutes before the big wipeout.
Funny spelling, and my shadow.
Hot springs in a national park near Pai.
A mountain stream on a hike we took one of the afternoons while we were there. The sign said that there was a waterfall. By looking at the map, we guessed it wasn't too far, and we could even ride our motorcycles there. But it turned out to be a four hour hike. It was already 3:30 by this point, and we had hiked for about one hour, and since it gets dark at about six, we decided not to go on. In addition to that, on the one day I didn't wear flipflops, we go on this hike that required us to repeatedly cross this stream. Taking the shoes off, putting them on, then taking them off again, it got pretty old. But it was a nice hike, and a nice area.
A really cool looking lizzard at a national park we rode our motorcycles to.
Here is my red badge of courage, on my right forearm, taken only minutes after the fall. I also have scrapes on my right upper arm, shoulder, back, and the heels of both hands. Other than a couple of scratches, my legs were not affected. The wound you see here was the worst of them all.
Me at the Pai hospital after having my wounds cleaned up and wrapped. Man, did that hurt! But it could have been much worse.
The bungalow where we stayed was about a fifteen minute walk from the town. This was our view on the way to the town.
On the rickety little bus from Chiang Mai to Pai
Hail progress!
