Pai in your eye

Yesterday morn we took a packed air-con minivan (there are no goverment run buses) to Pai. To get there we had to go through a mountain range which meant a hell of a windy road. We held on tight.

We strolled into Pai around noon and it was like a ghost town. A few tourists here and there, a few Thai's here and there, a bunch of businesses along two main roads. Not much on the go, and we kind of liked it that way. After the obligatory half hour investigation of guesthouses that look all the same we settled on one called Mr. Jan's, which happens to be Lonely Planet. Not too shabby, not too hot. A lovely garden.

Wendy wanted to relax so I took a stroll. When I returned to the room her previous nagging headache had blossomed to full fledged badness.

Thanks to Wendy I've had the pleasure of checking out the Tel Aviv and the Pai hospital facilities. In Tel Aviv the hospital was sparkly and modern. She received an IV to treat her dehydration and throat infection and was feeling good as new. In Pai the hospital was run down and unprofessional looking. The bathroom had neither soap nor toilet paper. She was given a handful of different meds to treat her dehydration and stomach bacteria. Now she's doing better.

Last night there was a collosal thunder storm that took out the power, knocked down a bamboo tree, and put us to bed at 8:30. Man, am I ever rested.

This morning we took a walk through the foggy rice paddies surrounded by mountains and made a dog friend who came along the whole way.

Now there's a screaming baby in the next room boiling my blood. Quit it, you damn crybaby.

After this we're going to hire motos to take us to the hot springs, then we'll ride a couple of elephants, and tomorrow we're going white water rafting. The day after we fly to Koh Samui.

It can't get any better than this. Minus the baby.