pairadise

Pai is green, mountainous, a bit like a byron in the hills in thailand I imagine. (Have not got to byron yet).

Rode my first elephant, its name was Phenon and she was a 20ish year old very tall elephant. We strolled through the jungle and then played in the river. Some elephants wallowed in the water, prettly much lying down and squirting people with water. My elephant was not so keen on that. She needed some coaxing to get in the water, then coaxing to spray me with her trunk.

But there was one move she quite enjoyed, I was sitting behind the ears holding on tight to each one with my hands. She would push her head into the water and then shake her body furiously in an attempt to dislodge me. I managed to stay on once or twice, but then gave up hanging on and flew into the river. This move was repeated many times. I now (2 days later) Have the aches and pains I am sure most rodeo riders have! But is was really cool! If I could ealk properly today I would do it again.

I have hired a red scooter and am zooming around the countryside on it. I love the open road on the scooter - it is a blast. There is not to much traffic and no one goes over 60 - so you feel like king of the road. Today I am tootling up paths through valleys of rice paddies, and just crossed a world war two bridge. On the other side of this bridge is a coffee shop with amazing espresso and free fast internet - all good!

The rural areas, and jungle around pai is gorgeous.

Our accomodation is "Pairadise" a group of bunglaws away from the town and around a spring water pool. Not bad really, waking up and looking over the bungalows to the mountains, covered in mist.