Pailand/Hua Hin/Byeland

This is *sniff* my final post before I leave Thailand. It's been five interesting weeks, where I've had to come to grips both with a foreign culture and with aspects of myself blah blah blah. Anyway, here's how I finished off my trip. The last blog entry found me having just arrived in Pai. That afternoon, I walked over to a temple, for a highly overrated view of the valley, then wandered the touristy but soothingly relaxed streets of Pai. While strolling about, I ran into Torge, a Norwegian guy I met on the bamboo rafting trip. We chatted for a bit, and I mentioned to him that I was hoping to run into Anna, another friend I had met on the meditation retreat. Just as I said this, Anna drove past on a motorbike. So that was all very convenient. That evening, after drinks with Torge and his girlfriend Renate, I headed up to an organic farm in the jungle, for a half-moon party. I'll forego describing the party in any detail, except to say that it was reeeeaaaally cool, and to mention the hilariously weird ride home I got from a gay Thai man (I honestly didn't know until after I got on the back of the bike) who tried to convince me to go to a room he "had for me". Luckily, he was short and pudgy and not very intimidating, so I was able to make him take me back to Pai, and not to the love bungalow. The next day I was stricken with dysentery, which layed me up for a while. Luckily, Thai prescription drugs are super cheap, so I was able to get over it pretty fast, but it still cost me two days of the trip. Upon recovery, I rented a motorbike and started exploring the Pai area. It was beautiful, the prettiest part of Thailand I've seen, and about the same temperature as a Victoria summer. The traffic isn't too bad either, so riding a bike was more exhilerating than terrifying. I often found myself humming the theme song to "The Darjeeling Limited" as I zipped through villages and past rice fields. At night, I got to check out the chill bar scene. I learned pretty quickly that the jungle party had been atypically wild; the bars are generally pretty relaxed, but it was still fun to chat with other travellers. Unfortunately, I didn't get to stay much longer; the Sawatdipongs invited me to visit them in the seaside resort town of Hua Hin, so I left the north a few days earlier than I had planned. Next time...
The trip to Hua Hin was also pretty relaxing. It's a beachside town, but the weather was such that I didn't do any swimming. Instead, I got to rest quite a bit, and also to reflect on my experiences. The sudden lack of responsibility also helped amplify the homesickness I'd been feeling in Pai. One extremely important thing I've learnt about myself is that I need four seasons. The thought of winter at home, of sledding up in the mountains or walking around Victoria or Seattle at night, makes me desperate to get back to high latitudes. But I was able to surpress that, and instead enjoy my last few days in Thailand. Being on holiday with an actual Thai family was a very different experience from the rest of my trip. Rather than culture-spotting and going to bars, I spent a lot of time with the extended family, chatting in Thai and eating large meals both in Jessada's apartment and in assorted local restaurants. It was, in short, essentially the same as an American family vacation, and it was good for me to remember that Thailand isn't all culture and sights and tourist-industry workers. As usual, everyone was very hospitable, and although the language barrier curtailed much conversation we still managed to have a good time. On our way back from Hua Hin, I bought some new pants, to replace my fertilizer- and paint-smeared old ones, and I've purged some of the excess stuff from my backpack, so I'm ready for Bali! I'll miss Thailand, though - the cheap, delicious food, the endearing squalor, the heat, the droves of interesting people, both foreign and Thai, and all the opportunities to explore. Back again someday! LYA