My Chang

Chang Mai is a strange and interesting place, walled by ancient brick in centertown, and most active in the evening during it's fabled night bazaar. Most folk use it as a jump off place for Pai and the surrounding area, but in itself it's a nice town. Winding alleys replete with small, intimate guesthouses, framed by beer gardens and restaurants. The ubiquitous effect of western society is still very present, tuktuk drivers cluck and whistle at every passing falang, and even local restaurants serve spaghetti and meatballs, pizza and burgers on top of the cheaper and more delicious Thai fare. In short, Chang Mai was likely a more amazing place ten years or more before yesterday.

Wandering the night bazaar is pleasant, but Chang Mai offers more of a feeling than any real attractions. Nearby wats are common for visitation, but the fact that they stand lit up at night is more gratifying than standing too close to understand their effect on the surrounding era. Favorite features of the city itself are the small markets around, and the available street food, which is much different and less common than the common hawkers in the south. Other vegetables grow here, including brassicas along the lines of cauliflower and cabbages. This means the regional cuisine is much different as well. Hilariously, the spice present in the much hotter south is non existent here.

Off to Pai, 6 hours of winding busride later behind a small boy holding a chicken. Whatever atmosphere Chang Mai has, it is most assuredly trumped by the laid back feeling of sleepy Pai. It's like a hippy paradise that has been subtly exploited and is now also filled with places trying to glean a few dollars for the crowds that pass through. Happily, Pai is the place where you'll least likely perceive this to be happening, and are even less likely to be offended by it. Locals are still happy with falang, not weary and exhausted byconstant use and abuse of their culture and country. Nothing like Bangkok for a show of that. Pai is also the most common point to take a 5 days motorcycle loop called the Mae Hong Song Loop. No sooner had the decision been made to partake in said trip than the realization dawned that the Thai visas were short(annoyingly so) and it was time to leave to Lao. Many may wonder at the decision to leave Thailand so shortly after our arrival, but the feeling that Laos would be less trampled down than Thailand is not only correct, but also enough to encourage us to embrace Laos in it's entirety.