Such is the case with everyone I met in Pai. I came for a few days, that was 4 months ago, or I was supposed to leave 3 weeks ago. On and on it goes.  

It’s easy to see why Pai is a popular tourist destination. The area is full of vegan restaurants, yoga studios, dive bars, tattoo shops, and foreigners who haven’t showered in days or shaved in months.

Needless to say, I loved it. 

The first thing I noticed about Pai is the sheer number of…injuries. It’s a small town, so there isn’t much in the way of cabs or public transportation. If you want to get around you walk or you motorbike. 

Just about anyone can get a motorbike. I’m sure there are some laws in Thailand about who can ride a bike or get an international license or something, but none of the rental shops seem to pay that any mind. As a result, many people come to Pai and ride a motorbike for the first time, and the result was lots of fallen motorcyclists. Thankfully, motorbikes don’t go very fast, so the extent of the injuries is cuts and bruises. 

I had big plans for Pai. I was going to climb to the Big White Buddha temple or maybe hike Pai Canyon. Tham Lod Cave was pretty high on my list, as was swimming in one of the hot springs, or maybe just attending a yoga class. 

I did none of these things in Pai. 

And I’m not upset about it, not one bit. It’s easy to see why people get stuck here, but a large part of my laziness in Pai was due to the hostel I stayed at. My hostel was fairly small and intimate. There were around ten of us staying there. Some people had been there days, some weeks, and been there for months. 

The owner, Ron, has a lot to do with that. Ron is a Thai man who refers to everyone as ‘honey’. He loves to joke around, and he really built the place from the ground up. He lives with his wife and daughter on the second floor of the hostel, so they’re always around. 

Ron’s wife cooks all the food at the hostel. If you want to order something – green curry, french fries, mango milkshakes, etc – you use the walkie-talkie at the front desk to put in your order, and shortly after, she sends down your food from the second floor in a small, wicker basket. I had a lot of amazing food in Thailand, but nothing came close to a home-cooked meal from this hostel. 

The hostel itself gave you no reason to leave. Two stray dogs – who Ron named Daisy and Hutube – spent most days wandering around the grounds looking for snacks and pets. During the day, residents would sunbathe in the sand or lay around in hammocks drinking, reading, and listening to music. A few would make day treks to nearby attractions, but at night, everyone was together, sitting by the bonfire, drinking whatever beer Ron stocked that day, and playing cards. It felt like adult camp. I rented a private room with my own bathroom, and it cost me around eight dollars a night. Another reason why it’s so easy to get lost here – many can afford to. 

That’s not to say I did nothing while I was there. I didn’t rent a motorbike, but I’d walk the two miles into town to wander around. A favorite activity was watching tourists try to go tubing around the Pai river. It’s a popular activity, grabbing a few drinks and floating down the river. Because of the dry season, there were several spots along the river where it was too shallow to float, and an inevitable backup would form of tubers trying to scoot themselves along the dry patch to continue their leisurely float. 

In the early evening, I would join my hostel mates to wander about the town, eating peanut butter and banana shakes at the night market and snacking at all the food stands. We stopped at a bar or two, such as the popular ‘Sunrise Bar’, but nothing really beats the ambiance we received at the hostel. 

The one ‘attraction’ I did take part in was attending the famed circus show. Pai Circus Hostel is a lodging that also teaches those who are interested in the art of fire dancing. A local Thai fire dancer/fire breather owns it, and many of the people he trained who perform in the show are travelers who got sucked into Pai and stayed to pick up this new trade. The show was quite impressive. 

I only spent a week in Pai, but I could have stayed there for weeks, maybe even months, but it feels like limbo. It’s easy to see how people lose themselves here, and I loved my stay and would love even more to go back. However, I had other countries to visit, so I had Ron book me a ticket to Laos, and I prepared to make the only way one should – by a three-day slow boat.

The post Pai – The Place Where <br>Time Stands Still appeared first on Kim Is Lost.

I spent two hours in the back of a songthaew (it’s like a pick-up truck with the back converted into bench seating, but even more uncomfortable than it sounds) and made a long, hot, nauseating journey to meet my gentle giants.

I spent almost an entire day there, so you’d think I would have learned something in that time, but I was so enamored with the elephants that if I was listening, I didn’t retain anything I learned. So here are some quick facts about elephants I learned from Google: 

• They can live up to eighty years – some even longer
• They eat around 150kg per day
• Elephant poop is mostly odorless and can easily be made into paper (there are LOTS of stands throughout Chiang Mai that will sell you postcards you can send home to your family made out of – you guessed it – elephant poop)
• An estimated twenty percent of Thailand’s elephants are in Chiang Mai
• An elephant’s trunk has over forty thousand muscles – for comparison, the human body has about six hundred fifty

You get the point. Elephants are awesome!

I spent the morning feeding the elephants and the afternoon mud bathing with them. I couldn’t ask for a better day.

I had to say goodbye to the elephants eventually, and I heard great things about Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, the temple on top of the mountain called Doi Suthep. It boasted beautiful temples and even grander views of the city. 

Unfortunately for me, I happened to be here during the dry season, which meant smoke filled the sky—bad for my allergies, but even worse for the views. The climb to the top of the temple wasn’t nearly as taxing as I anticipated, and the temple was beautiful, but the smog distorted what would have been a beautiful view of the city.

I almost forgot about the best part. The reason I’m here. Kim, why did you bother coming to Asia at all? There are so many places to see, some much closer to home. 

Why, the food of course. 

No amount of walking, climbing, or hiking could possibly keep up with the amount of food I ate on this trip, and the food in Thailand was on a whole new level. I signed up for a cooking class in hopes that I could take home a few lessons on the food I adored here.

My class was through Aromdii Cooking School, and I couldn’t have been happier with my experience. We started at the market, purchasing all of the fresh food that we’ll need to make the dishes we chose.

After the market, we headed to the cooking school, a large, open area attached to our host’s garage. Everything I ate was amazing, and the lineup was: 

• Fruit Salad appetizer consisting of dragonfruit, apples, guava, sweet corn, fish sauce, tomato, and dried shrimp for an extra crunch (it sounds weird but it was actually really good)
• Tom Ka Kai, or chicken in coconut milk soup with Galangal (part of the ginger family), lemongrass, and mushrooms. 
• For the main course, I made Khao Soi (also known as Chiang Mai noodles), my new favorite food that I discovered on this trip. It’s a red curry dish with egg noodles, and I craved it every day in Thailand. I hope to someday gain the skills to recreate this recipe on my own. 
• Of course, we didn’t forget about dessert. The final course was Sticky Rice Mango. The rice is boiled with coconut cream and sugar and topped with deep-fried mungbean for an extra crunch. 

It was, by far the best meal I had on my travels to date. I tacked this cooking class on at the last minute, but it ended up being a highlight.

I can’t express how glad I am I extended my time in Chiang Mai. Initially, I had planned on following up Chiang Mai with a visit to one of the islands, or a beach town like Phucket. That is until everyone told me to go somewhere else. Every traveler, every backpacker I came across who had already done Thailand, I asked what their favorite place was. Over and over again, they told me, Pai. 

So with that, I said farewell to Chiang Mai and prepared for yet another long bus ride to the small mountain town of Pai, Thailand.

The post Heaven is Swimming with <br>Elephants and Khao Soi appeared first on Kim Is Lost.

I don’t remember how I heard about Sak Yant tattooing, but when I learned there was an Ajarn (master) in the area who was willing to tattoo foreigners, I thought it would be the perfect way to learn about Thai Buddhist culture while gaining a permanent memento of my travels. 

A Sak Yant tattoo, also known as a Yantra tattooing, uses sacred geometric shapes, animal images, and deity designs to bring luck, good fortune, protection, and other benefits to the owner. The farther down on the body the tattoo is placed, the less sacred is considered, so a first Sak Yant tattoo should be placed above the waist. There are many different types of designs, and Buddhist monks must undergo extensive training in order to be able to give a Sak Yant tattoo. 

Finding someone to perform a Sak Yant tattoo was easier said than done. Practicing monks cannot perform the Sak Yant on women, but former monks who have been trained in the practice can get around this rule. I found several places that used ‘shared ink buckets’, a sanitary nightmare, which is why I chose the place I did – ink is discarded after each use, every needle is sanitized and discarded (or you get to take it home if you like). 

After a short ride outside the city, we arrived at the temple where I would be getting my tattoo. I was accompanied by my guide/translator/driver and another woman who, as fate would have it, was the same height and age as me and also happened to be from Chicago. Ajarn Tu Nametta, who would be doing my tattoo, was busy performing an exorcism (a local woman who was waiting to get her own Sak Yant showed me the video – it was insane) so we had plenty of time to go into town and put together an offering for the Ajarn. 

Everyone in the market stared at the two of us foreigners. We were out of place to be sure, both a full head taller than anyone else. Our guide told us people were staring because they thought we were twins. Even though she is blonde, and I’m brunette, I guess it’s seldom that they see two thin, 5’9” tall white women walking through the market. 

We gathered the necessary supplies for our offering to the Ajarn, which consisted of white flowers, cigarettes, whisky, apples, incense, and candles. We ate lunch and headed back to the temple. The Ajarn was tattooing a young boy, probably around 13 or 14 years old, and the tattoo was a large tiger that took up most of his back. The Sak Yant tattoo is performed by repeatedly tapping a bamboo stick with a thin needle on the end into the skin, and it did not look pleasant. Although, if this young boy could do it, so could I…right?

When it was my turn, I had to wait a bit as there were several monks waiting to chat with the Ajarn. My guide explained that while he is no longer still a monk (which is why he can perform the ceremony for us), he is still revered and respected by the locals.

He came back and motioned for me to sit. He said something in Thai and everyone laughed. The guide told me the Ajarn is very funny, and I’ll have to take his word for it.

When we began, I gave the Ajarn my offering which he blessed along with the needle that he will be using. As he began the tattoo, I noticed it didn’t hurt nearly as much as I expected, but it was still wildly unpleasant since it was on my spine. I asked the guide if he could play some music to distract me, and he began playing a Lady Gaga station on Pandora. The Ajarn started humming along, singing what words he had memorized. 

The guide was right – he was funny. 

My tattoo was called the Prachao Ha Praong. Here is how it was described: “The 5 blessings of Buddha Na-Mo-Put-Ta-Ya. Although less known by the general public, it is considered one of the Yant Kru, or fundamental yant. These sacred utterances (Mantras) are usually pronounced over and over by Buddhist monks, in order to enter a high level of meditation. They can be found in many Buddhist representations. It will bring good luck, happiness, and well-being to the wearer and protect you from the potential surrounding bad spirits.” 

Essentially, there are fundamental Sak Yants which, if this were a video game, would be your base stats. Then, you can level up your character by adding additional Sak Yants that provide you with different blessings and protections. For example, a warrior would want a Sak Yant to protect him in battle.

It didn’t feel great, but thankfully, the Ajarn is experienced and quick so the tattoo only took about 30 minutes. He used olive oil to seal the wound (I googled it and apparently yes, this is a thing) and then began the final blessing for the Sak Yant. I hope it brings me lots of luck and protection for the remainder of my journey.

The Sak Yant was a magical experience. Still, it was early afternoon when I was done, so I decided to show off my new back ink and wander around the Chiang Mai night market. There are several, very beautiful temples scattered around Chiang Mai, and they really come alive at night.

I learned while my Sak Yant may be offering me protection from evil spirits, this protection did not extend to evil tastes. Throughout my time in Southeast Asia, over and over again I encountered Durian, the world’s stinkiest fruit. People have strong feelings about Durian – they either love it or hate it. It seems to be the Asia equivalent of really strong and stinky cheese – it’s either for you or it’s not. I had stayed in many hostels and Airbnbs that outright banned the food from entering the premises. I encountered a vendor who was selling pieces of cut-up Durian and finally got the courage to try it…and, well,  it sort of tasted like popcorn? It’s the only way I can think to describe it. It was more savory than sweet and had a buttery taste to it. The taste itself wasn’t’ bad, but the smell and aftertaste were horrendous. I couldn’t get the taste out of my mouth or the smell off of my fingers for hours. 

And with that, I decided I had tested my luck enough that night. I had a lot more of Chiang Mai to see in the coming days.

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I woke up early to take the 8.5 bus ride from Siem Reap, Cambodia to Bangkok, Thailand. The bus ride was uneventful until arriving at the border. The bus driver asked everyone to take out their Cambodian visa.

Like most countries I visited, I applied for an E-visa ahead of my stay in Cambodia. When I arrived in Cambodia, I showed the man my e-visa on my phone as I didn’t think to print it out (I didn’t see anywhere that instructed me to do so). He grumbled something I couldn’t understand, printed out a piece of paper, stamped it, and let me through. Apparently, the paper he printed out and stamped was my visa, I needed this paper to leave the country. I didn’t know this, didn’t have it, and was told I needed this paper & stamp in order to leave Cambodia. 

I felt a bit less silly when I found out the Canadian man in the seat in front of me lost his as well. The bus driver gave us both a lecture (as if I frequently bus back and forth between Siem Reap and Bangkok) and said he would see what he could do. Everyone else filed off the bus to go through customs as I sat tensely, hoping I wouldn’t be booted from the bus.

The Canadian and I started chatting. He said he really didn’t know where his visa could have gone. I said if it made him feel better, I never had a hard copy to begin with. He asked if I was Canadian. I said I wasn’t, but I thanked him for the compliment.

The bus driver returned and spent ten minutes explaining in a very roundabout way (and without explicitly saying it) that he could get us across by bribing the border guards with five dollars USD. I thought that was a bargain, and as luck would have it, I had a five-dollar bill on me. We handed over our respective passports.

The bus driver proceeded to close all the curtains on the bus and instructed us to “hide” so we couldn’t be seen in the windows. He then drove to the pickup point on the other side of the border. 

If I wasn’t so tired from the bus ride, I would have been a little more panicked about the fact that I was almost definitely being smuggled into another country.

The driver came back onto the bus and handed back our passports with our stamps inside. If I could, I would pay five dollars every time to not have to wait in another visa line.

We picked up the other passengers and continued on our merry way.

My troubles weren’t over, it would seem. We arrived in Bangkok, although instead of dropping us off at a bus terminal, the bus stopped in a shady lot beneath an underpass and told everyone to get off. Most of the bus patrons were native to either Cambodia or Thailand and seemed to expect this. There was a group of 8 of us who were foreign travelers with no idea of where to go. 

My lesson was clear – in the future, I would fly instead. 

Another American woman and I decided to head towards what looked like a train terminal a few blocks over to see if we could find somewhere to get wifi/phone service or call a cab. We tried to chat with a worker, but he spoke little English, and I knew virtually no Thai. I had taken to learning a few chosen words in each language, but other than ‘excuse me’ and ‘thank you’, the other words I knew – bathroom, water, beer, and train – didn’t do me a lot of good here. 

I was renting a room in an apartment, not a hostel, and figured getting directions to where I was staying would be difficult. I opted to use universal language instead. 

“SIM card?” I asked, pointing to my phone. The man smiled and shook his head apologetically. 

My Cambodian SIM card didn’t work across the border, and I found that while I could use my Verizon SIM card for $10/day, it didn’t work well anywhere outside of the US. 

We continued walking until I found a 7-Eleven that sold SIM cards. I tried to buy one, but they didn’t have the correct one for my phone. They did, however, have terrible Wifi, and I was able to keep connected long enough to book a cab to my lodging. I said goodbye to my new American friend. She was staying at a Mad Monkey hostel, a sister hostel of the one I stayed at in Phnom Penh, and I took that to mean we probably had very different travel plans and wouldn’t be meeting up again. 

The rest of my stay in Bangkok was uneventful. I took advantage of the cheap-priced goods at Khaosan Road and bought a larger, proper backpack. I was only there for 2 nights, and that was plenty for me to decide the city wasn’t my style. Khaosan Road is an overwhelming tourist destination, I visited the ‘gay nightlife’ area but wasn’t admitted into a Cabaret show because I was a woman (which was very unexpected), and I accidentally wandered into the red light district which proved to be disturbing and depressing, with lots of old, white western men fawning over young (in some cases, too young) Thai women. 

I eventually made my way to a dive bar with an older bartender who saved me the trouble of fumbling an order in broken Thai and handed me a beer. I spent the rest of the night there, thankful for a break from the rest of the chaos of Bangkok. I met a couple of American ex-pats, surprised to find a tourist in this dingy little bar. I said farewell and headed back to my room to book my flight to Chiang Mai. I needed a break from buses.

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