Week 2 got off to an amazing start! With the gang all back together and in the same hostel, we decided to all rent motor bikes and caravan to some spots on a guided tour (that we didn’t want to pay for).

But before that, my buddy Ivan and I went and got some breakfast at a street vendor. We got rice porridge… it wasn’t my favorite but it was alright!

After breakfast, I met back up with Lola and we went on the hunt to find a semi-automatic bike which is what she prefers to drive! For whatever reason this proved to be really difficult but in the end we found one! It ended up having a broken speedometer, you couldn’t see what gear you were in, and had a check engine light on, but it drove well! 😂

Since we took so long finding a bike our crew ended up heading out to our first location without us. But by the time we fueled up our bike and headed to it we actually met up with them!

The first spot we went to was the Bamboo Bridge! It was INSANELY beautiful, but it was only built in 2016. We all thought it was some historic bridge 😅. But either way, it was super beautiful and fun wandering around it with this crew!

After wandering around the bridge, we made our way back to the front. And as we waited for people we decided to eat some food, since it was only 40 Baht per plate (literally $1)! And look at where we got to eat!

After eating it was time to caravan to our next location! It was honestly so fun riding around with everyone and winding through the countryside of Pai.

Our next stop was a waterfall about 30 min away! As we were biking there it was raining fairly hard on and off but we ended up making it to the falls safely (where it was still raining). But the lovely part is, it didn’t matter that we were getting wet because this water fall doubles as a slide!

https://videopress.com/v/yVIOdxtO?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true

After going down the waterfall multiple times and having a freaking blast laughing at everyone and swimming around the nice cool water, we decided to go back to the hostel and regroup.

Some people decided to shower and stay, but a small group of us went to a nearby temple that we’ve seen overlooking us, the White Buddha!

This temple has 400 steps leading up to a MASSIVE white Buddha. The walk up was totally worth it to see the Buddha and the views were spectacular!

After appreciating the views we climbed back down and got ready for the night and our free hostel dinner. The hostel made us another curry dish, but it was red this time and spicier! It was very delicious and very nice that it is included with our stay! (It looks like I forgot to take a picture of it again, but I did eat two bowls of it haha)

After dinner, the nights shenanigans commenced! There were a lot more people in the hostel so it was nice and lively. People were sitting around and chatting, drinking, and having a fun time!

Before we went out, Lola and I wandered to get some water and on the way we stopped into a restaurant selling grilled cheese and marmite. She claimed it wasn’t as good as back home but I enjoyed it!

Eventually we went out to a bar as a hostel and had a fun time! We also ended up wandering around the streets of Pai admiring the buildings, views, and rice fields! We of course stayed up far too late, but it was such a lovely night!

Day 9 will be consisting of more biking and beautiful Pai locations to see! So I’m very excited. Not sure how long I’ll be staying here but so far it’s easily my favorite spot in Thailand!

– Elie