Pai

(Yes, I'm finishing this 2 years after the fact, but I guess thats the way its's going to work)

The next 2 weeks after meeting my new travel buddies really proved that the people you meet along the journey certainly can make the trip.

Once back in Chiang Mai we made some plans to get out together and see more of Northern Thailand. Not before a night out with almost everyone in the hostel to a neat little rooftop bar and a bunch of cold Changs.

Groovy rooftop bar, Chiang Mai

We headed up to Pai, a small town near the Myanmar border, with the reputation as being a nice quiet little hippy village.  The 3 hour ride, whilst a tad hungover was hands down the craziest vehicle ride of our lives. The driver was, INSANE, and the roads were sick and twisted. With no exaggeration, he had the tires chirping around nearly every corner on the twisted mountainside roads, whilst trying to pass 4 vehicles going into a hairpin corner. Yeah.

The drive took a toll on us

Pai had some nice night markets in the streets and we found a cool bamboo shanty hostel down by the river to stay in.

This will do for a night 

We heard about hot springs nearby so we all grabbed scooters and headed for the hills.

A convoy of scooters with my new travel buddies on sunny day through the foreign country side was just another one of those things I soon won't forget.

Sharing the road with an elephant

Hot Springs were hot enough to boil an egg

My UK buddies suggested I tag along with them for the rest of my trip, and being a solo traveller its as easy as saying "Sure, why not". And that was that, Back to Chiang Mai we go!

Sunny day by the river, doesn't get much better