Pai and beyond!

Tim and I rose extra early this morning to ensure we got tickets on the bus to Pai. We ended up on this minivan with about ten seats. The journey to Pai was semi disturbing (as most of our journeys thus far have been- the Thais don't seem too fond of road rules). We drove through the mountains and it was incredibly steep and windy. Pai is only about 135km from Chaing Mai but it took 3 hours to drive because of the mountain bends. Our driver (who was very skilled) had a habit that made me uneasy: like overtaking around bends. Anyway we got there in one piece and also without losing our breakfast. The views through the mountains were spectular- little groups of houses nestled into random pockets of flat ground. The descent into Pai was breathtaking- we could see the lush green of the jungle against the blue of the mountains. The poverty in this area is less overt and the standards of living generally appear to be higher. The houses are all quite beautiful. Pai is fairly touristy but still really fun and laid back. It is described as a hippie village and we went to this really great little art gallery. We fell in love with these pop art style paintings that blended Western culture (eg: spiderman) with traditional Thai and Buddhist images. The artist used the most vibrant colours- wish we could have bought one. Instead we bought these hilarious hand made figurines of two lovers with owl heads- sounds lame but actually really fantastic.

also I got offered a job today- after over an hour on the phone to a Uk principal discussing my trip with a few random pieces of educational philosophy thrown in he offered me a permant position at his school. It is teaching English but when I get settled they want to use my drama skills in extra curricular stuff (which I may get paid extra for- unlike in Aus!). So I said yes (well I didn't actually think i just said, "sure Ok" then got off the phone and panicked cause the school is all boys and in some place called Gravesend. I mean really Gravesend? So tim and I looked it up on the net and found that the grave of Pocahontas is in Gravesend- so we were relieved to see we would have somewhere to go on the weekends.

Well we are all geared up for an elephant (bear back) ride through the jungle tomorrow followed by some bamboo rafting. tim is trying to convince me to go white water rafting- but I feel it is too early in our adventures to drown. I'd at least lie to see a few more countries.