Ari's Planet

After giving up on Chang Mai, I took a morning bus to Pai. There are plenty of buses during the day, many of which go on to Mae Hong Son, with options including fancy AC buses and cheaper fan buses, which is what I took for 80 B. The problem with the cheaper bus is there is no knee space, talk about uncomfortable. The ride is only ~4-5 hours, though, so no big deal. The bus actually stopped after three hours for lunch, I think it was more for the driver than the passengers.

Pai is a pretty spot which is totally over touristy but not as disgusting as tourist ghettos in big cities. The weather is fucking awesome, as I am fond of saying. We're a bit higher up and there's a mix of tropical plants with big leaves and pine trees, unusual for me. I found the Baan Tawan Guest House just past the bridge and near the river for 200 B. They have wooden buildings, which I think is better than the thatch ones that are so popular here. Apparently many places got washed away in a flood in 2005; this is the dry season so no worries. The room comes with a big bed, a mosquito net, screens, shared bathroom, and that rustic feeling. Grabbed some salty chow and tried to find a 3-day trek. There's a company opposite the bus station with treks, but they have no takes for even 2-day treks, and they need 4-5 people to run a trek. Damn. Cost is 2100 B for 3 days. Anyone want to join me? I consoled myself with banana cake covered in chocolate frosting. Wandering around I found the market with all sorts of fish and meats and clementines (15 B / kg), I even found a small watermelon in a local shop (25 B), what a treat tonight.

Did I mention how amazing Patrick White is? Oh, I think I did. Here's a bit, I know, it totally doesn't come close to doing him justice when taken out of the context of the book, but it's wonderful nonetheless: "Over all this scene, which was more a shimmer than the architecture of landscape, palpitated extraordinary butterflies. Nothing had been seen yet to compare with their colours, opening and closing, opening and closing. Indeed, by the addition of this pair of hinges, the world of semblance communicated with the world of dream." (Voss, ch 10, p 259.)

Holy smokes batman, how does he get English so good, "semblance/dream", it's just wonderful stuff! It's even full of foreshadowing, except you totally miss the foreshadowing since it's so well hidden. It's more like he has themes running through the book, ideas that come out here and there at different times, and he does that in sentences, paragraphs, chapters, the whole book. It's one aspect that makes it so much fun to read.