ramblings from pai

hello from pai!

it is i, carson, you're not so faithful blogger saying hello to you from southeast asia. i am sitting in this internet zone in a huge padded leather chair relaxing. the chair slightly reclines, and so i'm taking advantage of that and slouching down slightly just to be the most comfortable that i can be. i have no sandals on, as you don't wear sandals in this particular shop. it is cooler up here in the mountains and so at 8 pm i am wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and my bamboo jacket that i purchased at same-under-neath in portland during the mississippi street fair (20 bucks! normally 110 what a bargain!) my head is shaved...i did that in chiang mai last week. on my wrist is a red coral bracelet that i got during the sunday market from a really nice girl from holland. each piece is fire red and about 1 inch long. there are 34 pieces strung vertically. i also purchased a really amazing ring that is all silver on the band, with a black pearl from southern thailand on one side, three really small horizontal stones one on top of the other, (moonstone, a deep black one, and an orange one) and then a vertical turquoise stone on the right side of the ring. i wear that on my pinky on my left hand. i am slightly tan, and like i said...really comfortable right now! today was a very nice day and pretty typical of what we are doing right now. we woke up in our beautiful bungalow, hung out for a little while. we walked a few blocks, and then sat down at the wheatgrass bar that we frequent daily, having a delicious shot and some tea. there we met steven from victoria b.c., who was really nice. then we walked down to this great organic restaurant that is situated right on the river. we sat in big plush bamboo chairs on an open terrace and talked, eating delicious breakfast. then we walked back to the bungalow, hung out during the hot midday sun, ate some cookies with peanut butter from a great local bakery/restaurant. we decided to go out for a scooter drive to find another place to stay that is a little out of town, and so upon leaving we met another person from holland and chatted with him for awhile. we took the bike out and rode up hills and on the left side of us had an amazing view of pai valley, and on the right side we checked out some really funky places, and some amazing pristine places. all ranging from 5-70 dollars per night. next, we started driving back to ginger's secret garden. we rode the scooter up a hill to the cafe' and sat down in the sun in some really nice reclined bamboo chairs, i drank iced coffee and melissa a smoothie. there, we met claire, from france who we had seen the night before at an acoustic bar. she was hilarious and really nice. then we met jim, from england, who has lived here for 4 years and has lots of connections and owns a bar in town and is really friendly and helpful. he's in his 20's, and had just gone into the jungle with a machete knife and come out with some orchids. he cuts off a section of log that they are growing on and then puts chains on either end and hangs them in his house. i guess they get huge! he asked how long we are staying in pai and we said maybe a little while, because we love it here. and he offered to find us a place to live. so now we are looking at renting a house in pai for a month or so, to really soak it in here and take advantage of the mecca that it is. we came back to town after watching the sunset and ate fresh fish and curry at our favorite restaurant with coconut mango smoothies (for 8 dollars) and now we are here!

righttttttt. i have only been in pai for just over 4 days, but it feels like i've been here for a couple weeks. my life feels like a dream here...i think about what i do and it is all so idyllic. i wear an easy smile on my face, and i just relax and let life happen and enjoy the familiarity and unfamiliarity of it all. i wonder a lot how long it can last for?? does it just keep going while i'm in pai and able to do all of these amazing things, how do you keep it going and going... some people get here and it seems like they never leave. some people travel and they never want to stop, or they never do stop! i thought i would be here for a week or two and now we might rent a place for a month or two. (for 100 dollars/month!) there is definitely a circuit of travellers and once you tap into it it's easy to see how people just keep it going and going. sometimes in the states though it's so hard to see how it might be possible or how to step out of that routine! soooo, i wonder and ask and right now i just know that i am very fortunate to be here and that when i do come home it'll be the perfect time! and the lessons that i'm learning i'll just take with me forever and tell you all about my experiences often so that i willl always keep them alive!! so get ready to here stories and maybe repeat stories a lot!

well, i guess that is all for now! i hope that everyone is enjoying the holidays, they are somewhat surreal over here being in hot weather and a buddhist culture.
much love to you all!
carson