Vacation Tiiiime

Well, it's officially over. My time teaching at Chomsurang is over and done...the end was a roller coaster ride of ups and downs. Ups in excitement for vacation and going home, downs in the ending of teaching, saying good bye to students and most of all the teachers and friends I have made during my time in Ayutthaya.

The weekend was full of trying to cram last sightseeing visits and time spent with friends into as much time as possible...including time to pack. It was fun and exhausting...my shoes broke, I bought presents for people, I packed, I hung out with friends. It ended in a dinner Sunday night and a massage to kill some time before my bus for Chiang Mai left. I left the massage parlor to find that my new shoes had been stolen...however the nice Thai people let me have a pair of their sandals.

It was a long, tiring day travelling from Ayutthaya to Pai. It started with an overnight bus that was very well air conditioned...too well air conditioned. It was freezing, and made sleeping very off and on. Then I arrived in Chiang Mai, and caught a minibus to Pai...another 3 hour or so ride. It was very windy through hills and such. It was very pretty and very hard to stay awake and very hard to stay asleep...so it was mid-day before I arrived in Pai.

Pai is absolutely gorgeous. It's in a valley surrounded by hills and mountains, a small quiet village. My hostel is gorgeous, overlooking the valley and sort of Thai style teak building. I just walked around a little on Monday before passing out, too tired after all the travel to do much.

Today, Tuesday, I got up and learned how to ride a motorbike! You need to in order to get around Pai and see all the sights in the hills. I am still a little bit shaky on turning and giving it power, but it's going okay. One of the co-owners of the hostel took me on the Pai zipline. It was in the jungle up in the canopy of the trees...it was a ton of fun and beautiful! At the end I got to see a nice waterfall. (After losing one of my sandals to red ants...which my guide found for me at the end!)  I ended the day by treating myself to a nice dinner and a little blog post to all of you.

Two more days left in Pai, and then a trip to the beach!