Per Diem 2 Pennies: Pai, Thailand

Pai is a hippy backpacker haven. Pai is awesome. Even if you don't love chillin' out, you will learn to appreciate it here. Pai is full of fun coffee shops, vegan/vegetarian thai food, meaty goodness (if that's what you're looking for), river side bungalows, and fun. That's right - fun. Pai has fun if your idea of fun is wandering around a street market looking for a police man singing to guitar tunes, or if your idea of fun is wandering around eating random street food (that could be rat), or if it's sweet t-shirts, or a ton of mosquitos, you've got that in Pai. Your bungalow neighbor might be playing at the rasta bar across town (ours was), and you'll be happy for it. He'll be tired and quiet by the time he gets home at 4am. You know you're not missing anything, because a quiet night in Pai is a good night.

And then there was Thanksgiving...

Instead of our annual Turkey Trot, Jeff and I decided to take an "easy bike ride" (according to Lonely Planet - we will never trust them again) up to Mohr Phaeng. Mohr Paeng is a waterfall. We thought it would be fun to visit it while we were lounging about Pai. So here's the thing...the Lonely Planet guide said it was an "easy" ride, but he failed to mention that the entire 8km ride was uphill. UPHILL. That's a long uphill ride. Seriously. And we are not in shape. So...we did it. We rode uphill for 8 freaking kilometeres. 8 freaking kilometeres. And when we were done we were so proud of each other and ourselves. We were really proud. It was all worth it. Go us!

We rewarded ourselves with delicious street food. What else is there in Thailand?!?!