Finally!!! I have been waiting for that classic, sketchy local bus ride in which you think to yourself..."maybe I should have just spent that extra $2 for comfort and safety"...
We landed at the bus station in Chiang Mai an admirable 45min early, which was pointless because the bus was an hour late...It could have been foreshadowing. When the bus did pull up, I eagerly waited for some muppets to come out singing and dancing. But the real comedy were the looks on the faces of some other tourists when we all realized this was our bus to Pai. Having traveled through Africa and Central America on some pretty harrowing rides, I was quite content, though still fully engaged in the humor of it all.
As we looked for our seats, we noticed a mat covered bench up front the size of a twin bed and I tried to claim it as my seat/bed (see FB photo), but was kindly referred to normal seat ;-). We plunked ourselves down in the front seat by the door...ahem. Bad idea. The open door was apparently not meant to be closed and so we scurried to secure our belongings- tying our bags to the bus railing so they wouldn't fly off the bus. The back of my seat was like velcro, and every time I sat forward there was a "phhhppp" as my shirt de-teached. Thai seat-belts?
As we drive down the road, the driver is reading...looks like a schedule, perhaps wondering where he is supposed to take us? We stop every other block to pick up someone's mail or so the driver could grab a snack or a Nescafé...stopping and starting, the side door wide open like a backwards convertible. Alesha and I looked sideways at each other, wide-eyed, and employed the practice of trust, patience and tolerance. Eventually we did begin to travel, and head up into the mountains......very, very slowly.
762 curves in he road until we get to Pai...
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