Pai

We headed to Pai on the minibus which was quite curvy for sure. The road is like getting to a ski resort on a mountain but for four hours. Tomorrow we also have a four hour bus ride planned. Ugg.
In Pai we found this great place with little huts on stilts and we got the nice one with a bathroom and a hammock. It was super swank and relatively cheap too. Clemens was sick then so he just stayed in the hammock for two days and I ran around town checking things out, getting food, and booking tours. We splurged on pizza because clemens wanted it and it was supposed to be the best in Thailand. It costs about eight times our standard meal. Oh well. It was good. Also in Pai we went elephant riding for an hour. It was kinda cool, but also a little disappointing. We just got there and got on top of the elephant and started walking. So no meet or play with the elephant, and once you are on top you can't see anything of it. But then we got the the river after a little bit and we walked in it on the elephant and then the elephant dumped up in the river. I mean falling off the elephant into waist deep water. That was fun and suprising, but then we got back on and the guy dumped us like ten times. It got a little old after awhile. But then I got to ride on the head of the elephant, and that was cool, and we fed it later after we were off it, and they liked me then. :)
The next day we went on a two day rafting tour with some stops built in. We walked around a multi-tier waterfall and went under the fast part, we went to a hot springs with mud treatment, swam around the river and I jumped off a seven meter overhang into the river. So it was quite active in addition to the rapids. We stayed the night at a jungle lodge and had fun playing with the resident four year old. The second day had the best rapids and Clemens even fell out of the boat during one the biggest ones. So that was cool for him on his first trip, but the rapids were nothing compared to what I am used to.
Now we are in a small town called Mae Hong Son by the Burmese border, and we are very tired from rafting and swimming today. I am also very full from all the good food we were fed on the trip and what we had for dinner. It's amazing how much rice one person can eat. Tomorrow we think we are going to climb the hill to the big temple and then catch a bus for four hours to the next town to do some trekking. Right now I am just so tired that thinking about that is overwhelming. We just keep doing so many things, but really we can't Not go see all that is available to us. So it is interesting to find a balance between travel and rest. I try to compare my real life and think about how little rest I usually get and days off, but for some reason this just seems more tiring than real life even though I don't have a job and responsibility. Oh well. I will just wait until I get sick and then I can rest. :)