Road to Pai

I woke up to something but I wasn't sure what it was. It took me a second to realize someone was knocking at my door...and sunlight was barely visible outside. Uh-oh. That could only mean one thing...indeed, I had overslept! How did that happen? I set my alarm! I ran to the door and told my coworker I was so sorry but that if he could give me just 10 minutes I'd be ready to go. It was 6:40am. I took a look at my alarm to see what went wrong. I had forgotten to change the PM to AM. Oops. Luckily I had done most of my preparation the night before so I quickly put on my long sleeved shirt and on top of it a short sleeved shirt, pants, socks, shoes, scarf, jacket and gloves. I made my final preparations for the trip and ran out the door. I had a backpack with some clothes, my camera, all my enthusiasm and my confidence that I could successfully make the trip. By 7am we were on our bikes headed out of town.

The morning sun was just beginning to peak over the mountains. My coworker asked me to lead the way so he could follow my speed. The wind as I drove at 50-60 kilometers/hour was cold enough to take my breath away and make me grateful I'd bought the long sleeved shirt and gloves. As we hit the outskirts of town and into the countryside the mist became thicker and thicker. We began climbing the mountain, curving back and forth, and back and forth, higher and higher. The wind shield on my helmet became so misted over it was obscuring my view so I had to do without it. Sometimes I would slow down to 40 km/hr and it felt so much warmer! I was tempted to stay at that speed but was afraid I would annoy my coworker who had plans to meet up with friends in Pai. Sadly for him, he didn't have gloves to protect his hands. I'm not sure how he managed to maintain feeling in his hands. There were a few occasions when I insisted on stopping for photos but when I stopped and began to thaw I began to loose my desire to begin again.

I maneuvered the curves with some trepidation at first. In fact, on the first sharp hairpin turn I took the turn too sharply and ran off the edge of the road. Luckily my speed was slow enough for me to easily regain control and continue. Lesson learned. The rest of my curves were fine. Slow, but fine.

The scenery was terrific! There were layers of mountains in my view. At one point I counted 6 layers. The mist and low hanging clouds added a mythical feel to the drive. In the valleys between the mountains were beautiful fields growing a wide variety of crops at differing stages. Rice, garlic, onion, cabbage and much more. It was still too early for farmers to be working and there was hardly anyone else on the roads so the quiet and stillness of the countryside was peaceful. The view as we climbed higher looked over such incredible beauty. I felt such gratitude for the beauties of the earth which my eyes had the blessing of taking in.

They say there are something like 800 curves in the road from Mae Hong Son to Pie. I enjoyed every single one! Once the sun came up and warmed the air a touch the 3 hours went by quickly. We had made it safely to Pai. After sitting on the bike for that long my legs had some adjusting to do to enable me to walk again. Plus, I was still shivering from the cold. During the ride I'd had to clench my jaw together to keep my teeth from chattering. The clenching left me with a headache. My calves were also stiff from having tightened my muscles to keep warm. It felt good to be off the bike and stand in the sun for a while.

Shortly after arriving my coworker received a call from the office manager in Mae Hong Son. He expressed his deep concern about me riding a motorbike all the way there and suggested my coworker really should encourage me to take the bus instead. Too late, he responded, we just arrived. :-) Yeah! I did it! The cold had made it less than relaxing and almost unbearable since I wasn't completely prepared for it. Nevertheless, I had made the trip. I was in Pai. So, once I had thawed the next thing to do was decide what to do next?