I haven’t said much lately. because, well, there’s not much to say. I’m working at my university, teaching an advance math class to some decidedly un-advanced students. It’s been a difficult experience. Now we have exams, which means proctoring. I like to work, so having to be locked in a room for six hours a day with nothing to do is particularly painful for me. That’s all I’ll say about that.

The good thing about being a teacher is lots of holidays. I have a two week semester break to look forward to in a week. Then a month later I get a week for Thai New Years, which is a national holiday. I figure one Songkran in Thailand is enough, so I decided to go to Luang Prabang, Laos this year, where it is more laid back. But, I want to see more of Laos. So, for my semester break I plan to go to Southern Laos.

So, stay tuned for tales from Laos.

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Ugh, another boring day. Two hours of proctoring this morning, two more after lunch, and now I’m killing two hours between the sessions. At least I’m getting a lot of reading done. You’d think after two weeks of doing nothing I would be ready for an exciting adventure. But doing nothing is surprisingly exhausting.

Which is why I changed my mind at the last minute again. I’m just not up to going to another country, and all the little things it entails. Worrying about money, visas, transportation, a new language, etc. So last night I took the subway to the train station (the subway goes right to the station, what a concept!), and bought a ticket on a sleeper train to Chiang Mai. It was so easy. Travel in Thailand is hassle free, luxurious, and cheap.

The plan is to take a bus further northwest into the province of Mae Hong San, on the Burmese border. There I can go trekking, ride a bike, and sit around and read.

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Getting here was still arduous, despite the quasi-luxury of the train. Not full luxury because I was too cheap to pay the extra $10 for A/C. But for $12 it was OK (except for the annoying ladyboy steward/stewardess) and I got my own stuffy bed in a lower berth. The train stopped throughout the night, and at each stop a loudspeaker announced where the train was going, so sleep was difficult.

It took 14 hours on the train to get to Chiang Mai, the only city in Thailand without motorcycle taxis. I didn’t want to get ripped off by tuk tuk drivers, so I walked to the bus station.

Travel in Thailand may be luxurious, but not to remote places. The last leg of my journey was on a tiny bus with no A/C filled with farang crammed into the small seats. Why is a provincial bus to a village in the middle of nowhere full of farang? Lonely Planet. All it takes is a mention of some obscure place for it to become hippie heaven.

And Pai really is that, and not just for the common, garden variety backpacker-cum-hippie, but for real specimens, straight out of the 1970’s, complete with long, filthy hair, unkempt beards, and old, dirty clothes. Throughout the three hour journey on the curvey mountain road, a veteran hippie regaled some newcomers on where to get weed and psychedelic mushrooms, and told them about his new house. I wonder how long he’s been here. Judging by his beard, at least six months.

I still haven’t explored Pai. It’s a very small town, but has a very large backpacker industry. I’ll probably rent a bike tomorrow, then I might sign up for a trek.

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