Day 224 – Pai, Thailand

September 18^th, 2019

We had a fun day exploring in the jungle.  Since we messed up on the location of the big waterfall hike yesterday, we decided to do it today.  Once again, we packed our backpack and set out with our friends, Greg and Anna. We met Anna in Vietnam and ran into her yesterday here in Pai.  The hike turned out to be longer than we expected and at the end of it, we had hiked 18 kilometers through the jungle!  It was definitely an all-day deal and I think took us eight hours from start to finish.  The only break we took from hiking was halfway through when we reached the waterfall. 

The waterfall wasn’t anything that impressive and the water was super brown. 

The fun part was the hike through the jungle where we followed the river to the falls.  The trail was a bit hard to follow and kept crossing back and forth over the river.  So all day we were ankle or knee deep in water as we would keep having to cross the river. 

Right in the beginning of our trek, we met two other girls and ended up hiking with them the whole time. One was from Germany and the other from the Netherlands.  Our friend Anna was from Denmark.  It was a good group and chatting with the others helped make the time go by.  It was not a strenuous hike but it felt long.  Probably because Brendan and I have not been doing much hiking in Asia. The river we continually had to cross was tricky because the water was so brown and murky you could not see through it.  So every step we took was blind and we never knew if we were going to step on a rock, in a hole, in mud or sand.

My favorite part of the hike was a dog that came with us.  She was a Buddhist dog who belonged to a monk (she had orange cloth on her collar that we later learned was a sign her owner was a monk).  Anna had told us she learned about these kinds of dogs in Asia who live around a trail and will randomly adopt hikers to show them the trail, then at the end they go back home.  That is exactly what happened.  Right when we started the trail the dog started following us.  We never saw an owner but she had the collar with the orange cloth.  She was so sweet, and would scout ahead and then patiently wait for all the group to pass her so she knew everyone was accounted for.  Several times she helped direct us to the trail when it could be hard to follow.  When we would get to a point we weren’t sure which way to go, someone would say “where is the dog?”.  We would scan until we spotted her and sure enough she would be on the trail ahead looking back at us waiting for us to see her before she kept trotting ahead. 

She did all the river crossings with us and totally adopted us as her pack.  At one point she would not cross the river.  We didn’t know if it was too deep or fast for her and were kind of sad it looked like she had reached a point she was not going to follow us anymore.  Even with coaxing she would not cross.  So we all kept moving forward on what we thought was the trail.  Only to find out a little ways up, the trail was back on the other side of the river where the dog was waiting for us to figure that out. 

When we finally reached the waterfall and all started digging into our packs for food and snacks, the dog also eagerly sniffed inside all the backpacks and looked at us with her big brown eyes and tail wagging as to say “don’t forget to feed me, your trail guide”.  I didn’t have much to offer a dog but it turns out she liked Pringles and crackers so I shared.  We didn’t stay too long at the falls as we didn’t want it to get dark on the way back.  The sweet girl dog took us all the way back to town.  Then all the sudden as we approached civilization we looked around for her and she was gone.  She knew we had safely made our way back to town and disappeared as quick as she appeared to us in the beginning of the hike.  I was  planning a big goodbye with lots of pictures, hugs and dog kisses from this sweet thing that reminded me of Sadie, but that wasn’t her style.

Brendan and I had brought three liters of water on the trek for the two of us, and we still ran out.  For the last hour or two we talked about it being the thirstiest we have ever been.  We seem to always underestimate the amount of water we need which seems to be much more than everyone else.  Must go along with our American over-consumption nature.  We practically raced through town to reach the 7 Eleven where we got huge waters and two Gatorades.  Yes, Pai even has Gatorade! We went back to the hotel and were exhausted.  The only thing that motivated us to get up was the night market with all the amazing food. 

Every day in Pai, I can’t wait until its time for dinner and we were not going to miss out on the best part of the day.  Tonight, Brendan and I shared a gyoza; then I got this huge vegan pita wrap and Brendan a chicken burrito. 

My pita was so huge it took both hands to hold it.  It was jammed packed with avocado, lettuce, carrots, beets, cucumber, tomato, and other veggies I can’t even remember.  It was delicious and really big.  It tasted so healthy and fresh which I am not used to anymore. It left me craving something else.  So I got a vegan truffle that I had been eyeing the past few nights, and it was the most amazing chocolate.  We ate with our ‘slow boat’ friends and continued to run into everyone else we have ever met.  Walking around Pai is small and all the backpackers end up here. You feel like you know everyone as you constantly run into others you have met during some other part of your journey.  The others stayed out and we turned in, being very tired from the big day.