Monday, April 10, 2017

Pai


  Donovan stopping in front of us to take a look around and contemplate the evening’s potential, turns his head back towards Mitch and I and says, “The thing about this place is… everywhere is somewhere.” Followed by a brief pause, perhaps to re-consider his phrasing or a better explanation but then a smirk crosses his lips, “You’ll see what I mean.” Facing forward he leans into his motorbike and makes an immediate, hard right down an unassuming, alley-like road. Upon entry the road is dark but becomes quickly illuminated by the lights, laughter and chatter of the locals buzzing around the tiny restaurants, hole-in-the-wall sized store fronts and street food stands lining the edges of this narrow passageway. Groups of Thai families and friends young and old are sitting around tiny plastic tables in tiny plastic chairs stationed outside of their shops and next to their vending carts sharing gossip over a cold beer while playing cards and making their day’s wage. Many of the buildings double as the location of the family business and family home with the separation being a single door if any at all. Chiang Mai comes alive at night and that is when the true charm of the city is revealed once the extreme heat of the day wanes with the setting of the sun. We continue to follow him into the night on a borrowed scooter of Donovan’s that Mitch is operating with me doubling on the back. In two days we will be picking up our reserved motorcycle rentals in order to ride three hours through the mountains to a small town called Pai in the Mae Hong Son province. The evening’s scoot around town was a good ice breaker into driving/riding in Thailand, especially considering motorbiking around Thailand would be my first ride of the year since my Triumph had been taken off the road for the last three months of winter back in Canada.
 
  The notion of riding South-East Asia came with many warnings and concerned looks from friends and family.
  “I read an article saying how Thailand is the second most dangerous place in the world to drive.” My mother had informed me two nights before we were to leave. She then proceeded to go on about the high death rate on the roads there and asking me if I’d heard about the two young women from Vancouver who had gotten into a fatal jeep accident just a few weeks before.
  My Dad had shook his head at us. “I can’t believe you guys are going to ride motorcycles there.” Those weren’t the first warnings that had been dealt to me, but they were the ones that shook me the most. You can’t deny statistics, right? Yet, the plan had stood firmly in place.
 
  We were lucky to have had Vancouverites Donovan and Tracey Mahoney, who had been living in Chiang Mai for half a year already, take us under their wing and break us in at the very beginning of our month in South-East Asia. We discussed at length the extreme differences of driving in North America versus South-East Asia and analyzed Western society’s fear culture, even surrounding things like eating food from street vendors, food that the locals themselves eat on a daily basis. At the beginning even I heard the voices of warning rattling in my head when debating whether to eat food from modest street vendors or not. Needless to say I did and I didn’t get sick. Perhaps I was lucky.
  So many rules. Fear camouflaged as freedom. With two wheeled vehicles being the majority of traffic on the roads in Thailand, vehicles are constantly criss-crossing. On the road, if there is a space you can move into you take it. From a Westerner’s point of view it can look like pure chaos, vehicles weaving in and out cutting each other off at any opportunity; near misses happening every other second. But, to the Thai it’s expected and no one gets bent out of shape about it. The rules of the road are more suggestions than the law and if you want to drive in Thailand then you need to observe studiously and adapt fully. Let go of any inclination to follow the rules you know and embrace the unknown. You must be willing to release yourself into chaos because if you fight it out of fear and go against the grain, then yeah, you’ll likely get hurt. By trying too hard to be safe the way you know how you could end up being more of danger to yourself and those around you on the road. In North America it’s too easy to get complacent. When strict rules are in place we expect everyone to follow them so that when the odd person doesn’t we are completely caught off guard and we don’t stand a chance.
  During the conversation with Donovan I mention how wild it is that drivers constantly and sporadically change lanes and yet no one is really shoulder checking. Traffic in the city seems to always be moving and when vehicles are cruising that close together and shifting positions so frequently so much can go awry ahead of you in that half a second it takes for you to look over your shoulder. So, you look forward watchfully at the drivers in front of you and expect everybody and anybody to move in front of you if there is even the slightest space to do so and you allow it to happen. No angry honking, no speeding up to not let others in, no ego.
“It’s kind of neat when you think about it,” Donovan philosophizes, “because, it’s like… everyone’s got your back.”

  I decided to do some research into this UN agency claim of Thailand having the second deadliest roads in the world. I think the initial preconception can be that these accidents are almost entirely due to turbulent driving antics. While researching I discovered a few articles about the tragic jeep accident in Thailand that claimed the life of one Vancouver woman and put the other in critical condition. In this accident there was surprisingly no collision with another vehicle. It was a case of bad road conditions and perhaps inexperience that threw them over the edge down an embankment. The articles mentioned the UN researched statistic, but nothing more than a mention. After looking further into it and after having driven in Thailand myself, I have made some observations that to me seem pretty telling. In another article listing the various driving statistic of Thailand, it notes a 36 out of 100, 000 person death rate. 70% of drivers on the road are motorcyclists and even though there are helmet laws, they aren’t commonly enforced with only 52% of motorbike operators wearing helmets and merely 20% of their passengers doing so as well. Now I think it’s pretty obvious that one is more likely to be killed without a helmet than with, not to mention the safety standards for the quality of helmets there are seriously lacking. Something the article doesn’t mention but I’m going to point out is that when there is a passenger there is often more than only one on a single motorbike. It is common to see 3-5 people balancing on one motorbike. Perhaps fatal accidents aren’t happening as regularly as it may seem in terms of occurences and instead the answers may be in looking at the probability of a single accident(let’s say, only involving two vehicle, in this case being motorbikes seeing as they are the majority) claiming the lives of between 6-8 people at once, especially when considering that most of the time the passengers and half of the time the drivers aren’t even wearing helmets at all. Another thing to keep in mind is that Thailand will rent a motorcycle to anyone, including naive tourists who have no licensing for one or previous experience. We were in Thailand during the dry season which means that weeks and weeks can pass without any rain, allowing oil to gather and layer and seep into the asphalt just waiting to release havoc on the roads at next rain fall. Many people, especially those without experience forget these hidden facts.
  My point is, it’s easy to get swept away by fear. It’s easy to accept what we see and hear at face value without looking into things for ourselves. Remember, we live in a world of alternative facts that shift and change depending on who delivers them and the angle you see them from. So if you’re an experienced rider and planning on riding a motorbike in Asia, I say go for it. Just remember to go into it with a confident, open mind, a willingness to let go of your Western preconditioning and adapt. Live like the locals if you want the real deal. And maybe bring your own helmet.

Alright now let’s get down to the fun stuff shall we?

Pai is a small town located around 3 hours North-West of Chiang Mai, a relaxed back-packers paradise with a laid-back atmosphere, cheap guest houses, hostels and cottages surrounded by natural beauty. In order to get there from Chiang Mai you take the famous Route 1095, a road of 763 curves and hairpin turns winding through the mountains. A motorcyclists playground. If you want to ride a motorcycle to Pai or in Thailand in general, my one piece of advice to you is to keep in mind that in South-East Asia, the bigger vehicle has the right of way so when you see one coming, get-the-fuck-out-of-the-way. When you are taking these many blind turns and curves especially if you are on the inside of the turn, take the lane position that is farthest away from the centre line dividing oncoming traffic because bigger vehicles do often cross over the centre line throughout a turn. Do this and you will likely be fine.

 We stayed at Pai Chan Cottage & Cuisine, a family owned, little oasis of 12 bungalows, a pool and cozy lounge area situated in the Pai country side, walking distance from the main town. Cottages range from 450-1200 Baht ($17-$46 CAD) a night depending on the season and the price can include breakfast if booked through Agoda.com, a ridiculously affordable price for the quality of the accommodations. At the restaurant-lounge you can find a menu of delicious Thai or Western food and cheap, fresh fruit smoothies along with other tasty beverages.

White Buddha 353 steps up at Wat Phra That Mae Yen 





   Visit the land split located on a local farmer's land due to earthquakes that have occured in the last 10 years. The real reason this place is a gem has nearly nothing to due with the actual land split and pretty much everything to do with the snack-stand and lounge set up where you will have an array of fresh snacks and fruits, hibiscus iced tea and fruit wine made from what has been cultivated from the land brought out to you while you relax in the hang out area. There is no set price, it is by donation and the people are very friendly.

Pai Memorial Bridge
Scooter and side-car staged on Pai Memorial Bridge





Pai Canyon at sunset. Not for the faint of heart.


 Other activities and sites in Pai would be to visit the two Waterfalls, Pombak and Mo Paeng Falls. These are best to visit during the wet season as they tend to dry up quite a bit during the dry season and aren't much to see then. There are also two hot springs located a few kilometers away from the town that we opted out on as it was too hot during late February and preferred to cool down in the pool at Pai Chan when it was 36 degrees celsius out. Visit the Pai street market at night for souvenirs and yummy street food but really what Pai is best for is relaxing. Grab your favorite cold beverage and kick back.