The Life of Pai

One of my favorite stops in Thailand, next to Chaing Mai was a little tiny town to the north called Pai.  I guess it is considered the Hippie BackPacker town of Thailand.  It was laid back and relaxing.  I even went on a tubing trip which was an adventure.  Unfortunately, there aren't any pictures of that.  Here are a few of the photos from Pai.  

(Candles)

 (Some interesting art work - Pai is falling in LOVE)

(A quirky little toy shop with some interesting gizmos)

(A piece of art I liked - there were street vendors every night and it was a quaint, cozy, non invasive market where you could look at works and enjoy your time outside.)

(Breeze of Pai Guest House - a nice little hostel for around $10 a night)

(The traveling pink van)

(This was the good luck charm outside of our hostel)

 ('Traditional' Chinese village outside of Pai.  They were still doing a bit of work.)

 (Entrance to the Chinese Village)

(A few from the scooter we rented for a day)

(A natural water slide which looked more dangerous than fun.  Needless to say, I didn't make the trip down.)

(Some of the handicrafts for sale)

 (The 'Grand Canyon' of Thailand)

(Another shot at the Canyon)

 (Yep, saw quite a few of these guys around Pai.  Didn't ride any but I did get a chance to feed one for $2 or $3.)

(Peace Bridge from the Japanese invasion I believe - it's been a while)

 (Yep, here were some people riding an elephant.  I'm not really upset I didn't do it.)

 (Temple)

 (A view of the countryside)

(A lying Buddha)

(Traditional wagon outside one of the temples)

 (They love the Buddha)

(Someone's house...)

 (I am not sure if I would call this a temple or a place of worship.  I believe it is supposed to hold a relic of the Buddha.)

 (Guardian outside one of the temples)

(In this tiny town there were lots of great places to eat and the food was great.  Also, there were a lot of vegetarian options.)

(This was outside city hall or the police station.  I guess it's ok to mix beliefs and government in Thailand...)

Jeju Part 3 - Udo Island

By far my favorite part of Jeju was in fact a different island, Udo Island. The people on the island were great and we had a blast. To sum it up in a nutshell, we had a great camping spot, met the entire police force of Udo Island, saw women divers, went on a beautiful hike, and rented scooters. For some people, that would be an entire weeks worth of events. For Katrina and I, we managed to do all of that in two days. This is the final Jeju update and thus concludes my week of vacation, at least in terms of pictures.

(Campsite - right on the beach between two palm trees)


(The water - something special)


(Wishing rocks from what I understand. People in Korea stack rocks and make a wish. I'm not totally certain what happens if the rocks fall because I have seen plenty go down.)


(Sunset of the grape seed field)


(Women collecting seaweed - seems to be a popular form of income on the island as we saw 20 to 30 older women collecting it.)


(Sweet lighthouse on top of an awesome geological formation)


(This is the view from the lighthouse. Jeju island is in the background.)


(Famous stone statues found on Jeju)


(Katrina riding her scooter on the back streets of Udo Island. It cost us 30,000 won or about 30 bucks to rent two scooters for two hours. We had a lot of fun and got to see all the parts of the Island. I would highly recommend it.)


(Katrina in an action shot. I think she was scared someone was passing her, I'm not quite sure. However, I think this is my favorite shot of the whole trip!)

(Another beach on the island - you can see Hallasan faintly in the background, the tallest mountain in Korea and the one Katrina and I hiked up a few days before)


(Udo Island is famous for its women divers and apparently Jeju is as well. This is just a shot of Katrina on her scooter with the women getting ready. When I say women, I want you to know, these are not teenagers or 20 somethings. Many of these women looked well over 50.)


(The women in action. This woman is rolling a bag of seaweed out of the ocean. All the orange buoys correspond with a woman diving. GO LADIES!)


(The island is so famous for it's women divers there were statues all over the island and two right on our beach. Here's Katrina in an action photo with one of the statues.)


(The Udo Police Force. From left to right: Officer Jwa, military man, Daniel the magician, Katrina, myself, and the chief of police on Udo Island)

We got to the island and weren't sure if we could camp or not. So, Katrina asked one of the officers on patrol, "Camping. Ok?" He said, "Ok! Maybe..." Nevertheless we set up the tent. Then, a little later another police officer stopped by while we were on the beach and I asked again if it was ok and said it was ok, maybe. The next morning I heard someone say hello in Korean and got it. It was Officer Jwa. He asked if we were going to camp there again that evening and I said yes and asked if it was alright and he said no problem. I ended up talking to him for about 15 minutes and before he left he gave me his business card and cell phone number in case I had any problems on the island. He also told me he would come back later that day.

Katrina and I hiked up to the lighthouse that day then rented scooters. We were back on the beach and the next thing I know I hear, "J-Shi! J-Shi!" which is a common pronunciation of JC in Korea on a loudspeaker. Officer Jwa was in the police car using the loud speaker to get my attention. Katrina and I went over to our campsite and he had a coke, cookies, and some yogurt drinks for us. We chatted again for another 10 to 15 minutes. Same as earlier in the day, he told us he would be back later.

That evening he showed up with two bananas and we chatted some more. It was a bit chilly out so he invited us to the police station, which is the picture above. We spent about an hour or so at the police station, had some coffee, and learned a few magic tricks. It was a nice evening since there wasn't a lot we could do in our tent. So, if you ever make it to Udo Island be sure to say hello to the police, especially Officer Jwa and tell him J-Shi says hello.

(Katrina and I at the Ferry Terminal soak and wet from our walk in the rain. The great part about our walk was the scooter guy from the day before stopped and picked us up so we wouldn't have to walk in the rain. Like I said, I love Udo Island - great people.)