October 25: Pai

(1) On my last day in Pai, I dedicated myself to practicing the fine art of chilling out. Those who know me can attest to the fact that despite my easy-going, jovial demeanor, I'm tortured by the inability to just sit around and do nothing. I make annoying lists and thrive on order - but I'm incredibly efficient. Sadly, the classical thinker in me actually planned to dissect the various properties of chilling out, to see if I could find patterns and logic in its practice... which is incredibly unchill. That's just how my brain works - it's hell. To my own credit, I ended up hanging out all morning with an Aussie couple, enjoying a long breakfast as we talked about travel. Later, I settled into a table upstairs at All About Coffee to read my book and drink some ginger tea. The key to chilling out, I've decided, is eradicating personal and professional ambition... or, rather, finding temporary justification of putting these things on hold.

(2) I managed to pass the hours of the day by doing nothing, and I have to say that I enjoyed it very much. After the sun went down, I grabbed dinner at Mama Falafel, maker of the best pita in Pai! Later on, I cruised over to Walk In for the open mic night where I played the same songs I played the night before - Dead Flowers, Southern Cross, Knockin' on Heaven's Door, and Farmhouse. Walk In is probably one of the best late evening places to meet people in Pai, as it brings in all sorts of new talent, simply by virtue of the revolving door of backpackers that is Pai. This guy didn't even play music... but he could spin glass balls like nothing I'd ever seen.

(3) A group of us from Walk In piled into the back of a pickup and drove over to the far end of town to a popular bar called Be Bop. Pulling up to this place feels like you are about to walk into a mean biker bar, except the countless motorcycles are actually mopeds and the groove inside is anything but mean. A perfect mix of Thai and Farang, everyone was treated to some great music until about one in the morning. The late night action was on the other side of the river at two hangouts called Bamboo Bar and Fubar. I ended up going back to my room at around 3am.

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