PART SEVEN: Love & Friendships Transcend Geographical Boundaries and Nationalities

Somehow I have an affinity with older folks. The first day in Pai, I met three past-prime folks, two of whom are from South America. One of them has been staying in Pai for more than four years and has a lovely mute girlfriend who sells delicious roadside snacks in a pushcart. He looks easily over 55 years old, and his girlfriend not more than half his age. Asked whether he is ever going to go back to South America, he said, "No, I have my house here, my girlfriend is here and I'm happy."

How did I meet them? I was just walking along the street by myself on my first day in Pai when one of the foggies chilling out for an evening chat outside the provision shop, called out to me, “Sarwadecar", which means “Hallo” in Thai language. I smiled, and shouted back, “Chan Mai Chai Kon Thai”. (I'm not Thai in Thai language). He signalled me to go over to their table, and started to guess which country I was from. It was a fun country-guessing session, he splewed terms including South America, Korea and many others, but it was his friend, the quiet musician who guessed it right.

He is a very free-spirited person. The way he interacted with the local children, and the advice he gave me when I tried my first shot of the home-made Thai whisky. "We're going to bring you to this local pub that has rarely been visited by foreigners. Don't worry, you would be very safe with you tonight, nothing bad is going to happen to you, he reassured. I trusted them, simply because you can feel the "niceness" in them. I then hopped on into his scooter, and with the rest of his friends, we scooted to the Buffalo Pub.

At the Buffalo Pub, the owner, makes very good Thai whisky with herbs. His home-made whisky guarantees to knock one out completely after three shots. The trick to combat this, according to my new-found friends, is to drink lots of water, after each shot, to avoid suffering from any hangover the next morning.