PART FOURTEEN: My First Attempt on the MotorBike in Pai- Scootering in Pai,12 October 2006, Thursday

After spending several hours in the comfy Pai villa hut, I decided to take a breather and grab a quick bite before returning to the room to continue on my travelogue.

When I was enjoying my fried rice at a roadside stall underneath the tree, a young man, Pong came up to me and started talking in Thai. "Chan Mai Chai Kong Thai (I'm not Thai in Thai language)", I replied swiftly, whipping out the phrase that I've mastered over the last few days. I told him I was not Thai and we chatted. He asked if I had visited the hot spring which was only 6 kilometres away from Pai. I told him that I didn’t know how to ride the scooter. He suggested that I could rent the motorcycle from his friend’s shop and he could bring me to the nearby waterfall, hotspring and the Chinese village and teach me how to ride the scooter.

I said yes to Pong’s suggestion. Not because I really wanted to see the waterfall, or the Chinese village, but I wanted him to teach me how to ride the motorbike. I have been eyeing the scooters for the past few days. Pai is probably the only place in Asia where you can rent a motorbike or scooter without a licence. Knowing myself, I would most likely crash into some flowerpots or knock some poor dogs down if I handle a scooter on my own. He rode the first part of the journey, and when the road was smoother, I said, “Okie, now we change. I want to learn. You teach me.” We switched positions and I took over the bike. Pong was holding on to the brake most of the time, but kept giving words of encouragement, “You learn fast, you very good.”

Poo brought me to the nearby waterfall and we stopped at a local pub owned by his fren, Boo, a cool Thai lady, who married a Frenchman. Boo was playing pool with a few of her customers from Italy. One of the Italians recognized me and said that we have met at Amido’s Pizza Garden the night before.

I bought Pong a bottle of coke and he had a pool match with Boo. Boo invited me to go to another part of her little pub which offered a spectacular view of the mountains. I was happily using my camera to capture these beautiful moments, when I felt a tug at my pants. I looked down to realize that it was a kitten. I have a phobia for cats and the little kitchen freaked me out. I took a step back and it thought that I was playing with it and gave chase. I ran further. I turned my head to check on the furry one.

I kept a safe distance of about two metres from the kitten. The kitten stood still. Some people say that animals can sense emotions of human beings. I decided to engage in a short yet intense staring session with the kitten, to exert my authority over the little creature. My attempt failed miserably, the kitten sprang towards me. I think it sensed my fear more so and I had to forsake my beautiful scenery.

It soon started pouring and we had to seek shelter before we go back to Pai. Pong and I made a pact to meet at 7pm for dinner outside Pai de Villa, my guesthouse. After 10 minutes of waiting, I decided to walk to the main street on my own. He was having his dinner and didn’t realized that it was 7pm. I told him that it was alright and I would walk around on my own instead.

Soon after, I bumped into Amido, the Pizza Man and Terry, sitting at the same place we met the last time along the main street. Terry is from England and teaches English in Bangkok. We had a nice conversation about the atrocities of war, discrimination and Thailand for about an hour, before I made my exit to go back to the room to continue with my travelogue while the rest of the folks made their way to Be-Bop, the popular live-music pub in Pai.