January 15, 2023

Lazy morning today as I didn’t have anywhere to be. After breakfast, I laid around in my hammock and read. I can smell smoke in the air. The end of January is when farmers begin burning their fields and patches of forest to make way for new farmland. The smoke lowers the air quality index, and eventually all the tourists leave. I made it to Pai just in time.

After reading for a few hours, I went out to Two Sisters Restaurant which specializes in Burmese food. I ordered the popular Beef Curry and some kind of green tea. The beef curry was delicious, tasting just like beef stew with rice. 

As I sat eating my lunch, someone took the spare seat next to me. It turned out to be the same man that took the seat next to me at breakfast. His name was Dario from Heidelberg, Germany. We spoke about working in IT (he works for SAP) and learning woodworking. While eating, a rogue chicken snuck under the table and pecked at his sandal.

About an hour later, I met up with Amy at Charlie&Lek where she was having an even later lunch. We decided to go to Two Huts, one of the prime sunset viewing destinations. On our way there, we went up to the Big Buddha so Amy could see it. Many more people were here now than the day before when I arrived in the morning.

Two Huts was very popular for sunset. Scooters and gen Z backpackers were everywhere. Amy spotted Aman, who led our group hike a few days ago, so we joined him. We watched the sunset with fresh, heavy coconuts in our hands.

Upon making it back to town, we decided to get massages at Anong, right next to Cheese Madness. 400 baht for a 90 minute full body massage. That’s about $12 USD. I did not know how good it could feel to have my head rubbed, fingers pulled, and butt muscles punched. I’ll be sure to get another.

We likely ended up browsing the walking street again afterwards, especially so Amy could pick up another ichigo daifuku (strawberry mochi). She loves those things.