All posts tagged: Pai

Thinking on the Winding Road To Pai

The winding road that leads from Chaing Mai to Pai, a hippiesque town in northern Thailand, has 762 curves. Travelers are duly warned about the nausea and discomfort they will inevitably experience on the way up to this magical town as Thai drivers are concerned with neither “safety first” nor “keep your breakfast in.” The locals are not shy about profiting on tourists’ weak tummies either—the mid-way toilet stop is a small restaurant in the middle of nowhere, selling various remedies for motion sickness. Fortunately my belly was tough enough to stomach the curves, but the constant sliding from left to right with each turn thwarted any attempts at catching much needed sleep, leaving me with no option but to stay put and think. I forget to think sometimes. Instead I worry, mostly about insignificant decisions. Day-to-day life takes over and I realize that all of my thinking for weeks on end have focused on mundane tasks like paying this bill or editing that paper, and needless deliberations such as what to eat for dinner (i.e., …