Pai is one of those out-of-the-way and hard-to-get-to places that everyone seems to have been to. Situated in a lovely valley and surrounded by hills which are home to natural hot-springs, elephant camps and numerous ethnic groups (“Hill Tribes”), Pai has grown from a sleepy market town to a mecca for budget tourists, with plenty of cheap guesthouses, some newer resorts and spas, at least two yoga retreats, and numerous restaurants – all catering to vegetarians.
Centre of the Universe? Pai, Mile Zero, Mae Hong Son (ปาย 0 แม่ฮ่องสอน)
All the cosy cafés cater to Western and Thai pallets: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (It's August!).
Spicy! Take-away lunch in plastic bags is a Thai staple. The clashing, coloured table cloth is an added bonus. 🙂
Lanna Ladies Praying ~ Welcome to Wat Luang, Pai
Local clothing store. Pai has been called "The Nimbin of Thailand": an Australian reference to the alternate lifestyle that predominates in and around town.
Lines of Communication? The Burmese-style roof-line of Wat Glang, Pai, and the ubiquitous power and/or phone lines.
I had been wanting to visit for a long time. Six years ago at a travel expo we bought a weekend package at small local resort in Pai. Unfortunately, when we passed through on our way to Mae Hong Son just before we were due to stay, we discovered that our resort was one of the many casualties of the severe flooding and mudslides that year. The Pai river floods every year, but 2005 was especially bad, and a lot of housing and infrastructure was washed away.
Bridge? Apparently, there is a bamboo bridge here half the year. Along with the huts on the other shore, it gets damaged annually and rebuilt when the rainy season finishes.
Last month, we finally made it! Although it is only about 80 kilometres from Chiang Mai, it took our crowded mini-van three and a half hours to negotiate the 762 gut-wrenching switch-back curves along the way. Once again I had organised our accommodation, a new “boutique resort” in the centre of town, at a travel expo. Fortunately it was indeed in the centre of town, and fortunately there is a lot to do and see, because our room was essentially a concrete shoe-box with a prime view of the construction underway next door.
First stop on a day out: Buy a good-luck charm (a Thai one baht coin surrounded by rice, colour-coded for the day of your birth) before visiting Wat Phra That Mae Yen, Pai.
Old, but not out! This elderly Lanna woman is one of the sellers of the rice good-luck charms.
Inside Wat Phra That Mae Yen our guide Tae talks about his faith .
The Burmese-style roofline of Wat Phra That Mae Yen, Pai
Second stop: Take in the greens of spring! A Farmer Inspecting Her Fields
Teak tree in "blossom"
Yellow blossoms on a Khi Lek (Cassia Siamea) tree
Third stop: Boil your eggs for lunch in the hot water, or go for a dip at Tha Pai Hot Springs, Pai
Fourth stop: Cross the Nawarat bridge, renamed the Tha Pai Memorial Bridge to commemorate the history of Japanese occupation in WWII.
Fifth stop: Clamber around, over, into and through the amazing Pai Canyon (Kong Lan) - erosion has worked some natural wonders here!
Once part of the old Shan State drug routes, Pai was originally populated by muslim and buddhist Shan (ethnic Tai) people who migrated from Burma, and Lanna (Tai Yuan) from Chiang Mai. Tourism used to comprise predominantly foreign back-packers and hill-trekkers, but the area was the location for several popular romantic Thai movies in the 2000’s, most recently “Pai in Love” (2009), so many Thai tourists now visit the area to relive their favourite films and to enjoy the “cool” climate.
Stop six: Have coffee and cake overlooking beautiful green hills at "Coffee in Love", one of the many places built to cater to Thai tourists and cash in on the popularity of the Thai film: "Pai in Love".
Stop seven: Have lunch and shop for Chinese trinkets at "Shandicun", or "Yunnan Chinese Village". This "Chinese Village" park with souvenir shops, horse riding and even a replica Great Wall is the brainchild of a local Chinese merchant who wanted to stop the decline in population in his local community. We are looking here through the "Great Wall" to the actual village.
Stop eight: Take a picture of your friend in front of the Mo Paeng Waterfall.
The Pai area, like the rest of Mae Hong Son, is home to numerous ethnic minority groups (“Hill Tribes”), principally Lisaw (Lisu), Lahu and Karen. It is interesting to see people wearing their traditional clothes as they go about their daily lives – although these days, t-shirts, terry-towelling and flannel are often liberally mixed in with more traditional fabrics.
A Lisaw (Lisu) Auntie watches over her nephews as they experiment with the cool Mo Paeng waters.
Last stop: Before heading home to Pai town centre, take a walk through a Lahu village and chat with the residents.
It was a full and varied day, but we were still back in our shoe-box, listening to the hammers next door long before dinner-time. So, we took a walk around town and booked an elephant ride along (and into!) the Pai river for the next morning, followed by a hot-spring bath.
Cheeky, smiling Mahout ~ Thom's Elephant Camp, Pai
Bare-back on an elephant is less comfortable than you would think: unless you are up around the neck, that spine is unavoidable!
Too soon we were squashed onto the afternoon mini-bus for our 762 bends back to Chiang Mai and our evening flight to Bangkok.
fantastic as always, not sure i’d be keen on the flight if riding the elephants spine was more comfortable.LOL… Man aren’t they fabulous creatures?ReplyCancel
Hello Ursula,
I found your blog via a Flickr photo.
A nice review of the town – although it has recently been losing some of the charm as business interests put up more concrete and garishly painted buildings.
I love the place ‘out of season’ and have been bouncing back and forth since 2003 (well, once you ‘marry-in’ that’s almost mandatory).
As for the drive – it is one of the absolute joys for me, providing it isn’t raining like a waterfall 🙂ReplyCancel
“It’s raining and blowing down here and your windows and doors are open! Your power and water have been turned off. I haven’t seen your maid at all this year. Your house is full of geckos and who knows what else!”
So came the phone call last week from our neighbour on Koh Samui. As we had paid the maid in full through to the present, this was more than a little alarming.
My husband and I first visited Koh Samui, tropical island pearl in the Bay of Thailand, ten years ago. We loved it. On a subsequent visit, six years ago, we signed “contracts” with a “licenced real estate agent” to build our retirement “dream home”: a small two-story pre-fabricated challet with a wonderful sunset view over beach flats, on a small block of land within a “resort” complex. If you have ever dealt with a property purchase in a country that doesn’t follow anything resembling British common law, you will understand my use of quotation marks: nothing is as it seems.
The building never quite went to plan. One year came and went, and although the house wasn’t finished, the cupboard doors were already sagging off their hinges. Two years crawled past with little change: we were supposed to move in, but had to pay to stay next door because the water and electricity still didn’t reach the house. Three years on and we were in, but the infrastructure (the roads and pathways, the communal pool) was not; the owner of the complex seemed to have run out of money and/or motivation. The cheap paint on our exterior was already peeling, and our cupboard doors were still hanging.
We are not completely naïve: unlike the many farang who come to Thailand and invest their life savings in a house for a bar girl who has a heart of gold, a sick buffalo, and a noisy extended family, only to end up broke and broken hearted, we made sure that we only spent as much as we could, worst case scenario, stand to lose. Even so, it was a blow when, after four years, we discovered that we still didn’t hold title to the property. It was a further twelve months of emails and phone calls, legal fees, and greased palms before we could celebrate our ‘blue book’: our “legal” proof of ownership. Well, as “legal” as you can be in Thailand, where following the law to the letter is a bit like playing a catch-22 scavenger hunt while blind-folded.
Of course, by this stage, the owner had allowed a two-story building to be built in front of us, obstructing some of our view, and the maid had installed tenants who weren’t paying rent… Not long after we got the tenants out, the geckos moved in and the maid disappeared with all the linen and a bundle of money, and we got that phonecall from our neighbour. My first reaction was: “That’s it! Let’s sell.”
So, this weekend we took an unscheduled weekend trip to Koh Samui, with the intention of putting our little cottage on the market. We spent most of our time shopping for replacement bedding and other missing inventory, talking to tradesmen about electrical, plumbing carpentry and painting needs, and discussing where to get new furniture covers.
We took time out to go snorkelling one glorious afternoon in the warm seas over a nearby reef while hand-feeding countless varieties of colourful tropical fish. We wandered along almost deserted beaches on an uninhabited neighbouring island before sitting in the sun staring at nothing in particular. We motored back to our island through the most vivid of sunsets before overindulging in a ridiculously cheap meal of Thai spices and fresh seafood.
A quiet afternoon: Still waters at Nathon, Koh Samui
The Boat "Dock" ~ Thong Krut, Koh Samui
Tourists on the "Pier" ~ Thong Krut, Koh Samui
Leaving "Port" ~ Thong Krut, Koh Samui
Snorkel Boat Over the Reef ~ Koh Tan
Feeding the Fish ~ Koh Tan
Tourists ~ Koh Tan
Coming into Koh Mudsum
Long-Tail Boats on the Beach ~ Koh Mudsum
Thai Boatman at Rest
The Beach: Koh Mudsum
Mangrove Bush ~ Koh Mudsum Beach
Purple Peas on the Beach ~ Koh Mudsum
Sand Crab ~ Koh Mudsum
Beach ~ Koh Mudsum
Little Ringed Plovers ~ Koh Mudsum
Mangrove Leaves
Sundown ~ Bay of Thailand
Setting Sun ~ Thong Krut Waters
Tanker on the Horizon ~ Fiery Skies ~ Bay of Thailand
Dinner on the "Dock" ~ Thong Krut, Koh Samui
And somehow, as we breakfasted on our balcony, watching the light play on the sand and the distant islands, and as we sat under the awning in the evening rain, listening to the frogs, we fell in love with the place all over again.
So, we’ve organized a new property manager, and we’ll be back again soon.
I suppose we could visit the islands without all the challenges of property ownership, but where’s the fun in that?
Had to know reading through you’d fall in love again and stay LOL
what a lovely piece of paradise…. may you both continue to enjoy for years to come..ReplyCancel
Love the opening shot with the grasses. I read about mining companies that factor “sovereign risk” into their calculations before committing themselves to an investment, perhaps the same applies to real estate? A cautionary tale indeed.ReplyCancel
Ursula -August 26, 2011 - 10:25 am
Hi Kevin and Signe – good to “see” you both!
Thailand, is indeed, risky business. But we love it. 😉ReplyCancel
Damian Senior -November 2, 2011 - 8:24 pm
Hi Ursula, I am a frequent visitor to Thailand and am in the process of setting up a holiday business. I would like to know I could use some of your photos for the website.
[…] in Koh Samui, Thailand, has been orphaned once more. The situation is not as serious as it was 18 months ago, but it is still distressing to try to deal with agents and cleaners and bills when we are a […]ReplyCancel
Patrick Gallagher -March 7, 2013 - 1:22 am
Nice photos, but sad story. The Koh Samuii I see in your photos reminds me of the Koh Samuii I first saw in 1976 and makes me want to go back. Hope you are having better luck with your investment there.ReplyCancel
There can be no symbol more iconic of Cambodia’s attempts to guard its glorious Khmer past or of it’s hope for a self-determined future. The world’s largest religious monument, built between 1113 and 1150 during the reign of Suryavarman II, Angkor Wat was designed as a microcosm of the Hindu universe. The outer moat represents mythical oceans, while the concentric galleries stand for the mountain ranges that surround the inner sanctum, Mount Meru, home to the Hindu pantheon.
Vishnu the Protector ~ This statue, now in the West Entrance gopura, is believed to have been originally located in the central sanctuary.
Although built as a palace for the Hindu gods, Angkor Wat has always been religiously inclusive: first with respect to the original Khmer deities, and later to Mahayana and Theravada (Hinayana) Buddhism, respectively. Today, Hindu and Buddhist devotees intermingle freely as they pay their respects and/or pray at alters to their own or each other’s gods.
Reclining Buddha ~ Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat is so integral to Cambodia’s sense of self that it is a part of the national flag: the only building in the world to be so honoured. The black and white outline of the temple’s three towers against the red and blue of the flag match the view that greets you as you approach from the causeway on the the west side, as most visitors do.
The first time I went to Angkor Wat (in 2007) I, too, entered from the west – as witnessed by the dawn photograph I have in the opening masthead series (above). This July, as part of the photo-tour/workshop with photographers Karl Grobl, Marco Ryan, Gavin Gough and Matt Brandon, I visited the temple twice: both times in the late afternoon, both times entering from the east; essentially coming in the ‘back door’. It was quiet – no tourists – no hawkers – only one lone fisherman, illegally trying to catch dinner in the moat until he saw our cameras – and we could have been the first ‘outsiders’ there.
Lathe-Turned Stone Window Balusters, Angkor Wat
The bas reliefs of Angkor Wat are justifiably famous: covering extensive areas, the exterior wall panels of the third enclosure tell ancient Sanskrit creation stories and epics, particularly the Mahabharata, the philosophical and devotional story of a dynastic struggle for power, and the beloved Ramayana, the epic poem series depicting the major events in the life of Rama, an Avatar of Vishnu. But it is not only the walls. Almost every surface is carved: from the lathe-turned window balusters to the heavenly apsara dancers gracing walls and pillars everywhere.
Apsara Dancers inside Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat is so much more than relics in stone. The organisation that looks after this, and other Angkor temples in the Siem Reap area, is APSARA (Authority for Protection and Management of Angkor and the Region of Siem Reap), which was created by royal decree in 1995 in response to the need for local planning for World Heritage Listing. The acronym makes reference to the apsara, the celestial nymphs of Hindu and Buddhist legend, who also lend their name to traditional Khmer classical dance-drama performance. The agency is the link between local management of Khmer cultural heritage and UNESCO; and the guards, guides and various workers around the grounds all wear their APSARA name-plates proudly.
APSARA Employee, Angkor Wat
Above all, Angkor Wat is a temple; a site of pilgrimage and active worship for Hindus and Buddhists alike, Cambodian and otherwise. The saffron robes of Theravada monks are ubiquitous – it’s as if the monks are scattered, posed, just waiting to be photographed against the richly coloured weathered stone walls.
Monk in the Balusters
Monks in the Corridors, Angkor Wat
Cultural Exchange: A French woman discusses modern Buddhist practice with a young monk
Monks in the Afternoon, Angkor Wat
The stories told on the walls of Angkor Wat still live in the hearts and minds of the people, as well as in the modern practice of Khmer classical dance. The Cambodian version of the Ramayana, the 24,000 verse epic poem about ‘Rama’s Journey’ through life, integrates Buddhist themes into the traditional Hindu stories. One of the pivotal chapters tells how Rama’s wife Sita is abducted by the demon king of Lanka, Ravana. Another depicts her subsequent rescue by Hanuman, the monkey god. Our photographic mentors, Gavin Gough and Matt Brandon managed to persuade three apsara dancers to meet us in the corridors of the wat for a late afternoon photo-shoot.
Just for us! Khmer apsara dancers and the Ramayana: Ravana, Hanuman, and Sita in the west corridors of Angkor Wat.
Hanuman Strikes a Pose
Hanuman’s Hand
Sita’s Feet
Corridors of Power: Ravana Unmasked
Beauty and Strength ~ Ravana Unmasked
So, Angkor Wat may be a monument to a glorious Khmer culture of times past, but it also houses ongoing religious practices and modern renditions of ancient stories. It is a living monument.
Given the tragedies of recent Cambodian history, I hope that the cultural heritage embodied in this iconic temple can help the Cambodian people bridge the gaps between their cultural past and their potential future.
WOW, amazing the detail and intricacy of the stone work, and what beautiful shots of the dancers, Ursula you are certainly living the dream… thank you for sharing it.ReplyCancel
Some events in history are incomprehensible to me.
That some people survive these events, with dignity and hope, is almost more incomprehensible.
While I was in Phnom Penh last month, as part of a photo-tour/workshop with photographers Karl Grobl, Marco Ryan, Gavin Gough and Matt Brandon, I was privileged to meet and speak with Mr Chum Mey, one of only seven prisoners known to have survived the notorious Security Prison 21 (S-21): Tuol Sleng.
He spoke through an interpreter, but it was his voice and gentle brown eyes that held me transfixed as he talked about his experiences at the prison.
Chum Mey was in his forties, with a pregnant wife and three small children when the Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh. After being part of the exodus out of Phnom Penh, he was sent back to the city to repair the sewing machines used to manufacture the black uniforms favoured by the new regime. On 28 October 1978, they sent him to Tuol Sleng where he survived unspeakable and repeated tortures. His survival, when upwards of 17,000 perished, he believes, was because of his skills as a mechanic.
He talked, in his quiet voice, without rancour as he guided us around what is now a museum to the atrocities committed by those under the direct command of Kang Kech Iev, or “Brother Duch”, the head of the security apparatus. “If the dog bites you, you cannot bite it back”, Chum Mey said to us.
Where his anger did show was, not at Duch, but at the International Court – the UN-backed Khmer Rouge Tribunal – which gave Comrade Duch only 35 years for his crimes against humanity.
Join me, with Mr Chum Mey, in a short tour of Cambodia’s living past.
Everything can be taken from a man or a woman but one thing: the last of human freedoms to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.
What a dreadful time in history, and how important that these stories be told, we live in dangerous times, dangerous because without these brave people sharing their stories and people like you capturing it for future generations they will be all but lost. thank you.ReplyCancel
Ursula -August 12, 2011 - 1:43 am
Thanks, guys. Chum Mey is a very special man – what strength!ReplyCancel
Thanks Ursula,
a difficult subject which I think you’ve handled well.ReplyCancel
gabe -August 12, 2011 - 1:31 am
Signe expressed it better than I can. Well doneReplyCancel
Peggy Tan -August 12, 2011 - 2:51 am
Nice shots, nice music… but heart breaking… Hope history will not repeat again and world peace!ReplyCancel
Ursula -August 12, 2011 - 3:08 pm
Hi Peggy! Thanks for visiting. Unfortunately, history does seem to repeat; similar stories, different places. I guess we can only do our little bit… and hope.ReplyCancel
Ursula, you’ve done an excellent job on this multimedia piece about Chum Mey. Bravo! Compelling images and a sound track that fits very nicely. Keep up the great work…I’ll keep following your blog.
All the best, KarlReplyCancel
Ursula -August 16, 2011 - 5:03 am
Thanks so much Karl! Couldn’t have done it without you.ReplyCancel
Hi Ursula – great piece, really lovely shots and very compelling. I’m still struggling to find time to go through all my images. Hopefully will be able to soon! Hope all is well. JasperReplyCancel
Ursula -August 19, 2011 - 2:16 pm
Thanks so much for looking in – and for sharing this, Jasper. I KNOW your photos will be amazing, once you have a chance to look at them. I still have SO many I haven’t looked at; what a trip!ReplyCancel
Pongpet -August 20, 2011 - 12:35 pm
With a good camera and Ursula’s hand, how amzingly some history is recorded on the way she travels. Thank you for keep sharing your valuable experiences.ReplyCancel
Great job Ursula. That time with Chum Mey was a very special and moving experience. Like Jasper I’m also struggling to find the time to review my images but I’m hanging in there. Where is your next trip?ReplyCancel
Ursula -August 24, 2011 - 5:55 am
Hi Darrell! Thanks for visiting the site. I agree, our time with Chum Mey was very special. I hope I have done him some justice!
I’m off to Sydney and other points Australian on Saturday. 🙂ReplyCancel
Hello Ursula
Your last picture has me again magically attracted to view your website once again. A difficult theme you have chosen. I was in Cambodia in 2002 and have seen this with my own eyes. Interesting that I could see the history – but it is still horrible what happened at that time. With your movie and the matching music got this topic well managed to the attention. Greetings Dietmut
Hi Dietmut,
I’m glad you looked in. It was a difficult subject to tackle. I have been to Phnom Penh many times, and NOT gone to these places, but this time might be my last opportunity, so I thought I must go. I am SO glad I did: Mr Chom Mey made it special, and that was the angle I started with.
btw: I LOVE the shallow dof on you flowers. 😀ReplyCancel
[…] the genocide perpetrated by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge between 1975-1979 when two million Cambodians were killed, it is not surprising that less than 4% […]ReplyCancel
[…] of Cambodia between 1975 and 1979, anyone deemed an “intellectual” was targeted. Over 17,000 Cambodian people were executed in the Killing Fields, and these included most of the country’s writers, artists and musicians. As a consequence, […]ReplyCancel
[…] the genocide perpetrated by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge between 1975-1979 when two million Cambodians were killed, it is not surprising that less than […]ReplyCancel
[…] and 1979, anyone deemed an “intellectual” was targeted. Over 17,000 Cambodian people were executed in the Killing Fields, and these included most of the country’s writers, artists and musicians. As a […]ReplyCancel
My husband and I sat in the hotel breakfast room, people-watching surreptitiously over our coffee and croissants. The only other occupant of the room was a woman in walk-pants, about my age, with a round quirky face and short curly hair. She sat in a booth opposite us, unhurriedly drinking café au lait and thumbing through a glossy magazine. Meanwhile, in the hotel lobby, a fit-looking man of about the same age, in impossibly-short shorts (of the kind only Europeans would wear), woollen socks and solid hiking boots, hoisted a large back-pack onto his shoulders and paced: alternating between coming into the dining room to talk to the woman; checking the roll of topographical maps and guide book he was carrying; and querying the elderly proprietor in the lobby as to the best routes out of town.
It was the first morning of the second half of our walk through the Cathar Castles of the Pyrenees. I have written before about the colourful characters that inhabit the region, and once again we were to find the people on the road every bit as fascinating as the area’s history and scenery. The two French-speakers we’d been watching seemed to be together, yet they were so clearly not marching to the same rhythm!
After our breakfast, we too, got instructions from the hotel proprietor and, leaving the French couple behind, set off on a shortcut to find the sentier Cathare (the Cathar trail). We strode out at a good pace, reaching Ginoles, the first of our Pyrenean villages, ahead of schedule.
Ginoles, home to 369 people in 2007, comes into view.
Every small village: a church.
A long, relentless climb up a shale mountain rewarded us with a view back over picturesque Ginoles.
From Ginoles, it was all up hill! Literally.
Up a coline de schiste noir, a black oil shale hill, radiating with heat and riddled with loose stones that threatened the safety of our ankles, knees and hips, we played leap-frog with the French couple: over-taking or being over-taken by one or both of them, each time with a polite “Bonjour!”, as we made our way up the seemingly endless hill before entering a pass through the forest and coming out the other side at Coudons.
Hunting hounds greeted us, back on the D613 at Coudons.
Gnomes Point the Way ~ La Fage
Mustard, Brambles, and Mountains ~ La Fage
Pine Cones ~ La Fage
Typical French Pyrenean housing ~ Nébias
It was nice when the pathway was clearly marked! Nébias (Photo by Gabe)
According to our notes, there was a restaurant at Nébias offering regional cuisine (Restaurant Le Thury, 66 Allée Promenade – no internet!). Not withstanding how good our packed picnics had been along the way, we were ridiculously excited by the prospect of eating our lunch in chairs! We sat at a plastic table outdoors in the sun, savouring our main course and salad with wine, and enjoying our coffee with desert.
Next stop: Château de Puivert on the hill in the distance. Privately owned and well maintained, this historic monument is the location for a number of movies, including The Ninth Gate – which I have seen and honestly can’t remember in SPITE of Johnny Depp’s star power!
Marguerites on the Path to Puivert
“Follow the red and white stripes!” Cathar Trail Markers
The Family Pet ~ A European Wolf ~ meets us outside the Château de Puivert
The Ruined Walls of the old Château de Puivert. The castle belonged to the Cathar Congost family when, in November 1210, it was subjected to three days of siege as part of the Albigensian Crusade.
Castle Doors ~ Newer parts of the Château de Puivert were built at the start of the 14th century.
Puivert is considered the “capitale des troubadours et de la musique médiévale” – the capital of the troubadours, the composers and performers of Occitan lyric poetry and mediaeval music from the 11th through the mid 13th century. The castle owners, in conjunction with the Puivert town museum, pay tribute to these historical figures and their instruments in the musicians’ room.
View of the small town of Puivert (497 inhabitants at last census) from the «sentier des troubadours», the walkway down from the castle.
We walked down from the castle above, following the Troubadours’ Pathway, into the town of Puivert – possibly the most picturesque and charming town we had visited in the Pyrenees – to seek out our accommodation: Le Relais des Marionnettes. Here we got to meet a whole new cast of characters.
L’Atelier des Marionnettes ~ The Marionette Workshop ~ A chaotic space, crowded with life
Our charming, articulate and rather bohemian hosts, Michel et Françoise Dubrunfaut, moved from Paris to Puivert ten years ago to follow their passion. In a chaotic workshop, crowded with fabrics, papers, paints, and clay body-parts, they create the most amazing marionettes. He moulds, carves and paints the faces and bodies, while she creates the costumes. Although many were caricatures, some were incredibly lifelike. With pride, Michel showed me his rendition of Mstislav Rostropovich, the celebrated cellist and conductor (1927-2007) as he looked, seated on his chair at the foot of the Berlin Wall playing Bach Suites, on the 11th of November 1989 when the Wall came down.
At 7:30 in the evening (the magic hour in the Pyrenees) we were downstairs in the common room, and over drinks (muscat, kir or pastisse) we met the other guests: seven other hikers from different parts of France, on various stages of their passage along the Cathar Trail. Katherine and Renaud, the couple we had been ‘meeting’ all day were from Paris. They, and two women, nurses from the Chamonix region, were walking the same direction as were were, while the other three women were walking the opposite way. Over a superb dinner of vegetable and nettle soup, rattatouille and chicken fettucini, and the best strawberry shortcake I’ve ever eaten, stories of walks across France and around the world bounced around the table (in French, of course) at a rapid rate.
Two repeated themes in the atelier, the French monsieur and the kitchen witch, bore a remarkable resemblance to their creators, Michel et Françoise Dubrunfaut – the artist and his muse.
That evening, the characters from the road danced around in my head, like marionettes on strings – each with it’s own own unique personality and story.
- Performing the Ganga Aarti from Dasaswamedh Ghat, Varanasi
- Buddha Head from Shwedagon Pagoda, Myanmar
- Harry Clarke Window from Dingle, Ireland
- Novice Monk Shwe Yan Pyay Monastery, Myanmar
Packets of 10 for $AU50.
Or - pick any photo from my Flickr or Wanders blog photos.
Too soon we were squashed onto the afternoon mini-bus for our 762 bends back to Chiang Mai and our evening flight to Bangkok.
Everything can be taken from a man or a woman but one thing: the last of human freedoms to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.
fantastic as always, not sure i’d be keen on the flight if riding the elephants spine was more comfortable.LOL… Man aren’t they fabulous creatures?
Thanks, Signe! 🙂
Great post! Next time I’m in Thailand, I may try to visit. Hot springs sounds awesome….
Glad you enjoyed it, Ethan. Pai has a lot to offer! 🙂
Lovely series of photographs and commentary, Ursula. I feel like I have been there.:-)
Hey, Patrick! I’m glad you enjoyed it. I’d go back any time – if it wasn’t for the drive! 😉
Hello Ursula,
I found your blog via a Flickr photo.
A nice review of the town – although it has recently been losing some of the charm as business interests put up more concrete and garishly painted buildings.
I love the place ‘out of season’ and have been bouncing back and forth since 2003 (well, once you ‘marry-in’ that’s almost mandatory).
As for the drive – it is one of the absolute joys for me, providing it isn’t raining like a waterfall 🙂
Welcome, Geoff!
How lucky for you to visit regularly. I’ve never managed to get to Pai – much as I’d love to.
I was wondering if you’re still in Pai Geoff – I’m in Queensland now – drop me a line! 😀 x
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