Life of Pai

The road between Chiang Mai and Pai is an attraction in itself. Or should I say a repellent? It's significant, anyway. As the road climbs through the hills, it goes through 762 turns. I did it in a comfortable car and after 3 hours, I was pretty sick of it. God knows what it's like for the locals doing the trip on those ricketty Thai mopeds.

Pai is a town in the hills to the north-west of Chiang Mai, on the way to the Myanmar border. It's traditionally a sleepy artist village, but when we went it was crazy busy and new accommodation was being thrown together all over the place.

We arrived in the evening and went out for a walk. We made our way to Wat Luang.









From there we climbed to the temple Wat Phra Thart Mae Yen on one of the hills overlooking the town, to watch the sunset.























We couldn't work out why, in Pai, all of the souvenirs seemed to be about the town mailboxes, which were extremely ordinary. It turns out that the mailboxes were a feature of a recent Thai film set in Pai. Perhaps that also explains why the town was crammed with tourists.

My aunt asked if I would like a t-shirt with Pai on it, but most of my shirts already have pie on them, so I declined. Thank you, try the veal.

A couple of lantern Xmas trees, the second one reflected in the pool.









Because Pai is in the hills, I was warned that it would be cold. Right at the moment I consider myself a leading expert on being cold, and Thailand isn't. You don't know the meaning of "surreal" until you've stood sweating in shorts and sandals, sipping iced bael juice, and listened to a speaker piping "Frosty the Snowman".

But the locals ~think~ it's cold. Do you remember when I went to Chiang Mai in '08 and saw the pandas? The locals are crazy about them. In CM, there is a 24 hour panda channel on TV where you can watch them doing pretty much nothing. The must-have fashion item is a furry panda hat with ear flaps that hang all the way down to your hands to provide built-in gloves that look like paws.

Are you ready for a cute picture?

Little Panda's Big Day Out

If you look to the left, you'll see that not only is the baby wearing a panda hat, but so is the adult in front. Even in CM in the daytime, I saw people wearing polar fleeces and fur-lined hoods. Crazy.

The high point of the the Pai night market was an elk or antelope or something, played by two Myanmarese.



The head was made of wood so when people walked near it, it would snap at them with a loud clacking sound. It lay down for a while and gnawed on its groin. Groin humour is universal.

Expat Xmas

This was my second Christmas since leaving New Zealand. England is currently going through the coldest Winter for decades, which is exactly what they said last year as well. Actually, I think the weather forecaster was wearing last year's shirt. Are they just re-running old weather reports?

Cambridge Ice Rink on Xmas Eve, Under the "Reality Checkpoint" Lampost

A week before Christmas, I didn't really have any plans. Some friends in London had very kindly invited me for Christmas, but at the last minute I decided to get myself a nice Thai meal. I know this place that does great Thai food south of Cambridge. It's not on the Cambridge bus route so it takes a bit of effort getting there.

Actually, the commute was horrendous.

Punting down the Cam. Don't fool yourself, it's freezing cold. Just for the record, the hat was only a rental.

(C) Jo MacLean

This is the least comfortable taxi I've ever been in. It's slow and the seat is all lumpy.


(That's why I never post photos of myself. How is it possible for me to sit on a frickin' elephant and still look tubby?)

Okay, this is getting ridiculous. I'm going to write to the taxi company.



Woah, hold it. This is the place:



Yes, it's Thailand. Durr.

Burano

Burano is an island a few kilometers into the lagoon from Venice. The men are traditionally fishermen, and the women were famous for their lacework. Jan Morris writes:

"Later the industry languished so disastrously that when they came to resuscitate it, only one very old lady survived who knew how to make Venetian point: they muffled her in woollies, stuffed her with pills, and gently filched her secrets before she died."

I don't care much about lace, nor about the fish that are caught in a 55 square km open sewer. But Burano is also known for its colourful houses. Stunningly pretty.













































The campanile in Burano, like another more famous Italian tower, is leaning at a precarious angle. It's almost as if building a tall narrow tower that's expected to last for centuries on a swamp isn't a good idea. I like to think that when it leans too far to one side, one of the local builders wanders over and puts his shoulder against it. It moves with a sucking, squelching noise until it's leaning in the opposite direction. He dusts his hands and moseys home for a panini and a cigarette.

I'm Dreaming of a Bright Christmas

The great thing about Christmas is having a traditional kiwi barbeque and maybe catching some rays in the deckchair.

Venice at Night

The Rialto Bridge:










The Bridge of Sighs. So named because when prisoners were taken to see what the dilweed Italians had done to the bridge, they sighed.








The Campanile (tower) in St Mark's Square. According to Jan Morris, it was begun in 912, and in the 15th century misbehaving clerics were hung in cages on the side of it, sometimes until they starved. Emperor Frederick III once rode his horse up it, and Galileo used the platform near the top to demonstrate his newly invented telescope to the Doge.

Goethe visited it. Wait, didn't he beat me to that salt mine in Poland as well? Bastard, he's always one step ahead!




The Basilica in St Mark's Square. The 4 horses that you can just see above the main arch are replicas (the originals that stood there are in a nearby museum). They were captured from Constantinople during the fourth crusade.

Guess Who's Coming to Shimmer

I'm back from my latest trip. Aww, thanks. I missed you too.

The trick to these "Guess where James has been" posts is for me to show a photo that gives subtle hints, without giving the game away. It's quite the tightrope act.

This is a tricky one. Don't give it away...don't give it away...

Damnit!

Night of the Concorde

Our work Xmas party was in a plane hanger. When I first received the email, the thought that went through my mind was: "How cheap is this company? Are all the disused coal mines already booked?"

However, the hanger in question is at Duxford, 12 miles from Cambridge. It's part of the large air museum there and is crammed full of historic British aircraft. As parties go, it was quite different.

Apologies for the cell phone pics. The lighting was terrible.



Looking along the Concorde:



Standing in a bomb bay:



The two photos from above were taken after I climbed up to the balcony, where I was confronted by a security woman. She asked me "Are you in the band?" I replied that I wasn't and she shooed me down. It reminds me of that scene in Ghostbusters where Venkman says "Ray, if somebody asks if you're a god, you say 'Yes'!"

Lesson for the day: If someone from security asks if you're with the band, always say 'Yes'.