There have been a millions brilliant people, sights, journeys blah that I've encountered so far so it's only natural I have to tolerate some not so nice experiences.
The first one was a bit of a shocker. I was in Pai. Pai is great but it definitely has an edge to it. A bit of a dark side. During the day it's totally chilled. Plenty to do: bamboo rafting, trekking, hot springs, caves plus some great cafes, restaurants and of course the bars. Oh the bars. They are something else.
There's a real community feel to drinking in Pai which I rather like. My liver doesn't. Emily, Lucy, Alice and I managed to make the most of it. You start off in one bar - usually Shisha Bar. That closes at 12 so the entire, and I mean entire bar, full of people all move to the Monkey Bar. When that shuts everyone heads to the Bamboo Bar and finally, if you're still standing, you head to FUBAR.
Everyone was heading to the Bamboo bar on their bikes. I don't get on bikes. Certainly not with people who are hammered so I decided to walk. A guy we'd all met in Chiang Mai came with me with his guide. Suddenly the guide 'Louis' goes crazy and starts hitting this other guy because he's just seen him hit another girl. This guy, Israeli, on a sabbatical from the army uses this as a perfect opportunity to demonstrate his aggressive side and joins in. He went completely crazy and grabs a bottle and starts hitting the guy in questions. Meanwhile I'm standing thinking 'run' when the police turn up. Suddenly I'm surrounded by 6 or 7 Thai policemen with this guy and Louis going crazy.
I managed to slip out of the situ and walked off. Few minutes later this guy and Louis catch me up and only Louise asks how I am. The other guy is too busy snorting like a bull to ask how I am which I was pretty insulted by. I can't bear aggressive men. It's a sign of weakness, in my eyes really unattractive and generally goes against the grain with me. I was really shocked by the whole experience. Left a really nasty taste in my mouth. Anything could've happened, thankfully it didn't. I went home feeling really deflated and very vulnerable.
Second 'incident' was much, much worse. It didn't happen to me, it happened to a friend of mine and it was awful for her.
We decided to go trekking. First time for all of us. Two days and with an overnight stay with a tribal village family. Let me put this into context. Going on an organised trek in Pai is like hailing a London black cabbie. They are licensed and 'safe'. Or so we thought.
Don't get me wrong. The trek itself was brilliant. The scenery was stunning. It was hard but rewarding. Our guide appeared to be great too. Funny, knowledgeable, great company - his 'helpers' where a bit strange. Bit leachy.
We rocked up at this hut where the family lived and it was basic. And I mean basic. 5 hour trek from civilisation as we know it. No running water, electricity. The loo was the jungle and let’s just leave it at that!!
It was a fantastic experience though. Didn't get a wink of sleep as we were sleeping on bamboo floor with pigs underneath us (hut was on stilts - see pic above) snorting and squealing all night but the four of us all heading out into the jungle for a group loo stop after a few Thai Rice Whisky's is a memory that'll stay with me forever!!
We were all a bit concerned when it was clear the guide was bedding down in our hut. None of us had been on a trek before so we didn't have a point of reference. Previously we'd played a few bamboo stick games with him, drank Thai rice whisky and all was fine. He kept banging on about giving us a massage. I'm always wary of 'massage' guys. In my experience they're always after something other than a massage then give you the whole offended speech when you tell them to f*ck off!
I agree to a massage. Mainly cause everyone else had and I didn't want to ruin the atmosphere esp. as we were a 5 hour trek from civilisation and there were 3 other guys in the adjoining hut with dirty great machetes. Let's just say it was a bit close to the bone. I felt very uncomfortable and when I asked him where he'd learnt Thai massage, he said his cousin. Double, tipple yuk. More like 5 mins convo on how to slyly grope women. Anyway, we go to bed and try and sleep.
The next morning we all wake at 6am - mainly because we can't sleep plus the fact we all need the loo (turns out we all had done for hours but didn't want to wake anyone!) and daren't head out there alone!
Unfortunately the guide had other things on his mind aside from sleeping. My friend woke up to him groping her. His hands under her blanket and everything. Gross. Vile. Massively inappropriate and horrifying for my friend.
He stopped when she acted like she'd woken up to a noise and screamed. We had no choice but to say nothing. At least not until we got back to civilisation. It completely ruined the next day for all of us esp. for the girl in question and tainted the whole trek.
The third and final Yuk situ happened in Chiang Mai. Changers definitely has a seedy side to it. Tons of men (young, old) with young Thai girls. Pretty sick. Quite gross. Not too sure who to feel more sorry for.
Anyway I'm at a bar with another friend of mine. This guy slides up next to us and asks if we can join us. Alarm bells start ringing esp. as he has certain creepiness to him. Bit odd. A chancer who fancies himself. Deluded.
His mate then sidles up. We're chatting. It's a bit stilted. Then they asked if we wanted a drink. We say no. Two arrive anyway. Massively put off at the creepiness of it all we leave. Pretty simple but after bottle gate and guide gate it was the straw that broke the camels back. I was sick and tired of having to constantly be on my guard. It may sound obvious when you're sitting comfortably at home or at the office reading this but it's really unnerving when you're in the thick of it. You have to watch your back all the time and keep your cynicism in check.
The following day I went to see the monks - at least they can be trusted!!
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