PAIridise.

Did you know: a passenger on the speedboat down the Mekong River to get to Luang Prabang Laos must wear a helmet and lifejacket for the entire 6 hour ride and not move during it-- especially during rainy season.
It is now rainy season.
There's a speedboat or a slowboat option.
Slowboat is apparently awful-- fumes, rocking, uncomfortable wooden bench seats-- for 2 days.
Speedboat is incredibly dangerous as it rockets down at about 75 MPH.
And you have to take 2 buses.
And get a new visa at the border.
And.
And.
And.


I'm recalling the reasons why I was interested into Laos--- "because the whole country is like Pai"
So why not save myself the visa hassle and the expense and stay in Pai?

Now that I've moved back into town, I think I'm going to move back out again. Find some nice secluded spot, invest in a motorbike and write every day.
I'm not sure if this is actually the right choice. But I never am.
Then maybe just before July I'll take the train to Aryudya, then on to Chumphon and Ko Tao?
My friends are leaving their 2 bedroom house and heading back to the USA before their lease runs out so I'm invited to stay there if I want...

Oh, and I had a really important lesson in keeping my mouth shut last night. Wendy got her firsttattoo. And though Salha is the best tattoo artist in the region the fact that he sells beer to drink during tattoos (blood thinning!) and smokes while he tattoos was pretty damn alarming to me. West Side and my tattoo artists there have collectively ruined me for life-- the the best possible way-- I have the highest standards imaginable.
And it might have been a language confusion, but Wendy adamantly believes that he said to NOT WASH the tattoo for a week. That's insanity. I tried to intervene but Wendy is headstrong like me and if it were my first tattoo I would have believed anything the artist told me over what a tattooed person said. I just hope she gets back to the states before anything bad happens.

In other news, I had my first day of massage practice. It only took me 5 hours to complete the positions. Oh my....