Heaven in a wildflower

I have found heaven in Thailand.

Yes, Thailand was fabulosity incarnate. Are you surprised? Because I am. I mean, who would've thought that sticking me in a car with my parents and my older sister would've been a good idea? But it was!

The trip was awesome. I, who previously never actually felt any kind of affinity to Thailand, having only ever visited Bangkok and Phuket, have decided that I want to live in Thailand. More specifically, in a town called Pai.

How do I describe Pai? It's a little town set upon a mountain a little bit north of Chieng Mai. It's just the right mix of undeveloped and commercialised to keep me happy with clean toilets and internationally recognised symbols (i.e. 7-Eleven) while still feeling like I'm not a sellout. It has coffee galore, great food, excellent musicians and a personality that made me fall in love. That's right. I'm in love. The only things stopping me from being there right now are my contract, my lack of understanding of the Thai language, and the lack of a nice, long, straight road in what appears to be all of Thailand.

Other than that, some of the souveniors on sale in Pai were designed by Pai-ans and made by Pai-ans, which means that unlike Cambodia and Vietnam, I won't find the exact same thing in three different countries.

Also, I've added more achievements for 2007:

1. I drove a motorcycle for the first time in my life. I was shaky, the cute little blue number fell over when I stopped for the first time, and I couldn't turn. But I did it.
2. I visited Myanmar. Sure, it was unofficial because the immigration officers at the Thai border made it so... sure, we only spent about 15 minutes on Burmese soil in total... But I did it.

That's right.