Story Time: To Ride or Die in Pai.

A lot of you know that I traveled to Southeast Asia a couple years ago.  I'd like to start by saying Southeast Asia is one of the most magical and whimsical places that I have ever been.  I had always dreamt of places like it; I never knew such beauty existed.

With that said, it is another place that is heaven for a girl like me.  The party NEVER stops.

Especially in Thailand.

My friends and I were only a week or two into our trip when we decided to go to Pai.  Pai is a little town a few hours north of Chiang Mai.  It's like Disneyland, the Sierra mountains and the best party all combined into one place.  Flocks of tourists ride buses up a steep and winding road into the mountains to get to Pai.  I'd also like to add that the bus ride my friends and I took to get there was absolutely terrifying.  It wasn't so much of a bus, it was more of a van that fit about 10-11 people in it.  I remember my friend and I were sitting in the very back and there were no seat belts.  I felt a little uneasy, then I remember thinking to myself, "Fuck it." 

As we made our way out of Chiang Mai towards the mountains I quickly realized that a seat belt wouldn't have done SHIT!  This driver, let me tell you, this DRIVER was absolutely INSANE.  He drove SO FAST.  He was weaving in and out of cars and scooters like it was nobodies business.  I also eventually learned that this is just how people drive in most parts of Southeast Asia.  I like to call it "organized chaos". 

The rode to get to Pai was a two lane road; traffic flowing in opposite directions.  You could've fooled me!  I don't think our driver knew this because he kept swerving from left lane to right lane around blind corners, with fucking semi trucks coming at us head first and donkeys and elephants crossing the road and children and elderly people on bicycles!  Needless to say when we made it to Pai, my first thought was, "This better be worth it."

Holy crap!  Was it worth it! 

This beautiful little hippie town was filled with some of the best food I've ever had.  Beautiful locals and tourists littered the streets day and night.  Even the Thai dogs were well taken care of.  Thai dogs are the loose strays walking the streets.  Each store front had a Thai dog out front.  I'm not sure if the dog chose the store or the store chose the dog.  Either way, each store had a spirit animal guarding it.

SO my friends and I stayed in an Airbnb.  It was ADORABLE.  It was right on the river that went through the town.  It was like a little clay hut; I say 'like' because I'm not sure if it was clay or not.  Two beds filled the room.  The bathroom had a sky light that was open over a tree IN the bathroom.  There was no separation between the toilet and the shower.  It was all meant to get wet in there.  When it rained one day some water would come in through the sky light and water the tree.  It was like having your own eco system in your bathroom.  Not quiet that elaborate, but you get the picture.

Every morning we'd wake up and as soon as you walk out the door there was the river.  The river with plants and bugs everywhere.  It was so quiet during the day.  The sound of the river and voices off in the distance was our alarm clock. 

Our 'hut' was a 2 minute walk from the main street in Pai where we would get freshly made smoothies every morning.  I fell in LOVE with dragon fruit smoothies.  Dragon fruit (also know as Pitaya) looks like a little ball of fire.  It's pink on the outside and purple or white on the inside with little black seeds.  My GOD it is yummy.  I would get at least two dragon fruit smoothies a day while in Pai.  If the dragon fruit was purple that day, the smoothie would turn into this bright pink color.  It was like drinking unicorn poop.  Yeah I'm sticking with the magical and whimsical feel of this place. 

Our adventure in Pai starts off like anyones.  We were told that we needed to rent a scooter to get around.  There are waterfalls and cool hikes all over the mountains.  There was no other way to get around besides scootering.  We were a little nervous to drive the scooters at first so we just explored the town the first few days.  When we finally mustered up the courage to get scooters, it was heaven.  We drove everywhere!  There are so many cool little shops, hotels, temples and hidden gems to explore.  The hostels were great places to hang out.  There were infinity pools on top of mountains with amazing views and elephants roamed the streets.  Again, this place is pure magic!

At this point we were feeling pretty settled into our new home.  I felt like I never wanted to leave.  We met so many great people.  I even took mushrooms at a bar known to have some of the best mushroom shakes; yes magical mushrooms.  They were indeed potent.  The bar was called Sunset Bar.  Another thing you'll realize in Southeast Asia is that bars named Sunset Bar are ALWAYS a good time.  Again, Southeast Asia is a perfect place for a girl like me. 

Anyway!  A few people we had met invited my friend Jessica and I to go to the hot springs.  The hot springs are a popular tourist spot in Pai, naturally.  I remember being super hung over this particular day and thinking how refreshing the hot springs sounded.  We, of course, were up for any adventure at this point.  I was so hung over that we agreed to have Jessica scooter us. 

So we're scootering there, all is well, until we get to the VERY steep and winding road that leads to the hot springs.  I forgot to mention that the scooter we had rented was total shit.  As soon as we hit that first steep part of the road, the fucking scooter couldn't carry us both up the hill.  So we had to stop and I had to get off the back.  One of the girls we were with, Pascale this beautiful German girl, was an experienced rider of scooters; so we traded her scooter for ours.

We finally made it up that god dam hill and through all the other turns and dips.  We park and walk the rest of the way to the hot springs.  They were beautiful!  We ran into a few other people we knew and swam around and had an amazing time.  We hung out there for a few hours and decided it was time to head out.

We get dressed and off we go.  Back to those dam curvy, winding and steep mother fucking hills.  I remember feeling so good leaving the hot springs.  The hot humid air hitting my face.  My arms wrapped tightly around Jessica driving.  I felt so blissful. 

Then like a plot twist in a horror flick, I hear Jessica say something along the lines of, "Oh fuck". 

I remember waking up on my back looking up at the sky and feeling really lethargic, not knowing where I was or what had happened.  I saw a face over me with the sun directly behind it.  It was Pascale.  She looked like an angel staring down at me, the sun creating a halo around her blond hair.  I remember feeling like little needles were stabbing me all over.  I look down and see that I'm covered in ants!  They're all bitting me as I lay there, unable to move.  Pascale is telling me I'm going to be okay while simultaneously brushing all the ants off of my body. 

It turns out we hit a patch of dirt while going around a sharp turn, lost control and hit a guard rail.  

I look to my left and see Jessica off in the distance holding her arm and screaming, "Molly! Molly!"  I'm literally crying as I'm writing this.  I can still hear the pain and concern in her voice as I write.  I remember a group of Thai men surrounding me and asking me if I could stand up.  I try lifting my head, but I can't.  I feel like I weigh a hundred pounds.  I say, "No, I can't move."  They all look at each other and say something in Thai.  Then they all surround me and lift me up and carry me to the ambulance.  Jessica and I are ushered into the ambulance and I'm in total shock. 

I just remember Jessica looking at me, still holding her arm, and asking me over and over if I was okay.  I remember telling her that I'm okay and we're going to be alright and that I loved her.

We finally make it to the local hospital.  I'm brought in on a stretcher.  I remember my collar bone and my knee really hurt.  The doctor comes out and asks me if I want an X-ray.  I say yes please and point to my knee and collarbone.  He answers, "You have to choose one." 

"One?"  I thought to myself.  DAH FUCK?  So I chose my collarbone because it hurt more. 

They wheeled me out of the X-ray room where Jessica was and we waited for our results.  I remember feeling so dizzy and light headed.  I had a huge pump on my head and a black eye.  Thank god I was wearing a helmet, or this would've been a very different story.

The nurse comes out and looks in our direction and says, "It's broken".  I start instantly crying and cursing.  I think to myself, "What the fuck am I going to do?!"  Then Jessica comes out of the room and says it was her X-ray that was the broken collarbone.  Turns out Jessica had completely broken her collarbone.  I remember feeling relieved that it wasn't me; sorry Jessica, I LOVE YOU.

I gotta say that I'm happy it happened to Jessica and not me.  Jessica's stronger than me.  You see if it was me who had broken my collarbone, I probably would've went home.  Call it fate or meant to be, it's because of this fact that we were able to keep on our adventure.  Jessica went on to travel for over a year, in fact her will to keep going and exploring is so deep in her bones that she is STILL out in the world figuring out her space.  She's touching all parts of it to make sure she's found the right fit.  I admire her so much for this.  

Through all of this, I have found that I like a home base.  I like the house and neighborhood I grew up in.  I'm back here.  I feel this is where I belong.  To touch other places and see more things is important to me, but home is where my heart lives.  

Back to the action.  

So the hospital puts us both in slings and sends us on our way.  I remembering walking out of the hospital is a daze and thinking, "What the fuck just happened?"

You might be thinking how horrible this was for us.  It wasn't just us.  Scooter accidents in Pai are all too common.  Almost every tourist walking around Pai has some sort of bandage from a scooter accident.  I learned scooter injuries that happen in Thailand are called Thai tattoos.  I saw one girl that was in an almost full on body cast and, get this, she was drinking at a bar!  This is a part of everyday life in Pai.  My scooter story isn't all that uncommon. 

So Jessica and I debated whether we should tell our parents and go home.  We were both so torn because our adventure had just started!  I remember calling my mom a couple days after the accident and crying to her.  Being the amazing mother that she is, she told me to wait a few more days before making a decision to come home or not.  She knew how badly I wanted to do this trip.

So we waited a few more days.  In those few days I was told to go back to the hospital everyday to get the cut on my leg cleaned to avoid infection.  Infection was also very common because of how humid it is in Thailand AND I'm sure it didn't help that I was still out and about jumping in puddles and playing in the rain; obviously this accident wasn't going to stop my binge drinking and partying!

Finally the last day of getting my wound cleaned was here.  I remember walking to the hospital and feeling much better!  I even told my friends that I would just go alone because it would be a short trip this time. 

At this hospital, all patients share a room.  There are about 10-12 beds in this particular room.  I sit down on one of the beds and a nurse comes over with her cleaning supplies.  She undresses my wound and looks at it and says, "Oh no.  I have to shave off infection."  "Wait what? Shave off?", I reply.  She waves over another nurse to come help her.  The other nurse comes over and starts pushing my shoulders down onto the bed.  I start panicking and telling them, "No!  Wait!  What are you doing?!"  I see the nurse take out a razor blade and it's at this point I'm flipping my shit.  They are speaking to each other in Thai and then telling me that this is what has to be done.  I start screaming for some sort of numbing agent or SOMETHING for the pain that I was about to endure.

The picture here is this: me, this 5'10 white, curly haired girl, being held down by a 5 foot Thai woman while the nurse is carving away at my leg.  This nurse... this nurse just starts shaving my wound.  SHAVING IT!  I remember screaming at the top of my lungs and biting down on the thing they had given me to put in my mouth; I'm assuming it was to make sure I didn't bite my tongue off.  It was at this point I start glancing around the room.  There are two elderly people laying on beds directly across from me.  "Maybe on their death beds?" I thought to myself.  I remember looking down at my shirt and I was drenched in sweat.  There was no A/C in this little room.  Hardly any ventilation and I felt like I was being tortured. 

Half way through the nurse shaving my wound, a group of people rush into the room.  I notice a man holding a baby wrapped in a shirt.  The baby was screaming, the people around the baby were all speaking in Thai and a doctor rushed into the room.  I couldn't feel my leg at this point.  I was totally concerned with what was happening to the baby.  They lay the baby in the bed to my left.  I see the doctor pull the babies arm out from under the shirt it was wrapped in and the doctor just starts cutting into the babies hand. 

I felt no pain in my leg.  I was in total shock.  I kept asking the nurse what happened to the baby and she just kept saying, "Almost done!"

The family surrounding the baby were all clapping and smiling.  The baby is screaming louder than I've ever heard anything scream; much louder than me at this point.  Then the nurse that was holding me down lifts me up and pats me on my back.  The nurse who was chopping away at my wound looks at me and says, "All done!  You are so beautiful and you don't have to come back here anymore."

I look over at the baby and he's calm at this point.  The family is all surrounding him and kissing his forehead while the doctor is bandaging up his hand.

I remember walking down the main street from the hospital and feeling completely numb.  I couldn't hear any sounds; no scooters, no chickens, no voices, just silence.  I made it back to our hut and sat down for a second.  I couldn't believe what I had just went through.  I couldn't believe what that poor baby had felt.

I look back at it now and realize that the family surrounding the little baby did exactly what they had to do.  They smiled, clapped and made sure his surroundings were pure love.  I see now that this experience was pretty shitty...painful...kinda funny and now I can look back and see how BEAUTIFUL it was.  WOW I got into a scooter accident, was hurt, made it through and still continued on the journey. 

Oh and guess what I did as soon as I got back to the hut?!  In my usual Molly fashion, I wiped my tears away, put on a cool outfit and I was off to Sunset Bar to party the night away and pretend like none of this ever happened.  

I get to look back at my adventures in Southeast Asia and really see what happened.  I mean REALLY SEE; with sober eyes and my ability to show up and own these stories. 

There will be plenty of beautifully, shitty stories to come.