Thailand Part 10: Our way Hitchhiking to Chiang Mai and how I finally got my Thai Tattoo on our way to Pai (Fotos + Video)

After watching a really beautiful sunrise in Sukhothai and taking a small nap after, @martibis and I decided to go on to our next destination: Chiang Mai

So we packed our things, checked out the hostel and started hitchhiking to the hostel. In theory it is an about 4-5 hours drive to Chiang Mai, but we knew that hitchhiking we would need at least 6 hours and we tried not to get too much into the night hours, because it would be starting to be cold and not very easy to find rides.

And that is exactly what happened. The first rides were easy to catch. In about 5 minutes we were at the highway and 15 minutes after already on the back of a pick up, enjoying the sun while driving to the north.

We both were still very tired, so at the third pick up we decided to take turns and used the space and our backpacks to take a little nap.

We moved pretty fast towards Chiang Mai as many people went to the "big city" over the weekend. So we were really lucky. Nevertheless of course we got into the darkness and it started to get really cold back there.

I had a towel, some Thai panties and a sweater with me, but still was freezing. Same for @martibis, so we just wanted to arrive!!

We had already booked the hostel from the back of the pick up with @martibis data and were really feeling tired when we finally arrived. We both got a cold and slept for almost the whole next day 24 hrs to recover. So honestly we didn't see much from the city ;D

After one day of break we decided to drive to Pai with the scooters. So first we got a really nice breakfast to charge some energy and be totally fit before starting the adventure.

Once we finished eating we got the scooters and started driving to Pai.

Incredible 762 curves are included on the road of approximately 130-kilometer between Chiang Mai and Pai. A popular scooter tour that connects the two beautiful places. While Chiang Mai attracts a large number of tourists, Pai is still very contemplative and a lot calmer than Chiang Mai despite many visitors in the small town.

The first part was really easy to drive out of the big city Chiang Mai, over the highway and then to a smaller street where it started to get curvy and uphill. The more we drove up the hill the curvier and more tricky it got and some of the cars were driving crazy slow, so we had to pass them or super fast almost putting us off the side of the road.

After every hour - hour and a half we did a little break to have some beverages, go to the toilets, smoke a cigarette or have a little snack.

When we got to the top we also did a little break to enjoy the view for a while and just left the scooters on the side.

We kept driving for another 40 minutes and had a last break, where I decided to slow down to put on my sweater and long pants over my short jeans because of the cold. - I couldn't know that this actually kind of saved me just 20 minutes later!!

We both were really tired because we still had a cold, it was tiring to drive the scooter over 4 hours already and now we went downhill with a lot of breaking. The road got worse, but we knew we would arrive soon in about 30 minutes. I could feel how my concentration got lower and that I just wanted to arrive soon. Behind me was a car driving quite close to me, making me a bit nervous as well.

And then there was a sign to slow down and a left curve right behind it. I slowed down to 30, drove around the corner and saw gravel on the street. I had two options: Drive over it in the curve and try not to slip (without breaking of course) or drive straight over it getting on the other side of the road. - I checked the opposing traffic and a big truck was coming towards me so option 2 was not an option anymore.

I drove over it, trying to take the curve and booooom I fell!!!.....I could feel how I lost the balance with the scooter and jumped up in the very last second, which avoided, that the scooter landed on top of me. It still hit my foot though and it took me with it for a few meters. My first reaction once I was lying on the street was: Shit! there is a car behind me so get off the street!! which I did. I jumped up as fast as possible and went to the side.

The car behind me stopped instantly and blocked me so that nobody else would crush into me. @martibis was driving in front and when he saw me falling in his mirror, he fell as well hahaha, but nothing big happened to him. He just needed some time to come over to me and help. The people in the car behind me turned out to be dutch tourists and were coming to me really fast to help. - When @martibis came to me, he laughed and said: Now you have a Pai Tattoo haha, are you ok??

I laughed and said jaja very funny! I checked my body, because I knew I was under adrenalin and didn't feel the pain yet (it hasn't been my first big accident.) So I saw that I was insured on my elbow and could feel a bit of pain on my foot and my knee. But I could still move everything, that was good. We lifted up the scooter and my stuff and discussed how to proceed.

The dutch guys had something to clean my wounds in the car, so I sat down on the side of the street to clean it and suddenly felt something on my hip. It was hurting a lot!! so I checked and 2 stones where in my hip. I was bleeding pretty hard and I could see my bone below it.

That was the moment I got scared and said: ok, maybe I should go to the hospital haha. My whole pants where covered in more gravel and my sweater as well. I was so glad that I just had put them on 15 minutes ago. Otherwise my whole arm and leg would have been open. - The dutch guys insisted to drive me to the hospital while @martibis was looking for somebody else to drive my scooter to Pai. - We were really just 20 minutes away from our final destination...

So I went to the hospital with this dutch couple making jokes during the drive, while I was bleeding and feeling more and more the pain. I was almost crying because of it and the lady offered me a pain killer. I said no at first, but than she convinced me to take it... and that was good because it got really hurtful in the next 15 minutes until we arrived.

While @martibis found somebody else to drive my scooter to the hostel he ran into the @world-travel-pro and told him my story that just had happened. That was funny! The world is so small sometimes...

For me it felt like hours until we got to the hospital!! I just hate to be in a situation, where you dont know how bad it is, if you will arrive soon and if there will be actually somebody helping you once you arrive. - You just feel helpless, but its better not to think too much about it and make jokes instead, distracting yourself, which I did telling the dutch guys a lot of stories, making fun while being in a lot of pain ;) - And then fiiiinally we arrived.

There they sent us directly to the reception, we filled out some forms - I could barely walk.. and then 10 minutes after I was already lying on that table getting checked out by some medicals.

As it is a really popular street for scooter drivers to do, the hospital seemed well prepared for cases like mine. They told me that they have about 20 accidents a day (of course mostly stupid tourists like me hahah). - So they cleaned the wounds, put some bandages on and told me to come again tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after... for the next 10 days to clean the wounds every day and change the bandages in order to avoid an infection.

I was not allowed to make them wet (impossible to shower properly) and shouldn't move a lot. I should keep my foot up and take pills four times a day after my meal (normally I just ate two times a day)... maaaan that sucked!!

The dutch couple was so caring and sweet that they even brought me to the hostel afterwards and made sure I am at a good place to stay. Now you have to know Pai is a little hippie town with a lot of bars and street food in the middle of nature. Most things you can do are hiking paths to waterfalls or through the rice fields, hot water springs and sport activities... ooor drinking!

I couldn't do neither of them so I was damned to stay most of the time at the hostel chilling in some hammock, unable to move a lot. @martibis was really caring, bringing me food, drinks, cigarets and my medicine he even helped me to wash my hair!! so nice! <3

My next days looked like that:

Drinking a coffee in the morning, enjoying the beautiful view over the rice fields, waiting until the pain got less after standing up the first time of the day.

Going to the hospital with @martibis by scooter

Always of course it was really painful to get the bandages removed (not really nicely), have alcohol flowing over your wounds and get new bandages again, close to tears and almost unable to walk after.

Having medicine with big breakfast, because the pills were pretty strong.

Chilling in the hammock while listening to the music, doing French exercises, explaining strangers how my accident happened after they asked if I got a Pai Tattoo or just reading something there.

Eating lunch (without being hungry) to be able to take the pills without being totally knocked out.

Occasionally giving some people yoga class at sunset and then chilling at the hammock again before taking other pills with dinner!

Sometimes we played some cards or even ping pong after a few days (on one leg), before I went back to bed trying to sleep not able to move a lot cause my whole body was hurting.

So that was the story about how we got hitchhiking to Chiang Mai and how I got my Thai Tattoo driving on a scooter. More about our adventures of the next days soon, so keep updated.

As always I hope you enjoyed reading my post and I am grateful for every Upvote, Resteem and Comment, as you are supporting my travels with it!!

Cheers,
Liz

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