January 12, 2011 Another slice of Pai

Started the day having breakfast at a place with hash browns on the menu.  I was quite excited at the prospect.  Unfortunately, they are quite loose with the terminology on menus so what I got were big potato chunks.  All was well, however, since they had TABASCO!  Now, Thailand knows spicy, to be sure.  But there's something so specific and delicious about Tabasco.  It was like a little piece of home.

Then we headed out to do some touristy things in the area.  We went to a waterfall and a temple.  Took motorbike 'taxis' which means that official people wearing bright yellow vests that said TAXI on them gave us rides up on the backs of their bikes.  It was AWESOME!  I like motorbikes, it turns out.

The waterfalls were small since we're in the dry season.  From the look of the rocks, in the high wet season they must be truly awe inspiring.  There were groups of Thai and Western young folks lounging about and sitting on the rocks soaking up the sun so Christian and I found a spot and joined in the sunning.

We stopped at a temple on the way back down where there was a Buddha statue that has a hollow head that makes/made holy water in it.  I'm a little fuzzy on the details.

On the way back to the bungalow, we stopped to look at the menu of a place called Mama Falafel.  This little doggie lives there and for some reason came immediately up to me and flopped down on my foot.  She amused me greatly.  I scratched her a little then pulled my foot away.  Didn't impact her posture one single bit.

The animals have meant a lot to me on this trip.  They're comforting and grounding and take me out of myself for a few minutes (especially the sweet black kitten I hugged at breakfast).

Despite the look of shock on this guy's face,

he purred and rubbed my face and was digging

the love.