I woke up late on Sunday morning. I had no intentions of sleeping in, but I did. I heard Saleem saying, “Schu, Schu,” I opened my eyes, “I know what we have to do to get a bus to Phu Chi Fa, but we have to get moving, like now.” So I rolled out of bed and packed up all my stuff. Saleem got up early like usual and talked to some people at the hostel and the bus station. In order to get to Doi Pha Tang we had to catch a 1 p.m. bus and it was already 11:30 a.m. The bus fills up fast so the ticket seller told us to be there at 12:30. You’re probably wondering why we wanted to go to Doi Pha Tang so badly when we were already in an amazing town. Lucky for you, I’m here to tell you. In Doi Pha Tang there’s a mountain called Phu Chi Fa it’s the highest in the Doi Pha range standing tall at 1,628 meters. It’s so high that at the summit you’re above the clouds. The summit comes to a point, chi means point in Thailand and that’s where its name came from. The mountain offers picturesque views of Laos, but at the time I didn’t even know that’s what I was looking at. So that is the reason we needed to board a bus at 12:30. We packed up and headed to the yummy vegetarian restaurant that we ate at the day before. I love trying new things, but it was so good, I couldn’t resist it. After lunch we made our way to the bus station and waited for our ride. At about 12:50 an old blue bus pulled up and everyone made their way inside. It was small and crowded and there was no place underneath for our bags. I had mine in the isle for a bit, but it was in everyone’s way so I held it on my lap and used it as a pillow. Once some people got off I was able to put it in an empty seat. About two hours into the ride the bus started shaking and I realized right away we had gotten a flat tire. Lucky for us we pulled right in front of a tire garage. It’s uncanny the way things work out here. Sometimes I feel like my life is actually a movie and I’m just not aware of it.
While the tire guy was doing his thing, I wandered across the street and took some photos of flowers. I also had to pee really badly, like always, so I asked the lady in the garage if there was a bathroom. At first she couldn’t understand my Thai, but after a few tries she smiled and pointed to the back. There were at least a thousand ants covering the walls of the damp, dark bathroom, but I didn’t even care, I was just grateful that I wasn’t still on a bus anxiously awaiting our destination. After fifteen minutes we all got back on the bus. I thought the ride was going to take about 2.5 hours, but after we reached the 4-hour mark I realized I had no idea how long it would take to get there. We stopped at the entrance to the national park and I saw signs for Phu Chi Fa so I figured we were getting close. Our driver gave us a short break to look at the waterfall, get something to eat and go to the bathroom. The photos of the park looked pretty amazing, so I’m hoping I get the time to go back. After winding through green trees for a few kilometers we started to ascend the mountain. I was excited because I knew that meant we were almost there or so I thought. The drive was so windy and steep that it took over an hour of uphill to reach Phu Chi Fa. We passed lovely scenery and I couldn’t help but picture myself living in a remote place like this one day.
Every time I saw little bungalows or a market I thought we were there, but instead the bus climbed higher and higher and then I saw it. A hillside dotted with hundreds of little bungalows and the street lined with stalls selling hats, scarves and gloves. Before we got off the bus our driver gave us his number and told us we had to leave at 8 a.m., which was a bit of a bummer, but we decided to make the most of our time. I could feel this excited energy when I got off the bus. Saleem and I set out to find a bungalow for our entire group before it got dark. The rest of our friends rode motorbikes so they weren’t going to arrive for a little while. As we were trying to negotiate with a woman about rooms we met Jeff, a friendly man from Minnesota. He was basically our translator. He was so nice and helpful. He took us to the place where he found a room and we were able to get one there too. It had two huge beds so we figured all six of us could cram in for one night. It was a little pricey, but a little pricey here is ten dollars a person. After we were all set with the room we headed back onto the main street to get something to eat.
I was already feeling cold so I decided to buy an awesome snow leopard hat. Little did I know that guy would save my life the next morning. We walked all the way down the road, but didn’t see anything that would satisfy us for dinner. Then we stopped at a postcard shop along the way. I loved this store and the whole idea of it. There was a tree painted on the wall of the shop and the postcards where displayed on little shelves on the branches, almost like colorful leaves. There was a small table with pens, stamps and rubber stamps to really make your postcard unique. There was also a mailbox outside that said, “I miss you.” Originally we were both going to send out one each, but by the time we were finished we had each written three. While I was putting on the 3 cent stamp someone came up to me, making a lot of gestures and showing me other stamps. I gathered that 3 cents wasn’t going to be enough to send it to the U.S., which is probably something I should have realized on my own, but I just wasn’t thinking. I’m happy they said something because nothing bums me out more than lost mail. I always wonder about it, where does it end up? After we mailed our postcards we ran into Blaine and Danielle, they had just arrived on the motorbike. Apparently James and Jill’s motorbike had broken down twenty kilometers away. By this time it was dark and they were on a really steep hill. I was a little worried, but hopeful that their bike didn’t actually break, I figured it overheated or needed a little rest. It turns out it actually ran out of gas, but they were right next to a restaurant that conveniently sold gas. A lot of little places sell gas in small vegetable oil containers. I always wondered why vegetable oil was such a hot commodity and now I understand, I’m just glad I didn’t need any in the meantime. So a half hour later we were all reunited at Phu Chi Fa. We ate a hearty meal of, you guessed it, vegetables and rice and then hung out for a while before hitting the hay. We had some great talks and good laughs and eventually descended the hill to the main street for dessert. We pigged out on banana roti smeared with peanut butter and dozens of different packaged cookies. After stuffing ourselves we wandered back up to the bungalow, we each grabbed a quilt and wrapped tucked ourselves tight into bed. I was genuinely surprised at how cold it was although I should have realized it and packed accordingly. I did not. This was one of those times I wished my pop were with me because he definitely would have warned me to take jeans and warm clothes. Needless to say I only had a long skirt and wool socks, so I lived in them. We all wanted to go to sleep early because we had big plans of waking up at 4:30 a.m. and watching the sunrise from the summit of Phu Chi Fa. We saw some pretty amazing pictures at orientation and that’s what spurred our interest in the first place. We set our alarms and before I turned off the light someone was snoring.
