Hot springs

Freezed my nads off last night. What a difference between the South and the North of Thailand! During the day Pai is war enough, but the temperature plummets at sunset. Definitely this is a very unpractical hotel for us. The adults were on the floor on some really thin mattresses and not enough blankets. Even the kids in the main bed were cold. Need to ask for extra blankets. We were even debating ditching here and finding alternative accommodation. Being far from reception doesn't help either for heating up Aisha's bottles (though we were offered another closer hut after the first night - so far we haven't taken up the offer, a combination of laziness and not being sure if we'll move to a different place in town).

Looks like we will spend a bit more time up North and get another flight to Bangkok, and from there go straight to Siem Reap (in Cambodia - the main city near the Angkor Wat temples). That way we avoid any trouble and blockades brewing because of the political situation. It means missing a flight and loosing the deposit on a hotel, but it's worth it. Up here there is still Mae Hong Son or Chiang Rai to explore. I also saw boats ans speedboats to the one place we wanted to visit in Laos, Luang Prabang, but looking later online it turned out to be a major Odyssey involving an 8h night drive to the actual boats, followed by at least 6h by speedboat (or 2 days by slow boat).

Hooked up with Andy and Anna after a late breakfast (last night took it's toll). We all went to the hot springs. Visited 3 different "resort and spas" before we hit the jackpot. A lovely luxury complex where the hot pools weren't too hot for the kids (probably the worse choice for someone looking for truly hot springs- the other 2 places had really hot pools). What really sold it to us as well was a kiddie play are, but in the end we forgot to actually tell the kids about it.

The "taxi" there was a pickup, so the 4 kids and I went in the back, which was really exciting. Spent time in the pools and in the (cold) swimming pool, just living in the lap of luxury. As the sun set we left to hit the market stalls again, though we made it a much earlier night this time.

Lesson learnt today: no more hotels out of town, especially if they don't do breakfast.