Today I Sliced My Big Toe and Then Went on an Adventure!

Well, as the title suggests, today I sliced my big toe. Here is the story:
As previously posted, I had rented a motorbike yesterday. This morning I was planning on returning it but when I got up I decided to rent it for one more day. I was to meet some friends at Angie's Kitchen here in Pai for breakfast. When I got there I parked on the wrong side of the road and was kindly asked to move my bike to the other side of the street. When I went to move it the kickstand was still down, I moved the bike backwards and the kickstand sliced deep into my big toe. Blood started pouring everywhere, my sandal was covered. I continued moving my bike to the other side of the street though. Might as well finished what I sent out to do right?
I came back into the restaurant after, the lady that runs it ran over with spray to stop the bleeding and we put some antiseptic cream on it to draw of any bacteria in the wound. The cut was right below my toe nail, I'm so glad that it didn't break the nail.
After we finished eating breakfast there I took off to the hospital to get it properly checked out. Luckily I didn't need stitches! They charged me 428B for the service and then I was out the door.
The funny thing is behind this whole toe cutting situation is that if I had of returned the bike I wouldn't have the cut on my toe. But now that I have cut my toe I am relying on the bike to get me around Pai and surrounding area! The very device that caused me so much pain is now my toe's savior!
After finishing at the hospital I took off on my bike to the countryside of Pai to take some photos. I'll post those as well.
If you don't like blood or seeing cuts then don't look at these photos:
Bloody Toe

Me ordering on the floor!


Field Workers

Hill Village


Me and my bike... man it's a love hate relationship...

Matt and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Hey there everyone!
This post's title takes after a book that I am reading right now, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I thought it to be quite fitting that I am reading this book at this time. In the book the author talks about how being on a motorcycle is so much more beautiful than riding in a car. You are out in the open air not behind a frame. He describes it like when you see something with you eye and you think to yourself "man, this would make the best picture ever!". Then you take the photo, go get your film developed (or nowadays just look at it on your little screen) and it looks so unimpressive. Nothing like what your eyes saw. This is what it IS like driving on a motorcycle in the middle of northern Thailand, surrounded by beautiful mountains and surreal imagery. It was like nothing I've ever experienced before. I was IN the scene not just observing it. I will try to post pictures of our adventures but I am sure they will not do it justice.
I did this little venture with four other from here in Pai. Cat, Jenny, Itamar and Nadav. Cat and Jenny and from England, we met in the park in Chiang Mai and ended up going to same way at the same time. We came up to Pai together and have since been traveling as a sudo unit. I quite like them! The other two guys are from Israel, they are pretty cool guys, it was their idea to get the bikes and head to a cave one hour out of Pai.
Me and Jenny split a bike, the total cost: 270B for the bike, insurance and gas there and back. We split this cost so it was quite worth the bill.
The cave... breathtaking. I have never been in anything like this before. We entered the cave via bamboo raft and then walked around within it. There were bats and stalagmites, stalactite, and pillars. It was pretty much awesome!

What wasn't awesome:
On the way back, Nadav was driving with Cat on the back of his bike, and they took quite the spill on the side of the road. The bikes mirror came off, and Cat flew down into the ditch (not a grass ditch but a concrete one...). She injured her arm quite badly, we thought it was broken but when we eventually got back to Pai and went to the hospital we found out it was a sprain. I was super worried for her, I felt so bad... and I'm sure Nadove didn't feel to great either. Ill post some pictures of the whole adventure (including the crash... I felt bad taking photos of it but it will make great memories down the road... she also had three others attending to her at the time so it was okay... I think)
Here they are, in no particular order.

Thai Cooking School

Hey all!
Today I went to a cooking school with two girls that I met from England. It started at 9:30 with about 10 other people that joined us. We began the day with a tour of the local market. I saw all sorts of weird veggies and stuff, things I've never seen before in my life! We then took off to the teachers house to do some actual cooking. We got to choose from quite a lot of dishes that we wanted to prepare and learn about, everyone can pick what they want. I started off with making Coconut Milk Soup, sooo good, and I don't even like coconuts at all! I then made a dish called Cashew Nut Chicken, also amazing. After I made a Green Curry with Chicken dish (Mom, you would LOVE this, and you will love it when I cook it for you when I get home!). Then we all helped out in making spring rolls and some other app's. Then we all pretty much learned how to make Pad Thai, it was some of the best stuff I've had in all of Thailand so far. We prepped all the food, cooked it all ourselves and everything! It was quite the experience. The best part was that I got to take a recipe book of ALL the recipes (even the ones I didn't choose to cook) home with me. I'm very excited to make all of these dishes when I get home. It should be quite fun, not to mention tasty beyond belief!
Here are some pictures of the day:

2 more pictures

Pictures to catch you up!