Thursday, March 17, 2022
11:55 a.m. Room 3, Lilu Hotel
Pai, Thailand
I woke up pretty early this morning for a relaxing coffee or two. And then I packed up in a leisurely fashion and left for Pai. The ride was nothing short of spectacular for me. I enjoyed every minute of it. I enjoyed it so much that I throttled the scooter back to almost no speed at all. I wanted to prolong the trip for as long as possible and just absorb the scenery, the smells, the sounds, and the winding road. Despite going so slowly, I had left so early that I arrived here in Pai before noon. And after surmounting one small wrinkle at the Lilu Hotel, I am happily ensconced in my room and enjoying another cup of coffee.
I considered quite a range of hotels in Pai. It made sense to me to try a new place. But in the end, I settled on two nights back at the somewhat luxurious Lilu. I know the Lilu well, so it doesn’t offer anything new. However, that also means there won’t be any bad surprises. I know that the WiFi is fast and reliable. I know that the bed is supremely comfortable. I know the room is quiet and well lit. I know that the bathroom is nice and has an abundance of hot water. I know that the room comes with a kettle and complimentary coffee and tea. I know that it is in a perfect location just on the edge of Pai’s Walking Street. I know that the soap and shampoo included with the room is very nice. They provide a kind of special herbal blend of their own.
Had I chosen a new hotel, it’s likely that I would have had some pleasant new experiences. But there could have been any number of unexpected problems: poor or non-existent WiFi; a noisy bar right next door; no parking for the scooter; etc. Plus, all the other places I looked at came in at a minimum of 400 baht per night. And that would be for a basic place with just a fan. At that price, you usually don’t get air conditioning. The Lilu is surprisingly priced at 500 baht per night. And for that extra 100 baht you get everything I mentioned above, plus air conditioning and a nice breakfast. My instinct is to choose the cheaper hotel. I don’t care much about luxuries. I might as well save the money. However this room with air conditioning and a nice breakfast is a bargain at 500 baht. It’s good value without those things. But you can think of that extra 100 baht as covering 50 baht for air conditioning and 50 baht for breakfast. If I stayed at a hotel for 400 baht, any decent breakfast is going to cost 100 or 150 baht anyway. So, right there, the room really cost 550 baht, because I also had to buy my own breakfast. At the Lilu, breakfast is provided. And I felt like I needed some air conditioning. I’m not sure when I last had a room with A/C. My first bungalow in Ban Tha Song Yang on this trip was extremely rustic and extremely hot. Then in Mae Sariang, my room had A/C. That was for just one night. In Mae Hong Son, my room had only a fan. My bungalow in Bang Mapha was also fan-only. And then my bungalow at Mr. Jan’s here in Pai was fan-only and extremely hot. And, finally, my bungalow in Chiang Dao was fan-only and very hot. I’ve gotten used to being in a hot room. I just take a lot of cold water showers during the day. And then I open all the windows and let the room cool down throughout the night. But so far, I’ve had air conditioning for only one night on this entire trip. And the promise of cool, dry, air-conditioned air plus the breakfast made me settle on the Lilu.
I mentioned that there was a small wrinkle when I arrived. And that’s because I arrived so early. It wasn’t even noon yet. In fact, it was shortly after eleven. I’ve had good luck in Thailand for the most part when I’ve arrived early at hotels. I guess I can thank the pandemic for that. The hotels haven’t been very busy, and they usually have an empty room available no matter what time I try to check in. I was hoping for the same here at the Lilu. I was looking forward to the extreme comforts of this room, and I wanted to enjoy it for as long as possible. Unfortunately, when I showed up, I was told that my room wasn’t ready. A part of the problem is that despite being a somewhat upscale place, the Lilu doesn’t employ staff that can speak English. They don’t speak a word of the language. That’s very strange for a foreigner-friendly town like Pai.
As with almost every business in Thailand, there was also no one at the front desk when I showed up. All hotels and restaurants tend to be deserted when I arrive. I was expecting that, and I simply went into the hotel itself and then went from guest room to guest room in the back until I found someone. The hotel is so understaffed that the woman who is expected to work the front desk also cleans the rooms. And when I found her, she came back to the front desk with me and looked at their list of check-ins for today and found my name. And I guess the room that had been assigned to me wasn’t ready yet. And she indicated that I would have to return at 2 p.m., which is the normal check-in time.
I wasn’t thrilled about this. If I knew I couldn’t take possession of the room until two in the afternoon, I would have stayed in Chiang Dao longer or extended my ride longer. This is also a fasting day, so it’s not like I could spend the two-hour wait enjoyably hopping from restaurant to cafe to burger bar to pizza joint to while away the time. I just wasn’t in the mood to hang out in a coffee shop either. My laptop was packed away deep inside my backpack. I had been hoping to enjoy a nice coffee in my room at the Lilu.
Luckily, I’m pretty experienced with this kind of thing, and I didn’t immediately rush out into the world. I knew that there was some kind of slim possibility that they could come up with a room for me. And I wanted to give them a chance to think things over. So instead of just leaving and going in search of a coffee shop, I pulled up a chair in the lobby area and got out my smartphone. I didn’t really have anything to do on my phone, but I wanted to give the impression to the woman at the hotel that I was just going to sit there in their lobby for two hours and wait right in front of them. And that might trigger a bit of initiative on their part.
My strategy worked, and the woman came over to me and said something about Room 3. Apparently, I could get a room if I was willing to stay in Room 3 instead of the room that was assigned to me. I quickly agreed. I know now that my original assigned room was Room 5, and Room 5 is slightly nicer than Room 3. Room 5 is up on the second floor and has more windows, which let in a lot more light. Plus it has an outdoor balcony. However, I had to figure all this out for myself because the woman couldn’t explain anything in English. At the time, I didn’t care in the slightest which room they gave me. Why would I care whether I got Room 3 or Room 5? Aren’t they all the same? I’ll take any room if it means I could check in right away. But apparently, this woman really wanted to make sure. So she got on the phone and called someone. And then she handed the phone to me. I don’t know who she had called, but apparently this person spoke English and was connected to the Lilu. I say that she apparently spoke English because I couldn’t understand anything she was saying. I knew it was English. I could hear certain English words, and the sound was like English. But my brain couldn’t come up with any sentences.
I’m not really sure what we talked about, but she did ask for my name and whether I had a reservation. That seemed weird to me, because the woman at the front desk had my passport and had the computer printout of me checking in today. She already knew my name and that I had a reservation. That was the whole issue in question. But finally, this woman on the phone also said something about Room 3. And I agreed happily to that option again. I’d have said anything to get a room. And then I guess it was all settled, and I was handed the key to Room 3. And here I am.
As I said, the last time I was at the Lilu, I was in Room 5 on the second floor, and as soon as I stepped into Room 3 on the first floor, I could see that it wasn’t quite as nice. It had fewer windows and therefore was darker, and it had no balcony and no view. But for my current purposes, that made no difference at all. As long as the room had WiFi, A/C, hot water, a kettle, and the same very comfortable bed and bedding, I was happy. I’d be happy in a room with no windows at all. And I didn’t need a balcony. They’re usually used by smokers. Even when I try to take advantage of balconies and porches and verandahs, I usually don’t last long. I’m quickly driven inside by the heat, the sun, the general discomfort, the lack of electrical outlets, and the bugs.
I quickly unpacked my bags and got settled into my room. And here I am with the first of what will be many cups of coffee.
Yesterday, I came up with a vague kind of plan for my return journey to Mae Sot. I don’t know for sure that I will follow through on this plan. But the plan is to spend two nights in Pai at the Lilu and wallow in luxury. Then I might ride my scooter to the village of Ban Jabo and ask about spending the night there. If that works out, I can spend one night there. If it’s too complicated or not possible, I could just have lunch in Ban Jabo and then continue down the road to Mae Hong Son. Depending on how long I stay in Mae Hong Son, I have some plans for that town, too. On my last visits, I never did check out the temples. I spent all my free time at one temple that is high on a hill overlooking the town. That temple offered fantastic views and a coffee shop. And that meant that I never did check out the three other beautiful temples in the city. So I could do that this time. I also never went to the morning market. I could do that this time. And if I need more activities, there is another cave full of fish nearby and a couple of lakes.
And then it is on to Mae Sot to apply for my next 60-day visa extension. While I was riding my scooter today, I let my brain contemplate the near future a little bit. For one thing, I’m in the somewhat rare position of knowing almost with certainty that I will be in Malaysia shortly. And since I know where I will be, I can plan for that. I could have my brother put together a care package to ship to an address in Malaysia, for example. My new credit card arrived at my “home” address in Canada, and I could have my brother ship it to me. I don’t really need it, since I do everything online. I just need the credit card number and security details for online bookings. I never use a physical credit card in stores or hotels. But I can imagine situations where it might be necessary to show one, and it would be nice to have the physical card with me for emergencies. And since he is shipping me the credit card, he could send me a couple of other items in a box and send it all together.