Up in Little Israel

Arrived in Pai tonight after a brief adventure in Chang Mai. Rode around on the bike all morning, trying to get my money's worth beforfe it had to be returned. Definitely the best way to get around town I think. Afterwards had a late breakfast in a café (mango and sticky rice, very nice) and got chaatting with a brazilian guy who's up here studying thai massage. Got a bit distracted and realised that I had 10 minutes before the minivan was due to pick me up. Thus far, it's all veen very casual re: getting picked up and dropped off but I didn't want want to take any chances so I ran down the street in the vague direction I thought my guesthouse was in. Aman on a motorcycle asked me where I was going and I told him, i've got to be at my guesthouse in 10m, are you a taxi??? He shook his head but asked me whic one it was anyway. I managed to hail down a taxi who spoke no English and the motorcycle guy told me he'd take me there for 40b (more than you'd pay for a taxi but I as hardly in a position to negotiate). I got on the back and we took off. Wasn;t long before I realised he was going in the wrong direction (he had no idea where the Rose was) but, surprisingly, I managed to take us back to the house wher, obviously, it was a 30m wait before the minivan turned off.
Met a very nice young Israeli girl on the bus named Avatel, the first Israeli i've met on this trip. After that we went to pick up the next people, two more Israeli's ... After that, another Israeli. After that a bunch of Brits. The road to Pai was very long and quite annoying. We had to switch minivans on the way and I managed to get slightly more legroom on the second leg (of the journey that is, not my right one). The road was very windy and very foggy but we went through a lot of jungle, which was very pleasant compared to the dusty Chang Mai streets (which in turn, were very pleasant compared to the claustrophobic, smoggy Bangkok streets, which, in their turn were pleasant compared to the all too familiar Sydney streets). Eventually got to Pai, which, at least at early evening, was beautiful. Full of low wooden buildings that come right on to the street. Even less crowded than Chang Mai but still full of obvious tourists. Avatel (hope i'm spelling this right) knew of a nice guesthouse from a friend's recommendation and we tried that one. Easily the best place i've found since i've come here. Individual wooden bungalows with a little balcony, own bathroom (with a mostly western toilet) and a bamboo ceilings. However, upon arriving I went to unlock my bag only to find that the key to the padlockwhich is always in a zipped pocket in my travel pants had disappeared. Went back to the minivan place to see if it could be found (it couldn't) so went back to the guesthouse and had to borrow a hammer and chisel to smash it off - which was actuallyvery enjoyable. I haven't had nearly enough opportunities to smash things since i;ve got here.
Me and Avatel went to check out the eating options and it was then that I noticed that the people in the table next to us were speaking Hebrew. THe people behind them were also speaking Hebrew. Every tourist in this town seems to be from Israel. I mentioned it to Avatel who told me that this was where they all came - haven't met any in the past two weeks but now I realise why. They're all in Pai. Still haven’t met any Australans over here but I can't say that that s something that has bothered me thus far. Had a very nice chat with Avatel and desperately tried to keep the subject away from politics by sticking to asking for travel advice but inevitably it came up and it was a great relief to find out that she was a rabid leftie (very interesting to hear the liberal Israeli perspective of the 'situation').
Am looking forward to checking out the Pai scenery tomorrow - it's much cooler and has loads of walks and is much less crowded than everywhere else i've been so should be better for running around in ... Will see how tomorrow pans out.