The old folks say don’t rush into love and I know it’s only been a few hours but I this could be the one. Pai, Thailand is the girlfriend I’ve always wanted- well known but not ridiculously popular, artistic but not snobby, busy but not overwhelming. Technically we’re still on a first date and we haven’t even slept together so I don’t want to ruin a good thing so early by putting too much pressure on Pai. We’ll just take it a day at a time.

When we arrived earlier I felt like I just entered the last surviving town of a dystopian wasteland. The narrow streets were packed with pedestrians speaking the gamut of known languages and motor scooters weaving through the people on foot. Everyone seemed have all of their worldly possessions in their backpacks. In a city of outsiders, I was the one who felt like an outlander. To set the dystopian tribe atmosphere more, we drove to our hostel called the Circus Hostel where cross from the entrance there was a restaurant that hung skin from a pig’s head on its awning. Uww. The main attraction of the Circus because the bamboo and straw bungalows is the from lawn which offer slack rope and juggling training and features shows in the evening. The people staying here are a tight knit community that act like family even though they may have only been staying here for a few days. All the location needs is Tina Turner in her hoop earrings and a metal dome of the fire jugglers to spin their flaming batons hence Circus Dome.

One my first night with my new love, I walked the market of the city streets beyond the Circus Dome, played a vicious game of doubles pool with a dude named Ach who works at the Pig’s face skin restaurant, and reconnected with some of the familiar faces from my time in Chiang Mai. The Outlander continues to survive among the adventurous nomads and motor scooter drivers in the otherworldly land. They don’t need another hero. They don’t want to find the way home.