After our adventure with the elephants in Chiang Mai, we hopped on the minibus to Pai, a mere 3 hour journey. However it was a journey we had been warned about by everyone, who all recommended travel sickness pills. Pretty soon we realised why – it was a windy road through the mountains with no less than 762 bends. Luckily our driver took it slow and steady!
First Impressions
Our hostel was a short 5 minute walk from the bus drop-off, and our friends Ana and Rita (who had arrived one day ahead of us) were there to meet us. The hostel was by far the coolest we’d stayed at, with a pool, outside bar, pool table, basketball court, nice grassy areas and even a Muay Thai gym!
We explored Pai town and fell in love with it pretty much immediately. Its a small town with streets full of bars, restaurants, market stands and street food.
Pai Canyon
Our first morning in Pai consisted of a much-needed recovery session; lots of sleep followed by some relaxation by the pool and in the open-air bar. We rallied ourselves in the afternoon and grabbed a taxi to the Pai Canyon – one of the must-see sights in Pai. We arrived in time to see the sunset, except some idiot cloud decided to rock up at exactly that point and hang out right in front of the sun. Regardless, the view was sensational. As neither Chloe or I have seen the grand canyon (or any canyon), we’ve decided Pai Canyon is the best in the world. We spent an hour or so climbing across the canyon and taking way too many photos before the light departed for the day.
Scootin’ Around Town
Our next day began early…at 9am, and we had decided to explore Pai in the only way everyone recommends…by scooter! (sorry, parents). We’d never ridden one before but the roads in Pai are quiet and the majority of people get around by scooter, so it felt a good place to start. We hired them from the hostel, and after a little practice driving around we were on the road!
We rode to the hot springs, led by our ‘instructor’ (our friend and experienced scooter rider, Keven). We had planned to meet Eamon and Mario at the springs, but when we arrived we realised we’d gone to the wrong ones, and they were 10km away. Dohhh. The hot springs were incredible, basically just a river with different levels, and each level is hotter than the one below it. We hopped straight in at 38 degrees, and bearing in mind it was under the midday sun in Pai, it was bloody hot. We explored the springs and found one pool which is 80 degrees centigrade, in which you can purchase and egg and boil it in 25 minutes. Weird.
One we were all springed-out, we got back on our bikes, feeling like experienced riders now, and headed to the next stop – the land split! This was farming land that suddenly, 20 odd years ago, completely split leaving a massive gap. The farmer who owned the land turned it into a tourist attraction and takes donations from tourists! When we arrived he gave us some iced rosella tea that he had made from berries on his land, and we spent a short amount of time looking at the land split.
Next stop was the Pembok waterfalls, where we managed to meet up with Mario and Eamon. The waterfall was really cool, and we were quick to clamber over the rocks to get to the waterfall. The waterfall was so fast-flowing it was hard to get underneath it without being pushed away, but we all gave it a good go.
When we left the waterfall we saw the best sight of the day, Mario and Eamon’s scooter. Wallace and Gromit anyone?
We left quite quickly as we heard rumbles of thunder, and as first-time riders none of us were keen to be on the roads in the rain. It meant missing the Bamboo bridge that we really wanted to see – but they say you should always leave something to come back for! Lucky we left when we did as the rain begun as we approached our hostel.
The Nightlife of Pai
Pai has a very chilled vibe, but we were keen to go out drinking that night. We found a bar that had cheap drinks and good areas to sit and chill, and we stayed there until it closed pretty abruptly at 12. We wandered to a few other bars before grabbing beers and heading back at an unknown time (things were a bit hazy by this point). Its great that you can still be outside in shorts and t-shirt at 3am and still be hot, so we chilled near the basketball courts at the hostel before calling it a night at another unknown time. This picture of Eamon with 4 drinks (all his) sums things up nicely:
Last Day in Pai-radise
Somehow on our final day we managed to all make it for free breakfast before it ended at 10.30am (just), but most of us skulked back to bed for a few hours. This was a day of absolute laziness, relaxing in hammocks or by the pool, or in the boys’ case, just asleep in bed!
At around 4pm the downpours begun. We’d seen rain like this once before in Bangkok, but it was pretty mental. We were trapped on a rooftop in our hammocks (luckily sheltered) for a while! When it finally calmed down we got ready for the evening and went out to the town. There was a parade going on and a big muay thai fight in the town centre. Chloe and I skipped the street food as it was still drizzling, and went to a traditional Thai restaurant full of locals for dinner. We’re a big fan of curries so we shared a red and a yellow curry. They were beautiful. Our favourite is the red curry (the mildest, and tastiest) but green and yellow are also a hit. Definitely our favourite Thai food.
We then did some much needed shopping in the market, and both bought some clothes. Its risky buying clothes in SE Asia as almost every place had a ‘no try, no return’ policy, and everything in is ‘one size fits all’, which is strange, and frankly impossible. However our gambles paid off and we were pretty happy with our new purchases!
After that we called it a night, knowing we had a 3 day journey ahead of us by bus and slow boat.
Our first experience of Thailand has been pretty special – we completely see why people call it the land of smiles – without exception the Thai people have been wonderful and welcoming everywhere we go. We’ve had a pretty good taste of everything, and we’re excited to be back in December!
But for now, goodbye Thailand. Laos here we come!
Annie x
Beds slept in: 5
Items lost/broken: 5
Number of bus/train/plane/boats: 3
Pint-Sized Adventurers 