One Night Stand

In order to get to Pai we flew into Chiang Mai from Siem Reap and stayed for the night.

Our afternoon and evening was spent exploring the old city. We looked around for a possible place to stay once we returned from Pai, but in the end decided we would just walk the streets when we got back and find a place then. We didn’t know how long we wanted to spend in Pai and didn’t want to commit to a booking. Pai is known as a place where people get stuck. I never made it there back in 2008 when I traveled Thailand but Andre had been before and had fallen in love with the place.

As we walked around Chiang Mai I knew that however long we stayed in Pai I definitely wanted to spend at least 5 days back here. That night we came across some fantastic temples and explored several tiny side streets. We decided that we would end our evening with a little fish massage. I will talk more about this and post the video in the blog for Chaing Mai.

Road Rules

We took a three and a half hour mini bus to Pai. They have a few rules on the mini bus. Not bringing on durian is a pretty easy rule. Apparently from what we have read they smell like turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock.

 

I have not tried durian yet… but when I do I will try to remember to film it.

 

The less easy to follow rule would be not getting sick. Andre suffers from motion sickness. I do not. But after reading about the road from Chiang Mai and its 762 curves and bat shit crazy drivers I decided I should take a pill as well just in case.

Andre was relieved to see that we had a woman driver. He felt that a woman would be a much more sensible driver. He would be incorrect on this assumption. She drove like a complete nutter. The turns she took were at such a speed that the tires routinely squealed. Lucky for me, our Thai “Dramamine” completely knocked me out and I was blissfully unaware of any danger. I was basically unconscious the entire way.

Things are Different in Pai

To start, Pai is very clean. There were no weird random garbage smells that punch you in the face while walking down the street. I never once uttered “Oh my god, it’s in my mouth, I can taste it”, while out for a stroll. This was a real treat.

There were quite a few dogs in Pai, but unlike the gangs of mangy street dogs in Koh Chang these dogs were all owned and cared for and they were super chill. Most of them were also on the chubby side, and I suppose it’s almost impossible to be a threat when you’re deep in a food coma. They roam around the walking street and know that the tourists and locals will give them scraps. The dogs are welcome to wander in and out of the restaurants and I even saw one casually strolling through the 7/11.

Oh, and many of them were clothed. We saw a ton of dogs in regular adult t-shirts tied with a side knot to keep them from dragging on the ground. That is if their ample belly didn’t already ensure the t-shirt was snug. We also saw plenty of dogs in warmer apparel designed specifically for pooches. For good reason too. It gets bloody cold in Pai!

During the day it was quite beautiful but the early mornings and evenings this time of year are cold. The temperature in the night would drop to four degrees. Shops were selling fuzzy hats, and warm jackets. I was more than a little tempted to make some purchases. Remember the old Sunice coats? Shops in Pai still sell them.

On the topic of shopping, unlike everywhere else we have been in Thailand, there didn’t seem to be any willingness to barter in Pai. Prices were fairly fixed with minimal wiggle room. They wouldn’t even bend on a foot massage. We wanted to get a 30 minute foot rub rather than an hour long one and they wouldn’t even offer it. It was an hour or nothing. Not a big deal but odd since they had so many people working and a lot of empty seats. They are definitely very well touristed there and don’t feel the need to accommodate.

There was a cool mix of people there and we met a few couples that we really enjoyed spending time with, but we were also surprised at how many young people there were traveling in bigger groups who didn’t seem all that interested in meeting other people.

Pai is well known for having a hippie vibe and many people there go because this suits them, whereas others seem to be trying it on for size, complete with all the necessary clothing and accessories. Footwear is optional.

Among some of the more unique creatures in Pai, we spotted this dog as we walked down the road. If Eugene Levy were dead this dog would make me believe in reincarnation. His eyebrows were also strikingly similar to Andre Banks Senior…

Street Food

The vendors start setting up in the late afternoon and the street, which is pretty quiet during the day, fills up with people. You can walk for blocks trying out all kinds of food. There was everything from traditional Thai dishes like Pad Thai, to tacos, Indian curry dishes, cheese balls, gyoza, sushi, grilled seafood, and plenty of meat on sticks.

Dinner would not be complete without a banana pancake. Actually, I may have started with dessert in this picture.

Like I said though, once the sun went down it was cold. We really didn’t pack much for warm clothing so I had to get creative in the evenings if I wanted to survive. I put together a video that showcases my fashion choices and gives you a sample of all the interesting people, food, and shopping we encountered. If you pay close attention you’ll see a very quick clip of a guy going barefoot. Most people were bundled up and wearing jackets.

 

House Rules Pai Edition

Stacey Gets all the Blankets

Some new rules were created in Pai. When the temperature drops to four degrees I get as many blankets as I want. We ended up with four and I still slept with all of my clothes on. Leggings, socks, sweater… I would have worn a tuque if I had one. I did not, but I used my airplane blanket as a head scarf. I attempted to sleep with my head under the blankets at one point because my face was freezing but the lack of oxygen ruined that plan.

As you can imagine I slept really well. My spin on it was that on the upside I was probably burning calories while shivering all night and could therefore eat more banana pancakes.

Stacey Needs a Hot Shower

At least I could have hot shower to warm myself up. Oh no, wait, the shower only had two temperatures, cold, and whatever temperature skin melts off at. There have been plenty of times where we have had showers that are lukewarm at best but these were in warm climates. I can easily have a bucket bath in the Philippines on an island with no running water when it’s hot outside. When it’s 4 degrees and I’m living in a concrete hut I get foul without a hot shower. Andre has an extensive vocabulary (He is a Scrabble nerd), but I think I may have taught him a few new words on our final morning when I had completely lost it with the shower. I don’t think any of the words would be allowed in Scrabble but they made him smile.

Around Pai

We hired a bike one afternoon and went for a drive to see some popular tourist attractions around Pai district. Despite knowing that you officially need an international driver’s permit and motorcycle license to be fully legal, one of the things on many websites listing “things to do in Pai” suggest learning to ride a scooter as one option. The night before we had met a couple, Mina and Nemo, and they told us that they had run into police while riding. They basically got stopped and had to pay a fine of 500 Baht. Nemo laughed as he told us that he thought they would not allow him to continue riding the bike and that someone would have to come pick it up. Instead the ticket receipt gave them permission to continue riding the bike for 72 hours. 

Our first stop was the White Buddha (353 steps to the top), followed by Pai Hot Springs. We only wanted to check out the hot springs briefly but when we arrived we found out that they now charge foreigners 300 Baht per person to enter. We decided to give it a miss since we had other things we wanted to see. Later after speaking with the locals we found out that they also feel the price is high for tourists considering they pay 50 Baht when, if ever, it’s implemented.

Next up was Pai Canyon. This was a beautiful spot and worth checking out. To my delight I saw a monk hiking. Shame I was too far away to get a good photo for my coffee table book, Monks are People too.

 

After touring around the canyon we went to Pam Bok Waterfalls. What can I say? It was a little waterfall. We paid the 40 Baht per person fee, walked a very short distance, looked at it and turned around to leave. Not even worth a photo.

We had two other stops on our list. One was a small Chinese village and the other was a second waterfall. By this point I’d lost interest in the “tourist sights” and Andre never really wants to see anything anyway so we just drove around until we ended up back home. The White Buddha and Pai Canyon were cool, but just the scenery you drive through is enough reason to tour around the district.

Another popular “To Do” item is floating the river, and we saw plenty of people doing it. We also noted a few of the town’s sewer discharge locations intersecting the tubing path. Final decision: I was okay to going into the river but I wasn’t okay with the river potentially going into me. Perhaps if the discharge locations were located downstream from the tubing I would have had a go, but the water level was also super low and moved at a snail’s pace, and it really just wasn’t hot enough.

My Opinion of Pai

With the risk of getting hate mail, I wasn’t crazy about Pai. I am not sure how a person gets stuck there for weeks or months unless they are a lazy aimless drifter. Kidding. Mostly. Life in Pai is definitely easy, but I found it got old after a few days. The nightly food stalls were fun and the river area where we stayed was beautiful. But, the river has a road right along it which really should only be used as a foot path yet tourists on motorbikes rip up and down it day and night. Kinda kills the serenity. Pai district has gorgeous scenery and plenty of unexpected treats like this guy that we saw by the side of the road.

That’s just me though. We met many people who simply loved Pai. I can see this place appealing to me maybe ten or twenty years ago, but I feel like the secret has long been out about Pai and for me it had an inauthentic feeling. I was very excited to get back to the energy of Chiang Mai.

157 days in…

Boarding the mini bus back to Chiang Mai. Pass me the “Dramamine”.