Pai

11.04.2011 - 16.04.2011 30 °C

What a great little town Pai is! A magnet for hippies and the alternative, Pai has a great relaxed vibe going for it. While it is short on ‘attractions’ the town is surrounded by picturesque hills and scenery. The bus ride there has become famous for making it’s passengers see their lunch for a second time and it didn’t disappoint. Three hours and 762 bends of very windy roads resulted in some green faces among the travellers. We settled into Pai quickly finding a cheap guesthouse and had a look around town. Songkran (Water festival/ Thai New Year) was still in full force our entire time in Pai so much of the time was spent either dodging people on the street with water pistols or giving in and coping a bucket of water over the head. We decided to hire a moped and go for a explore around the town, we stopped and had a look at the canyon, WWII bridge and even saw some elephants hanging out by the side of the road. The next day we decided to get a bit more adventurous and make the 80km round trip to Soppong to go visit the Tham Lot Caves. The windy roads on the moped were much more fun then the claustrophobic busses and after a few stops along the way and more soakings from buckets of water we made it to Soppong. In what seems like the middle of nowhere Soppong is part of the well known Mae Hong Son loop and has a large hill tribe community with a fantastic rural charm. The caves were spectacular although our guide was less then enthusiastic, I think she had probably been taking tourists through the caves for many years and the novelty and beauty of the place had well and truly worn off. It was a shame we only spent a day in Sappong as it deserves so much more, maybe next time.

We had a good night out once back in Pai for the Thai New Year everyone was in high spirits around the town and I do love a New Years Eve! We decided to park ourselves at a bar, enjoy some large Changs, take over the jukebox, play some pool and talk rubbish to anyone that would listen. We payed for the festivities the following day and spent the majority of the day feeling sorry for ourselves and getting ready for the bus ride back to Chiang Mai. The bus ride back was much worse and resulted in 4-5 people vomiting up there breakfast at random places along the road. It was funny watching all the hippies applying different types of oils and creams to “stop nausea” while me and Sharnz were popping pills. We were two of the few that didn’t get sick. Once back in Chiang Mai we flipped a coin between catching a slow boat or plane into Laos, much to Sharnee’s delight the plane won and as much as I tried to scare her with Lao Air’s very dubious safety record the one hour flight rather then the three day bus and boat ride won out. So it was goodbye Thailand and hello Laos!

Leigh