Lazy days in a hammock are a favorite in Pai....

.."Lazy days in a hammock are a favorite in Pai, along with just staring at the mountains and rivers... "
pronounced as "bai" or "bye"

The sleepy hippy town of Pai is situated 135kms northwest of ChiangMai, halfway to MaeHongSon. As you enter Pai area, the mountain road makes a meandering decline into a large green valley of padi fields and fruit groves. Pai is a tiny place with 4 main roads but offers a rich bohemian atmosphere where you can collect your thoughts and commune with nature. Trendy cafes and boutique B&B, slow pace of life and lots of cyclists and motorcyclists..

A decade ago, Pai was virtually unknown and today it has developed into a thriving, multi cultural town. Fortunately it has retained its down-to-earth feel and prices are still reasonable, making it especially popular with backpackers and free-spirits...who sometimes stay for months. Recent consciousness of health and environment has largely reduced the open consumption of opium or marijuana and even normal cigarettes are a rare scene !

Pai can be reached by bus, 3 - 4 hrs from ChiangMai and less from MaeHongSon. We rented a little car (we would recomend a 4wheeldrive) and it takes less than 2 hrs fr ChiangMai ..very good roads on highway. However off highway, watch out for the thousands of pot holes. Contrary to the many write-ups in the Net regarding the weather & road conditions on this "MaeHongSon loop" , we assure you it is totally safe even in our normal city wheeler ! thanks to our Asian upbringing, we are much "toughened up" and can eat practically everything!

so Peterpatterpot takes to the road ... 1180km road trip, 1864 curves or even more..

DAY 5

6AM, Day 5- "Barely awake! Cant control myself! No opium yet!"



This is The Day of the 100 monks festival.Monks come from all over Thailand to this temple in Mae Hon San to celebrate the end of the rainy season.Our timing could never be any better!We didnt even plan it.
Waking up at 5.30AM to drive to the top of the hill to catch this annual festival was a pain but worth it.Covered in white fog,we went up to take photos of the sunrise.


Devotees waiting in line to give offerings of food to the monks.

Soldiers for security because some high ranking government officer was conducting opening ceremony.



We waited about 2 hours before they came out!!

It was a long walk for them.The started up here and had to walk all the way down to the bottom.






After coming down from monk fest(9am),we checked into a new hotel.Piya guesthouse smelled sooo bad.
The Residence(recommended by Lonely Planet) is a nice homely place run by a friendly ,helpful English speaking couple.They seem to very used to foreign travellers but not expecting 2 Malaysian chinese ladies with a car.They also dont provide breakfast.




We decided to go backwards abit up north to Mae Aw-a chinese village near the Myanmar border.



On the way to Mae Aw,we were told its a must see place -the Pang Oung Reservoir.

However we were stopped by fierce looking guards who told us the roads were closed.They told us to park our car and hire their trucks for THB600.We refused so we detoured and headed straight for Mae Aw.

On the road to Mae Aw,we followed our nose to this wonderful coffee hut!Best coffee among greens and fresh mountain air.Heaven!


.........road that continues to Mae Aw after coffee.

Arriving in little Mae Aw.Its a one road village,chinese influence.



Somewhere here we nearly drove across the border to Burma without realising it.But we got worried when the road got really narrow and muddy.Our little car also got stuck in the mud for a little while.Difficult making a u-turn in mud and a very narrow road.

Burma is just behind those rooftops!

Chinese snacks sold at the vendors.Same containers!

Chinese architecture?

We had a late lunch in this town.We ordered the waitress recommendation of :-

Fried mushrooms.

Some sort of tea leaves sour spicy salad.

Comes with many free types of chinese tea.

Then we left Mae Aw to head back to Mae Hong San.On the road back,we stopped by a famous waterfall.

Too lazy to track down in El Tevas so had to shoot photos through the trees.

Also on the way back,we checked out this natural mud spa.We had on our bikini's.

However,it was raining hard and we never even got out of the car.

So we drove on to the Karen Long neck Vilage just outside of MHS.
Nobody told us that the roads were built into the rivers.We had to drive through 6 rivers twice.Pretty strong currents.See photo with waterfall to left.


Elephant in the wild and Toyota Yaris battles for right of way!

Driver freaks out!

Elephant trunks in the Yaris!Click enlarge photo.

Toyota Yaris wins the battle and takes the river road again!Left road goes to long boat ride to a Karen Village.Right road goes to another Karen Village.We took the right.

A Karen is a Longneck is a Karen is a Longneck is a Karen..........that long.

This longneck shared her costume with me and i had to buy a THB150 scarf from her.


This one is a famous long.........! a rare cartoon native tribe? You can see her photos on travel posters. Maybe they all look alike anyways.

After everything,We feel that most of these women are display objects even so far up northern Thailand.The Guard at the entrance still insist on charging us a very high foreign tourist fee.We negotiated a deal of course.
Feeling sticky and sweaty we headed back to MHS.We got back to the room just before sunset.Had a hot shower and decided to check out a local night market.

We went looking for dinner and found miniture ballerina-bunnies in lacey dresses with their nose in the air, poor guys, I'm sure they hated the one who dressed them up in such uncoordinated colored clothings !  

 

Exotic delicacies - insects of all types... deep fried, sauteed, steamed..any way you like, they have it.

This was a really long and adventurous day!We were so tired  to even remember what we ate for dinner!
Went back and dropped like stones into bed!



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