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 8

We had to get up early on day 8 to drive to Doi Inthanon-the tallest mountain in Thailand(2590m).
After many many curves we reached the highest temple built by the army for the king.

Its really high above the clouds!
Bye bye giant on the mountain!
After the temple we drove on to the highest point of Inthanon Mountain.

The highest point.No photography allowed.Soldiers were guarding this spaceship building.Wonder what it is?

...and so we had to walk up a few steps with these gentlemonks to the real highest spot!

The Love leaf found on Doi Inthanon,so beautiful.

Driving down from the mountain was easy peasy.Looking forward to conquering more places by road.A small market is on the road out sells fruits,vegetables,gifts,etc etc.We stopped to ask for opium,they looked at us funny.Bought steamed peanuts and corn for lunch.

A little bit further from the small market we pass this signboard that says 'Welcome to Chiangmai'.Its wrongly placed because we were no where near Chiangmai.I think it was the stretch on highway 108 before Sanpatong turn off.

We arrived back in Chiangmai in 2 hours and went to the lovely Small hotel.This time we pre booked the room online.(done in Pai).
After checking in we drove to the Riverside restaurant for a lovely meal.
Then we had Wawee coffee.
We took a walk outside The Small Hotel.Found out that there was a wholesale market just behind it.It really is the best hotel to stay in when in Chiangmai.Will do it again.Went looking for more cigars.

Then big smiles,we found more hand rolled cigars.Beetlenut chewing lady was selling them.She was about to go home.We probably bought up mosty of her supply :)!!

Old lady tried to sell us red hairs for lipstick(organic dye for lips.)

The market for cigars and spices in Chiangmai.

Not the real stuff!

Before ending the night we had to top up petrol and its the same lady who top us up when we left.She allowed us to use their water pipe to wash our rented car.Bottom of car was caked up with mud.Really hard to wash off.

Then we went back to hotel,showered and went for a party with the 'boys' of a club,near to Carefour.Had a hard time finding it but we did.Ate kueyteow sop at side street for dinner.Show starts at 11pm!Was interesting.
End of Day 8.

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