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..

DAY3

Cafe D Artist for breakfast included in room rate.

Part of courtyard by breakfast cafe.We also check out from hotel to move to a very nice and much cheaper hotel down the road called Lilu Hotel.

Streets of Pai at about 9am.Totally laid back,hardly saw anyone except a few tourist walking about.


Lobby of Hotel D Artist,while waiting to check out.Whole hotel only has one lady staff.Today we saw a new face that checked us out.


A little walk further down the street and we saw this tiny salad cafe.Staff was busy setting up.I thought the decor was minimal but nice.Only got 6 tables i think.


Checking into Lilu hotel


We headed out of Pai to check out the 'famous' Pai Canyon.



Pai Canyon!Hmmm....feels like the backyard I played in as a kid.Nothing much but soil erosion.More like Pai Con-yan!


So hungry for food.Stopped by this place with red bicycle for lunch.We have been eating bananas alot to stay full.Coffee here also very good.Ice water is free,toilet is nice.

We ordered traditional Thai steam fish with lime and chilli.Tasty.

Ask for road directions from a local English speaking Thai man.He comes from Bangkok and is also on a road trip with his family.We were desperately looking for the reknown opium farms but sadly he didnt know.Nobody knew.



Little pai is more advance then Ipoh!



The Pambok waterfall was a dissapointing trip.The drive was long.It turned out to be a horribly muddy river.
Met some young tourist coming down,seems its muddy all the way.Did not bother to hike up,not worth the sweat,mosquito bites plus it was getting dark(6pm).



Saw some awesome elephants.Somehow their eyes look right through me into my soul.They seem so sad.
I'll be sad if all i did was let 3 adults sit on my back and walk aimlessly down the same road everyday.Haha.


Unusual sign on the side of the road out.So we checked it out.


As the sign says,its Land Crack!haha.After a short hike uphill,we met a local farmer who owns the land and put up the sign as a mini tourist attraction.The crack started small about 5 years ago.Now it is about 1km long and it does show the land cracking up.He has a tip box to help fund his effort in creating some tourist attraction out if this natural formation.We also asked him about 'opium' farms.He said it is further north.He doesnt speak English.



We also found this other unusual sign along this road-The Magic Tree.


After asking,we were shown to this skinny tree.The Magic Tree comes alive when you tickle(very gentle,ike you stroke a sleeping baby) its bark.The leaves at the top starts wiggling,and fluttering.It was in a secluded area and no it wasnt the wind.
I am still amaze today.Someone should figure out why it does that!


End of the day,we checked into our new hotel Lilu.Cheap and nice.Best book in advance,the were fully booked even during low season.

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