Pai!

About 3 hours north of Chiang Mai, close to the Myanmar border, is Pai... A little hippy town with lots of personality. We took a minibus up the road, through the mountains, and around 756 curves... Dramamine is a must, if you get car sick, for the ride to Pai. We shared the very back of the bus with Meagan and Andrew, our new friends from Canada with whom we ended up spending most of our nights in Pai. The drivers of these minibuses fly around the curves, so needless to say I was happy to get out when we arrived.

Pai is located in a valley and is surrounded by beautiful mountainous landscapes.. We stayed in a cute little bungalow that was away from the main town, and was so quiet.. I slept so well everynight, as we were lulled to sleep by the little brook that flowed beside our place. The front porch was a nice place to relax and just big enough for my yoga mat! I miss our little bungalow..

We paid under $20 a night, and this was on the mid-range for these cute huts.. All around Pai, there are tons of little guest houses and bungalows to rent, ranging from a dorm, to a straw hut with one electrical socket to places with insulation and A/C.. A hut for all budgets! I loved seeing all the locally owned places dotted around the town. There was one called "Pai Circus" where you could stay and learn circus tricks... We looked for it (both times were in the dark..)but could never find it! I'm doubting it's existence at this point. How cool would it be to learn how to twirl fire or something crazy, though?

We had dinner at a place called "Na's Kitchen" and unbeknownst to us at the time, were in a tripadvisor chart topper.. It was probably the best thai red curry I've ever had. We lucked out because an older guy was getting up from his table so we were able to sit down.. Otherwise we would have been waiting for over an hour!  We chatted with John, the older gentleman, and he have us some wisdom about travel and life. He recommended the brown rice too, saying  it was the best brown rice he'd ever had.. What a smart guy! 

We then met our new friends for some after dinner fun.. While at the restaurant we were give a flyer for a place called "Bebop" that had live music every night.. We are suckers for live music, so bebop was where we headed. We walked in to an empty place with this awesome thai cover band playing.

The crowd shuffled in around 11, and that was when things started to get interesting.. Paul was followed into the bathroom a couple times by thai gentleman who fancied him, and kept sitting by him despite me sitting right beside him.. (he felt violated.. Poor Paul) Then a group of asian tourists came in and started getting sloppy after one drink.. Then a female version of Chang (from the hangover part 2) came in and started dancing some sweet moves.. Finally, Sarah, a ladyboy, got up on stage and tried to steal the show with her rendition of "I Will Survive".. She failed. Poor Sarah. Needless to say, this night gave us some funny things to talk about with our new friends over the next few days. Eesh.

The next day, we decided to rent a bike to visit the outside of the town. Pai town is literally a 3 stop light town, and it's tiny. But, there is a ring road that encircles the town with various sightseeing places to visit. Everyone in Pai rents a scooter or a bike during their stay! And for 50 baht per person (around 3.50$ for both of us) for a bike for 24 hours, why not?

We rode around the town, and sweated out the cares of the night before.. We soon learned that bike travel in thailand is tough, and the bikes aren't always the best suited for the hills.. My legs were tired after our journey sightseeing the town and surrounding temples. We biked to the Temple on the hill! where there was a huge white Buddha statue sitting in the lotus position. We parked our bikes, hiked up the hill and the hundreds of steps, then made our way up the trail to the giant Buddha. It was beautiful and a great lookout point to see the surrounding valley and hills.

We then took a load off and rested up for our big double date with Meagan and Andrew.. We had planned to meet them for dinner at this Texas themed steakhouse where the thai waiters are dressed as gauchos.. They all got thier steak dinner fix, but I don't recommend the Thai food there..My choochee curry was pretty much an appetizer and was not enough to fill me up.. Thankfully Pai also has banging street food so I was able to fill my belly on yummy things like roasted corn and blueberry almond gelato! In Pai you can literally run the gammot on street food! we saw burritos, stuffed baked potatoes, rotee (like a giant crepe filled with a variety of toppings)' burgers, and all the traditional thai food you could imagine. We opted to walk the streets for our dinner the last night in Pai, and I even tried super spicy grilled squid on a stick. Yes, I am broadening my food world indeed.

Our final day in Pai we had planned to rent a scooter and go beyond the few sights we saw the day prior. We had done a 7km cycle tour the day before on bikes, and thought the quickest way to do the full 17km loop would be on a scooter. By the time I had my beautiful run though the town (where I got the thumbs up from a monk doing his offering walk) and had our breakfast, all of the scooter shops were out of bikes! So back to the bicycle rental man we went.. 

The bikes are not made for steep ascents, and my bike was definitely too small.. It felt like a 4 hour spin class from hell. My heels hit the ground whenever we were making the climb up the hills! I noted that the map we were given said "motorbike route", and I saw why after the 20th hill we had to climb alongside cars, minibuses, and scooters. We were able to still see all the sights we had wanted to see, such as the memorial bridge, Pai canyon and a random strawberry place, but I had not mentally prepared myself for how tough it would be..my little legs were tired after running in the morning and then biking all that way! 

We ended our day at "Liquid"' a place for visitors to go and enjoy some relaxing time by a pool. The pool was freezing! Pai does get down into the 50s at night, but during the day it was around 90. After riding the bike all day I didn't mind that it was so cold.. It felt nice on my legs. We hung out with Andrew and Meagan there and just had some time to chill out before our street food feast that night.

We had a great time in Pai! it is really a special place. I'm worried in the next few years it will be more like Chiang mai as more and more tourists come and visit. I loved the grassroots feel of it, all the locally owned restaurants, shops, and guest houses. There was uproar from the locals when the 7-11s arrived, and now there are 4 around the town. Who knew 7-11 was a big thing in Thailand? By now we should hold stock in the place; we go there every day for bottled water and snacks. The staple of the backpacker in Thailand is a ham and cheese toastie, which they panini press for you in store. I have not tried it but Paul says it's delish.

Pai is cheap, quiet, and calm.. It is a great refuge from the big city, and has a lot of the comforts of home. I wish we had spent a couple more nights there and explored further the surrounding area. It seems to be a place people go back to again and again... We met a couple of French guys who had been there 5 times. I can see why, it's just a feel good place. Not busy, not crazy, and the locals are super friendly. I definitely recommend anyone who visits a Thailand to make the curvy road trip up to Pai, stay in a hut, and enjoy life.. It's hard not to in a place so beautifu. Just make sure you bring along some motion sickness tablets... The ride to and from can be pretty stomach churning.