If Chiang Mai is hipster, Pai is its hippie parent. We weren’t actually planning to go there at all (in fact neither of us had really heard of it) but the small town came recommended by quite a few of the fellow travellers we met along the way - and having conveniently expedited Chiang Rai in a single day-trip, we’ve got time for it! Pai is another four-hours drive from Chiang Mai, on what we’ve been warned are horribly winding mountain roads. And indeed, as we climb towards our next stop in one of the ubiquitous minivans, the road quickly devolves into a succession of sharp curves and hairpin bends. We’re close to the front of the van luckily, and both of us do ok in cars, so it’s not too bad and we get off unscathed. The minute we alight, the character of the town is apparent: the smell of weed pervades the afternoon air, crocheted goods of dubious taste abound in the road-side stalls, and tie-die t-shirts are everywhere. Welcome to chilled-out Pai!
A tiny town set in a pretty mountain valley north-west of Chiang Mai, it’s mostly reputed for its relaxed, backpacker-friendly atmosphere. To fully tap into that, we’ve booked into the Supermoon Hostel - which we only realise when we arrive is actually part of, underneath, and next to, a selection of bars. Not a big deal - this is probably a good occasion to party! Not on the first day though and we are content with checking out the lively selection of food stalls lining the main walking street for dinner, before a quiet drink at the upper hostel bar - a swankily jazzy place with zodiac sign cocktails. Apparently, I’m “Fucking Fabulous” and should be accompanied by a Ferrero Rocher at all times - works for me!
After improbably sleeping through the multi-bar party that goes on until 2am, we’ve booked ourselves on a “Chill day tour” to get a look at some of the local natural and man-made wonders. We start off with an almost private visit to the first attraction, as we’re the only visitors keen enough to have braved the early-morning 10am start of the full-day tour! We’ll be joined by more travellers later at 1pm but in the mean-time get a private ride to the Saignam hot springs, with another sample of those incredibly winding roads on the way. We hold on tight, as we’re in the open back of a pick-up truck (again), but that does give us nice views of the surrounding countryside, although no free hands to take pictures!
The hot springs are lovely: tucked away in a protected Natural Park, a few shallow pools lie in mottled shade, at almost exactly bath temperature. It’s a bit chilly in the morning here in the mountains, and we gratefully sink into the warm water after struggling over the rocky shore. It’s still quiet at this time but the handful of other tourists soaking there are happy to chat and we have a nice little natter, easily whiling away the hour allotted by our tour guide. It seems like most people there are on the same tour as us - and indeed, when we make it to our lunch spot after drying and changing, there they arrive just after us and we get to know each other a bit more over food.
Having gone back to the start to pick up the half-day crew (and now fully filled the pick-up with twelve of us in total) we set off for the busy afternoon programme: white Buddha, viewpoint, Chinese village, cafe, waterfall, bamboo bridge, and sunset at the Pai canyon. A few highlights follow, mostly in pictures.
The nearly 300 steps up to the gigantic white Buddha (we could see him from all around the valley while driving around) go like a breeze: it looks like all our walking around is making us fitter!
The Chinese village feels very odd - very artificial, although the settlement is rooted in the history of actual Chinese immigrants fleeing troubles. It’s been completely transformed into a tourist attraction now, with a bunch of rides and funfair games, and we get to practice some archery - I even land a bullseye.
The viewpoint is a bit tacky with the now-typical giant heart to frame pictures - but the view is pretty, and let’s be honest, that red heart looks good against the blue sky.
The waterfall is disappointing but a short fun trek to get to - including wading through the ice-cold water at the end to get a decent view! A bunch of our truck-mates brought swimsuits and go completely under - very brave.
The bamboo bridge is amazing - the highlight of the entire day for me. It looked very boring in the pictures - just a small low pedestrian bridge over rice paddies - but when we get there, at golden hour, the scenery is magical. Lush green hills rising mistily in the last rays of sunlight, herds of water buffalo strolling through the paddies, and a seemingly endless frail bamboo path snaking above it all, dotted through with elegant pagodas. There’s even a couple of monks to complete the vision, and a lush wildflower garden at the start as an added bonus. In the twenty minutes allocated by our guide we barely have the time to walk through to the end of the bridge and back!
The canyon similarly exceeds my (low) expectations: it’s an entire area of the mountain covered in a labyrinth of limestone crests jutting out from the trees below. Health and safety be damned, there are no handrails or barriers of any kind and we are free to roam and climb around on paths just a foot wide that sometimes include steep, eroded slopes. In the golden, orange light of sunset the red dust covering the limestone really stands out agains the green of the trees, and with the mountains as backdrop it’s quite a stunning landscape.
The tour finished, we head back to town to shower and change before dinner. I put on all of my layers to ward off the night chill as it gets down to below 10C here once the sun is gone! Dinner is courtesy of the night market again - gyozas and lovely fatty roasted pork belly - and this time we are ready to party. We scout out the walking street for a good spot but everything seems quiet - maybe we’re a bit early? The main bar attached to our hostel is promising a karaoke night, which we both enjoy (Ollie does the singing, I do the clapping) so we decide to settle there even though it’s still mostly empty. It seems that our arrival triggers the critical mass needed to start the music: Ollie and a couple of other patrons relay each other over half a dozen titles, trying to encourage others to join. Around 9pm, it gets busier and livelier - there’s a competition for singing spots and a few regulars take to the stage for frankly professional-quality performances (including one gentleman who didn’t even need a single glance at the lyrics for all of “American Pie”), to thunderous applause. As the evening progresses, a few of our tourmates from earlier join us and it turns into a merry party with everyone singing along to the better-known singles. We retire in the early hours of the morning once the karaoke gets too drunken for our taste - good times!
The next morning features one of our fairly rare lie-ins, all the more needed this time following last night’s excesses, followed by a lazy day of brunching, resting, and a massage for me. We keep bumping into our friends from the tour (it’s a small town!) but although we try to schedule dinner together, it doesn’t pan out. Never mind - as Ollie does a few hours of work in our hostel’s courtyard I start a conversation with some of the other guests here - a Swiss lady and a young American group. Lots to learn as the former has a similar itinerary to us, and the latter have been travelling for almost six months now, and we end up having a lovely evening chatting through another street-food dinner and some store-bought beers (hair of the dog…)
All in all we’re very happy with our stay in Pai - we ended up meeting and talking to loads of other travellers, and the relaxed, social atmosphere, local sights and easy parties are well worth the detour for us, although I don’t think you’d miss any key cultural attraction by not going.
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