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Published: August 18th 2006
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The hills of Pai with storm looming
The only photo of Pai we got before the brand new camera broke. Day 1
Wow.... who'd have thought place like Pai really existed?
We had heard of this magical place through a number of travellers, and made sure we spent some time heading up to it.
Pai is North West of Chiang mai on the way to Maeng Som near the Burma border. Our original plan was to hire a big motorbike and drive ourselves there, but thankfully due to the weather forecast, our short time allowances and my constant questioning as to the safety of the roads, Andrew caved in and we took an over crowded mini-bus instead.
And may I just add, it was probably one of the better decisions we've made so far as we were to discover after we began the windy uphill climb through the mountains. The mini bus took about 4 hours or so and it was just one hairpin bend after the other, combined with spurts of torrential rain.
As we began our descent, the weather cleared and the mist lifted to reveal green green valleys, lush jungle and a little piece of paradise.
We met a great Aussie couple on the bus, Paul and Rin who are living in Dubai and just got engaged (nice one guys, congrats once again). They proved to be a wealth of knowledge as they have visited the area before and gave us a number of great tips. Everything from where to stay, to where to chill out in a small rasta bar, to which waterfalls to visit.
First day we spent the afternoon on a small motorbike (with helmets, mum) and checked out one of the closer and more popular falls. I clung onto the back or Andrew as we ripped through the countryside at about 40kms thanks to the bike capacity and was able to spend the time joyfully watching the green scenery, the mountains looming ahead and the dark rain clouds that were forming.
Reaching the waterfalls we discover some mad nutter who has deciced to negotiate sliding down the rocks into the pools below. First level, no worries, about a metre and a half. Not content to stay there, he then attempts the second level - a good 10m run of sheer (very slippery) limestone. Slowly slowly... just checking it out.... yep, looks kind of good... wo, woah, starting to slip, not so sure, now pelting down at incredible speed and flies off a ledge to land in the undetermined depth of the pool below. Andrew and I both inhale suddenly and hope he resurfaces.
Phew, no problems.
In fact, it was answered with a very Aussie " Beauty Mate! That was AWESOME!"
Got to be an Aussie.
We were very conscience of the growing rainclouds that were filling the sky and beginning to consume the upper levels of the mountain, so we jumped back on the bike and tried to out-ride it home. Yep.. little chance of that really.
I was clinging on, laughing with glee as the torrential downpour outflanked us to the right and the sky turned black. The fearless driver headed onwards, a few spits at first, shortly followed by the equivalent of the entire Pacific ocean being dumped onto us, and cutting into Andrew's face as we rode. I meanwhile, still thought it was great 😉
Returning to our hut, we showered (cos we weren't wet enought yet) and headed out for tea. Pai is very similar to what Byron would have been 15 / 20 years ago. Heaps of really nice, chillout cafes, the travellers are easy going, the locals are friendly and open, there's no hard sell to buy anything, and everything shuts at 11pm.
So finding a movie house we were able to get a great feed, then had a private screening of Syriana (I'm still processing it, Andrew had to explain a few things to me along the way). Off to bed for a big day of attempting to ride to Sappong.
Day 2
Up early the next day we traded in our small bike for a big bike and took to the mountains.
Hairpin bend after hairpin bend, a few washed out bridges (no doubt replaced annually as the floods hit) and we reached the summit which sported a magnificent view over the Sappong valley, while the other side was covered in a thick fog. Then it was downhill to Sappong... Luckily the brakes worked well and I clung on tight as we went in and out of showers and round some tight bends.
Hitting Sappong we found the Little Eden guesthouse and sampled some of the Local dishes - the hottest to date before hitting the road to the Nam Lod cave about 8 km out of town.
We were taken by a tour guide of about 50-60 yrs down a muddy slope to the river and entered the mouth of the cave where apparently 60,000 birds come to roost at sunset. Not wishing to ride back in the dark we did the arvo tour and boarded a little bamboo raft to negotiate the watery entrance to the cave itself. The river flowed right through the cave but we veered off with our guide (complete with oil lantern) and checked out some cool limestone formations including the pancake, the drapery the elephants and some others that elude me.
Similar to Jenolan caves except the tour was on the cave floor and we were right next to the limestone rather than on a boardwalk.
It was back onto the bike as droplets strated falling from the sky and we renegotiated the same route all the way back to Pai. Narrowly missing a crazy cow that had decided to run onto the road infront of the traffic and then double back onto our side we hit the anchors just in time to prevent a minced beef and falang combination!
Back into Pai intact we dropped off the bike (which stank of brake pads) and Andrew power napped (4 hrs of intense concentration) while I hit the town with Paul and Rin ie. sat on cushions in the reggae bar drinking Pineapple shakes. Andrew joined us later as did a funny English bloke - Francis, who has been living in Nepal for the past 5 years and the only person I met that managed to pick a fight in Pai (with some irate Israelis). We prattled on till the early hours (midnight) before heading home for some much needed sleep (I was actually dozing off on the couch while the rejuvenated Andrew rambled on).
Day 3
The next morning we got up early and went to the hot springs just out of town - a smart move considering that the air temperature was already around 35 degrees, the water came out at a balmy 80 degrees and so it was with trepidation that we inched our way into the spa baths. Once in though it was quite relaxing and saw us ready for our bus back to Chiang Mai.
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James
non-member comment
Pai is great
Glad you made it to Pai. Its wicked. The hots springs near there are really cool.