Blogs from Pai, North-West Thailand, Thailand, Asia
April 4th 2012
Yes, we are still in Pai .. yes we are leaving. Tomorrow morning in fact, and we've got some long journeys ahead of us. We are gonna be making our way down to the South of Thailand down to the islands by bus, train, plane and boat in a mere 36 hours. Easy! In the meantime we have had a really great and hugely chilled out last few days in Pai. As Andy has already filled you in we decided to have what travellers seem to call a 'posh' night and checked ourselves into a remote guesthouse in the outskirts of Pai for the night. The lady who owns the guesthouse is called Kob which means frog in Thai (a nickname we presume) and is a really wonderful person who tells us she lives not to ... read more
April 3rd 2012
Eating organic rice and beans is something I turn my nose up at normally in supermarkets, but now i think i know the true meaning! We have decided to splash out on accommodation and pay the astronomical price of 800 Baht (16 pounds) for our own mountain view bungalow, about 5 km outside of Pai. Why you ask? Cos it's sooooo nice. After staying in budget huts, this place is like a palace. It's not actually far off. There are 5 bungalows, but because it is low season we have it to ourselves. Pai Na Pai Ta Home is where we are at, and we liked it so much last night that we have agreed to stay another night, again alone on the complex. Kob - the lady who runs the guesthouse has been so good ... read more
April 1st 2012
Sunday afternoon brings yet more good news for us, we've decided to stay longer in this awesome town of Pai. We were warned/told/advised that we would definitely want to spend more time here than we originally planned, and now I see why. It has something for everyone, and has a rural yet faintly urban charm. There is plenty to do here in the day, and also the night. There are a couple of clubs or dancing bars that stay open until the early hours if that's your scene. Bamboo (literally on stilts above the river Pai) and Don't Cry are those party bars if that's your scene. Most street bars stay open until 12, and food finishing around 10ish. This town seems to attract the hippies, and most of all the people who have chanced the ... read more
Today we made a flip flop out of bamboo - Bear Grylls eat your heart out
Published: March 31st 2012Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Pai
March 31st 2012
Hello hello hello! I have finally got myself into gear and added some photos from the last few days in Pai and added them to some previous posts. I hope they give you a good feel of the place. Last night was a good-un, meeting some friends and then seeing more and more people we knew along the way until we were a huge multi-national group all chilling together. (There was even a girl from Tenby there!) It ended not with the usual cheesy chips we would get back home but with take away pad thai (noodles) which was an unusual but great way to finish the night. We still had one more waterfall to visit today but we were told it was a fair walk .. how long exactly no one seems to know. It ... read more
A spring roll a day keeps the doctor away
Published: March 30th 2012Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » PaiMarch 30th 2012
Another morning in Pai means getting up and trying to manoevre out of our hut as gracefully as possible, getting out of the mosquito net that we put up ourselves and trying not to bump your head on the low wooden roof. Once that has been successfully negotiated, its time to go about your day! In the town of Pai, there is a fair selection of street food available - but one man who seems to be constantly selling is the Spring Roll man. Im sure he has a name(TBC). He offers banana spring rolls and vegetable spring rolls. The vegetable one which I have everyday contains so much spice, flavour and veg it is tantamount to an actual meal. It outrageously costs 10 Baht (20 p). In true british style, I could have been had ... read more
March 29th 2012
Well we had heard the hype, we'd read the reviews and we thought it was about time we had a 'slice' of the pai. So that is exactly what we did .. and we are so glad we bothered! We got a minibus up to Pai which is in Northern Thailand about 3 hours away from Chang Mai where we were last staying. We were warned about the 'bendy' journey but honestly it was the craziest journey i've ever been on, constant sharp bends for 3 hours straight!! poor Andy couldnt take the heat (literally) and spend the last hour unable to move his head for sickness. A distraction from the journey was listening to some american girls conversation about her mum putting her dog down, ever so dramatic. As we pulled into pai we noticed ... read more
March 11th 2012
Hello from Pai - After a great few days in Chang Mai we've moved on up to Pai, Bit of a laid back hippy town situated way up in the mountains. It's a bit hazy up here, farmers are burning there fields and there is a lot of smoke so not much of a tan, will have to wait until next month in the islands. Its a bit of a mecca for travellers here and we've been meeting loads of people and getting some really good travel tips aswell of exploring the surroundings, swimming under waterfalls and just generally having loads of fun, sorry forgot to bring my camera lead out with me again but will upload some piccies soon..... read more
February 9th 2012
The journey to Pai was a bumpy one, by the end of it you certainly new the person next to you, 762 curves in the road meant we were sliding all over the seats. We stayed in the best place yet, bamboo huts on stilts with a hammock chill out area and awsome views of the Thai mountains. It was a tiny town and quite touristy but in a good way. Everyone here was so chilled it was a nice atmosphere to be in! Our 2nd day in Pai we chose to go tubing (big rubber ring) down the river, we got driven 7km up river and dropped off and that was it, we lazily floated through the little villages near Pai getting to see Thai fisherman and other people who clearly lived with the river ... read more
January 18th 2012
Hello everyone! We are currently sitting in Thaton in northern Thailand waiting to get on a longboat to take us down the river to Chian Mai. Our latest adventures all took place in Pai, northwest of Chiang Mai. The road to Pai is interesting, it is quite possibly the curviest road I've ever experienced. 762 curves, 95% of which are hairpin in nature, combine that with some crazy driving and it made for an interesting ride in. Pai was the town we've all been waiting for. It is a quite, chilled out town on a river full of bamboo huts, hippies, markets, and restaurants. We stayed across the river in our very own bamboo hut which was reached by crossing a rickity but apparently stable bamboo bridge. The hut was awesome except for the fact that ... read more
December 30th 2011
Good morning boys and girls. Who has been to Thailand? Ok good, most of you. Now who has been to Chiang Mai? Ok, still a good number. Im sure most of you walked past those travel agents with mini-buses to various locations such as the Gibbon Experience, Laos, etc. But who has been to Pai? While staying at my favourite guest house, The Chiang Mai Inn, sitting at the communal table as you do, the subject of Pai came up one day and it met with almost universal approval. As it turned out, about 8 out of the 10 random drinkers were going to Pai, and having decided I wanted to go there a day before hand, it was the obvious choice. Out on the Sangsom buckets the night before departure, at the trusty Roots Reggae ... read more
