Blogs from Pai, North-West Thailand, Thailand, Asia - page 38

We were up bright and early this morning ready to set off trekking. We left our main rucksacks in the hotel and boarded a converted pick-up truck. When I say converted i mean they have fashioned a metal roof over the back part and put two bench seats in it. With 12 of us sqashed in we though we were just being taken to a bigger bus, no, not to be, the full three hour journey was made in this little tin heap. We stopped at the police station and they checked everyone who was going, just to make sure we all return alive i guess. The journey was broken by a trip to the market to get the food we need for the next three days. Some of the hills we went up were so ... read more

After our third day in the Chiang Mai area, we decided to book a van to the town of Pai up in the mountains to the north. We figured it would be better to do some trekking there. Perhaps it was just a little bit, more remote than Chiang Mai and maybe we would have a more authentic trekking experience. The scenery on route was certainly spectacular, but the mountain passes were at times frightening. It was barely a highway; often the van driver played chicken with on-coming traffic on what was a very narrow, winding road. The drop offs to each side were sometimes thousands of feet. One could never really see what was coming around the bend. Along the way, the driver stopped at a local roadside cafe for a lunch break. Many dishes ... read more

4 Nights Oh Pai, why were you so good to us? If you are ever in Chaing Mai you must see Pai. The guidebook said this hippy town sprouted like a mushroom when travellers were on there way to somewhere and they found Pai. We took the latest bus (always arranging things at the last minute) on a Saturday at 3pm (asking for trouble) and when we arrived at 7pm we were greeted with a town abuzz with Thai and Farang tourists everywhere. I was a little disappointed as I had the impression that Pai was a 300 metre street with 5 or so guesthouses (so naive) and that we may come across a few other travellers why we were there, how wrong was I. Our champion mini van driver drove us to atleast 10 guesthouses ... read more

Nach langem und gutem Schlaf bin ich dann mit dem Jeep offroad unterwegs gewesen, Jeremy wollte in Pai bleiben, kann ich gut verstehen, als Beifahrer offroad ist nun mal wirklich kein großes Vergnügen. Und da er seinen Führerschein nicht mithat, wollte er auch nicht fahren. :-) Umso besser für mich. Ich habe dann also ein paar Stunden offroad die Gegend erkundet, 4-Wheel-Drive ist schon eine klasse Sache, Steigungen, die ich mit meinem Wagen nicht mal träumen würde, bewältigte der kleine Suzuki mit links. Eine wirklich schöne Erfahrung. Zurück im Guesthouse saßen dann zwei Kanadierinnen (Mutter mit Tochter), die gerade einen größeren Motorradunfall hatten. Nichts schlimmes, aber als Rett.-Ass. und werdender Chirurg musste ich doch die beiden überzeugen, im Krankenhaus Röntgenbilder von der rechten Hand der Tochter machen zu lassen. Leichte Schwellung, Schmerzen, unklare Krepitation (Knoc... read more

Leaving Chiang Mai, we headed into the mountains to a small village called Pai. Having two travel choices, a public government bus which is basically an old school bus, or spend a bit more and ride in an air conditioned minivan; much more comfortable, plus the minivan will pick you up at your hotel. It was 3 hours of 2 lane, winding mountain roads with great scenery. Once we started to climb, the AC couldn’t be used because they needed the power for going up the hills. Pai is a small town/village which is a popular spot for mountain trekking, hiking, elephant safaris and such. It has a “laid-back” attitude and consists of a younger, hippie crowd. Lots of small restaurants, guest houses ($5 per night), motorcycle rental shops and travel/trekking agencies, surrounded by rice paddies, ... read more