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Published: June 21st 2008
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What to say about Pai? i have the feeling that Pai may be in a transitional period slowly mutating from quiet mountain town to tainted tourist web. its only saving grace is that no matter what big businesses may or hopefully may not build here, the landscape still remains breathtaking. Pai has a kind of hippie feel with various 'new age' style characters wandering around amongst the tourists, which i am told in high season gets to the point where u cannot drive even a moped down the street due to the crowds. there are various meditation, crystal healing and health food joints to keep u cleansing your mind body and soul for years to come but i couldnt help but get the feeling that they were no more than hollow remakes of what was once potentially a very spiritual place. like the majority of Thailand, at least what i have seen, a mass influx of tourists has taken its toll and Pai is no exception, but at least there are no large resorts and fast food chains. that being said Pai remains a place of magnificent natural beauty with the odd hidden Gem hiding in the mists, just dont go
My Garden
just outside my porch, the view from my hammock expecting a traditional Thai town or 60's India and you shouldnt be dissapointed.
After a 3-4 hour journey up and down a meandering path through the mountains overlooking untouced jungle i arrived in Pai at around 2pm. not having a clue about what to expect or where to stay i grabbed the nearest moped slung on my backpack and went to explore. i didnt really get any kind of vibe from the town center and headed slightly out of town where a sign, sitting amongst a heap of cheesey named places, jumped out at me for a place called Is Am Are. i followed the sign down a long country lane, passing through a village and ending up surrounded by paddy fields wandering where the hell i was. just as i was about to turn back i saw another sign and soon found the entrance, i drove in and immediately thought that it was beyond my budget and upon asking was told the huts were 300b. i didnt want to spend more than 200b and being as i was the only guest they had we agreed on 200b per night. the gargen was fairly well maintained and was teeming
My view
look left from my porch with butterflies, birds gekos and metallic green flying insects that seemed to enjoy flying into my fan, pinging off the blade and flying away seemingly unharmed, i digress. the Garden was surrounded by paddy fields with the misty mountains beyond and there was an everpresent freshness that warmed the soul, i was extremely pleased with my find.
i showered and headed back into town and drank herbal tea in a organic bakery and ate homemade flapjack while the terrenchal rain filled the river a few feet from me, i knew straight away that my time here was going to be very chilled. i soon came accross a place called The Good Life In Pai a little health food type place with the largest selection of herbal teas i have ever seen and ordered what turned out to be the most rank cup of tea i have ever had (Kuding tea), but it was supposedly good for digestion and considering i hadent been solid for almost a week now i decided to persevere. after using the net i headed bk to mine at around 1am driving through desserted streets, well except for the street dogs! at one point i had
6 dogs all chasing, barking and snarling at me, cutting me up almost making me crash and i was cacking my pants. every time i stopped to look at my map i would hear another group of dogs start running for me and i would just go in what ever direction the bike took me and i ended up down a dark desserted country lane! i had no idea where i was and was constantly aware that dogs were liable to jump out from bushes at any moment when to my relief i saw a sign for Is Am Are and was no more than 2 mins from home and breathed a huge sigh of relief.
the next day i intended to go and chill in the hot springs but found that it was 40b for Thais and 200b for Tourists which i decided i wasnt willing to pay and headed over to the waterfall with a Korean couple who had the same opinion. however it started to lash down as we drove further into the mountains and took shelter in a little shop and decided to go back the next day instead. the night was spent chillin in
Hot Springs
this water burns! my hammock listenin to tunes takin it real easy, i owed my body some rest.
after another lay in i headed out to the chinese village, this was my first genuine insight into village life, no tourists, except me of course, just ordinary village folk goin about their business. i found a little temple on a hill and chulled their for a bit to admire the view and play with the overly friendly dog that seemed to live there before headin to the waterfall. i took some nice pics and jumped around the rocks and tree trunks in the pools when i saw a load of teenagers scurry up a huge boulder near the top of the falls. assuming that there must be something interesting up there i followed to find them filling plastic bags with rubber cement and offered me to join in, i declined and tried to tell them that it was bad but they just laughed said "its ok" and lept around the waterfall gettin high and smoking cigarettes (same as England minus the waterfall lol!). it was almost dusk and i had been told that the Canyon was nice at sunset so off i went,
the sun had stated to set when i got there so i scrambled up a rocky path and made it to the top just in time. there was a thin crumbly path that looked like it led to a good viewpoint so i braved it across and sat and enjoyed an amazin sunset over the misty mountains and made sure i headed back before it was too dark to make it back across the dodgy path. back in town i grabbed some Roti watched some street performers busking and headed to Bebop Bar only to find that i was the only person there. after 10 mins as i was about to leave, a new band turned up and with them around 40 people, all of a sudden the place took on a new atmosphere and before i knew it i was listenin to some good live music and chattin to a Canadian girl until close. it seemed that Bamboo bar was the place to go so i jumped on my bike, with a random girl on the back, and spent the next couple hours chattin to a guy from manchester who told me i have to go ziplining and see
Chinese Village
View from the little temple on the hill the gibbons in Laos. (i have just booked and will be zinging through the jungle David Attenborough style, staying in canopy tree houses on my birthday!).
The next day was spent chillin in Good Life drinking herbal tea and writing my journal. the night was spent chillin with a thai dude called Jackie i had also met the night before at Bamboo who showed me about a little place called Pau Pai that also played live music and we sat and drank...... excessively, although not to the extent of the previous week (rolling down steps outside 711) before heading over to Bebop where he was doin a gig and enjoyed some more live music.
once again i was drawn to Good Life for some more tea and chilled there a while, although i spent a fair bit of time during these days just driving around, exploring and taking in the scenery as it was hard not to. being the very small town that it is i was off to Pau Pai with Jackie and his pal Yo who were doing a gig there and chilled and listened to their performance before heading over to Bebop again where Yo
More of the Village
again from the Temple was playing.
the next day i caught my coach back to Chang Mai to check out the Yoga school i had been told about by Yenz. despite its faults i returned having spent a very chilled and very enjoyable 4 or 5 days in humble Pai.
i have just booked my trip to The Gibbon Experience on the border of Laos so for the next 3 days i will be zip lining through the jungle and probably wont have internet access but i'll write again asap. until then MUCH LOVE and i'll catch u again when i'm a year older.
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Gill
non-member comment
Happy Birthday
Hi David, Happy Birthday, you certainly seem to be having a fantastic time. Keep the blog and pics coming it makes us feel part of your experience. Take care and lots of love Gill and Charlotte xx