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

Jullie hebben lang moeten wachten (excuses daarvoor), maar hier is dan eindelijk het volgende hoofdstuk van mijn reis! De eerste avond in Pai was ik met een Schotse gozer naar de streetfood markt gegaan, wat echt een van de beste markten was waar ik tot nu toe geweest ben. Heerlijke spiezen met vlees van de bbq en andere lekkere thaise gerechten. Verder deden we het die avond rustig aan (de Schot ging de volgende dag weer ergens anders heen en ik moest even bijkomen na Chiang Mai). We speelde het slechtste potje pool ooit met de slechtste stokken ooit en een lekker biertje erbij, maar daar bleef het bij. De volgende dag besloot ik om naar de Witte Boeddha, die je van een afstand al op de heuvel kon zien zitten, te wandelen. Het was ongeveer ... read more

We decided to give our hiking boots one more outing before packing them up and trading them in for flipflops. The venture was Mae Len Waterfall and based on our research could be anywhere from just under a 4 hour hike to a 6 hour hike. We started off strong, parking our bikes at a hostel because no one could tell us if there was somewhere closer to park...there was (add 40 minutes to the hike). The hike itself was the right balance of entertaining, flat and challenging as the trail wove across the river about 20 times out and then 20 times back. No point was the river too deep or fast moving now that it is dry season so it was fun to play don’t fall in the lava as we hopped rocks and ... read more

We arrived at Tribal and the name is fitting to say the least. We’re practically sleeping in a shed without air con, WiFi or even a shower drain. There’s a really chilled vibe here. The people are so cool, sun kissed tattooed travellers who drink and listen to electro house music. We’ve learnt that Thailand is full of convenience; everything you need is right in front of you, super cheap. You can go to the 7/11 store and they’ll make up your pot noodle with a little fork and everything. Why don’t we have this in the UK? We got speaking to a Swiss guy who’s learning Thai. The Thai use some English words like ‘computer’ and elongate the ‘aaa’ sound at the end of sentences to signify politeness. It’s such a funny language. After a ... read more

Today, I got up relatively early and got to the starting place of Pai Canyon. Brian, one of the guys that has been here for a while, knew the name and location. So by 10:00 I was ready to go, at the start of the trip. People describe it as a 3.5h jungle trek, with a waterfall at the end. At the start, I met up with Anne-Katerina, who I met in a previous hostel in Chiang Mai, and Mona. I passed them on the scooter (I'm getting really proficient) a bit earlier and they just arrived at the small parking lot, when I was ready to leave. The nice trip took us about 3h to the waterfall and only 5 minutes before reaching the end, we were passed by a girl that ran the whole ... read more

Le trajet en minibus de Chiang Mai à Pai n'a eu beau durer que 3 heures, il nous a marqués ! Le-dit minibus était moins confortable qu'un bus local sri-lankais ! De plus, la route était extrêmement sinueuse. C'est de loin la pire route que j'ai jamais empruntée, et il a fallu lutter contre la nausée... Shaun était sur sa tablette la plupart du temps mais même lui a eu du mal. Une fois arrivés à Pai, nous avons déjeuner et suivi l'application GPS hors-ligne (maps.me) pour trouver notre hôtel... Nous sommes passés à travers champs, dans des herbes hautes et nous avons même dû traverser un ruisseau (il n'y avait pas de pont !) - le tout avec nos sac à dos... Je n'en menais pas large ! Shaun s'est fait mordre (?) par des ... read more