On route to Pai! Or in our case Spicy Pai; the hostel we stayed at while we explored this authentic and stunning part of Asia. Think of rural landscapes, mountains, fields, haystacks, rivers.. you name it. The hostel we stayed in showcased it all so make sure you check out the review for this one; it’s a good one.
If you are feeling adventurous you can drive from Chiang Mai to Pai; but just a far warning it has 762 curves to the road so make sure you are a confident rider. We didn’t want to leave our things in Chiang Mai as we thought that we probably wouldn’t be going back there. We thought we would probably need to get back to Bangkok next for our onward flight to you will know soon enough. The bus was the easiest option for us and we could look out the window at the beautiful countryside as we headed closer and closer to Pai.
When we were settled into the hostel with some food and a Chiang, it was time to get some mopeds of our own and explore the area. Nia got one of her own this time so we drove around together like a little convoy, she was feeling more confident at this point as there was barely any traffic on these roads. Getting all set up for when we get to our next country. We found waterfalls in Pai, discovered temples, drove to the tops of the surrounding mountains to get the best viewpoints overlooking the valley. We drove to a canyon area just outside of the town where we walked along the tops of these cliff edges while watching the sun setting. It was pure bliss, we loved it here. So far Thailand was exceeding all expectations.
In the late afternoon if you didn’t want to watch the sun set from the mountains. It was time to get to yourselves to the Sunset Bar, they describe the bar as ‘creative cocktails, live DJ’s, which draw a crowd to the tavern with plush seating and vibrant décor’. We had had enough vegetable shakes for one trip, but a lot of other people we met said you must give them a go here. The location of Pai was enough of a high for us at this point.
If you didn’t want to go on a trip, you could head to the centre of Pai in the evening, where the night markets came to life. Can you take a guess what these orientated themselves around, which Nia and I love so much? FOOD! All weird and wonderful different pieces of random food. We had no idea what most of it was, but as we walked down we bought anything, any type of food that we didn’t even recognise or come to the fainted conclusion of what the base of it was. Best way to try out food right? Order the most random thing on the menu or in our case eye out the thing that looks the oddest. Of course, it was all delicious and we spent about five pounds each per person. Win? Yes I think so. The piggies were happily full and still with money in the pocket.
There aren’t a huge selection of bars in Pai, it’s just that kind of vibe. You have the Sunset Bar for relaxed early evening chill time. Boom Bar which is in the middle of town, a small bar, but large enough to fit a hostel worth of people in I would say. It plays loud music and you can enough play a couple rounds of pool if you wished. Then there is Don’t Cry bar, this was a fun one. It had a wooden planked wall around the outside of it and inside it was a garden with all sorts of seating surrounding fire pits. Neon paint not only covered the bar to attract the moths to the flame, but it was on the people as well. Glitter and neon, on the faces and on the bodies. We of course joined in on this. As soon as you walked in it was almost ceremonial to be able to enter this fire garden. Buzzing atmosphere with friendly social travellers all crowding round, laughing and drinking the night away.
I would recommend the North of Thailand to anyone. It was one of our favourite places, it was so peaceful, so untouched. Well, there were a lot of travellers there. But still it was rustic, rural, wonderful. We ended up staying a total of five nights here and once we had become zen and one with nature again it was time to get our next coach ride to Bangkok. We had a flight booked from the capital so we couldn’t dilly dally even though we could have added an extra five nights to the stay here. I would love to go back, but you sometimes wonder that if you did, would it be the same? Would you make more amazing memories? Or would it cloud the memories you already have with not so good new ones? Who knows, on we must.
LEAH HANCOX 