The Wander Year

“I went to Pai for three days and stayed for two weeks.”

“Yeah, you’ll get stuck in Pai, but it’s a good stuck”

“There’s heaps to do, but it’s also a perfect place to do nothing.”

We had been considering a visit to Pai after reading about it (described by various guidebooks as a small town set on a river in the foothills of the Himalayas that has developed as a haven for Thai artists) but hearing other travelers rave about it cemented our plans. After a week in Chiang Mai, we were off to Pai.

We organized our trip up to Pai and were surprised to hear that the relatively short (distance-wise) trip to Pai was scheduled to take between four and five hours. The next alarming bit of news came when we were advised to make the trip on an empty stomach. We set out from Chiang Mai–about two hours after we were scheduled to leave, typically Thai-style!–and quickly discovered what all the fuss was about. The only way I can describe this road is that while I was in the backseat holding on for dear life, I felt like I was actually riding on a slithering snake. Not that the road was snake-like, but that I was actually riding on the back of a snake that was racing away from something, and perhaps its life was even on the line. Upon arriving in Pai, we were greeted with stalls selling tees proclaiming “I survived 762 turns to get to Pai!” Nice.

We quickly lined up a little bungalow right on the river. The view was fantastic:

The view from our bungalow

The room itself was a bit of an adventure. The water was intermittent–one day I was in the middle of a shower and the water suddenly went down to a trickle. I sent Adam to the reception desk to let them know and see what the problem was and the response was, “No, there is no water. The power’s out.” Just very matter-of-fact, as if it happened all the time. Too funny. Also, the room did have screens in the windows (better than mosquito nets!), and even better than that, it came with the added feature of just enough lizards to eat any mosquitoes that did manage to make it into the room. Bonus! Honestly though, it was pure luxury for the whopping $9 per night that we paid. Can’t beat it.

While we were in Pai, we spent most of our time out exploring the area on motorbikes. Well, motorbike is a bit of a stretch–they called them motorbikes in Pai, but let’s be honest:

Co0-00-000l Rider!

Yes, I'm wearing a pink helmet with a badass visor. I am always practical.

We had an amazing time, just wandering through the countryside and the villages surrounding Pai.

We did run into a couple of roadblocks though:

Face-off

Even better than the landscape was the opportunity to interact with some of the local kiddos. As we drove through a small village that was nothing more than a Wat and a row of homes, we suddenly heard “Hellooooooo! Thank you!!!!” We looked over and saw a gaggle of little ones running towards us, shouting the only two words that they knew in English. I responded with the only two words that I knew in Thai, which also happened to be Hello and Thank you.   After a couple of minutes, I asked if I could take a picture and the three bravest promptly lined up and posed for me.

Little hams

I know, same same, but they were too cute to resist!

I love watching monks playing--such a strong reminder that most of them are just boys!

We also visited one of the many local waterfalls and had a rough day of relaxing and watching the local boys play on the rocks.

That speck in the top left hand corner, on top of the rocks? That's Adam.

Waterfall surfing--perhaps the next olympic sport?

And a final shot from Pai, just for fun:

Beat that, Memphis! Pai has ribs AND fondue!

~ Meg