Pai, Thailand
May 20, 2014
We woke later than expected. I couldn’t sleep and ended up with a cheeky few whiskeys again to help me on my way, it was a bad idea yet again. It was about half eleven and we wanted to be on the road early to avoid the big lorries and such like. That was well out the window now so we grabbed some food and got ourselves sorted a bit better before we hopped on the touring sized scooter we had hired. It was a 150 so a bit more power for those steep mountain roads and was the size of the Bismark so plenty of room for both of us as well as a couple of small bags. Off we went in search of Pai.
I had the route pretty much sorted in my head as it is only two main roads once out of town and it didn’t take long to find our way and start motoring North away from Chiang Mai. It’s about a hundred and thirty kilometers from Chiang Mai to Pai with the first 50km being easy fast riding on the dual carriage way followed by a flat quiet road leading to the foot of the mountains. It was all rather pleasant and I felt like I could have been anywhere in the world cruising along on a lovely smooth wide strip of tarmac that disappeared into the distance with the back drop of the mountains. It was really quiet as well which was great, only two cars passed in the space of half an hour and it felt like you had the place to yourself. Beautiful scenery and the sun on our backs.
Eventually the road started to climb just a little but not for long as it then threw you into the mountain. It just started and it didn’t stop for the next 3 hours. Turn after turn after turn. Winding its way upward and climbing at a crazy pace. Before I knew it we were high up in the clouds looking out across a massive valley as we snaked our way through the highlands of Northern Thailand and West towards the Bhurma border.
The bike performed admirably, eating up the bends and the steep short straights that gained altitude with ease. We stopped a few times to take in some epic views of the forest below and around us. It was relentless and if you stopped for every good view you would never get there in a day. 762 bends and 4 hours later the road straightened out after a dizzying rapid descent through the clouds. Small homes and shops started to appear at the roadside and Pai started to build itself around us as we meandered along. Pai is North Thailand’s hippy village and it was clear straight away. The guesthouses and restaurants that lined the sides were some of the wackiest I have seen. We passed some place to do with Strawberries that had a red double-decker bus parked under a canopy, an old red English phone box and a 30ft tall statue of a strawberry outside. Statues of crazy tall cartoon like characters greeted you around every little bend and some places just appeared to be gardens full of statues, contraptions and art. It was an interesting arrival to Pai if not a little surreal. Once in town we tootled around a good hour before finally finding our place to stay. We were only 2 minutes away from it when we first turned up, typical!
Pai is small. It looks a bit like a frontier town. It must have been a tiny village then at some point a few decades ago hippies stumbled across it and set up camp. It’s nice though and has a certain chilled charm about it. Sat nestling in the flat-bed of a massive valley with impressive mountain ranges all around. Beautiful little streams and rivers run through it and nothing is a hassle there. No hustle and bustle, hardly any traffic and the little bars and cafe’s are all very quaint and inviting. It didn’t take long to settle into the place.
Having the bike made everything so much easier. We spent a day out at Pai canyon which is a crazy place with the narrowest of red dusty walkways snaking around a small steep-sided valley about 50m high. Being a big girls blouse when it comes to heights I didn’t manage to get round all of it but it was a nice day with some unique scenery. From the canyon we went off on a random ride in search of some waterfall and viewpoint that we had spotted a sign for on the way to the canyon. The waterfall was pleasant enough and nice and secluded but it was nothing special and when we went in search of the view-point we got about as far off-road as you could probably get in Thailand and had to turn back as the sun started to dip down. It was a good laugh though, bouncing our way through random fields and up dirt tracks in the middle of nowhere. Balancing our way over rickety bamboo bridges and such like with no real idea where we were headed.
We spent another day in search of a bigger waterfall some distance out of town and up in the hills. The ride up was great, through the Chinese village that sits on the hillside. A little country lane gently climbs up through farmers fields and small hamlets. I was offered my first Opium in Asia on this climb up to the waterfall by a toothless old women sat in fields shouting opium and weed as we trundled past. I guess everyone up here sells their crops in some way and opium is no exception. The only surprise was the sheer number of farmers just sat at the side of the road trying to entice you in.
The waterfall looked fun and had a couple of natural slides down the rocks that have been smoothed out over thousands of years by the water flow. Local kids were flinging themselves down and having a right laugh however the water was filthy in the pools so we opted to skip being ill for several days and sat and relaxed for a few hours instead before weaving our way back down the hill past the opium vendors and back through Pai and out the other end. I wasn’t really sure where we were headed but that’s the joy of the bike. You can just head off and get lost in the countryside. It’s a great way to spend a day just seeing what you come across and taking life as it comes. We explored a bit more of the valley on the other side and then headed back for some food and drinks. The night life in Pai is similar to some of the quieter islands that we stayed at down South. Very much hippy with a good splash of reggae bar thrown in for good measure. Let’s just say it was relaxed…..
The following day brought rain. A lot of it. But we still managed to get ourselves up reasonably early and headed out on another scooter adventure. This time the opposite way out of town towards the Myanmar border. The ride up the mountains was stunning yet again. A beautiful quiet winding road carved into the mountainside. Small fires in the fields and hills that created slow swirling clouds of smoke that gave the view some extra depth and texture. Idyllic really, a beautiful slice of rural Thailand laid out in front of us. We reached the highest peak around and took in the views either side. Back down towards Pai and the range of mountains we had come over from Chiang Mai and the view West with the mountains and hills of Myanmar off in the distance.
It was nice to sit and just take in natures beauty. But eventually the clouds closed in ominously and the heavens opened up above us in true tropical style. We started back for home and before we knew it were caught in a full-blown downpour. it was too late to pull over and take shelter. Once you are wet through within five seconds there isn’t much point really so you may as well just crack on through it and get yourself back. Once back and dried we tootled round town for a while before spotting Michael and Kealsey in a bar. The usual thing that happens when people travel similar routes. You ride down a street in the middle of somewhere and bump into people you have seen in the previous town or a few weeks ago. it was good to catch up over a few beers though before heading back to tuck into some whiskey. I say whiskey but I need to point out that I since learned that Sang Som is actually rum. No wonder it was going down so easily, damn you rum, damn you.
Before we knew it we had been in Pai for six days. We would never get out of Thailand at this rate let alone get around the rest of Asia. We needed to head back to Chiang Mai to return the scooter and sort out getting to Laos, it was time to move on. I really enjoyed Pai and all of Thailand for that matter, it’s a great country with so much character and variety.
The ride back was fun. The bike climbed steadily and as we reached the highest point the rain appeared again to soak us through and slow us down. The rain was much heavier than in Pai to the point were you could not see 10 yards in front of you. it was game over until it eased off so we pulled into a small village and sat it out with a cuppa and a smoke. Once it had passed we slowly descended through the same lush scenery that had taken us to Pai a week earlier and back down to the level ground of the other side and on to Chiang Mai. We had two more nights in Chiang Mai once we got back. The bike needed to be back early the day after we returned and the transport up to Chiang Khong to enter Laos was fully booked for the following day so we had an extra day to kill before finally heading off.
We have sorted a minivan out that will take us up to Chiang Khong on the Laos border but that will also stop off at a place called the white temple that I really want to see. Not long left in Thailand now. Feels like we have been here ages, and that’s a good thing.
