14/06/2023 From Chiang Mai to Pai
A wet scooter trip to Pai
The road from Chiang Mai to Pai has 762 turns and is 130 km long.
For some (now unimaginable reason) we only started our scooter ride at 2.30 pm, being well aware of the fact that it usually rains in the afternoon.
The first hour of the drive was sunny, flat and beautiful. We stopped at Mokfa Waterfall and then continued our drive up the curvy road in between big mountains.
As soon as we got on the road again, the weather changed from sunny, over to cloudy and ended in full on rain. At some point of the ride we couldn’t see anything in front of us since the rain and the fog were blocking our view.
What to expect
- 1 Pai
- 1.1 Have dinner on the night market
- 1.2 Have breakfast at Earth Tone
- 1.3 Chase some waterfalls
- 1.4 Walk over the bamboo bridge
- 1.5 Watch sunset at Pai Canyon
- 1.6 Get a massage
- 1.7 Go “tipsy tubing”
- 1.8 Listen to live music at Sprit Bar
- 1.9 Eat at Om Garden Café
- 1.10 See the Tham Lod Caves
- 1.11 Go bamboo rafting
- 1.12 Do your own food tour on the night market
- 2 Chiang Rai
Pai
At 7.30 p.m. we made it to Pai – shivering and wet to the bone!
Have dinner on the night market
Our luggage that got transported with a van still hadn’t arrived because of the rain. So as wet as we were, we walked over the night market to get some tasty street food.
Furthermore, we still hadn’t booked an accommodation for tonight. Luckily, we found a really nice hotel called “Chiang Pai Hill” where we could only assume how beautiful the view from our balcony would be in the next morning.
15/06/2023 Pai
And we were right: from our bed as well as from our balcony we had an incredible view over Pai’s nature.
Have breakfast at Earth Tone
After a hot coffee and a morning workout on the balcony (I’ve started some workouts since Ninh Binh, Vietnam; now that the trip is almost over – better late than never), we drove to “Earth Tone”.
The breakfast (or in our case brunch) consisted of fresh juices and smoothies as well as a Buddha bowl and a yoghurt bowl with fresh fruit and homemade granola. It was all very delicious!
Chase some waterfalls
Next we explored the region around Pai. First we drove to two different waterfalls: Mo Pang Waterfall and Pam Bok Waterfall. The first waterfall wasn’t as special. But the second one was in a little cave and besides two other girls we were the only ones there.
Walk over the bamboo bridge
Just two kilometres away from the Pam Bok Waterfall you can find a famous bamboo bridge.
To be honest, this wasn’t anything unique: It looked more like a tourist attraction where lots of backpackers were walking over the same long bamboo bridge surrounded by water buffaloes.
Watch sunset at Pai Canyon
We stopped for a coffee at a very beautiful field.
For sunset we drove to the famous Pai Canyon. Again, we weren’t the only ones with this “unique” idea as there were already tons of other tourists sitting on the red edges of the canyon ready to watch sunset.
Get a massage
After some delicious Thai food, we treated ourselves to the best Thai massage we’ve had in Thailand so far!
16/06/2023 Pai
Go “tipsy tubing”
Every Tuesday and Friday Pai turns into a massive river tubing event. This Friday this event called “Tipsy Tubing” happened to be booked out with almost 500 people – and guess who got the last two tickets? Exactly – us! Let’s go tubing!
A déjà vue from a previous party
In the back of a van we all got driven to the starting point of the river. Again, Blake and I felt like kettle. We had a déjà vue from the tree house party in Granada, Nicaragua where we also got transported like cows in the back of a van.
Priorities in your 20s vs. in your 30s
You could easily tell that Blake and I were in our thirties and a bit more concerned about the sun, based on the following factors: we wore a hat, sunglasses, strong sunscreen and a shirt in order to not get burnt in 35°C on the water. Everyone else didn’t seem to care in their swim suits. The only thing they seemed to care about was: Did we bring enough alcohol for the river tubing? I’m pretty sure they “succeeded”: Four hours later, we could see the amount of drunkness around us.
We reached halfway point
The crowd on the water was massive and together with the other almost 500 party people we floated down the river in our massive tubes. We met a lot of fun people while floating down until we got out at halfway point. There was a DJ with a dance floor right on the sand, snacks and drink stands, a face paitning station, a slack line and a beach volleyball field. It was pretty cool!
We survived “Tipsy Tubing”
About three hours later we were back on the water and floated down the river until the finishing line where we jumped onto the back of the vans again. It was a fun activity and I’m glad to have experienced this with Blake. However, I still think it would have been even more fun ten years ago.
Listen to live music at Sprit Bar
At night we wandered over the night market again, had dinner at a Thai food truck, had great conversations with other backpackers and then ended up in Spirit Bar. In order to find this bar, you have to go through a long colourful tunnel hidden in between two other bars.
The bar itself is spacious with an open space, two floors, great cocktails and amazing live music. We met a really nice Canadian couple and listened to the most beautiful voices from two women that we had heard on the entire trip.
17/06/2023 Pai
Eat at Om Garden Café
For breakfast we stopped at Om Garden Café. The cafés in Pai in general have a lot of open spaces and are very healthy with a lot of vegetarian and vegan options. I loved it!
See the Tham Lod Caves
On our last day in Pai, we headed north of Pai to see the Tham Lod Caves. The scooter ride was beautiful and we passed amazing viewpoints over North Thailand’s forests.
We know that a lot of people come to Thailand for its islands, but the north has so much to offer too!
Alone in the dark caves
The caves were stunning, massive and were home to what felt like a million bats. We were the only ones in those two caves. The only light inside those big caves came from our local guide who carried a gas lantern.
Go bamboo rafting
We also did some bamboo rafting inside the cave, which sounds much faster than it actually was. We still really enjoyed it though.
Do your own food tour on the night market
Once we were back in Pai, we went on our own food tour on the night market one last time (which only escalated a little bit). Foodies will be foodies 😉.
Trapped in the Pai hole
A lof of backpackers want to travel around South East Asia. However, we have met a lot of backpackers that come to Pai and end up in the so called “Pai Hole”: they come to Pai, fall in love with the chilled hippie vibe and seven months later, they are still stuck in Pai and only leave the town once a month to do a visa run, in order to stay even longer.
We really loved our time in Pai, its beautiful nature around it, the amazing night market with delicious and cheap street food, the live music and the relaxed vibe. We can definitely see how people get trapped in the “Pai Hole”.
18/06/2023 From Pai to Chiang Rai
762 turns back to Chaing Mai
After enjoying a hot coffee and a morning workout and the amazing view from our balcony one last time, it was time to leave Pai behind. This time we weren’t going to take a scooter back to Chiang Mai, but a mini bus instead. This turned out to be a wise decision as it rained massively on the drive. However, the 762 turns on the way were definitely a bit harder to cope with inside a van than on a scooter. Luckily, we survived without throwing up – I know: thanks for sharing 😉.
In Chiang Mai we only had time for a quick pad thai (for 1€!) at the bus stop before taking the next bus to Chiang Rai.
Chiang Rai
Once we arrived in Chiang Rai, it was already 10 p.m.. Originally, we were going to take the next bus at 5 a.m. tomorrow morning. But since we were quite tired and wanted to see more of Chiang Rai than just the bus stop and the hotel, we spontaneously decided to stay one more day in Chiang Rai – the joys of not booking anything ahead and staying flexible!
19/06/2023 Chiang Rai
Let’s be tourists
In Chiang Rai we were proper tourists for one day and explored the following sights on a scooter.
We:
- drove to the White Temple
Wat Rong Khun (better known as the White Temple), is a privately owned art exhibit in the style of a Buddhist temple […]. The main building at the white temple, the ubosot, is reached by crossing a bridge over a small lake. In front of the bridge are hundreds of outreaching hands that symbolize unrestrained desire. The bridge proclaims that the way to happiness is by foregoing temptation, greed, and desire. Next to the lake stand two very elegant Kinnaree, half-human, half-bird creatures from Buddhist mythology.”
wikipedia.org
- hiked to the Chiang Rai’s biggest waterfall (70m high)
- visited Wat Phrathat Doi Khao Kwai Temple
- saw King Mangrai Monument
- watched the Clock Tower play music
- and had dinner at the night bazaar.
And with our last Thai curries and last mango sticky rice, it was time to leave Thailand behind to explore our last Asian country on this trip… What a sad thought!
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