Pai Travel Blogs | Travelogues | Travel Journals

People i met here who contributed to, and improved my trip: Julia (Russia), Mam (Thailand), Jack (Wales), Mon (Thailand)

Have returned from a wonderful if painful trip through the northern mountains of Thailand, almost as far up as the Burmese border... We ended up with a group of about six, including two guides from the province and spent three fantastic days roaming through the jungle. Day one we left the comforts of the hotel for a long drive on the back of a ute up into the hills, then trekked for a few hours to a village of the Karen hill tribe in the midst of rice paddies. Spent the night in what was li…

The next morning, the Aussies and I went on an all-day hike in the hills around the cave lodge. Our guide, a lady who worked at the lodge, pointed out lots of native plants and explained about local life in the hills. Unfortunately, I wasn't halfway up the first hill when my crappily made Thai water bottle exploded in my purse, drenching my camera. Apparently, as I have since learned, you're not supposed to turn on your camera if this happens cuz that's how things shortcircui…

Life in Pai is simple.  When I got here, I kept asking what all the fuss was about - why does EVERYONE throughout Thailand want to go to Pai?  It just seemed like a small village in the countryside along a river and surrounded by hills.  And, it was just that.  So, when I arrived, I asked a cool local guy who owns an amazing organic food cafe-lounge, "What am I supposed to do here in Pai?"  His answer was something I have not yet heard on all of my trip…

Our journey from Chiang Mai to Pai was a little hairy - a small mini buses taking hairpin turns at seemingly unfeasible speeds left our tummies a little worse for wear. After 4hrs we arrived in Pai, a small rural town nestling on the banks of a small river - there is even a cute little bamboo pedestrian bridge to get from one side to the other. Guesthouse was nice and easy to find - ours is a little outside of the town so we benefit from lovely views as well as homemade bread every morn…

Here's a contrast for you. Two towns in northern Thailand, as touristy as they come, but the atmoshere when I got off the bus couldn't have been a lot different from Chiang Mai. It was chilled out, which is praise indeed coming from a miserable mardy bastard like me. I took a room on the other side of the river from the town proper, a mattress on the floor in a bamboo hut. It felt like if I put my bag down too hard it'd go through the floor. I spent the next sixty-odd hours doing nothing. Vil…

Nous sommes a Pai. C'est un petit village plutot populaire pour son cote ultra relax. C'est petit, c'est plein de touristes bohemes et il n'y a pas grand chose a y faire. Et c'est parfait ainsi. On se croirait quelque part dans les laurentides. C'est montagneux, le paysage est luxuriant et la chaleur moins etouffante qu'au sud. On reste dans un petit bungalow triangulaire sur piloti entre les bananiers et on relaxe. On comprend pourquoi beaucoup de monde reste plus longtemps qu'ils…

I arrived in Pai yesterday afternoon, and on arrival immediately wished I had come here sooner, so that I could stay longer. It is the most laid back, picturesque little town! Small shops and restaurants and little boutique guesthouses everywhere. I'm staying at the Baan Pai Village in a beautiful wood and bamboo bungalow set amidst tropical foliage, and water gardens. The best part is it is only costing $16 per night! This is exactly what I imagined when I thought of Thailand. I would highly…

Pai had never really been on our itinerary when we entered Thailand. It was only through talking with Troy and Alyssa who we met in Kanchanaburi that we started to think about it and when we found out our wait for our Indian visa in Chiang Mai would mean a ten night stay we decided to take a side trip for three nights to Pai. We did our research and found the local buses were a bit of a nightmare, often overcrowded, no aircon and driven at a breakneck pace round the 762 hairpin bends on the r…

Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Maldives

Om 9 uur zijn we vertrokken naar het kleine dorpje Pai. Een schitterende route door de groene bergen! Ik denk dat ik dit gedeelte van Thailand toch echt het allermooist vind! Onderweg zijn we 2 keer gestopt bij 2 verschillende bergstammen. De 1e stam was de Akha stam en de tweede stam   de Lisu-stam. Noord-Thailand kent ongeveer 6 verschillende bergstammen die zich onderscheiden door verschillende klederdrachten. Deze mensen zijn allemaal geëmigreerd vanuit Tibet, Birma en China om…

Safe! Right so im off to Sydney for 3 nights, onto the whole of New Zealand for 6 weeks. Followed by a month stuck in a camper van with a little fella called Simon on the east coast of Australia (new year in Sydney then steadily to Cairns) before the two of us live it up in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam for 2 months or so! Hopefully will be able to keep you all informed of what im up to!!! Leave some comments, especially those of you who are my friends and family!!!! take it easy xxx

So the four German girls and I decided to all rent motos for the day to explore some of the waterfalls outside of town. All four of the girls are English teachers in Chiang Mai, though some are just starting and some are just finishing their work assignments. After a big wake-up breakfast, we rented bikes from the place across from our guesthouse for about $3 and headed off. Three of the girls are new to the whole moto thing, so they rented automatics and putt-putted along at a scenic pa…

gotta love my overnight sidetrips. as with hangzhou & the blue mountains, pai was well worth it. being the flashpacker i've become sometime in china i wanted to try one of the privately run aircon minibusses that pick you up from your guesthouse and deliver you in pai. deliver is the right word as the road up to the mountain village is the worst i've seen in 6 months around the world. steep & tons of curves... i got a strong stomach, but this was borderline, especially with th…

After a leisurely start in order to recuperate from yesterday's partying with Chuck and Jane, we took a four hour mini-van ride to Pai along a mountainous, windy road that is supposed to have over 1,200 turns along the way (that might actually be between Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son, not Pai but I wasn't going to try counting). The scenery is gorgeous along the way with gigantic vine entwined trees and bamboo in every imaginable shade of green as you wind up into the mountains through verdant …