Relaxing in Pai

Our view of the pond from our bungalow at the Pairadise Lodge

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 rice paddies and small villages. It really looks completely different than the other parts of Thailand we have seen, including what would seem to be incongruous copses of pine trees.

We arrived in Pai and went to the Pairadise Bungalows, nestled in the hills on the other side of the river, about a ten minute walk into town.

The pond at sunset

Pai was once obviously a quaint river-side town nestled in the forested mountains, but we worried that there appeared to be more tattooed, pierced, dread lock hippies than local Thai people (hmm does that make us sound old and intolerant?). We were pleasantly surprised that, even with a fairly heavy backpacker/budget traveler scene, it was still a quiet, charming, relaxing place.

We wandered around town, ultimately unable to find the restaurant we were looking for and ended up having a river-side dinner at a secluded little place where no one spoke English and we were the only foreigners.  Service was rather slow, but the food was pretty good, especially the spicy mango and crab salad, and the sounds of crickets and the rush of the river were nice. We strolled home in utter darkness except for the light from our flashlight and had a fantastic night's sleep in the wilderness.

Tomorrow it is off to Soppong.