Pai

On Monday morning I left Chiang Mai, next stop the small town of Pai. Lots of people have recommended Pai to me due to its laid back nature and pretty countryside so I thought it was worth a look. Getting there required me taking a minibus, and with the road in having 762 bends it was not the kind of road for people who get travel sick. I've never been travel sick but sitting at the rear of the minibus even I felt a bit 'woah' by the end, our driver not afraid to put his foot down round the bends! When arriving at Pai the board at the bus station said it was 40 degrees so that probably didn't help either.

After recovering from the minibus ride I headed out for the afternoon, going for a nice walk through the countryside to the Yun Lai Viewpoint. En route I passed a couple of Chinese based villages where the people were very friendly. The views of the countryside around Pai from the viewpoint were amazing, Pai itself basically sitting by a river in a valley with mountains surrounding it in all directions. From the viewpoint I headed to the Mo Paeng Waterfall, although it was a little disappointing. I think the issue is the waterfalls are best in wet season and it's currently right at the end of dry season where I am so they haven't had much significant water intake for a long time. This meant the waterfall was basically a trickle, and the swimming holes at the bottom of each tier were just brown and stagnant. I didn't get back to Pai until darkness in the end.

The following day I left early to make the most of the day, first stop Pombok Village to do the Buddha Bamboo Walk. The walk basically took me on this elavated bamboo walkway through farmland to this small temple in the woods. I got followed the whole way by a dog though! Nearby the village was Pombok Falls which was a nice secluded waterfall surrounded by these high cliffs. There wasn't much water coming down though so the stagnant water put me off going for a swim. It was still a nice location with the cliffs.

Next stop was the Land Split, which was home to this large crack in the ground. The guy who lives there used to be a soybean farmer, but in 2008 there was an earthquake which cracked the ground open hence making it unsuitable to continue farming. Subsequent earthquakes in 2009 and 2011 have made the crack bigger, but instead of moving away the farmer has now made the land split open to the public. The farmer now grows an array of fruits for visitors to try, the farmer has also created an area with hammocks and WiFi for people to relax. The highlight though was this drink called Roselle Juice which was very interesting. I stayed there for a couple of hours.

From the Land Split I next headed to the Pai Canyon. The small canyon had countless paths both above and through the canyon you could explore and you could have walked round all day if you wanted! It was slightly sketchy in places though in terms of loose terrain but I had a good walk round. On my way back to the Pai I stopped at this strawberry farm, one of many coffee shops I passed with a balcony for views over the countryside. Later on in the afternoon it started raining, although as I had left so early in the morning I had done everything I planned to see which was lucky. It cleared by the evening, and I went out to the night market which was very hippie with some really unique items on offer, as well as some real good street food.

The next morning I was once again up bright and early, heading up to the White Buddha Statue on the hillside just outside of Pai. The temple complex of Chedi Phra That Mae Yen below had unfortunately recently suffered a fire, but it was still worth a look, from there climbing 327 steps to the White Buddha. There were great views up top. When reaching the bottom I went for a nice walk along the Pai River, characterized by these bamboo bridges built to cross it. I eventually made it back into Pai where I explored of a couple of the temple complexes and shops within the town itself.

I left Pai about lunchtime, catching a minibus back to Chiang Mai along the same winding mountain pass. The driver wasn't afraid to put his foot down either and we made really good time. When reaching Chiang Mai I had a couple of hours to kill before catching another bus to Chiang Rai. I would have loved to have visited some of the national parks in the area, although they're so inaccessible in the respect I can only really access them with tour companies or by taxi. The bus to Chiang Rai was pretty slow because there were lots of roadworks, and a massive thunderstorm. I didn't arrive in until darkness in the end.