pai | river + mountain, peace + quiet

Good if you haven’t heard of Pai and bad because you better make your way there soon.  Well, all of Thailand already know and they are filling up this tiny town fast in the cool season.  But let’s pretend you know nothing about Pai.

The journey to Pai from Chiang Mai will take you to countless hairpin turns needling up into the mountains and then down to the valley where this getaway town is situated.  It could be a better ride too if you pray before for a safe and skillful driver, instead of one who dashes the turns as though tomorrow never dies.

Irrigated by the Pai river, the valley appears innocently as ideal geography for rice cultivation.  When you get to the center of things, reggae bars and dread-locked locals and travelers are strolling on the street with their trademark 100 Baht t-shirts and the cotton fisherman pants sold all over Khao San road in Bangkok.  Scores of cafes and restaurants reveal the truth about Pai – absolute chillout.

Tom, a local tour guide we met in Chiang Mai recommended us an accommodation which he described, “Open the windows in your hut and you’ll see the rice fields and hills.  Do nothing at the hammock or dip in their small pool.”  And we had exactly that!

Morning lazy breakfast turned often to lunch as we sit and chat away with John and Zee, a couple from California who are traveling for 3 years and looking for a new home to retire.  Both of them combined, they probably had been to almost 100 countries in their lives!  I felt like an absolute beginner just building my list.

Besides that, we did nothing but eat delicious and very cheap northern Thai food, accompanied by the words in our books about Proust and Mandela and stared away at the rice fields and rolling hills.  Pai, a town for people who want to do nothing for a long time and you don’t need to burn a hole in the pocket even.  Highly recommended though I shall choose to keep our little cottage gem a secret so it won’t be booked out for my next visit!