Tag Archives: Pai

Pai to Chiang Mai to Bangkok, Thailand

Backpacking, Hiking, Thailand, Travel, , , , ,

5/4 – Our do-nothing vacation in Pai comes to an end tomorrow. As we enjoy one more swim in the pool and one more climb to see the sunset, here are a few things we opted not to do in Pai:

Seeing the Long Neck Karen tribe: as tempting as this was for a short-necked Karen like me, we read too much about the exploitation of these Burmese refugees, who are paid to disfigure their women with neck rings to be ogled by tourists. I remember reading about them in Ripley’s Believe It or Not as a child (a long, LONG time ago!). Really didn’t want to view humans the way we view zoo animals, and the tribe does not benefit from the admission prices charged by the tour promoters. Here are pix off the advertising poster in town:

Riding an Elephant: there are lots of places in Thailand offering to let you ride/bathe/train elephants. Most of these places use bull hooks to jab the elephants, torturing them repeatedly to make them docile enough for tourists. We decided not to be part of that exploitation. The exception is the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, where abused elephants are rehabilitated and never ridden. We tried to book a trip there when we were in Chiang Mai, but the waiting list was several weeks long, and we were not able to go. If you really want to see elephants, book early and support ElephantNaturePark.org. image

I’ve been keeping my sister AJ in mind as we tour Thailand, as she and her husband would like to travel here some day. They are vegetarians. Don’t know how they would feel about the vegetarian restaurants here, which all seem to serve meat, like the House of Pork Vegetarian Cafe:image

Same problem at the grocery store, offering vegetarian shredded meat:image

Don’t worry AJ and Bob – you can always eat rice!

5/5 – Back to the bus station this morning for our 3 hour mini- bus ride back to Chiang Mai. Met John while we waited, a Vietnam vet. He and Jim traded old war stories – Bangkok was the place Vietnam vets went for R&R, and its proximity brought back lots of memories for them both. Arrived at Chiang Mai with three hours before our train to Bangkok, so we has a leisurely lunch and chatted with two young Aussies from Melbourne. Turns out they were taking the same train.image

 

image

We were not able to book air conditioned berths on the overnight sleeper to Bangkok, so we are anticipating a steamy night. The windows on the train are all wide open – hope there is a breeze! image

This is the first long distance train we’ve been on that does not have compartments. The seats convert to upper and lower berths on both sides of the car, with curtains in front, like in old movies (Some Like It Hot comes to mind!) Here’s the sunset out the open train window. image

image

5/6 – After a long, sticky night, we approached Bangkok, as the scenery changed from rural to urban.image

image

image

Pai, we miss you!

Pai, Thailand – the Buddha on the Hill

Hiking, Thailand, Travel, , ,

4/27 – Since moving across town to the Pai Do See resort, our days have fallen into a comfortable pattern. The morning temperatures are in the 70s, sunny every day, with highs in the upper 90s by mid afternoon.  Birdsong and gecko calls are our constant companions.  The flowering trees are a daily delight.image

image

We eat breakfast at the resort restaurant (two eggs any style, toast with margarine and strawberry jam, two franks that they call sausage, sliced tomato and cucumber, Tang and coffee). We take a walk; some days into town, some days into the mountains to explore.image

We’ve found the market where the locals shop, and stock up on fresh bananas, mango, and pineapple every few days. The market ladies know us and anticipate what we want. image

image

Bananas are little here, just the size of a finger, but very sweet.

image

Jim prepares lunch in our room by boiling water for instant noodles or rice, adding meat or shrimp dumplings and pineapple, followed by fruit salad. We eat on our shady terrace, and swim in the pool every afternoon. Some days we have the pool to ourselves; other days we have met travelers from Portugal, Taiwan, Israel, China and the U.S.

At 5pm we hike up to the big Buddha statue at the Wat Phra That Mae Yen – 400 steps up to the best place in town to see the sunset.image

image

This temple is still under construction.image

image

As 6pm approaches, we are joined by backpackers and bikers from around the world. We’ve had some great conversations as we sit on the steps waiting for the sun to drop behind the mountain – a different event every evening!image

image

image

image

One evening we met Jessica, a nurse from Queens, NY, who had just taken a spill off her moped, and Sander, a businessman from the Netherlands. We talked the sun down, exchanging travel stories, then shared supper at the Sunset View restaurant. A lovely evening! image

The big Buddha on the hill, still under construction.image

image

image

After the sunset, we go out for supper, either choosing a restaurant near our resort, or walking back to town. Plenty of cuisine choices, or we just purchase food from the food sellers that line the walking street – cold noodle salad, barbecued chicken or sausage, spring rolls, and fruit shakes. We’ve made friends at two restaurants, where the proprietors know us and offer us their best. Life is good. 

 

Pai, Thailand

Hiking, Thailand, Travel, , ,

There was nowhere to go but everywhere, so just keep on rolling under the stars. – Jack Kerouac

4/22 – We stayed four nights at the Hotel Pailifornia.  It was very nice, but at the wrong end of town for us – near the bars and the ticky-tacky tourist walking / motorbike street.  This town is full of young folks looking to have a good time and live on the cheap.  Room?  $9.00 a night (cheaper in a hostel dorm).  Supper?  $1.50.  Beer is more expensive here than in Laos, but $2.50 for a bottle in a restaurant isn’t bad, and $1.50 if you buy your beer at the 7 Eleven.  You can live pretty well for a long time in Pai.  We met kids from Finland, UK, US, Spain, Portugal and Germany, who just don’t see any reason to go home.  Right now, neither do we!

Speaking of the 7 Eleven, we have the opportunity to stock up on some provisions while we are here. The tube of toothpaste we’ve been carrying since Bulgaria finally ran out, and we were happy to see the familiar Colgate brand on the shelf. Little did we know that Colgate makes Salty Seaweed flavored toothpaste to please the Thai palate! Yuck is all I can say, but I’m sure we’ll get used to the taste…image

We also got some salty rice porridge flavored with fish or pork, which is what’s for breakfast around here. It’s pretty good once you get used to it.image

While staying at the Hotel Pailifornia, we hiked in different directions each day, to see what was beyond the tourist streets. Up the road was the yummy Canteen Restaurant, where we lounged on concrete couches under the trees, and found some unusual giraffes.
image

image
image

In the opposite direction we found the Pai River and crossed over the bamboo bridge. (Wasn’t that a movie? Bridge over the River Pai?) Yes, motorbikes drive over this bridge.image

image

Here there were fewer motorbikes and riverfront scenery.image

image

image

The next day we walked across town toward the mountains, where we could see a huge Buddha statue on a hill in the distance. image

Here we found the Pai we were looking for – quiet, beautiful scenery, lots of restaurants within walking distance, and a resort with air conditioned cabins, and a gorgeous pool for $24.00 a night, including a full American breakfast! Guess where we will be moving tomorrow?image

image

image

Chiang Mai to Pai, Thailand

Backpacking, Thailand, Travel, , , ,

4/17 – Well, the party’s over in Chiang Mai, so we may as well move on… We heard about a little town called Pai, (pronounced Buy) three hours to the north, where there’s not much going on, and folks just go to relax. Sounds like just what we need!

We tuk-tukked to the Arcade bus station in the morning, figuring we could purchase a ticket and just hop on the next bus. No such luck! Seems that lots of people want to go to Pai today. The only big bus was already gone (leaves daily at 7am), so our option was a minibus with a two hour wait. What do I do while I wait at the station? Get my hair cut, of course! Thank you, nice little lady with no English!image

We boarded the minibus at 11:15.  It was full, so our packs had to be stored on the roof – hope I don’t have a chocolate bar in there with the 100 degree sun beating down! image

Our driver was a wild and crazy guy who liked to take mountain corners on two wheels.  He announced, “Music!”, and popped a 70s greatest hits CD into his stereo.  We cruised to Pai on the BeeGees, Eagles, and Donna Summers – he didn’t know any English, but that didn’t stop him from phonetically singing along.  He, Jim and I were the only passengers who were alive in the 70s – the kids who filled the van could have been listening to Mozart – ancient history.

We stopped midway for a potty break – anybody want some chicken?image

And now we are in Pai, a sleepy hippie town filled with young folks on motor bikes, or brandishing bandages from falls off motorbikes. image
image
We are staying at the Hotel Pailifornia (apologies to the Eagles).image

We could have chosen the Pairidise Guest a house instead – the mind boggles at all the bad puns that could be made here!image

How about Pai in the Sky? image

Our hotel is brimming with beautiful flowers and singing birds.

There is also a small spirit house, where fresh offerings are left every day. There is even a ladder, in case the little spirits have trouble climbing up!image

Although the hawkers on the main walking street have plenty of adventures to sell – ride to waterfall! elephant ride! see the best place for sunset! see native peoples! – it is our intention to take a vacation from our vacation and just hunker down and relax for a while. We had supper at a first-rate Japanese restaurant (Pai Su Shi), and it looks like we can stay a long time without running out of cuisine choices. I’ll let you know if we decide to do anything interesting!