5 days since we started our journey we arrived to Pai.
Pai is a small city in northern Thailand, in the Mae Hong Song Province. Many travelers visit Pai while doing the “Mae Hong Song Loop” which starts in Chiang Mai and passes in Pai as well as in other near cities.
In the past, Pai was a quiet market village but nowadays it based on tourism, most of them are young in the early 20’s but you can also see families with young kids as well as older people (like us, in our 50’s).
So what makes it heaven on Earth?
First of all, the nature. wherever you’ll look, you will see rice fields and trees, everything is green and peaceful. next, the atmosphere, everything is culm, no rush, nobody is hurry. The people are so kind and helpful here that is makes you want to stay here for good.
Last, but no least, the food. actually, it’s like any other place, everything is tasty. many restaurants, most of them are Thai but some other are western, Vegan/Vegetarian? no worries, a lot of option for us as well.
If you wondered about the prices of the food, Pad-Thai in a street stand / local restaurant (not on the walking street) will cost 50-60 baht. On the walking street, which is the “center” of the city, it will cost 70-80 baht. same as a Pizza slice or Vietnamese sandwich. Cocktails in bars/restaurants will cost 170 to 220 baht. (as for today, 1usd = ~33Baht)
When is the best time to visit Pai?
I would like to say now, every time is the time to be in Pai 🙂 , but, some will disagree, so let’s try to make some order…
The “cold season” (which is not really cold) in Thailand is between November to February, that is usually considered as the best time to visit Pai, no rain, nice weather.
In March the hot season starts (till May) , the farmers burn their fields to make them ready for the next year and the air pollution is horrible. That time in the year is not recommended for visiting Pai.
The last season is the “wet” one, from June to October, it might be rainy for some days and it may not…
We arrived in September, We have some rainy days (actually, there is a heavy rain outside as I write that post), but we came for a month and a half so few rainy days do not bother us.
Transportation in Pai:
The best way to get to Pai is with a rented car (at least, the best way for us), but what about transportation in Pai itself?
Well, driving a car in Pai is doable but far from fun. The streets are narrow, a lot of scooters and motorcycles are everywhere and since there are no really sidewalks, many people are walking on the roads as well.
We decided to rent a scooter. the prices start from 100 baht/day (~3 usd) and climb as the scooter/motorcycle is newer/bigger engine.
Most of the rentals here have 100-110cc engine, automatic transmission, at first, I thought about getting a bigger scooter, but my wife preferred a smaller one. Few days later we understood that she was right (they always do, don’t they? 🙂 ), A stronger scooter is not really needed here, the traffic, although it is free, is pretty slow (outside the city you’ll drive 60-70 km/hour, ~30-40 miles/hour.
We found ourselves riding a Honda Zoomer X , 110cc with no issues.
Accommodation in Pai:
If you are looking for a short time solution, look at booking.com or agoda.com, but, if you are coming for a longer period (few weeks or more), try looking for a place in facebook market or different groups like “Our Pai Family” or “House for rent in Pai”, full month rent will cost anything between 8000 to 25000 baht for a 1-2 bedroom house. not including bills.
What to do in Pai?
First of all, relax.
Yoga classes, meditation and other relaxing activities are very common here, you can see their ads everywhere.
Tourists attractions:
- The Bamboo Bridge: a long bridge made of Bamboo (as you probably guessed by the name), over huge fields of rice, entry fee is 30 baht, it is 20 minutes ride from Pai, only 8 km ,but the road becomes curvy, slippery and actually, not a real road 🙂
- Pai Canyon: a master piece of the nature. highly recommended to see the sunset there, nice tracking trails. The entry is free, you are requested to donate 1 baht at the entrance.
- Hot springs: there are few hot springs around Pai, entry fee is 400 baht for an adult.
- Waterfalls: Pam Bok waterfall, on the way to the Bamboo bridge, entry fee is 400 baht.
there are few more waterfalls, Mae Yen for example, it is something like 4-5 hours of walk into the woods, not recommended to travel alone there. - The Big Budha: as it sounds, a huge Budha, right above Pai.
Night life:
First of all, the walking street, the main street of Pai, many restaurants and food trucks, the food is tasty and usually pretty cheap.
Night clubs: some resorts offer “night clubs”/parties, fire shows, circus and more.
Check that site to see a list of the daily activities.
Markets:
Well, Thailand is Thailand, so markets are a “must have” 🙂
You have the Wednesday morning market, the Saturday morning market and the everyday market – which is mostly for the local people.
Saturday morning market is a community one, you can see some street shows, people are selling some used stuff (clothes and more) and of course…. food.
Nature:
From the Pai river to the different streets, every place you’ll go would have its own magic, so just walk around and enjoy the city.
That is all for now, I will write some more about the different attractions in the next posts