So after our fantastic journey up to Pai we arrived and settled into our new home for the next four days, the absolutely beautiful ‘Countryside’.
It was just outside town, about five minutes walk. Our hut overlooked a little pond and you could climb up these little stairs onto our rooftop and look out at 360 degree panoramic view of Pai’s perfect countryside, buffalo grazing in the fields, mountain peaks dotted about and locals working away in the fields.
The days we spent relaxing in hammoks, or sipping coffee in the arty little coffee shops and wandering the quirky Pai streets, filled with character and happy smiling faces. Pai is not a place you can describe really, nothing we could say would live up to how amazing this place is. In the evening the place comes to life, market stalls line the streets, bars tucked behind these, colourful lights and great live jazzy music plays out into the street. We met some fantastic people, Thai and Farang (tourists), especially at Jikko’s Bar in the centre of town. If you go to Pai go to this bar, the cocktails are cheap and delicious and the family who run it are great. If you are looking for something a little more mad head to Ting Tong just over the main bridge. The owner is quite literally crazy (ting tong in Thai). Everything else in Pai closes at midnight and the only place that stays open is a little strip of bars just outside the town, which is great as you get the best of both worlds. You can party the night away or get a well earned nights rest.
Our last day we drove through the countryside passing elephants on morning strolls down the road, to hot springs (literally like taking a hot bath), waterfalls, bizarre hill tribe villages and generally soaked up as much of Pai as we could. We sat in a jazzy live bar and had our portraits done by this talented Thai cartoonist before heading back to our place to light a lantern and watch it drift into the star filled night sky, ahhh…perfect Pai!
Pai to Koh Phan Gnan
The next few days were crazy and a bit of a blur, we drove down to Chiang Mai then caught the overnight train to Bangkok, had a day wondering round busy Chatuchak market, MBK and Siam Paragon before catching another overnight train to Surat Thani, caught a bus to the pier then a boat to the island…phew! More on Koh Pahn Gnan next blog….
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