We liked the village of Pai and surrounding area along with our relaxing hotel room out in the rice field enough that we decided to stay here for an extra night.  That has given us a full extra day before we move on to the next place in the Mae Hong Son Loop to take in a few of the sights.

The village itself is not really anything special in my opinion, and in fact it probably picks up a few bad karma points for being riddled with hippie backpackers looking for that ‘chill spot to get away from it all man’.  However, the Pai river valley is very scenic and it looks like there is a lot to see in the surrounding area.

Our day starts off fairly slowly as we all seem to get a decent sleep out in our little oasis, and then it is a short walk to town to find some breakfast and decide what our plans for the day are. We find a nice little shop owned by a French guy for what turns out to be a really good American style breakfast and decide that later in the day towards sunset we are going out to see the Pai Canyon.

Once breakfast is out of the way we walk back to our hotel and decide that we are going to take a walk up to the temple that is on the hillside behind our hotel. There is a large Buddha statue that we can see rising out of the jungle that is part of the temple, and aside from the vertical climb it does not appear to be too far away. The helpful owner of the hotel tells us it is about a 20 minute walk and points out a bit of a shortcut out the back of the hotel and across the creek that runs behind our rooms.

After crossing the creek and a short walk down the road we find the entrance to the temple grounds and discover that there are two ways up – a set of stairs (’cause every temple seems to have lots of stairs) and a switchback road you could walk or drive up. We decide to not take the easy way out, and go up the stairs. A bit of puffing and a lot of sweating later we get to the top and can see some spectacular views of the Pai River valley and the temple that is built here. The temple has been around for some time, but the Buddha statue that we saw rising above the jungle is fairly new – in fact the access to the top is still under construction, so to get to the top there is a bit of a rough path that goes up for about 50 feet before you get to the partially completed stairs that go to the base of the Buddha.

At the top we are rewarded with some more great views and of course some good karma from the Buddha, and are extra lucky because we have the place almost completely to ourselves to grab some photos and just enjoy the surroundings before heading back down.  On the way back we decide to take the road instead of the stairs again, as we are getting a bit peckish and are hoping to find a restaurant along the way back.  The choice of the road was a good one as we find a nice restaurant with a terrace that has yet another great view of the valley below, and we have a tasty lunch and relax a little before heading back to the hotel for a bit of lounging around until later in the day for our trip to the canyon.

Pai Canyon is written up in the tourist materials as “Thailand’s answer to the Grand Canyon” and while that is just a bit of an overstatement, it is fairly impressive just standing on its own merit. It is not really a canyon, but more like a series of ridges that have canyon like drop offs on both sides. I suspect that eons ago the area was a single foothill that had some limestone veins in it, and over the millennia erosion has removed all the softer materials and left behind just the limestone ‘skeleton’. What we are left with is an area with a few miles of trails along the backs of the ridges, some that are only a foot or two wide, and lots of rock scrambles to get between the various levels.

As usual, the pictures are never able to capture the real feel of the place, and I am truly impressed with this very unique bit of geology. You never really know it until you get there, but it turns out we could have easily spent hours there, and in hindsight we should have come earlier in the day. We wanted to be here for the sunset because it would be a great setting to watch the sun dip behind the mountains to the west, but the trails are narrow and twisty enough that you would not want to be out here in the dark! Additionally, the weather is working against us also as the rain starts just before sunset, so we decide that the pictures we have will suffice, and make our way back to town for dinner.

We had decided earlier that the food and atmosphere were so good at the place we had lunch at that we would go back again for dinner. When we arrive the owner has a big smile for us and tells us that she is staying open until whenever we are done 🙂 needless to say dinner was delicious!

Tomorrow we will be packing up and heading towards Mae Hong Son, so after dinner it is back to the room to pack up a bit and get a decent sleep before another day of driving on the twisty roads.

PS: it seems like maybe it is a bit cooler up here in the mountains, as Mrs. Columbus found this guy outside of one of the guesthouses – maybe it is his hat that keeps him cool….

North of Chiang Mai up towards the Burmese border there are a series of valleys with a bunch of villages – some small and a handful bordering on what we might call a town.  There is a road that winds through the valleys and connects them all back to the main highways north and south of Chiang Mai, and the guide books often refer to this as the Mae Hong Son Loop.

The road loops through the little villages and most travelers will break the trip into a few places, stopping in the villages of Pai, and Mae Hong Son, and if you want to allocate the extra time you can add in any number of places along the way.  Our rough outline has us going to Pai, Soppong, Mae Hong Son, Mae Sariang, and then back to Chiang Mai.

Once you know what you want to do, then the next step is to figure out the transportation. You could ride the local bus (AKA the chicken bus), and there are minivans going constantly between the main points (Pai, Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai) but we want to be able to take our time and stop along the way at points we find interesting, so we have decided to rent a car and drive. This is actually a bit of a big deal for us as we have never driven here in Thailand before. Some of the traffic can look a little hectic, and they drive on the wrong side of the road, so that will all take some getting used to.

Tee has hooked us up with a Toyota Avenza for the next few days, and it is time for me to try my skills at driving on the left! I was a little worried about getting out of the city because this is where all the crazy traffic is, but all goes well and it is on to the highway to Pai.

Pai is a small town / village in the north that historically been quite popular with backpackers and hippies.  The lore is that the lax attitude to the ganja is what attracts them here, and the vibrant night life makes this an ideal stop on the Banana Pancake Trail. Coupled with that, a recent Chinese movie had some scenes shot here, and the town has now also become popular with the Chinese tourist, so Chinese mainlanders and hippies – makes for quite a mix!

The highway takes a very windy route through the mountains, crossing valleys, and snaking up and down the sides of ridges for most of the approximate 130 kilometers. The highway boats of having 762 curves and that along with things like potholes and livestock (ie cows!) in the road turns what should be an easy hour and a half drive into a 3 hour action ride.

The scenery holds up it’s end of the bargain though and there are amazing views everywhere along the road that on a map can often look like a plate of tossed noodles! The trip is otherwise uneventful, and by the time we arrive in Pai I am feeling fairly comfortable with this whole driving on the wrong side of the car business.

We are staying at a nice little boutique resort just outside of the city that is located in the middle of a number of rice fields. The setting is very tranquil, and before the first night is even over, there is talk of us maybe staying here for an extra night.

After a short 10 minute walk into the city we have a wander through the streets to see what the food offerings are like, and to see the young backpackers with their dreadlocks starting to fill up the pubs for the evening. After a nice relaxing dinner we walk through the street market for a bit of dessert before heading back to our room in the oasis for the night.

We have been out walking around the old city a bit and for the most part things are the same as last year here in Chiang Mai.  A few of the shops have changed – a restaurant or two have new names, a massage shop has closed and two new ones have opened, but pretty typical of what would go on from year to year.  There is not much sign of anything different as a result of the change in political power aside from the occasional sighting of an army officer and more frequent patrols from the local police (who are now reporting through to the military government).

Other changes are more noticeable to us – our friends Tee and Ian will be moving out to their place in Mae Rim at some point, and as we found out some people change jobs.  Our friend Riam who we have used as a driver / tour guide ever since we first came to Chiang Mai with the kids, and who we have recommended to a number of people, had a bit of a surprise for us this year when we called her.

Being in the tourism industry can be difficult anywhere, but in Thailand the typical feast (high season) and famine (low season) cycle adds it is own challenges, and then when you couple that with political instability some people just stop coming.  The result is that for some the ability to make enough cash during the high season is just not enough to last out the low season.  Almost every year that we have been here Riam has been telling us that low season in particular has been getting more and more difficult to get any reasonable amount of customers, and this year has been the worst – she told us she had not had a customer since Laurie’s sister was here at the end of February! A few months ago she decided to put her tourism job on the back burner and took all her savings to start a small brick factory on her land out in Mae Rim.  Which leads us to today’s adventure…

When we called Riam to schedule a day trip she told us she does not do that anymore, that she was working in her factory.  She still wanted to get together and offered to take us around on the weekend, so when she arrived and we talked about where we wanted to go, I of course wanted to see the factory.

Most of the people here work very hard, often 6-7 days a week with little or no vacation time, but some are really trying to get above the base working class and create some opportunity for themselves.  Riam is one of those people. Some time ago when things were going very well they bought a small piece of land outside the city to have some fruit trees and just some extra space – I would say it is probably an acre or 1.5 acres.  When the tourism went into it’s big dip her and her husband decided to get a small business loan and buy some equipment to manufacture bricks.  They have a small staff of Burmese workers who work along side them as they produce about 1500 bricks per day that they sell to local suppliers.  After some initial startup bugs, they have a pretty good system going now and are currently selling their bricks almost as fast as they make them. They still work 6 days a week, but if they continue to ramp up production and get the process refined they hope to be able to be able to let the staff take over more, and Riam says she would maybe be able to return to the tour business if things start to recover there.

It was interesting to see the ‘factory’ – which is really mostly manual labor with a bit of machinery for pressing the actual bricks – and to see what they have done with the land since the last time we were there.  Hopefully their hard work will pay off!

After visiting the brick-works we decided to go for a small hike at the Mae Sa waterfall.  It turns out that their land is about a 5 minute walk from the river and the base of the falls so rather than driving back out we are able to just walk over and then spend the next hour or so walking up to a few of the 12 tiers of falls that are there.

To round out the day we head down to Baan Tawai, an area south of the city where there are lots of markets for wooden goods – furniture, carvings, artwork. etc. Unfortunately it is Sunday so none of the actual woodcarvers are working as it would have been interesting to see that.  Some of the work that they produce is incredibly intricate, and they have a ton of talent.

Tomorrow will likely be a bit of a slow, hang about day. We need to get some arrangements made for our next adventure which will be a trip to the north west corner of Thailand on the Mae Hong Son loop.

Today was a big day for us, we got to go out to Mae Rim where our friends are building a new home and restaurant.  We met Tee and Ian several years ago at their business in the city – a small guest house and a restaurant that we have been returning to for breakfast / lunch / dinner about once a day while we are in Chiang Mai.  In the last couple of years they have started in on a new project about 30 minutes north of the city near the village where Tee’s family lives.

The project when finished will be a new house for them, a restaurant for tourists and the locals in the surrounding area, and a few small bungalows for rentals.  So far the main house is about 3/4 complete, and the restaurant and kitchen was recently finished.  The local monk told them that Friday morning would be a good time to ‘open’ the business and so a blessing ceremony was held, and we were invited out to the ‘soft opening’ in the afternoon to try out some of the menu items, hang out with friends, and get a chance to see how the construction has progressed over the last year.

It was great to see the work that is being done first hand – I have had the chance to see it evolve via pictures, but being able to stand there is so much better!  The main house was just some string lines and stakes in the ground last year, and now the main construction is basically complete, and they are diligently working on the finishing work – installing windows and doors, tiling, painting etc.  It gives me a great chance to see up close the Thai construction methods as almost everything here is done with bricks and concrete, but they are masters at what they can do with those materials.  The patience that they have in being able to makes things from concrete and finish surfaces with great detail is quite impressive, and while I can build a fair number of things back home, I could never master the masonry techniques used here.

Of course the highlight of the day was the opening of the restaurant, and after we had a chance to tour the new house and bungalow it was time to sit down to some serious eating.  The day was mostly a soft opening and a chance for the kitchen to get it’s rhythm and test out some of the dishes.  This is all good news for us as we get to sit around for the afternoon in the tranquil surroundings and nibble away at a fairly constant stream of food from the kitchen over some cold refreshments.

For us it is always a privilege to have the chance to be part of these sorts of events because they don’t happen often, and are typically for close friends and family, so a special treat for us to be part of the ‘in’ crowd. A warm thank you to our hosts Tee and Ian for another great day in paradise!  We look forward to returning again many times in the future.

The other night I went out with Ian, Richie, and Landon, so Mrs. Columbus decided to go back to the hotel and get to sleep early.  No big deal really as this often happens but it means that when I come back to the room later in the evening I usually have to tap lightly on the door and wake herself up to be let in – sometimes this is met with a bit of a scowl, so I typically don’t make a habit of it!

Anyway, it is approaching the wee hours as I tap lightly on the door, and am surprised when Mrs. Columbus throws the door open because every light in the place is on, and the Mrs. has her sleeping mask on? I am about to ask why she just did not turn the lights out instead of using her mask, when she leaps into a story of her evening.

According to her rendition of the story, she has not yet had any sleep, and she is not at all prepared to shut the lights out because when she returned to the room earlier and went into the loo, she saw a giant cockroach running around on the wash basin.  By her description it was a big as a dog, and should have had a collar and a leash!

After trying unsuccessfully to trap the dangerous beast with a glass she decided to close the door and leave all the lights on as a warning to the rascal to keep his distance.  The downside of course was that with all the lights on she would not be able to sleep, so the solution to that problem was the face mask – sadly that did not work and no real sleep was had….

So on my arrival I was ushered to the dunny to try and hunt the creature down, but he must have been sufficiently scared by Mrs. Columbus that he had retreated to some dark corner and I was able to negotiate turning off all of the room lights as long as we left the bathroom lights on to create a dangerous photon barrier to those within.  Of course the simple solution would have been to just go to the reception desk and let them know, but it took another night of trying to sleep in a semi-lit room for the creature to re-appear and for us to engage ‘the big guns’.

The big guns it turns out are a couple of equally squeamish girls from housekeeping but armed with some sort of spray (labeled in Thai) that does in fact – kill bugs dead!! After a thorough fogging of the bathroom Mr. cockroach flips himself over on his back and gives up – oddly somehow in the intervening time he has shrunk from the dog sized villain that Mrs. Columbus originally saw to a still reasonably sized bug the size of a small thumb, but not nearly quite as threatening, especially now as he gets swept up by the housekeepers and carted away.  As a warning to some of his friends, the maids gas the room quite well, and when we return later in the afternoon, it looks like remains of a shootout in a drug den as the floor in the bath is now littered with the carcases of a handful of dead comrades.

All is well that ends well though as Mrs. Columbus has now once again strengthened her resolve, and upon seeing the 2nd round of casualties was not even startled, she just brought the maid over to deal with the aftermath and we went on about our business, so kudos to her for being a good trooper!  (We are however still sleeping with a light on 🙁  )