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.