I always try to make sure I visit some type of “country-side” to get a better feel of a place. Generally, I feel like most big cities aren’t a very accurate reflection of the country as a whole so I try to visit other types of places within the country. I read a lot about Pai, a mountain-side city three hours north of Chiang Mai. Apparently in the last few years, it has become more touristy than it has been in the past. None the less, it offered a different type of experience than Chiang Mai, Bangkok, and the islands and was close enough away we could drive, so I was all about it. Plus there were mountains and mountains are my favorite. As I mentioned in my itinerary, I split up the trip so that I would first spend two nights in Chiang Mai, then drive to Pai for three nights, then back to Chiang Mai for two nights in order to break up the driving so there weren’t huge chunks of time that we would be driving. I think it worked best that way.
Pai is a three hour drive from Chiang Mai. You can either book a ride on a small van with a bunch of people or drive yourself. Since I get motion sickness and heard that a lot of people get sick on the vans since they go so fast around the 762 turns (yes, 762!) on the road to Pai, we decided we would drive ourselves. I was surprised that the 762 turns basically all happen in 30 miles, or about an hour of the drive. We took the turns slow so it wasn’t that bad, but I can understand how some people get sick.
There are several different places you can stop along the road to Pai, which you can read more about in the itinerary, but we just made a stop at a waterfall and for lunch on the way. Mae Sa waterfall is a great place to stop because right after the waterfall, the constant turn section begins. Mae Sa is made up mostly of rain forest and set in a valley so it provides a nice break from the drive. The waterfall is only about a 10 minute walk and flows into a pool you can take a dip as well.
A two minute drive back on the main road from the waterfall is a nice lunch stop called Suan Mork Fah Restaurant Café. It’s in a pretty area with a lot of chickens running around so its pretty peaceful before you start the journey to Pai, hugging all the twists and turns. It’s definitely worth it though. Pai is a cool place.
So a lot of people will stay in the main drag, right on walking street, but I’m glad we didn’t, as its mainly backpackers and hostels and that’s just not my scene. We stayed in the cutest little hotel called Reverie Siam Resort, about a five minute drive from Walking Street. The rooms had views of the famous white Buddha on the mountain and were surrounded by the prettiest pool. Probably my favorite place we stayed on the trip and it was only $90 a night, including two course breakfasts. The food was really good at the resort also.
So the night market on Walking Street is all the rage in Pai. While it was definitely worth checking out, I just couldn’t get into it. For one, none of the clothes at the night market fit me. And two, the food being prepared was just sitting out, people were handling food and money at the same time, touching their phone then touching food, coughing, etc. I was planning to have a surgery when I got back from Thailand so I just didn’t want to deal with any issues. It was fun to visit though and I met a couple from our hotel who really enjoyed going to a couple of bars there and listening to live music.
The next full day, one of the people I was with had to go to the doctor, so we got a late start. We headed about 30 minutes away to visit the Chinese village which has a beautiful view of the mountains at Yun Lai viewpoint. Such a pretty view with lots of flowers. There is also a waterfall not far from there, but we heard it was dry since it hadn’t rained for three months so decided to skip it.
Then we did the most famous thing in Pai and walked up to the white Buddha. You can drive to a parking lot and from there, climb 353 steps to the top. It was the first Buddha of the trip and very impressive. Especially since we could constantly see it up on the hill from our hotel rooms. I sat in front of the Buddha and a dog appeared, which is obviously good luck. We sat up on the steps along with the huge crowd and watched the sun set over Pai. I will mention again that this was the dry season and had not rained for three months. Even though it isn’t allowed, some farmers still burn their crops during this time of year. And some fires happen among trees because of the dryness. And the pollution from Myanmar drifts into Northern Thailand. Because of this, the sunset wasn’t as pretty as what I’ve seen on Instagram and other tourist photos. I do think its really pretty in probably November to January, but it was just pretty polluted. Still enjoyable to relax up on the hill by Buddha.
The next day was my favorite day in Pai. We were going to stop at a couple of waterfalls, but parked and were told that they were dry from people coming back from them. So we headed to the bamboo bridge, which was my favorite! The bridge is constructed completely from bamboo and goes on for about a mile. The village actually created it to lead to a temple for worship. I saw photos on Instagram and just thought it was probably a small bridge created as a tourist attraction, so I was surprised how long it was and that it was actually used by the villagers. The bridge is located above the rice fields, surrounded by mountains and buffalo. Such a beautiful place! I walked all the way to the temple on the bridge.
On the way out, we stopped for drinks at a little shop overlooking the rice fields. There is also a well-known stop in that area called The Land Split, where a farmer will show you a split in his property where an earthquake hit and give you fresh food from his garden. I didn’t feel like stopping so we went to our last place.
Pai Canyon geological and topographic features are very impressive and very unexpected. This unique geographical area has been formed by continuous erosion over decades until reaching the current condition. The carved narrow ledges and slabs that have survived the erosive actions of the elements have steep 100 foot deep cliff drops and a series of narrow walkways cut on the ridges of giant rock walls that snake out into the densely forested valley. A lot of people like to come here to watch the sunset, but I enjoyed visiting it during the day as it wasn’t crowded. I also got the best mango and sticky rice of the trip at one of the little food stands in the parking lot at the canyon.
Then I spent the rest of the day at the pool hotel. My room was right above the pool so it was nice to just head downstairs and be right there. Definitely enjoyed this hotel a lot.
On the drive back from Pai to Chiang Mai, we stopped at 32 Coffee Hill and Resort for lunch. Such a cute spot and such good food.
I really loved being able to go somewhere off the normal Thailand tourist route. The bamboo bridge was definitely the highlight for me in Pai, but I loved seeing the mountains in general. The pollution in both Chiang Mai and Pai really made me think more about pollution generally and how it can easily spread from other countries, even if you try to regulate pollution in your own country. Pai was also the most backpacker place I saw in Pai, which isn’t my scene, so I was glad to stay away from the majority of it on Walking Street. I’m still going to write some more Thailand posts in probably the next month on Chiang Rai, Koh Lanta, and Bangkok. You can read about Chiang Mai here.
