Pai - After a great time in Chiang Mai we continued to head north, first stopping in Pai. Though it is only a short distance from Chiang Mai, it is nestled in the mountains, we experienced a total of 762 curves along the way. When we arrived we found a charming guesthouse, Breeze of Pai, and got settled in our cozy bungalow. The first day was spent exploring the city. Pai is very charming, with numerous little restaurants and shops. After doing some shopping at the local night market we finished off the evening with a bottle of Hong Tong in the room. On our second day we soon realized that most of the attractions were a bit of a drive, our best option was to rent scooters. Now Bridgette is a very experienced driver having had her own scooter for the past year; as for Stacy and I neither of us had ever driven one before. As we have said before we are trying to conquer some fears on this journey and seeing as I was scared to even ride a regular bicycle this was something I should try. So Bridgette went ahead and rented one for me to practice on and her being the great teacher she is I got to an “okay” comfort level on the first day. After some practice we decided to head to Fluid – an outdoor pool. After experiencing the coldest weather ever in Thailand during the past few days the sunshine and heat were welcomed with open arms. So we spent most of the afternoon at the pool and Bridgette did a quick scope out of the roads to see what I would be up against. After doing about 10km she determined I would be fine. So the next day after a little more practice in actual traffic I went ahead and rented my own scooter. We decided to head to Lod Cave about 45Km outside Pai. The beginning of our journey was easy enough but as we got further and further outside of the city it became very clear we would have to drive though some mountains to reach the cave. So on my first time driving I took the curves in stride with only some minor freaking out on my part. It was definitely good practice We took a short break at a lookout point before heading on to the cave. It was a beautiful view of Pai and very impressive how far we had already driven. We finally made it to the cave and decided to book a tour considering how far we had come. We booked a guide complete with lantern and were lead to the mouth of the cave which we entered by bamboo raft. We then took a tour of the cave – about a 1km walk. We saw some cool stalactites, stalagmites, and a very old image etched on one of the walls. We were also taken to some coffins and were given each a coin by our very friendly guide to pay respect to the dead. Our last part of the tour consisted of floating under a couple hundred bats swarming the mouth of the cave. All in all it was a pretty cool thing to see but considering we didn’t want to being driving the extremely sharp curves in the ever darkening sky we made our way back into town. The next morning was our last day in Pai before heading on to Mae Hong Son. We all really enjoyed Pai and its beautiful charm.
Mae Hong Son - On this leg of the journey we decided to travel by local bus. This added about 2 hours to the journey as the drive there is even curvier than the one to Pai. It was awesome to take a slow drive through the mountains and experience the beauty of the north. Once in town we were a little unsure as to what we had arrived in. On the surface it seemed like a boring little town with not much to do. Originally we had planned to stop at a Monastery and do a meditation retreat for three days but unfortunately missed our stop and so we ended up in the actual city. Now being an experienced driver we rented scooters again and headed to a spa for a mud facial. We were slightly disappointed with the experience considering it only lasted 15 min and we had to wash the mud off our selves! We then headed back to town and did some walking around; we finished the night off with massages. So instead of improving our minds we spent quality time keeping our bodies young and beautiful. The next morning we got up bright and early hoping to catch a morning bus back to Chiang Mai, the only way to get to Chiang Rai is by leaving from Chiang Mai.
~ Randi
Pai - After a great time in Chiang Mai we continued to head north, first stopping in Pai. Though it is only a short distance from Chiang Mai, it is nestled in the mountains, we experienced a total of 762 curves along the way. When we arrived we found a charming guesthouse, Breeze of Pai, and got settled in our cozy bungalow. The first day was spent exploring the city. Pai is very charming, with numerous little restaurants and shops. After doing some shopping at the local night market we finished off the evening with a bottle of Hong Tong in the room. On our second day we soon realized that most of the attractions were a bit of a drive, our best option was to rent scooters. Now Bridgette is a very experienced driver having had her own scooter for the past year; as for Stacy and I neither of us had ever driven one before. As we have said before we are trying to conquer some fears on this journey and seeing as I was scared to even ride a regular bicycle this was something I should try. So Bridgette went ahead and rented one for me to practice on and her being the great teacher she is I got to an “okay” comfort level on the first day. After some practice we decided to head to Fluid – an outdoor pool. After experiencing the coldest weather ever in Thailand during the past few days the sunshine and heat were welcomed with open arms. So we spent most of the afternoon at the pool and Bridgette did a quick scope out of the roads to see what I would be up against. After doing about 10km she determined I would be fine. So the next day after a little more practice in actual traffic I went ahead and rented my own scooter. We decided to head to Lod Cave about 45Km outside Pai. The beginning of our journey was easy enough but as we got further and further outside of the city it became very clear we would have to drive though some mountains to reach the cave. So on my first time driving I took the curves in stride with only some minor freaking out on my part. It was definitely good practice We took a short break at a lookout point before heading on to the cave. It was a beautiful view of Pai and very impressive how far we had already driven. We finally made it to the cave and decided to book a tour considering how far we had come. We booked a guide complete with lantern and were lead to the mouth of the cave which we entered by bamboo raft. We then took a tour of the cave – about a 1km walk. We saw some cool stalactites, stalagmites, and a very old image etched on one of the walls. We were also taken to some coffins and were given each a coin by our very friendly guide to pay respect to the dead. Our last part of the tour consisted of floating under a couple hundred bats swarming the mouth of the cave. All in all it was a pretty cool thing to see but considering we didn’t want to being driving the extremely sharp curves in the ever darkening sky we made our way back into town. The next morning was our last day in Pai before heading on to Mae Hong Son. We all really enjoyed Pai and its beautiful charm.
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