The drive up to Pai, pronounced "Bye" was interesting. It is an uphill climb and is about a two hour drive or so from Chiang Mai. As you climb higher the air gets cooler. It is like our holiday resort Cameron Highlands.
This is the view as we were going up the mountains. All around you is mountains. It seems the Communist trek their way through this parts as they set their trails from Malaysia right into China. There is also a warning that you should never go tracking without a guide as some areas still have mines.
When we got into Pai, we were greeted by a quaint village. According to Lonely Planet tourism has been a contributing factor for the village for the past few years but you can tell that this place will be a little Krabi come 5 years time. As it is there is a wide array of chalets and little resorts you can choose from. Since we came here during the holiday season it was really crowded and we had to shop around for a place to spend the night.
Ali is our official model. See how vast the mountains are, and the air is so clear and crisp.Half way up you find a little town and here we found a Muslim shop run by a Chinese family. Her beef noodle soup is really good and we had it both ways going up and goind down. There is something I have learnt about Muslims in Thailand, for that matter even the Thais themselves. They are very clean. Wherever you stop for a pit-stop, you can be assured the toilet is clean. You never get that stinky smell like you did in our toilets. Why is that?!? You go figure!
When we got into Pai, we were greeted by a quaint village. According to Lonely Planet tourism has been a contributing factor for the village for the past few years but you can tell that this place will be a little Krabi come 5 years time. As it is there is a wide array of chalets and little resorts you can choose from. Since we came here during the holiday season it was really crowded and we had to shop around for a place to spend the night.We stopped at this place called Paradise but they had no rooms for us. It is a quite place nestled among the mountains and valley. It overlooks the valley of Pai.
Finally we found a place at Paitree Village. This place was interesting. It was a big and sprawling and you had a choice to stay in this little pondok houses or camp out by the river. This river is also the place where elephants drink or take passengers for a dip! No kidding ...
It was warm when we arrived but as the sun goes down so does the temperature and in the morning it is freezing. Our warm clothing and gloves came in handy!
This was taken in the morning and was really freezing out. You can see the mist and the kids had quite a time as they blew cold air from their mouths. Ali was wondering what it was and kept on blowing. Was really cute to see!
We arrived in Pai quite late that day and only managed to see the town, in like less than an hour, the next day. There is quite a population of Muslims here and food was easy to find. This was a really nice mosque we found. Right infront on the mosque was a rows of shops which had good chicken rice and curry laksa. The thing about eating in Thailand is that they love ajinomoto ...and fish sauce. They can't do without it!
We decided to spend two nights in Pai which was really good cause we managed to get some good R&R here. We stayed in town itself the second night at this really cute place called Baan Pai Village. The chalets were like "pondok-pondok" and the girls had a fine time going around it playing house!
It is surrounded by a pond and we all had a tough time keeping Ali out of the water. Right next to the chalets is a massage house offering Thai massage, herb massage or foot massages. Really cheap and oh so relaxing!
This is another shot of Baan Pai Village. They hikes up the prices it being Christmas and all. They have internet services and the restaurant is right infront of the chalets. It is also walking distance from the night market.
This is a VW van which they convert into coffee shops and other arty-farty stations. The night market in Pai is different. It is more like an artists' colony kinda show. Of course this was the perfect place to find some real handiwork of the tribal people here. They specialise in weaving and we found a few authentic weaved pieces of clothing. The price was a bit on the high side but the workmanship is really good. I fell in love with some weaved bags but didn't get any. Thought it was a bit too pricey.
That is us at the night market. We walked down about four streets and had our fill of pancakes which is actually roti canan but they give you all kinds of filling like banana and chocolate, or egg (roti telur lah) and sugar or milk. Some even put cheese. It is a must for us whenever we are in Thailand.
This was taken on the last day we were in Pai. Najihah is saying bye to Pai here! We are off to
Finally we found a place at Paitree Village. This place was interesting. It was a big and sprawling and you had a choice to stay in this little pondok houses or camp out by the river. This river is also the place where elephants drink or take passengers for a dip! No kidding ...
It was warm when we arrived but as the sun goes down so does the temperature and in the morning it is freezing. Our warm clothing and gloves came in handy!
This was taken in the morning and was really freezing out. You can see the mist and the kids had quite a time as they blew cold air from their mouths. Ali was wondering what it was and kept on blowing. Was really cute to see!
We arrived in Pai quite late that day and only managed to see the town, in like less than an hour, the next day. There is quite a population of Muslims here and food was easy to find. This was a really nice mosque we found. Right infront on the mosque was a rows of shops which had good chicken rice and curry laksa. The thing about eating in Thailand is that they love ajinomoto ...and fish sauce. They can't do without it!
We decided to spend two nights in Pai which was really good cause we managed to get some good R&R here. We stayed in town itself the second night at this really cute place called Baan Pai Village. The chalets were like "pondok-pondok" and the girls had a fine time going around it playing house!It is surrounded by a pond and we all had a tough time keeping Ali out of the water. Right next to the chalets is a massage house offering Thai massage, herb massage or foot massages. Really cheap and oh so relaxing!This is another shot of Baan Pai Village. They hikes up the prices it being Christmas and all. They have internet services and the restaurant is right infront of the chalets. It is also walking distance from the night market.This is a VW van which they convert into coffee shops and other arty-farty stations. The night market in Pai is different. It is more like an artists' colony kinda show. Of course this was the perfect place to find some real handiwork of the tribal people here. They specialise in weaving and we found a few authentic weaved pieces of clothing. The price was a bit on the high side but the workmanship is really good. I fell in love with some weaved bags but didn't get any. Thought it was a bit too pricey.That is us at the night market. We walked down about four streets and had our fill of pancakes which is actually roti canan but they give you all kinds of filling like banana and chocolate, or egg (roti telur lah) and sugar or milk. Some even put cheese. It is a must for us whenever we are in Thailand.This was taken on the last day we were in Pai. Najihah is saying bye to Pai here! We are off to Chiang Mai again.....
Oh ya! We spent Christmas eve in Pai but it was not that happening. There were many foreigners around and they said they were here to get away from the cold Christmas. But their revelling was not very "happening" like it would be elsewhere I think!
1 comment:
looks good to me. this will be on my travel agenda too (when that will be, i don't know)
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