Pai is a small, sleepy provincial town just three hours North of Chiang Mai near the Myanmar border. It has a real rustic feel to it, set out in the hills and surrounded by green fields with the Daen Lao mountain range as its backdrop.
Our accommodation there fit the rural scene to a tee - open air barns made from bamboo, leaves and little else. It was wonderful to wake up to the bright blue skies every morning but the evenings were rather different. It's winter time in Northern Thailand and despite not seeing a single cloud during our entire stay, the minute the sun laid itself to rest behind the mountains the temperature dropped dramatically! The hostel provided us with plenty of blankets but we still shivered ourselves to sleep each night.
The town is so quiet and free of tourists that there's a significant lack of tuk tuks or taxis. Hiring a scooter seemed to be the only way we could truly explore the countryside which is Pai's number one asset, not to be missed. Not keen to repeat my performance in Koh Phangan (I almost didn't make it to 2014) I let Hana do the majority of the driving. Fortunately, like everything else in Pai the roads are fairly quiet and so aside from steering around the occasional elephant or a wandering monk we felt pretty safe.
On our first day we took ourselves on a tour of the area, starting out at the Tha Pai natural hot springs. The small pools are situated along a stream which increases in temperature the higher it goes. We bathed in the cooler areas (still thirty-eight degrees!) and boiled eggs at the top where it reached over eighty. It took almost forty minutes and a few failed attempts but eventually we'd made ourselves a lovely afternoon snack.
Feeling the need to cool off we drove over to Pam Bok waterfall, just one of many of its kind to be found in Pai. The sun had passed over long before we arrived leaving the water icy cold but perfect for a paddle. Then, with just a few hours of daylight left we headed to the canyon to watch the sunset over the hills. Though we climbed only a little way it felt as though we were on top of the world watching the sky darken behind the mountain's silhouette.
That evening we were wrapped up in bed early because we'd booked a Muay Thai boxing class for the following morning. Our day started at eight o'clock when we were sent on a five kilometre run as a warm up. Not what either of us thought we'd signed up for! In the hour that followed though our trainer, Bee, took us through the basic movements in front of a mirror. Then, once satisfied we'd done enough damage to the air in front of us, he paired us up with a professional to practice sparring. It was so fun and I can imagine incredibly therapeutic if I'd had anything in the world to possibly be worried about!
Our final day in Pai was a little more ladylike. We found a cooking school called the Red Orchid which allowed us to choose five different dishes each to make from scratch. Between us we covered all of the favourites: massaman curry, green curry, red curry, paenang curry, pad thai, spring rolls, chicken cashew, chicken garlic, chicken ginger and chicken fried rice. This absolute feast took us over six hours to cook but less than two to eat. There was of course way too much food for the two of us but we did a pretty good job at polishing most of it off - it was just too good to waste! We've eaten an extortionate number of thai curries over the last few weeks but I'm proud to say that ours were some of the best we've tasted.
We're incredibly sad to be leaving Pai, not only because it's so beautiful but also because it's our final stop in our tour of Asia. With just two nights left on the continent we now need to make our way back down to Bangkok ready for our long haul flight over to Australia. Perhaps it's partly still the aftermath of our five course meal but I'm genuinely feeling sick at the thought of leaving Asia without knowing when I'll return. It's all coming to an end far too soon!
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