After having been recommended by an Israeli couple we met in Bangkok, we decided to head Northwest to Pai, a small mountain town (still in Thailand) near the Burmese border. Pai is referred to by many as the paradise of the North, or “Pai-radise”, and we can only agree with this.

In WWII Pai was a strategic point for the Japanese, with the objective of invading Burma.  Since not too long it has now been frequented by tourists, and meanwhile become a very popular location, although several tourists are stopped from heading there due to the extremely curvy road leading there – 80 km takes approximately 3 hours.  We didn’t think it was that bad, however we are also quite used to curvy roads.

Pai is a beautiful paradise buried within the mountains, laying in a valley, with very high temperatures during the day (35C), and quite chilly-cold weather at nighttime (15C). The population is of only slightly more than 2,000 people. We arrived in Pai thinking we would stay 2 days, and ended up staying 4 because we loved it so much. During our time in Pai we enjoyed a more relaxed tourism, we rented a scooter to discover the surroundings and saw some historic sites (what a feeling of freedom driving through this lush green tropical landscape), had an “interesting” couples oil massage (funny story we’ll share when we see each other), spent a day at an exclusive swimming pool overlooking a breathtaking scenery (which was deserted -strangely- but to our benefit as we had the entire pool to ourselves!), and enjoyed “downtown” Pai, or referred to as the Pai Walking Street, with one of the nicest night markets.  Pai is very well kept, everything looks beautiful, clean, and it has a laid-back atmosphere that makes you just want to stay there. Another great part of Pai was the people we met.  We stayed in a lovely bungalow at the Pai Vintage Garden Resort, where the manager and his friend (Vee and Fluke) both from Bangkok were extremely hospitable, from the very first moment when they came to pick us up at the bus stop.  We had very nice chats in the evening with them, and also went to dinner together one night at Vee’s aunt’s restaurant, Fried Rice.  It was great to learn about Thai culture and hear first-hand their stories and points of view.  Coincidently they were both law students! Can you imagine? Pep was in his gravy. We also met on our way to Pai a Korean guy called Kim, who was a wonderful person, and we also had dinner and then breakfast with him, where he shared with us about Korean culture..and several other stories about history and Buddhism.. what a character Kim was! Kim will stay in Pai maybe 1-2 years, so Kim we wish you lots of luck!! After having explored the North of Thailand, we feel ready to cross the border and move onto Laos.  We will be back to discover Southern Thailand in a few months!

Next destination: Slow boat down the Mekong River (2 days) to Luang Prabang.