Pai – how bizzarre
Trying to avoid the overun tours that visit the hill tribes and mts. surrounding Chang Mai, and thinking we could have a more authentic experience on our own, we boarded a bus to Pai. A tiny (3 main rd) town NW of CM nestled in a valley amoungsts mts, hill trives, elephant camps, and sitting smack on the Pai river. We heard rumors but had very little info about our destination other than it was off the beaten track, beautifully located, and at one time had been a popular hippy destination in the 70s. The bus ride was a mini van packed knee to knee 12 deep and half locals half travelers. The scenery changed just after leaving CM into narrow mt roads past bbq stalls, villages, around livestock. Our driver was not overly burdened w/ the responsibility of the 12 lives he carried. The ‘rules of the road’ were mere suggestions as he deftly swerved pas trucks around blind corners and took hair pin turns at full speed. We arrived white knuckled 5 hrs later in Pai. Made our way on ft towards thes li’l bamboo huts we had read perched on stilts right on the waters edge just outside of town. We (me, b, and Catie…our new american friend from the bus ride) made our way over Pai river across a rickety bamboo bridge loosley covered in dried leaves with no rails to our designated huts. Found reception, a larger hut, and checked in for what was suppose to be 3 days lazily spent by the river.
Our hut was A frame, thatched leaf roof, approx. 8 x 10 with a double bed touching 3 walls, straw floor, and woven walls. public outhouse round back that you shared with the other 6 huts, was the toilet and sink with a shower head above it combo that we have come to know quite well. Wow. this is basic.
Literally one step up from sleeping on the ground. Actually even a tent would be bug and rain tight, where as this has a 4 inch. gap b/w the walls and roof, ans some leaves of the roof are missing.
“i’m not sure i feel safe sleeping in a place where someone can just punch thru the wall?!”
Well at least it’s cheap. Dirt floor cheap. Pai the town is really difficult to descrive. It is a quaint artsy town literally in the middle of nowhere. Surrounded by rice fields and livestock w/ the mt backdrop, hippies roam the narrow streets w/ giant asian pants and dreadlocks that have been forming for decades. We knew in the 70s the hippies ‘found’ this place, but judging by the age of a lot of them, apparently they never left. Wide eyed the three of us ate an fantastic dinner of noodles on the streetside and watched the mix of local villagers, hundreds of dogs, old hippies, and young travelers mixing in the streets. Pai is by far the strangest place any of us had ever been. Even now, I’m not describing it fully.
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