Beautiful Chiang Pai

While dodging the constant traffic flow on the streets of Chiang Mai and avoiding eye contact with the million of tuk tuk drivers, Scott and I both began to really wish we had never left the south of Thailand. We were really missing the slow laid back beach lifestyle and Chiang Mai was just not delivering that for us. I could feel why people love the particular city as it does have a slower vibe compared to Bangkok, but still we found the city was filled with all those common elements that end up forcing backpackers to head to quiet locations. Locations with less people always jumping on you for things you don’t want/need. “Where you go?!?” “What you need?!?” God, just leave me alone already…

This is when I decided we should cut our time short in Chiang Mai and head further North to Chiang Pai. Another destination that came to us as a recommendation from our good friend Ty. He stated it was a beautiful chilled out hippy retreat with absolutely no constant berates from tuk tuks, lady boys, knock off vendors, etc. Knowing us, he knew we would love it.

Well, again Ty was right. We loved Pai so much we ended up staying for 2.5 weeks! We even bought a sticker to stick on our laptop that will show the world our love for this place. It really is a unique gem in Thailand! So, here are our some of the reasons we love Pai:

View from our bungalow

Darling View Point
Cheap bungalow, comfy king size bed, amazing sunset views, front porch with hammocks to relax in, working free wifi, ensuite hot water bathroom, and only a short 10 min walk to the main area of Pai. Bonus: The owners Peter and Annie are such great hosts it’s impossible to leave this place without becoming friends with them.

Random street art dude

The People
Everyone has a smile on their face in Pai. Both tourist and locals. The tourists never want to leave and the locals love their home very much, many of whom were once tourists themselves. The streets are also filled with lots of love. Not a day will go by without seeing a handful of Thai couples swooning over each other as Pai has become a very popular romantic vacation spot due to a love story being filmed here. Also, we can’t forget about the people who bring the unique nature to Pai. The ones who walk around dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow every single night, or a mexican wrestler, or whatever random character you can think of, or the ones who put on a weekly interactive street art display or just decide to play some music anywhere they please.

Chiang Pai at night

Shopping
Every night the main streets of Pai shut down and is filled with a night market. All the shops that were closed during the heat of the day open up, vendors arrive with their carts, street food fills the streets with a great aroma of yummy smells, others arrive with just a blanket covered with their goods, and people from the hill-tribes come down to sell their handicrafts. Much like the Chiang Mai Sunday Night Market, everything for sale is unique and handmade and not a single person is pushy for you to make a purchase. Shop in peace!

Amazing ribs at the Mexican Cantina

Food
Being a small town full of hippies who may find themselves with a strong case of the munchies, Pai has a restaurant or a street food vendor to satisfy any craving. I’d be surprised if you couldn’t find what you were looking for. We had amazing thai food, a variety of breakfasts, hamburgers, italian, BBQ ribs, Japanese, western, Vietnamese, gelato, and even a multitude of yummy baked goods including pumpkin cheese cake!

Unique music venues that are hard to pass by

Entertainment
Every night there is a variety of music selections to fullfill your needs. From live bands to dj’s and everything in between. The venues are all very small and intimate making it quite hard to pass by without stopping for a drink. During the day if you don’t feel like relaxing in a hammock you can head to the public pool that plays some chill music and serves drinks, or rent a motorbike and explore the sights all around Pai. Stayed tuned for our next post all about this!

French fries served in banana leaf!

Green Friendly
Continually we found little things that help the environment in Pai by reducing waste. Mainly from the street food vendors. Nothing was served in horrible styrofoam, instead tea was served in refillable bamboo stalk cups and food was served in banana leaf “containers”. Driving around the countryside we barely ever saw the ditches filled with garbage and the locals loved to wear “Save the Planet” t-shirts. It really seemed like people actually cared about the environment they live in and as a result the tourists also paid attention and made sure garbage actually reached a garbage can.

Free Wifi in a hammock…. does it get any better?

Relaxation
Really this is the main reason Pai is so lovely. Days of nothing just easily melt away, before you know it a couple weeks have passed by and it’s time leave the country or renew your visa again! We slept in everyday, spent our afternoons in hammocks, watch the sunset, head to town for some food with maybe a stop to see some live tunes and have a couple drinks, maybe enjoy a tasty treat, then head back to watch some movies in bed before falling asleep.

Just another great sunset…

Pai is a place for anyone. It provides the perfect atmosphere to just sit back and let time pass, or if your feeling adventurous it is also a great base for many hill treks. So, if your in the north of Thailand and feeling the need to get to a beach, give Pai a try!

#1: EXPERIENCE FREETOWN CHRISTIANA

Freetown Christiania is a utopia model of a hippie style commune. In 1971 several people in Copenhagen overtook an abandoned military base and declared it theirs. They renovated the existing buildings and even built new ones over time in the area to their own liking. Apartments, houses, yoga studios, shops, electrical and sewer grids, etc.. With just under 1000 inhabitants and major decisions made by committee, it’s a self policing society with only a few hard rules: no hard drugs (weed & hash OK), biker colors, bullet proof vests, stealing, guns, knives or violence.

Each year we hang out with a large group of like-minded friends at an event called Shambhala, which is a music festival setup in a similar sort of style just outside of Nelson. We heard about Freetown and wanted to investigate for ourselves what this was like and see with our own eyes how it works. And we were shocked in how fantastic this community is. While few spoke English they have created a unique society where everything is recycled, commerce is developed around food, shops, a soft drug trade and there is little to no violence. They have a strict no camera policy inside which is a shame as the graffiti, sculptures and other artwork was amazing. If you are in Copenhagen and have an open mind we strongly recommend taking a stroll through the area and enjoy yourself. It would be quite an experience to stay there for longer than an afternoon and really interact with people. As it’s essentially a squatting area, you could just setup a tent in one of the fields and then start mixing yourself in.

#2: GO TO TIVOLI GARDENS

Tivoli Gardens is an amusement park and luxury garden in the middle of Copenhagen originally built in 1843. It’s quite large and has beautiful grounds unlike anything we’ve seen in Canada. There are many tree lined paths that go over creeks with waterfalls and several large ponds with a classic fight for survival – birds eating the Koi food or the Koi trying to get it. The koi end up getting pissed and start nipping at the birds feet after a while, but I don’t think they have any teeth and the birds know this. Thankfully this doesn’t happen with humans as there is a huge variety of restaurants from the standard fair food to high priced gourmet meals.

But we weren’t at Tivoli Gardens for the park settings, we wanted rides and the park didn’t disappoint. As suckers for wooden roller-coasters, Tivoli has the worlds oldest operational wooden roller-coaster Rutsjebanen. Not quite as exciting as the PNE’s Wooden Roller Coaster, it was very small but decent. It actually had an operator riding it that controlled the speed with a hand brake. Far better was The Demon (made by Mazda) with it’s dual loop and corkscrew (zoom-zoom). Our favorite though was the newly opened Veritgo – which puts you in a plane cockpit and allows you to control how the plane rotates on all axis while spinning up to 100KM per hour and feel up to 4G’s through your body.

# 3: RENT A BIKE

Copenhagen has more bikes than we’ve ever seen. It’s a city that actually can experience rush hour in a bike lane rather then on the street.  The bike lanes are bigger than the sidewalks with free bikes placed throughout the city for a 20 kroner deposit. Unfortunately these bikes are usually gone. Although, we did spy some very beat up ones in Freetown… Our hotel rented us some good cruiser bikes for a reasonable rate and we spent the day cruising through the city. It sure beats walking and we were able to cover a vast amount of land and see all the sights Copenhagen has to offer. While, biking along the pier next to the water you can’t help think that this is as good as it gets.

TIP: It’s best to try and get yourself a city bike early in the morning as we saw a bunch one early morning.. but beware… no place is open for breakfast until at least 10am!

Check out the rest of our photos from Copenhagen in our Flickr Gallery by clicking on this snazzy link!

Awhile ago Scott had to meet this girl in a alley by our place and complete a transaction. Yup, sounds scummy doesn’t it?

Sometimes in Vancouver it’s better to buy your event tickets from an individual who is actually throwing the party or has some part in it rather then the stores. Cheaper, avoid extra fees, meet a new face. Thus why Scott was meeting a girl in an alley. Although he still thought it was an odd choice of a meet up location.

Wednesday on facebook this same girl put up a message about a friends and family sale for Icebreaker and to message her for details. Curious, I looked up what Icebreaker was and low and behold it’s a great line of merino wool products! PERFECT! Exactly what we were hoping to get for the trip. Get the details and find out the sale is located right by said alley. “Oh! She must work there!”

The sale was awesome. One of the best sales I have ever attended. We got free beer at the door, our ticket provider friend was spinning some wicked tunes, people on the sales floor were friendly and full of information, and the prices were amazing. Scott and I got 2 long sleeve shirts (his with zip neck, mine is just a base layer) and 2 pairs of awesome socks all for under $100!! Which is amazing considering it’s high grade merino wool.

Thank you Marie-Paule for the information about this sale! 

If you don’t have or know what merino wool is I suggest you check it out for your own travels.  Natural fibre, Super breathable (good for hot and cold climates), anti-bacterial, odor resistant, doesn’t wrinkle, folds up small, the list goes on!