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!
We’ve always wanted to visit Thailand but the constant assault of beggars and business people, and the unsavory aspects of the major cities were a deterrent to long term stay. So it’s great to hear about a place like Chiang Pai.
We were wondering the same thing when we headed to Thailand, but it’s really not that bad. Compared to our experiences in Egypt – where it’s relentless and super aggressive – it’s not so bad in Thailand. For example, you will get asked for a Tuk-Tuk everytime you walk by one. But either ignoring, saying No with a smile, this will get them to stop. Same for the stores, a simple no and you can move on. Unlike Cairo where they follow you for 6 blocks!
Certainly compared to Europe it’s more aggressive, but always within saying no three times it would stop. So if your worried about it, I’d say not to. I’ve heard India is much more aggressive though, and certainly Africa (Morocco, Egypt)
Wow! We definitely will have to check out Pai. We plan to visit Chiang Mai, and after reading this we might have to add Pai to our list of must see’s! Thanks for the tips!
That’s awesome! You won’t be disappointed, it’s much smaller than Chiang Mai. There’s lots to do there and scooters are cheap to rent each day (100 baht, about $3) so we ended up renting a scooter the whole time we were in Pai. We even went on a roadtrip to a cool resort we found in Sappong. It was guesthouses built on the side of a ravine with a phenominal view. Plus an exciting road to ride scooters on, especially because we haven’t been on them much at all. We’ll post about it in a couple days, it was lots of fun.
Could you tell us the name of the place that you stayed at in Pai? Very curious!
It was Darling View Point Bungalows in Chiang Pai. We found them off of hostelbookers http://www.hostelbookers.com/hostels/thailand/pai/33440/
Their own website is http://darlingpai.net84.net/index.html
We stayed in their basic bamboo hut for around 500 baht a night. Halfway through we upgraded to one of their nicer bungalows made with all planked wood for around 600 baht. It had a way nicer deck that we hung out on in our hammock that we bought in town plus we had WIFI. If you go there tell Annie and Peter that you heard about their place from Scott and Madame Dee from Canada, and I think they’ll give you a bit better of a deal than if you book straight off of hostelbookers.
If you buy a hammock in town, we negotiated a price on 20 hammocks for a bunch of people back home. they worked about to be about $50/$60, but are awesome hammocks. A great way to spend days in and they weren’t too expensive to ship back home.
Darling View Point is a bit outside of downtown. about a 10 minute walk down the valley or 4 minute bike ride. we ended up just renting a scooter the whole time. it was cheap and easy for the both of us to hop on.
Pai is pretty awesome! I’m excited for you guys to go there.
Excellent post – yet another reason I really want to visit Thailand. I can see why you love Pai!
I’ve heard a lot of good things about Pai and was planning to visit as I also felt Chiang Mai was a bit much at times but wow you just really made me want to go even more, it sounds great there!
You really won’t regret it. It’s pretty much how I always envisioned a small Thai town in the mountains to be.. perfect!
Sounds like my kind of place. Chill, wifi, laying in a hammock…
Great sunset shot BTW!
The sunsets were one of the best things about Pai. We never wake up in time to see the sunsets (in fact, the only one we’ve been awake for was in the White Desert in Egypt. But that’s cause we were camping out under the stars and a fox was stealing shoes.) But other than that, we never see sunrises. So great sunsets are what we look for (and even judge) and Pai was awesome for that. I think I took 100 shots but had to get rid of them to free up space.
I love it when you can find a place that just “clicks” where you can settle in for a bit and spend some time. It’s especially nice after you’ve been on the move for a long time!
Also, you really get a much different impression of a place once you stop and see the daily-life, meet the locals, and get to know the area.
I found San Francisco California, La Paz in Baja, and Antigua Guatemala to be the places that worked for me.
I also spent a great week in and around San Salvador, because I met a local who was a superb host.
It’s totally true. If you can it’s always best to stay in a place that ‘clicks’ for longer then you expected. Some of your best travel memories will come from it! We got to spend a good chunk of time in Baden-Baden, Germany with my aunt and uncle and because of that I’m sure is why it’s another destination that has stood out in our minds.
There was a couple cities we went to that I wish we could of stayed longer as we felt that ‘click’ but we had prior engagements already booked and planned so we had to move on. Berlin, Germany, Barcelona, Spain, and Utrecht, Netherlands are on that list for sure.
San Francisco has been calling us for sometime now… was there when I was really young that I barely remember it but have been dying to go back. Where for Scott he just knows without entering he will love it. Hopefully we can plan some time there Summer 2011 when we hit up Burningman.
Thank you guy for comment my resturant and the picture in your travel.I hope you enjoy with BBQ ribs at “The Mexican Grill” Come back to see us Just good food and drinks offer frozen margaritas
The Mexican Grill
Your very welcome! Thanks for the awesome food, it was delicious. The ribs are fantastic!