Pai

I spent my first week in Thailand in the small town of Pai and it was amazing. I really needed some down time and Pai was the perfect place to chill. There is a certain party vibe there, but since I'm not a big partier, I didn't really notice. I literally spent the first 2 days hanging out in cafes catching up on my running and travel journals, blogging, and uploading photos. 

Catching up on my journals with cake of course.

And eating Thai food and drinking Thai beer. Since I was in town for a week, I had a few regular spots for breakfast and lunch/dinner. Generally speaking, I ate a lot of spicy noodles and pad thai. I've been warned a bit about the spicy dishes. They ask you if you want spicy, and I've been saying yes. But it doesn't show up spicy, I have to add it. Which is a little odd, but ok since I can decide on the level of spiciness. Too many Western people can't take their spice so they must not add it in the dishes themselves. I still haven't had a very spicy papaya salad, nothing like what I had in Laos. But there's still time.

Pad thai and Thai beer.

I also ran and walked in and around the town to check out the beautiful scenery. The mountains and bridges are so pretty. My runs out in the middle of nowhere were amazing. I could just have kept running. Which at elevation, and with hills is normally not an easy feat. But maybe it's a good sign that my taper is going well.

One of many bamboo bridges in town.

A few days into my time in Pai, I decided to be a bit more adventurous. I made friends with a couple of guys staying at the same place as I. Which happened to be these cute bungalows right next to the walking street. This is what it's called, the walking street. Super convenient to everything. The bungalows were pretty basic, but definitely good enough for the week. I also loved the veranda to hang out on in the evenings to have a beer and relax.

My home for a week.

So at breakfast one morning, my new friend and I, decided to rent bicycles and explore the surrounding area. Well that isn't necessarily what happened. After a little research and some thought, we decided to try out the motorbikes. Yes a motorbike. I wasn't entirely convinced I was or was not going to ride a motorbike on this trip. I definitely wasn't going out of my way to do it. But if the opportunity came up, I wasn't going to dismiss it either. After talking ourselves into it, we decided to give it a go. Plus, I've seen a LOT of people driving them. I mean if any Joe Schmo off the street can do it, I can do it. But just in case we did get a test run before we headed off on our own. I may have had a close call shortly after I got on the bike (after the test run). But I somehow managed and was able to drive the thing out of town. Oh did I mentioned that they drive on the other side of the road in Thailand? I had to keep telling myself, 'Stay on the left. The left'. 

Trying it out. 

We were following a group of people who had to wait a bit for us newbies every so often. But we eventually made it to our first stop, the Sai Ngom Hot Springs. We chatted and relaxed for a little while in the hot springs (which I did think could have been a bit warmer). We even gave ourselves a mud face mask. Even though we were not entirely sure if it had any benefits, but the idea was fun. We got out and immediately got cold. Good thing we brought sweatshirts. After being in the warm water and then getting on a motorbike through the woods, you get a little cold.

Sai Ngom Hot Springs.

We headed back to town for some lunch and then made our way to Pai Canyon to watch the sunset. The canyon was pretty cool. Of course it wasn't the Grand Canyon, but still impressive. There were trees everywhere, so it was definitely different from what I'm used to. Also, there were these narrow paths everywhere with steep drops on each side. We ventured in a little bit to get a good view. You could keep going, depending on how adventurous you were. At one point on the return, we all heard something drop and it didn't sound like a person (there also wasn't a scream to go with it) and I hoped it wasn't someone's camera or bag. Luckily it was just a bottle of water. A few people were heading out after the sun went down. They may not want to go that far in on the trails, but that was just me.

Pai Canyon.

Since we had the motorbike for 24 hours, we headed out of town the next morning to get breakfast on the way to one of the waterfalls. And the view was pretty amazing. One of the reasons why Pai is so famous is because a well-known Thai movie took place there. I of course know nothing about it. We didn't go to where a part of the movie was filmed, but we went somewhere close by and got just as good of a view.

Breakfast views.

We then made our way to Pam Bok Waterfall. I didn't have high expectations, especially after seeing Kuang Si Waterfall in Laos. And that was good actually, since I wasn't too disappointed when I saw the actual waterfall. I've definitely seen better. But I went into the refreshing (aka very cold) water and swam around for a bit. Once I had my fill after a few minutes, I got out and tried to dry off in the shade. Unsuccessfully of course.

Very cold.

Our next stop was Land Split. There's a guy who's property started to split. He then decided to make it a tourist attraction and has let people come and check out the split. But he also gives you food and drink. All on a donation basis. Even though it's donation, he probably does well for himself. We hung out on some hammocks, drank some roselle juice (and some that was some sort of alcohol), and ate some fruit. Afterwards, we checked out the Land Split and the dancing trees (still not sure if this is a real thing). If you really think about the land splitting, it was kind of cool to think about. And a little crazy. It's a good thing his house wasn't there.

Land Split.

After dropping off the motorbike and getting some food, we hiked it to the White Buddha (Temple on the Hill) to check out the sunset. I expected a sunset very similar to the night before and I wasn't disappointed. But I haven't been too impressed with the sunsets. I think the spectacular ones are down south at the beach. I'll see them soon enough.

The White Buddha.

For the rest of my time in Pai, I continued to eat and drink, run, and hang out in the cafes. There isn't too much else to do, which I was totally ok with. Every evening we checked out the Night Market. Which was pretty great. We just had to be careful and not get hit by a motorbike that decided to go down the walking street. I did a lot of browsing for Christmas, but wanted to wait until Chiang Mai for the majority of my shopping (less items to carry). But I still left with a few presents, which is better in the long run. 

Night Market action.

I had my last long run in Pai which like the previous runs, were very pleasant. This time I kept running on the road I had ran on before and made my way to the WWII Bridge, another Pai attraction. I didn't linger long and ran over it to get to the other side to head back to town. I'm officially in taper week and actually the marathon is a few short days away. I'm as ready as I'm going to be and I hope I do well. And I hope it's a cool morning.

WWII Bridge.

I highly recommend visiting Pai if you find yourself in Northern Thailand. I had a week and it was a fantastic place to hang out. I probably could've done more, like a jungle trek, but I'm pretty pleased with my time spent there.