So I’ve caught something. I’m physically weak and I have a small fever. Luckily I have no big plans for a couple of days so I’ll just chill.
Today I went out twice. The first time to a big supermarket. I bought a new memory card for my phone and an analog alarm clock! I need that for my upcoming meditation course.
Being ill made me crave some well needed chocolate. So I went out a second time at 9 in the evening and bought some.
Look at this guy. He will surely lessen my cravings!
So I decided to go to Pai. I actually had no idea of what to expect. The lonely planet called it a party town and the hotel I stayed in said the surroundings were beautiful. So with a recommendation from my hotel I booked three nights in Pai at Baan Pai Village. 800 baht per night, that’s a lot for some people but well within my budget range. So off I went.
I got picked up at the hotel and on the way to the buss station we picked up a couple of other travelers. One of them was Tomas, my to be fellow companion for the time I spent in Pai. On the way to Pai we talked a lot, turns out he was finish and traveling alone, so we had a lot to talk about. We decided to hang around for some days, rent a pair of scooters and go around together in Pai.
The picture above is from a rest stop on the three hour journey from Chiang Mai to Pai with minivan. It was only 150 baht and actually more comfortable than I thought. But the only thing I heard about these minivans was that they were crazy uncomfortable, going really fast and that they were bumpy. Yeah sure they went a bit fast some times, amd yeah sure it was a bit bumpy occasionally. But as I have said in previous post about people complaining… the level of expectation has to be on par with where you are and what you are paying. Whaaaat do they expect on serpenty mountain roads with small minivans?
After three and a half hours we arrived. We did some recon and decided to meet later by the bamboo bridge. The bridge was the first thing that made me realize to where I had come. A small laid back town surrounded by fantastic and awe inspiring scenery. But the bridge felt so rickety the first time I went over it, it was a bit scary. And well across there were actually no roads, although there were roads shown on the map we had gotten. But that map… oh man what a disgrace of a map! Nothing was to scale and and many roads were omitted. But it served its purpose well enough I guess, only twice did we get lost :p. The bridge and the map gave us a hint of what kind of place this was. Laid back and easy going.
The hotel I was staying at was really nice. But I have to give out a friendly warning. If you dislike country music, maybe rethink your choice for a nice relaxing late dinner. Because at around 08 or 09 in the evening they put on the only country record they have accompanied by music videos and some times light dancing. It was wonderfully terrifying 😀 I heard the same songs every night.
But everything else was very nice. The room was a small bungalow amongst other bungalows and a well kept small garden. I had a small porch which we used a couple of times for a relaxing beer. And the location was in the center of town. Close to everything. The staff was very friendly and greeted me nicely every morning and talked to me as I were somone they knew. It felt genuine.
Every evening the town went from a quiet picturesque little town to a crowded one filled with different kinds of food and music. But it was very moody and Pai really has its own thing going on. It is a touristic hippie town mixed with more “modern” tourists and a good chunk of chinese tourists. And don’t forget the many cute street dogs, bandaged knees and elbows (because some people drive scooters drunk or late at night) and extremely expensive cars (for whatever reason) mixed in with this.
I ATE SO MUCH FOR BREAKFAST EVERY DAAAY BECAUSE I ALWAYS FORGOT THAT THEY MADE YOU AN OMELETTE SO WHEN THEY BROUGHT ME IT I WAS ALREADY STUFFED UP ON BREAD, NOODLES, MANGOJUICE AND FRUIT BUT I ATE IT ANYWAY TO BE POLITE AND BECAUSE EGGS ARE GOOD FOR YOU.
The first day me and Tomas did some recon with a beer on my porch, it was kind of confusing so we just decided to get scooters the next morning and go.
We did exactly that and it was actually very fun. I have no driver’s license, I have little to no experience with scooters and absolutely none with driving on the left side. But it was no problems. After a quick introduction (how to start and gas) I was ready. One minute later everything felt just fine. Although I didn’t use the blinkers until an hour or so later. But it was also kind of comforting to go with someone else. It would have been a bit scarier if I would be all alone.
During breakfast we talked to a girl, Pixie who was staying at the same place as Tomas. She had nothing really planned for her day so she came with us to our first stop. The sliding waterfalls, Nam Tok Mo Paeng.
We were there for quite some time just chilling and sliding down the slippery bedrock. At first we hesitated going in. But watching the local kids running around like they had been doing nothing else for their entire life gave us some confidence. But clumsy as we were we still needed their help the first time. They just did a small human chain and pulled us up. It was great 😀
MMMM MANGO SHAKE AND KAO SOI FOR LUNCH!
On our way back to town we wanted to go to a lookout point but actually managed to pass it. We ended up on the highway and just aimed straight for town. After some food, walking around the daily night market and late night chatting we were done for the day.
BY THE WAY I DID NOT LEARN HOW TO REFILL MY INTERNET THING FOR MY CELLPHONE AFTER ASKING ONE MOBILE PHONE STORE AND THREE DIFFERENT 7/11s AND TOMAS COULDN’T FOR THE LIFE OF HIS FIND A PAIR OF SHORTS WITH POCKETS. SOMETIMES THAILAND IS CRAZY.
The third day we aimed for another waterfall, Nam Tok Pembok with a later goal of the Pai Canyon for the sunset. And in between those points we had not really decided upon anything.
We hoped on to our Scooters and went in a direction which seemed right. The way we took was right but we had to ask for directions before finding the right crossroad to turn at.
Driving around the surrounding areas of Pai with scooters was really great. It was a fantastic way to experience the sceneries while getting to another even more scenic location.
This waterfall was different and pretty cool, we could swim around, hide in small caves and climb up higher for a different pool and some nice views. The waterfall is carved into the rocks in a narrow small valley which you can walk up to until a certain point were it actually gets really deep. Because of the high cliffs the place was a bit humid with no sun shining through. But the setting was really cool.
On the way back we decided to try to get a bit “off road” and try to get to another lookout point. It wasn’t really off road but it was a much more challenging local road with potholes and no paving. So halfway through we decided to turn around and go to the canyon because we really wanted to have some time there before the sunset.
It was actually a very good call in a couple of ways, one of them was that we had time to stop by a fantastic fruit farm where they gave you fresh fruit, fresh lemonade and sweet wine. And it was totally free.
They were so nice and hospitable and the place was very cozy. This was one of the places where you really appreciate the human good nature you will come upon traveling in south east asia. The place runs on donations, but they never ask you for anything. We were more than happy to give them 100 baht each before we headed to the canyon.
The canyon was great and there were many photo opportunities. I mostly used my “real” camera there and I don’t have a way of uploading them now :p
The canyon is like a bunch of sandy valleys turned outside in where you walk on the thin ridges. At one point you had to climb a bit and I felt uncomfortable doing that so I stayed behind and took a bunch of pictures instead 🙂 I was fine with that!
The following day we planned for a trek instead. The third waterfall around the town was the goal. Nam Tok Mae Yen. It was about 7km walk away from town. We actually didn’t really know what to expect other than that there were some river crossings and that the estimated time to get there was about three hours.
And luckily enough we acquired another party member, Matt from America. Which made a great addition to the team.
The trek was a nice one. Although a confusing one. There was little to no information regarding the type of trek it was. And along the way there was only information in thai. But we trotted on and kept our spirits high. It really felt like a jungle adventure because we did the trek by ourselves and we met no one on our way until the very end.
We guessed, with no help from the map that we were on the right track, or if we were not, we would at least end up SOMEWHERE. We were fine with that because that would also be cool! Maybe we would end up in a remote village with jacuzzis? We did see a sign every kilometer or so though. It was in thai but it at least pointed us in the right direction for this elusive somewhere we were going to.
Almost at the end, some three hours in to the trek we met a couple of guys saying that we only had about 20 minutes to go. It was just up a steep climb an there it would be! Our spirits (or mine at least) sky rocketed and we went faster. But reaching the top was a disappointment because the waterfall was still a bit further on and the river below was taunting us with its waterfall like sound.
A couple of minutes later though there it was. I its majestic glory with a naked ass greeting us. A guy was standing there and just looking. Later he lit a pipe and walked away. He knew what he was doing. Tomas did the same, not with the pipe but posing in front of the waterfall.
It was serene. Not that super amazing though but nonetheless very cool. You couldn’t swim there but you could get in close to the fall and feel the force of the water. The place was also swarming with flies eager to nibble your salt of your skin or clothes. Luckily they didn’t bite.
We hung around for about an hour eating some snacks and cooling down a bit in the water and then we moved on. We had to get out of the jungle before the sunset. At the waterfall there were two big bags of trash and if you brought one of them back to the starting point the guesthouse there would give you some food for your effort. I almost thought about doing that.. before I saw that they were insanely infested with ants. And ants really hate me. This has been the case all my life. So I wisely stayed away 😉
THRICE ON THIS TRIP ANTS HAVE ATTACKED ME AND NOT CARING ABOUT ANY OF MY FELLOW TRAVELERS STANDING JUST BESIDES ME. I GUESS ALL ANTS HAVE SOME KIND OF CONNECTION AND THEY ALL HAVE THE SAME GOAL OF KILLING ME. I DON’T KNOW WHAT I DID. BUT IT SURE PISSED THEM OFF. (HAH, YOU SEE WHAT I DID THERE?…PISSED… UNINTENTIONAL PUN!… BUT MAYBE ONLY SWEDISH PEOPLE WILL GET IT)
On the way back we met two nice Danish/Australian girls, they walked fast and we followed them. They made us sing and it was great! It started out with some easier songs in our local languages, which I by the way had a real problem with in the beginning, I almost can’t speak Swedish anymore and even less so singing! But I got warmer and started to sing some Disney songs. We all joined in with our respective languages and it was a blast.
And soon enogh we were back! We were back in no time because of our “marching” songs and our new Danish/Australian friends.
Thank you Rikke and Mille. Now our party was even stronger! Just like in an adventure game 😀
THESE GUYS MADE THE BEST AVOCADO BURGERS! I THINK I ATE THERE FOUR TIMES!
Later that evening we met again for some dinner, and chit chatting. I introduced everyone to Kao Soi, the northern Thai signature dish and mango sticky rice. I always feel a bit uneasy about giving food recommendations because I am such a NON-picky eater and so many people seem to be very picky. But this time it was a great success. Everyone loved both dishes. Wooohoo!
Later we got some beers at the best place for smelling the sewer fumes! It was all fine becaue we sat across my hotell and had some nice COUNTRY MUSIC to chillax to.
IT REMINDED US OF MINE AND TOMAS “ROMANTIC” EVENING IN MY HOTEL FACILITIES ON A CHILL OUTDOOR LYING CHAIR WITH A FANCY FRUIT SHAKE AND CHEEZY COUNTRY MUSIC. MANLY!!
At some point, I dont really remeber when, because we all moved very slowly and stopped everywere, our party grew even more! We had now acquired our sixth member, Simi! A great American addition!
We hung around all of the evening and met some more nice people. We also decided to go together to the hot springs the day after. And so it was to be! We rented scooters again and went on one of the more scenic roads in Pai. It was actually beautiful.
Well there it was no disappointment, we really didn’t know if hot springs would be a nice choice for a hot day. But it worked out very well and the 200bahts for entrance to the national park housing the springs were worth it. We even got some eggs to boil in the hotter springs! Those springs are about 80 degrees Celsius and the ones you can sit in are about 34-37 degrees Celsius.
Our party was a friendly and encouraging one. We all got along well and Matt even learned to drive a scooter much to the credit of the supporting nature of the party. It was cool to see and my nerdy brain associated this to as mentioned before, an adventure game. But it was even better because it was for real!!
Pai was great. I felt a bit sad to leave. Mostly because of the friends I had made. But also because there was more to see and do. But it is also a chill town to just spend time in going around with a scooter and seeing crazy sceneries. And it is a nice town even if you are not a party dude. I also appreciate the laid back and hassle free nature of the town. It is a small town and you will end up meeting someone you’ve met before!
Together with the party in Pai we had a lot to talk about, music, culture, language and much more. It was a nice gang to hang around with.
And man the mango and passion fruit shakes… ggrrerllllgll *drool*
I’m not looking forward to southern Thailand at all… which seems like the total opposite. A big hassle. We’ll see 😉
Walking walking walking! I do love a nice trek. This was a really good one.
I had read about different tour companies doing treks around Chiang Mai but most of them incorporated elephant riding, and I didn’t want to do that. So I just picked one in the hotel brochure that was only walking. There wasn’t that much information about the trek at all. Just how long it would take and generally what we were visiting. But no explanation to prepare you. Only: “This is a trek for whom that loves nature and walking”. I kind of read between the lines there and thought that it was just right for me with a bit of serious walking and some nice scenery. And I actually had no idea what company was doing the tour.
They picked me up at my hotel in a classic Chiang Mai taxi, kind of like a pickup truck with roof. They picked up the rest of the people and off we went. We were now six people. A nice little group of me, two french ladies two Italian ladies and one german guy. All were very nice and fun to be around.
At our first stop we signed a paper to remove responsibities from the company if you wanted to quit before it all was over. Now we also knew the name of the company. Panda tours.
So I read a few rewievs on the go and most were very negative. But most were also about another tour that included elephant riding and rafting.
We decided there and then that we would not be affected by the reviews. We would keep our spirits high whatever happened! And we did 🙂
The first day we were heading for the village of Papojom which was about three hours slow walk away, mostly up a steep mountain. We heard later that some people just gave up there and didn’t wanna continue… if they are taking a tour with hours of walking in mountain regions… what did they expect?
The first stop of the day was at a local market to get some water and snacks for the trip. It was honestly pretty confusing because we really didn’t know what was included with the tour. But we got some water and thai whiskey and off we went again. We arrived a bumpy hour later at our base camp where we had some Pad Thai for lunch. It was great. And then we started walking.
The guide we had, Simon (not his birth name from Burma) was very good and he knew everything about the jungle and the areas around these mountains. He was a real local with a great sense of humor and with many tricks up his sleeve. Considering that he had been doing these kind of treks for three years, he really kept a good face.
One of the first things he did was to ask us if we wanted to see a spider. I said yes instantly and he started to dig around a hole. The others were not so happy about it but intrigued nonetheless. He dug out a big tarantula, he even stuck his hand in the hole… he was clearly very comfortable doing this. When he got it out, he turned it on its back, grabbed it and cut of the fangs so it would not be dangerous anymore. Even though we knew it wasn’t dangerous it took some real mind power to touch it. He then put it in his bag and we continued onwards.
During the whole trek he was explaining things about fruit and animals and other stuff we asked him about. He found things everywhere he looked. All of a sudden he was holding a chameleon or a gecko or some fruit, some nuts or something he crafted on the way. He made toys with grass, bamboo, banana leaves and rocks. He was great.
Halfway through we stopped at a bat cave and saw two bats. Beter than none I guess ;). And the trek wasn’t actually tough at all. We took it very slow and took breaks often. That way he could show us different things and talk a bit.
Well up in the village of Papojom located 1100m above sea level we settled down, got some cokes and beers. The place was beautiful but the accommodation was very sparse. I guess people complain about that. But I got more that I hoped for. There were toilets and showers (just a hose but that was fine) and we had mattresses in a bungalow. That is more than I have on my treks in Sweden. We didn’t get any mosquito nets though but there were actually very few of them so it was ok.
We then had dinner. It was very good with a big pot of chicken soup and a spicy vegetable mix with rice. Really good and tasty actually. Later that evening we had some beers and our guide played a flute, he knew quite a lot of melodies for only learning to play himself. It wasn’t the best performance ever but it sure was moody.
Me and my german friend we stayed up later than everyone else talking to the guide over some whiskey under the starry skies with the milky way above us. It was a very clear night, it was fantastic. I really like to get to know the guides and the locals a bit so I really enjoyed our time. I even learned that there are only 7000 stars! Some guy had counted them hundreds of times. Now you also know!
I could actually get some sleep. I was a bit amazed because the roosters started to scream around 03 in the morning… it is how it is and of course many people complained. But hey, we had a great breakfast with toast and scrambled eggs and tea or coffee.
The second day walk was a lot easier and with a lot more scenic routes. It was amazing and really beautiful. We just walked around farmlands, on top of ridges and on very scenic roads until we got to the village of Thuthka. There we had our lunch which also was great. Although the owners of the place where pretty unimpressed by us. I guess this is also something people complain about. But when you have had four groups of tourists at your place every day for years, I can imagine it being kind of boring or even annoying. These guys don’t make much money. Our guide for example was making 150 thai baht for one day. That is usually what we pay for food during one day. So I can understand their lack of enthusiasm.
So in all it was a great trek for me and my new friends. We really enjoyed ourselves! I can really recommend trekking around Chiang Mai!
I’m sorry for the really crappy quality of the videos, but I mostly make them on the go just to get a feel for the scenery or the situation. Sometimes they turn out fine and sometimes like crap. I upload them anyways 🙂
Today was a great day. Despite it being a really early morning for me. I got up at 05 to have enough time to prepare for the Flight of The Gibbon zipline adventure. I chose the early slot to try to dodge the big mass of tourists going there. They are the most popular ones and also the most expensive. I was fine with that, I really didn’t want to risk having a bad time with stressed guides or issues with safety.
Sometimes you read and read reviews and you find some negative ones and you start to think that they might be right. And then you read other reviews for other tour companies and they have the exact same type of reviews. So you kind of have to read between the lines. But Flight of The Gibbon had mostly good ones and it was also recommend by my hotel. So I went with it.
And it was mostly great. Much of the greatness was a result of going early. We were a smaller group of 6 people, we arrived first and our guides still were full of energy. This made the experience a bit more personal and a bit less stressed. We had more time at each “station” or treetop.
The setting and scenery was fantastic and our guides really knew what they were doing. It was located up in the mountains a one hour drive by minibus from Chiang Mai on which I actually slept.
There were around 30 ziplines and two drops and pretty much all of them were nice, even the shorter ones. The guides usually made up for it by swinging the zipline a bit or joking and just socializing. We also saw some gibbons, a family of four with the mother, father and two sons. The guides did explain a bit about the jungle and about different plants or trees but there was actually not much time for that. But I was totally fine with what we got.
After two hours of ziplining we were dropped off at a waterfall which was nice and relaxing. It was somewhat of a steep climb but nothing crazy. During the one hour we had here I spoke a bunch with my fellow travelers and they were all very nice. All of them were Chinese but they could speak English very well.
And now for the only not so good part. The lunch, which food wise was very good … but! They played live folk music right next to our table all through the meal which made it really hard to socialise with anyone. That was a bit sad. But overall I had a great time and when I got back to my hotell I slept for 3 hours 😀
My plans for the night were non existing so I was really happy when the family invited me to eat with them. So lovely!
So I took a walk to the well regarded Miguels the other day. I don’t really eat a lot of mexican food so I cant really say how genuine it was. But hey it was totally ok!
Burrrrriitooo. Actually my first ever 😀
Funny right? In Thailand!
But yeah, everything I’ve eaten in Thailand, Japan and Vietnam was better than this. I’m not a picky eater though and I was really satisfied with everything. Although you really could just go across the street for some street food, a lot cheaper and just as good, or better. But it was a nice change anyhow.
Later that day I went to the Sunday Night Market which is pretty much a 2km long street in the old town of Chiang Mai filled with stuff to buy!
They also have a Saturday night market but that one wasn’t as nice. It was just as crowded, maybe even more so and a bit crazier and also further away from the old town.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the old town in Chiang Mai is what matters! You get a much more authentic feel here. Even though it is pretty much modern it has its charm with many temples and smaller buildings and narrower alleyways. I like it!
So the Sunday night market is a different experience since it fills the ancient streets and templegrounds with food, clothes and trinkets. It was actually pleasant to walk all the way down and back. And I bought stuff!
That is the way from my hotel and all the way to the end of the street market. It starts from Wat Phra Singh until the moat! The old town by the way is inside the “square” which is an old moat.
Some nice chill clothes and an ocarina! I am soooo happy 😀 it is ceramic and of high quality! The guy selling them was a nice dude sitting halfway down the market. At first I didn’t think about it much since there were alot of musicians on the road sitting down and wanting a donation. But as I walked on I realized that I had to go back and see what it was about. So on my way back I stopped by him and asked him about it and ended up buying one! He played some nice Zelda tunes for me 😉
The market run also ended up with me getting two pants, one shirt, one tank top, a fruit shake and some hand made postcards. It was a nice run and it was the nicest post cards yet!
I also got to be the owner of the hotel for 30 minutes! Such responsibility given to me!! It was fun! The owners were just getting some dinner so they needed someone to take care of things while they were gone. They also got me some food. Man I really love this place. Dozy House!
So I visited a spa for the first time in my life. It was actually the scariest thing I’ve done on my trip so far (ok not that scary but still… I was pretty lost with what to expect). I don’t really like massages. Yea I know I am crazy, but I am really sensitive and really ticklish. Maybe I have had bad experiences from friends giving me massages. They really think that I need the same treatment as them.. like punching the muscles and “untieing” muscleknots. I don’t have those! And if I do they don’t really bother me.
The place is conveniently located in the old town and is called Fah Lanna Spa. They had a nice atmosphere going on and they were friendly. When you get there they sit you down just like at a restaurant and they hand you a menu and some refreshing herbal tea.
I tried asking a bit for a recommendation since I didn’t want the punchy treatment. But the one helping me didn’t understand me fully but still recomended a hydrating cream massage treatment. So I went with that, it sounded less intense was pretty comfortable with that.
They showed me to a room further down in the walkway in the picture above and gave me some time to change into tiny underwear. It was a bit confusing but I tried to wing it. I mean, surely they have had people before who were a bit lost? I don’t know, but it worked out fine for me 😀
A woman took care of me and she started of with scrubbing my feet which also made me a bit confused. The menu didn’t say anything about that 😉 But hey it was all good! After that I lay down on a bed on my stomach with my face looking down through a hole into a bowl with water and flowers.
And there I was for about 30 minutes while she was working my legs, back and arms. It was actually very gentle compared to what I’ve heard. I figured that an experienced and knowledgeable massage therapist knew how to work different kinds of body types. It did barely tickle! So I could actually relax for most of the time. I usually just tense up and everything just hurts. But I was pleasantly surprised.
30 minutes had then passed and I turned over and she continued the same thing. In addition to the hydrating stuff she also worked my neck, my back and my head with more conventional massageing which also was a pleasant surprise. It was really a full treatment suitable for a thin guy like me 🙂
After one hour we were done and I was left to my own. I didn’t really know what to so so I just got dressed and left. Afterwards I was told that you can take more time for yourself in the room and take a shower or a bath. But I didn’t mind leaving. I felt refreshed.
Upon leaving they gave me hot herbal tea and some rice cookies and also drove me where I wanted In town. I went back to my hotel and chilled there for a bit before going out for a sunday night market stroll. During my chillout time I got bitten by four mosquitos all on my feet… that was the same amount of bites that I had accumulated in the 4 weeks prior of my trip. I guess they really liked my newly blood pumping body.
Majkiboy 