Perfect Pai

Pai

It took days to get here from Labuan Bajo which included a boat trip, 2 flights, 3 days on a train and an afternoon in a minibus. After all this I was seriously hoping Pai would live up to the hype.

The minibus ride from Chiang Mai is something else, sat bolt upright for 3.5hrs cause the chairs don't reclined you are shoved left to right as the 'grand prix' wannabee driver spins the bus around hundreds of bends. But for £3 ....who's complaining!

We arrived and there's an unspoken relaxed atmosphere here, you feel it immediately! We started the room search and there was accommodation opposite the bus station for 100 bht, that's £2 per room....seriously! Unfortunately looking at the padded bed it was clear if I slept on that I would be disabled the following day, so the hunt continued. We ended up in the centre with hot water ensuite and twin beds with excellent wifi....£6pn.

The awesome thing about Pai, for us, is the food. You would not believe the culinary delights on offer here not only in the cafe/ restaurants but also on the streets. In the streets after sunset the stall holders set up, some have microwaves, blenders, waffle makers, bbqs...all sorts of stuff and its all cheap! My favourite are the lassee and smoothie stall....banana and mango lassee for £1. Then there's the burritos stall....vegetarian too.....£1.20 not yet tried the grilled banana and omelette stall.....oh and there's s baked potato and grilled mushroom stall. Ummmmmm! The food here is to die for....having spent 5 weeks starving in Indonesia....this is a vegetarians heaven!

We hired a scooter to look around and visit a few of the many waterfalls. Pai is surrounded by huge rolling green mountainous terrain which against the bluest of skies, with a touch of white fluffy cloud here and there, it all looks so idealic and postcardy.....its breathtaking.

The night life is pretty good too, not crazy techno blab everywhere but a more relaxed vibe where you can sit around an open fire and talk or put the world to right. It's all about relaxing here!

We met the most tempermental or maybe mental girl, who was actually a boy. Her name is Sarah and apparently she runs a guesthouse. She can be really nice and then turn into an aggressive monster in a nano second, you really have to be careful around her. I witnessed her flirting around a guy playing pool and the suddenly she threw the cue down and was shouting " we're supposed to be a team" I think he took her shot. Later we were waiting to play pool and she went mad again telling me she was going to punch the girl playing...."no you're not....that's my daughter" I told her. "Ok..I hit you then!" Needless to say she didn't hit anyone, she likes to throw a tantrum.

Another lovely thing about Pai are the dogs that roam around from big shaggy benjies to a dalmation. They are soo cute and are always checking out what you've bought from the stalls hoping for abit.

We walked upto Darling guesthouse to watch the sunset and were followed by ten dogs, turned out one was female and must have been in season cause the rest were males and wouldn't leave her alone. Later she was rescued by a guy on a bike, she just jumped onto the scooter.

So Pai thank you for a great time and please don't open any chains like MacDOnald's, Starbucks, pizza hut etc.it will ruin your beautiful town.