I took a bus from Chiang Mai to a small town called Pai. I’d heard of it when I was in Bangkok, a guy said I’d like it. Once I was in Chiang Mai it seemed like everyone had either been there or was going there, and I was craving somewhere a bit more relaxed after being in the Capital and then the second city. I checked into a small hostel called K K Hut which is well chilling. I had a small bungalow to myself with a hammock. It’s about 5 or 10 minutes walk out of town centre up a track past the circus school hostel. I really liked it there, the Thai lady that runs it is awesome, when I checked in she cooked me a free lunch – it was free lunch Tuesday. She was very welcoming and always had a smile on her face.
Pai is a little town full of backpackers and tourists, Thai rastas, reggae, blues and jazz bars. I spent about two days doing nothing but lounging on my hammock or in the outdoor swimming pool up the road. After that I thought I better get a motorbike and go exploring. There’s plenty of waterfalls, a canyon and a stone forest.
Rainbow we saw whilst out exploring on the moped
View from pai stone forest
Pai canyon
In Thailand on the weekend it was Loi Krathong festival. It’s really big in Chiang Mai but I didn’t want to go back to the city so soon so I stayed in Pai. It was really good here too, smaller but more chilled I think. I was happy to stay.
Me and a buddy from the hostel went down to the river side to watch the lanterns and fireworks. People just set them off in the crowds here, kinda metal but it still felt really peaceful.
Afterwards we went back to Sunset bar and got comfy on the cushions. A group of Thai people next to us gave us lanterns to set off and told us to send off regrets or make a wish….
I was planning to go to this cave lodge place an hour north. By coincidence some people from the hostel were going there on the same day, so we road tripped it together. We walked and rafted down the biggest cave in Thailand.
I stayed in the lodge over night as I wanted to go kayaking the next day, but as a big storm was coming I thought I’d head home early in the day.. twisting mountain roads + thunderstorm + scooter = danger… was glad to get back to k k hut, which is starting to feel like home! Checked in for a couple of days and then back to Chiang Mai to arrange travel to Laos. Almost one quarter through my trip already!
Tempus Time Temple 