Pai cont’d

Our second trip around Pai on Tuesday was very enjoyable. We met the guide from the hotel after lunch and drove out to a viewpoint overlooking the town and surrounding area. On a clear day I expect you could see for miles but due to the heat it was quite hazy. The area we were in was populated some years ago by the Chinese and is still heavily influenced by them to this day. Whilst in the main they have taken Thai citizenship most continue to speak Chinese as a first language. We visited a Chinese culture centre which was almost like a small theme park and had a small version of the Great Wall of China. We were not too impressed as it was so different to what we have seen in Thailand.
We visited another temple. They are impressive but there are a lot of them in this country!
From here we drove on to the Pai Canyon an area where people congregate to see the sunset. It is very high with steep slopes and narrow paths - not for the faint hearted or those with a fear of heights which definitely includes me!
Our guide recognised this so we moved on to the Memorial Bridge which flows over the river Pai. The original bridge was built in 1930 but was badly damaged by the Japanese during the war. Whilst the original bridge has been restored for people to walk over there is now a concrete bridge for vehicles to go over.
This tour included tea at the conclusion but we were rather taken aback when we saw it. We turned off the main road and into a field where a gazebo had been set up and members of staff were there who had laid a table with a proper English afternoon tea with sandwiches, scones, cakes and a selection of teas. We were seated so we could watch the sunset. All very magical!
In the evening we took the shuttle bus from the hotel into town. Pai is a bit of a magnet for backpackers and we quickly realised that we were about fifty years older than most here. There were plenty of food stalls selling cheap food and cannabis seemed to be freely available. We found a nice bar and were happy to sit and watch!
Yesterday, Thursday, we left Pai and drove late morning to Chiang Mai, Thailand’s second city. The drive, like the one earlier in the week to Pai, was up and down over mountains with 762 curves. This drive was affected last year by the heavy rains in the area and there were a number of landslides which are still being repaired.
As we came down from the mountains towards Chiang Mai the scenery changed, it became flatter and we drove past many rice fields.
Our hotel in Chiang Mai, the Tamarind Village, is well placed in the Old City. There are still parts of the walls that surrounded the city intact. We had a short stroll around and then booked ourselves in for another massage. Massage parlours are everywhere in Thailand but a number of the ones in Chiang Mai are run for women ex convicts to help them rehabilitate. Massages are very cheap here, we paid less than £10 for an hour.Læs mere