Pai, 5 star Hippie wonderland

Pai is a small town in the mountains of northern Thailand, which randomly has become a mecca for backpackers. It's cause for concern when the bus ticket advises you to take travel sickness medication in advance of the journey! My preventative measure was replacing my ritual morning mango smoothie with a lime soda. Fortunately, the bus was so full of gigantic backpacks that it would have been a soft landing if I had been hurled out of my seat. Hundreds of switchback turns later we arrived in Pai.
Pai is a beautiful mountain town with the River Pai meandering through, crossed by bamboo bridges, a bright white buddha always visible high up in the mountains.
There was the expected hippie vibe, but it soon became apparent that the 'dog on a rope, no need for soap' hippies were few and far between. They had been replaced by the 'barefoot but carrying 3 pairs of shoes in my backpack..... where can I get my feet scrubbed?' young, clean, rich, modern hippie. They were mixed in with yoga body perfect vegans and the occasional hundredfold pack of hoo-ha drinking gap year backpackers. It was a wonderful place to be transfixed alternately by glorious nature and then by watching glorious people.
We did, of course, climb up to the White Buddha. Pottered around on a moped to waterfalls and canyons, even passing a couple of playful elephants.
The music scene was again vibrant with live music in every other bar. The Jazz House run by American Brian features 3 diverse bands every night. We caught a 'Geography of the Moon', show, a duo from Italy/Scotland who permanently tour many of the clubs in SE Asia that we played. My 1st true indie, shoe gaze gig. A curious experience, indeed involving a lot of looking at the floor of the stage.... either at the guitarist fiddling with his peddles or the singer striking dramatic poses on the floor. What a sweet, charming couple though.
We were sitting contemplating the river, wasting time until the bus back to Chiang Mai, when the peace was shattered..... the river was soon a mass of pink flesh.... the aforementioned gap year backpackers on the 'tipsy tuber' daytrip. They seemed to be having a good time, although the river was low, so I'm sure that they were dragging their bums on the river bed. A genius way to relieve them of their money in exchange for 1000 inner tubes, gallons of beer, and metres of bandages and antiseptic! I now finally understood why so many of the Pai tourists were bandaged and hobbling around.Read more