Pai - Hippytown in the mountains of Thailand

In the meantime it is Monday, the 8th day of my trip.
This morning I get up early and pack my big backpack which I leave in the storage room of my hotel, because I will come back in two days and then stay two more nights at the B.M.P. Hotel.

By the way, do you remember that I took only 8 kg of luggage with me? Very few clothes, as a matter of fact, but this is no problem at all here in Thailand, because you can have your laundry washed everywhere and even at the hotel. I had mine washed at my hotel and I paid 40 Baht for 1 kg of laundry!! And it is ready within 24 hours. Great service!

40 Baht is 1,10 €!! Talking about money I want to tell you about the app I use here in order to have my travel expenses under control: TravelSpend. A super app which I can recommend very much. Before I left I put in my overall budget for my trip. Everyday I write all my expenses in the app. There are different categories, like transport, restaurant, accommodation, etc., but of course you are welcome to create your own categories as well. It shows you every day how much money you spent overall and on every day and if you are still within your daily limit. And also gives you the statistics how much you spend for what. For a person like me who is not very organized with money and always spends too much money not knowing where it goes this is a big help.

After enjoying a delicious breakfast at my hotel - pineapple pancake - yammi !! - I meet two women from Greece who also wait for their  transfer. As they have been living in Germany for many years they spoke German quite well. One of the ladies - they were about my age - asks me, well she didn't really ask, she says to me 'you surely are retired already.' I am shocked. Do I really look that old? Since my hair is grey I have been asked this question several times. It is time starting to think about Botox :)

At 9 am our car comes - we look a little shocked because it was not the minibus we have expected, however a Songthawe, kind of a pickup, open in the back and in the sides. However this car only takes us to a minibusstation and from there we change to a normal minibus. At about 9:30 we leave the bus  station. However right now it is 10 am and we are still in the city. I managed to sit up front beside the driver and enjoy a great view during our wonderful drive to Pai.

The distance from Chiang Mai to Pai is 149 km and by minibus around 3 hours. The drive to Pai is so beautiful, we drive into the mountains and the bus twists and turns. The road to Pai has over 700 turns, but I barely notice them as I stare out the window at the densly covered hills of the beautiful rainforest. 

After about one and a half hours of a ride we make a 15 minutes stop. During this stop I meet two teachers from Germany who travel together for 3 months. One of them took a sabbatical, the other is already around 70 and retired. We have a nice chat and they tell me that they have been doing some tours like that in the last years as well. At this bus stop I also meet a young boy from Germany - 19 years old - so far the youngest traveller I have met during this trip. He came to Thailand to take Thai boxing classes here. He wants to take a course near Pai for a month and then he wants to travel a little bit. By the way - talking about courses, as well as in Chiang Mai also in Pai one can take courses for cooking, for massage, etc.

Pai is situated at the food of the mountains and has a population of a little over 2000 people. I read that there exist around 300 accommodations like hotels, guesthouses and hostels. So I guess that in highseason the population grows by several times.

Interesting is also that around 400 people of the population are Muslims and they even have their own Mosque with a Muezzin calling. 

When I compare this to my home village Leopldsdorf Pai is even a little bit smaller than my homevillage:)

Pai is located in the Northwest of Thailand and about 850 km from the border to Myanmar. In the last years Pai with his hippy atmosphere became a backpacker's mountain paradise.

When we arrive in Pai it is sunny and the temperature is about 32/33 degrees. The city is lively and full of backpackers and my first impression is that it reminds me very much of Goa. 

After our arrival I try to find my guesthouse which is supposed to be only a few minutes away. Already a minute after I had left the bus someone calles out for me in the street. It is David, the German guy who I have met in my hotel in Chiang Mai. He is  already the second day in Pai and gives me some useful information.

Then I go to my Hotel 'Pai Country Home' which I had booked the day before on booking.com. As there is no one at the reception I call them by phone and a little while later a nice lady who speaks  English very well comes and gives me my key and shows me my room. Then I go out to have breakfast and to explore the City which mainly consists of one walking street. At the place where I have my breakfast I meet a German family from Bavaria. Their 18 year old son is traveling in Southeast Asia alread for three months and now the parents came to travel with him for 2 weeks before he will go on traveling. So now I even met a younger traveler. And the father of the boy tells me that he was also backpacking in Thailand for 8 weeks 30 years ago.

When I come back I sit a little while on my balcony. Every room has a balcony in front of the room and is really nice and cosy and right in the very center of Pai. At first I thought that I am the only person in the guest house. Then I see a man walking buy and a minute later I hear him talking and it sounds Bavarian to me. A minute later I am over there and ask whether they are from Bavaria. But it turns out that they are from Austria, from Salzburg and Vorarlberg. I thought they are a couple but they are just good friends traveling together. 

A little later when I want to go out to the walking street, which in the evening turns into an immense market, a lady in a bicycle outfit comes up to me and asks me where she could check in. As there is no one here and she has no SIM card I call the reception lady for her. I tell her that I do not have a SIM card either but I will ba glad to call from my Austrian phone :) I wait together with her and she tells me that she and her partner are coming by bicycle from Bali!!! She was Mexican, her partner Australian, they live in New Zealand and are great bicycle riders. They flew from New Zealand with their bikes to Bali and from there they were riding up to Pai. They were already for 4 months on their way and still have 2 months to go. She told me they once did a trip like that for one year through South America. They were at least 50 years old. 

Then I go out to the walking street as it is called here in Pai. The street transforms in the evenings in a huge market. From 6 to 10 pm it is closed for cars, however bikes drive through, at least they try to do it. On the street are so many little food stands offering all kinds of Thai and Chinese food and sushi as well. The wonderful thing is that you can try a little bit here and a little bit there. So I had three pieces of Sushi, a small Pad Thai and then at the stand of a Muslim Thai lady a wonderful chicken soup with dumplings. There I ate my soup together with two nice guys from Israel. There are quite many Israelis in Pai, in some tourist offices they even advertise their tours in Hebrew. The Muslim Thai lady who cooks this delicious food we are enjoying there is very friendly and speaks a little bit English and I try to ask her about the Muslim life in Pai. That’s where I got the information that about 400 Muslims live in the city. 

Afterwards I continue strolling along the street and try some sweets as well, til a guy from inside a bar calls me in, it is Daniel from Boston who I know from my hotel in Chiang Mai and with who I drove together in the Minibus to Pai. He is sitting in the bar together with his friend and another guy from England who was also in our hotel in Chiang Mai. I have a dring with the guys, we talk and laugh together and then I walk on. At another bar somebody calls out for me again - my hotel neighbours from Austria - I sit with them and we have a caipirinha together and very nice talks. While I sit with them a guy walks by who I think I know and I jump up and call him - and it reall is him. Manfred - a facebook friend of mine, who I have met at the Playa Camp in Barcelona many years ago. I remember now that he is living in Thailand, but I have had no idea where - now I know it - 1 km away from Pai :)

Then we have another caipirinha with my new Austrian friends before we go back home together and call it a day.