2nd Day in Pai and Trip to Chiang Rai, Thailand

On Tuesday, March 10, 2020, we had a day program: we went tubing, I had already done this in Laos. At 12:00 pm, we were picked up by large Tuk Tuks and taken to the water 15 minutes away. Everyone got a large water tube and off we went. Unfortunately, it was not comparable to Laos, due to the dry season, the water was so low that we regularly got stuck. But a few Thais accompanied us throughout the day and kept pushing us. We had an empty tube in the middle and everyone put their feet on it, so we formed several large circles. Therefore, only one person had to be pushed ;)

After about 2 hours, we took a break and arrived at a beach bar. There we played volleyball, danced, or just relaxed. After 1 hour, we went back into the water for 2 hours. Unfortunately, our technique of forming a large circle didn't help us anymore, as the river became too narrow and we couldn't pass through. Accordingly, we formed a long 'snake'. Surprisingly, this worked really well and we didn't get stuck anymore. At the end of the day, each of us had various abrasions on our lower backs: if you didn't lift your butt in time when the water got very shallow, you got stuck.

Among backpackers, the city of Pai is known for wanting to stay longer than originally planned, and that was also the case for us, and we stayed one more day. So, on March 12, we went to the next city: Chiang Rai. Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to the Swede, so only the Englishwoman and I were traveling together.

The trip to Chiang Rai took much longer than planned. We were picked up at the hostel at 7:00 am. According to Google Maps, the trip should only take 4 hours. We both fell asleep on the journey and woke up after 3 hours when we were supposed to change vehicles. In the end, we realized that we were back in Chiang Mai and had to take the other vehicle to Chiang Rai.

Similar to the route to Pai, this one was also very winding, and I was glad when we finally arrived around 2:00 pm. A Tuk Tuk took us to the city center to our hostel.

Chiang Rai also has a market with many different food stalls, where we had dinner in the end. Afterwards, we strolled through the souvenir shops and then went to bed early.