Day 61: A Pool in Pai

We would have stayed longer in Pai if we hadn't already booked a room back in Chiang Mai for tonight… It's one of those places that is inevitably hard for everyone to leave. Even as I waited outside of our mini-bus to leave this afternoon, one of the other passengers hopped out "to have one last cigarette in Pai" he said with a Spanish lisp. He asked what we did in Pai, and nodded wistfully when I responded "Not much really, we hung out around town. Today we went swimming…"

It's just one of those places where people don't judge when you admit to not doing much.

See why we didn't want to leave?

Day 60: Peace, Love, Pai

Pai offers trekking tours, elephant rides, and motorbikes and maps to explore around the outskirts of town. But really, Pai wants you to relax. It's practically demanded that you sit in a coffee shop and read, chat, or simply drink something delicious with or without company. And that's just what we did. We slept in late, we ate a huge breakfast at Boomelicious (maybe my favorite restaurant on this trip so far) and then sat with our computers and coffees for awhile. We got up, wandered, found another cafe and sat for awhile, before it was time to streetfood stall hop for dinner and then, get our portrait painted by a street artist.

When in Pai…

Day 59: Life in Pai

We weren't sure if we were going to swing up to Pai or not, but after the not so lovely front deskman at The Chiang Mai Thai House informed me we'd have to move to a more expensive room if we wanted to stay, we decided we may as well catch a bus to Pai after all! I'm rather glad that the stars aligned for us to visit. Because somehow, I managed to forget how much I love this tiny town.

It's much more popular than it was four years ago. When I was here last, there was one shop to get eclectic hippie meets graphic design postcards and paraphanalia… now there are dozens. The town stays up later than it did in the past, and many more tourists sit in coffeeshops by day and roam the streets by night. The roads have since opened up to more streetfood stalls and vendors selling t-shirts, leather bags, woven scarves, and so much more. It's glorious. The only problem with Pai is that I want to buy everything! (Including the beautiful and out of my price-range handmade leather bag I'm eyeing in the video. And yes, I know, it's another bag… I do not deny I have a problem. At least the giant black and silver ring I found- not at all to Andrew's surprise, was in my price range!)