Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
11/23/13 - 11/27/13
I had never heard of Pai, Thailand before my friend, Anna, told me about it in Chiang Mai. She told me that it was an amazing place with a great vibe and a nice place to relax. She talked it up enough, that I figured I would check it out. So, I booked a minibus and traveled the three hour drive into the mountains along the curviest road I have ever ridden. Pai, actually, prides itself on the 762 curves the road takes to get there. I don't get motion sickness, but even I felt a little queasy after this bus ride!
The town is very, very small. It had like four streets and is touristy as hell. I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into, as I discovered that Pai was basically a hippie enclave and a travelers mecca. There were shops, vendors and restaurants lining the streets, each hawking their wares to the passing tourists. And all the restaurants advertised their western food and buffet breakfasts. At first, I was a little uncomfortable, and I didn't think that this was what I was looking for, but it did get better.
I made my way to my guesthouse, which was a little ways outside of town, on a hill. The walk out to the guesthouse, was actually really nice. I had to walk across a little river on a bamboo bridge, that really didn't feel that sturdy, down a dirt road and passing by numerous bungalow guesthouses. I came out into the countryside and had to cut across a small stream and pass by a couple of cows with a baby calf running around behind them and then walk up the hill to my guesthouse.
I had booked for three night in my own room, but the first night, it seems that the place wasn't ready for me, because I got placed in a room fit for six people?! The worst part was that the door didn't shut all the way. I leaned my bag against the door, so that if someone did try to come in, that hopefully my bag falling over would wake me. Luckily, it was only for one night and the other two nights, I had a really nice room with an amazing view of the countryside and a hammock to lie in.
After walking around a bit, I found that the little town was actually quite nice. In the evening, the town was perfect for strolling, as it had nightly markets on the main streets. There was plenty of street food to choose from and lots of little shops to shop in. I don't buy a lot of souvenirs, but I do like to look, because I find it interesting to see what they are selling.
The first night was really quiet and I didn't do much, but on the second night things got a little crazy. I was walking around town again, when I ran into an old buddy of mine. I had met Hans in Mongolia and we had shared a Ger in Terelj National Park, where we got drunk on terrible Vodka together. And now here he was again in Pai! It's always so amazing how often you run into the same people, even in countries so far apart from each other. I joined up with him and some of his friends and we went to get dinner and drinks. Later in the evening, we ended up at a bar and continued drinking. I lost Hans at some point, but I was still hanging out with some of his friends and we were having a good time. As the night continued, I would lose them too and would be hanging out with a new bunch of people. I am really not sure how that happened. Eventually, I found myself on the other side of town at 3am getting food from a street vendor and with people I had probably only met an hour beforehand. I figured I would call it night then and started walking home.
The next day, I was hungover, but went to get breakfast anyway. Today, I decided I didn't want to do anything, so I took full use of the hammock and read a book all day, all the while relishing the amazing view from my porch. It was very relaxing and exactly what I was looking for. In the evening, I watched an amazing sunset over the Thai countryside and went off to bed. The next day, I would be taking a bus back to Chiang Mai and then another bus to Sukhothai.
Sukhothai is an entirely different city that Pai. While Pai has the modern day hippie/tourist vibe, Sukhothai has the ancient and historical vibe. One doesn't usually come to Sukhothai to party it up, though it is available if you're looking for it. The main reason to come here is because of the ancient ruins of the capital city of what is the considered the first independent Thai kingdom. The Sukhothai kingdom emerged from the ruins of the ancient Khmer empire, which was based out of Cambodia and is the kingdom that built the spectacular Angkor Wat temples in the 13th century. Modern Sukhothai is not pretty, but the ancient city, a little distance away from the modern, is very fascinating and has many crumbling temples, stupas and other ruins to see. So, I arrived in Sukhothai, checked into my guesthouse and then got up early in the morning and made my way to the ancient city.
The best way to get around the ancient city was to rent a bicycle and pedal your way around. There were many old and crumbling Buddhist temples and stupas to see. Many with old Buddha statues, some in good condition and some completely destroyed. You could see the outline of some of the destroyed statues though. Walking around the old temples was really cool. And then riding my bike to more distant temples and through the old city gates, which are just large mounds of dirt now, was a lot of fun. It was really hot that day, though, so I did sweat quite a bit. Other than exploring the many temples in and around the old city, not a whole lot else happened in Sukhothai. I went to a nice little museum as well, where I learned a little more about the many images of the Buddha. I like ancient history and I find religion to be fascinating, so I found Sukhothai to be very interesting, but there wasn't much else to see in the city. I was only there for a couple of days, before I got on another bus and headed into the chaos of Bangkok.
You might think that travel for an extended period is just adventure after adventure. It is a lot of fun, but it is not always like that. The contrast between Pai and Sukhothai are a good example of that. Pai was fun and relaxing and somewhat adventurous, as I hadn't planned on going there in the first place. While in Sukhothai, it was fun pedaling around the old ruins, but I wouldn't call it the most adventurous places I have been. Sometimes, you go to a destination to see something in particular and that is exactly what happens. Nothing exciting happens and you just check it off your list. Been there, done that. It doesn't take anything away from that particular place, like Sukhothai, it is just that nothing exciting happens while you are there. Someone else might come to exact same place and have the experience of a lifetime. However, for me, that is just not what happened. I did enjoy Sukhothai a lot, it just didn't provide much of story to tell.
To tell the truth, long term travel can be quite mundane at times. Exciting opportunities and adventures do tend to happen more often that in "real life," but that is only because you meet so many new and different people and see so many new and different things. Sometimes, things are exactly how you pictured them to be and sometimes things don't live up to your expectations. Which is unfortunate, but that just how things are. If everything was exciting and adventurous, then eventually it will all lose it luster and everything will be taken for granted. It is the mundane things that make adventurous activities so exciting, because it makes them so much more special.
- comments