Pai

Travel guide

Once a gorgeous sleepy town, Pai, while still rather gorgeous, is well and truly on the traveller map through northern Thailand. Old timers and more experienced travellers may sneer at it, as it's certainly not the "real Thailand" any more but if you're a young backpacker on a first trip to Thailand it can seem like a great scene and it is easily accessible in every sense.

Pai old city, situated on the left bank of Pai river by Wiang Nur village, dates back to the Lanna period when it was an important regional centre, though there's nothing much left of it to see these days. During the 1970s it was probably a fairly dangerous spot, being a Kuomintang-controlled area and an important opium transit centre. In the 1980s the area was cleaned up and a sealed road to Pai was built. The pesky KMT were offered decent farmland and Khun Sa and his Shan State Army were far enough away to not pose a threat, while the lingering KMT insurgency was restricted to remoter northern areas such as Nan, effectively making the area attractive to tourists at last.

Pai was relatively easily accessed from the existing tourism centre of Chiang Mai and soon became de rigueur on any northern Thailand trip. It was originally popularised as a rest-stop on what was once a far more gruelling bus trip from Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son, but adventurous trekkers soon started to flood in along with a wave of backpackers looking for cheap grass, easily available opium and something to do while waiting for the next Ko Pha Ngan full moon party.

The drugs scene has now been seriously clamped down upon and Pai has had a bit of a rebranding as a rural Chiang Mai with wholesome activities, picturesque scenery and a chilled out scene. The influx of farang with northern Thai wives setting up cafes or guesthouses in Pai has been followed by a second influx of pseudo-hippy types from the further reaches of Chattuchak market and Ko Pha Ngan, who have set up resorts for weekender Thai yuppies from the big cities. Shops selling handicrafts, jewellery, tattoos, mojitos and traditional Lisu cheesecake and cappuccinos now abound.

Bangkokians looking for a sea change too have bought up land and built either resorts or personal homes in an attempt to recreate what they feel has been lost in Thailand's urban centres. A strong new age scene translates into an organic food industry and all manner of holistic courses being offered. Yoga courses and classes, Thai cooking schools and a near endless range of massage and spa treatments all vie for attention.

Unlike Chiang Mai and to a lesser extent Mae Hong Son, Pai doesn't have much to see in the traditional sense of sightseeing. Rather people come to either just hang out and bide their time, or to explore the hinterland. A plethora of activities are available, including exploring the countryside by foot, motorbike, elephant or bamboo raft. The mountainous scenery and proximity to the Burmese border has seen several ethnic minority groups settle in the area and these villages are often visited by the treks striking out from Pai -- as are some of the surrounding waterfalls. In more recent years white-water rafting has become popular and it's possible to raft almost all of the way to Mae Hong Son.

Thai tourists now far outweigh the backpackers during high season and Chaisongkran Road turns into a rural replica of Saturday night Khao San Road. You can be hard pushed to find a room, a table in a restaurant or get someone to serve you in a coffee shop and you'd be even more hard pushed to find a local -- even the Lisu vendors can come from anything up to 100km away!

Needless to say, Pai is best avoided during high season from November to January, when most accommodation prices double and sometimes even triple. Try out one of the genuinely bucolic rural villages in other northern provinces, though you may have to forgo the mojitos, cheesecakes and Facebook access, or move up to Soppong. If you can't avoid peak season but still want to visit Pai, look carefully as you'll still find some reasonable deals -- it's worth looking farther out of town to at least escape the crowds.

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Fresh off our Asia travel forum

Here are some discussions off the Travelfish forum, perhaps related to Pai. You can find the full forum here.

Pai reviews

Backchat from the Travelfish community

Pai - more than meets the eye.
By BruceMoon (dabbler - 5 reviews)
Written on 9th June, 2009 after a visit to Pai in ,
Pai has incurred some unjustified flack over recent years. Maybe it's time to reconsider Pai as the great destination that it is.

As is widely known, Pai was a hippie hang out. But, no more. As described above, the days of hippie's and other off the wall stuff have long gone. As the dialogue above describes, the town has developed well into an arts locale and new age 'scene' (or is it culture?). Faced with the full-on commercialism of Chiang Mai Pai, this less-commercial relaxedness is a major part of the reason why Pai has appeal.

Unlike Mae Hong Song (or similar towns), Pai is not a town primarily servicing the surrounding villages, and somewhat catering to tourists. Rather, Pai is much more focussed on tourist needs (and somewhat caters to surrounding locals). And, the charming locals of Pai do a good job of servicing tourist needs in a way that is laid back. I found touts selling whatever to be nicely absent.

Most towns servicing the wider community have a city centre (of some sort or another). Pai has no city centre with the obligatory business, rather, the town is quite spread out. This also means that wheels are almost a necessity (at my stage of life, its motorised wheels!). At night, the pub scene is great and the (usual) offerings of music mean that its likely you won't stop at the one place all night (again, wheels).

In some respects, the 'centre' of Pai is not the shopped streets, but the river. For here all sorts of activities abound.

One often overlooked activity of Pai - and hardly available elsewhere - is the river stroll on an elephant. Located some clicks from town, the originator - 'Thoms' - has competition. But, all seek to take the paying passenger (rider?) bare-back into the river. There, the passenger/s are sprayed with trunk water, slid sideways into the water, and exposed to all sorts of other elephantantics. To be in the river with an elephant - where it is in enjoyment - is far more enjoyable than merely being carted across the landscape.

Perhaps the main reason why Pai is an attractive tourist town is that it does have so many activities on offer, it is a reasonable example of a rural Thai town, it does cater well to & for the tourist, and importantly, it usually does not appear like a tourist hotspot.

If you are looking for the undisturbed, untouristed Thai town, Pai isn't it! But, if you want to see an less than full-on commercial rural Thai town, but with a host of activities to entertain, and a good choice of accommodation and food options, then Pai will certainly attract.

- - - - -

Why I chose the numbers...

Sights & activities: while each may not be the best available in Thailand, the host of offerings puts it 'up there'.

History & culture: Not much history evident, but the art & laid back culture boosts the ranking.

Scenery & environment: Like nearly all of Thailand, the environment is largely modified. But, there is plenty of vegetated scenery and in some places, the environment is 'there'.

Eat & drink: It's not Bangkok, but as a rural town, it has pretty much everything (including a good pub & music scene).

Traveller scene: Either you like being in a tourist town, or you don't. If remoteness & lack of tourists is your thing - too bad. If entertainment is the number, then you'll be heartened.

Romance: I'm 60+, I'm afraid I've lost the measure!!!

Value for money: depends, it's touristy, so its not cheap!

I'll be back or not: After I've visited everywhere else in the world, I'll definitely be back!

Sights & activities   History & culture   Scenery & environment   Eat & drink

Traveller's scene   Romance   Value for money   I'll be back (or not)

Also reviewed by BruceMoon: Luang Nam Tha, Mai Chau, Umphang,

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