Pai

Thailand

September 2005
3 days

Gavin wrote:
We left chang mai and went to a place called Pai which was about a4 hr bus journey away through some lovely mountanous scenery which also made the journey feel like a slow roller coaster.

At pai we spent some time doing the usual watching football and drinking. We also hired a motorbike which was a bit scary (at first) as ive never ridden one. We were going to hire regular bikes and cycle to a nearby elephant camp but due to some recent flooding all but one bridge was down making it a fairly long cycle, so we were talked into hiring a motorbike. It was great fun and very ncie having a motor which made our days exploration more fun as we went further and saw more than we would have on bicycles.

We went to an elephant camp first where we rode bare-back on a huge elephant, it was pretty hairy! I was sitting right on the neck and had to keep my hands pressed against the elephants head which was covered in spiky (like twigs) hair. Great experience we both really enjoyed it.

We then drove to some hot springs but they were not very impresive, although im not sure how to be impressed by a smelly, steaming puddle. We also went to see a waterfall, but were less than impressed as we had just seen two amazing waterfalls in Laos.

The highlight of the day was definately the motorbike and the scenery around the area, it was very beautfiul and great to have the freedom of the bike.

Lorraine wrote:
Spent a few days in a small say in Northern Thailand called Pai - a pretty little town which was quite chilled out. We hired a motorbike for the day and explored round - not too much to see but did an elephant ride - v. painful and almost fell off a couple of times.

More elephant trekking
(it was only about an hour) - long enough tho - nearly fell off a couple of times and lorraines legs got pretty scratched up by the undergrowth - still - awesome!