Pai

Left Chiang Mai bound for Pai, a/c mini bus. Interestingly it takes 

3.1459 hours, an hour less than the bigger bus, and not much difference in cost. Must be something to do with the diameter of the wheels!!

Pai is north west of Chiang Mai, a distance of 130 km. A steep and winding drive, with 762 curves, not gentle ones, rather gut wrenching switchbacks, out of one and directly into the next.

Luckily no one was sick or I'm sure we would have been ankle deep in vomit. There were some very green looking faces...

Pai is a laid back, ex hippy kind of place. Has a nice night market, lots of eating houses and bars. Its still the low season, but starting to gear up for the high season, so prices are competitive. For example our riverside bamboo bungalow costs 1200 bhat in the high season (£24) per night, and in the low 400 bhat (£8), including breakfast and free bike hire.

Quite a number of Chinese tourists, many of whom hire mopeds and scooters. Its fun to watch them as they have absolutely no road sense, apparently no riding experience, and a lot don't bother with helmets. They now have the highest accident rates of any group in Thailand. Thankfully most accidents are low speed and just result in a bit of road rash.

Not a great deal to see here, but a nice place to chill out for a few days.

Another interesting coincidence is the fact that it is exactly 3.1459 metres from the bamboo bungalow to the fridge that contains the beer!!