Chiang Mai and Pai

Josh and I kicked off our midterm vacation in two of Thailand’s hippest places- Chiang Mai and Pai.

Chiang Mai is exactly east of our Nan Province, but mountainous landscapes prohibit a direct route, so a 6 hour southern loop by bus was how our journey began.  During my second time in Chiang Mai, I went on an urban walking tour to famous Buddhist temples with Jill (who flew up for the weekend), found a delicious Jewish restaurant, explored an exotic forest temple and its surroundings, ran a half marathon and naturally celebrated in the evenings, including a memorable night that started at “THC Bar,” continued at a Thai club, and shamefully ended at McDonalds.  Luckily I had a full day to recover before the half marathon, which started a day later at 5 in the morning.  Due to the early starting time, I passed an amusing combination of drunken partiers stumbling on their way back from the night out, as well as a wave of Buddhist monks making their early rounds for food in exchange for blessings.  There were a handful of stops along the road with water and bananas for the runners, but at one point I mistook offerings for the monks as one of the hydrating stations.

The three hour minibus ride north from Chiang Mai to Pai is notoriously twisty, with supposedly 762 curves along the way.  After the nausea, Josh and I checked into a hostel, rented motorbikes and started to explore.  Pai has a fitting reputation as a hippie town and the foreigners there seemed much more like real travelers than tourists (a much appreciated distinction from Khao San Road in Bangkok).  It was a great place to relax and enjoy the wealth of nearby nature attractions.  We found a tranquil river and waterfall, some pretty tight stalactites and mighty stalagmites in a massive cave and inviting canyon trails overlooking misty mountains disappearing into the morning clouds.  Pai was charmingly chill and we were reluctant to leave.

However, the fact that we were leaving Pai to spend New Year’s on Ko Phi Phi, arguably Thailand’s most beautiful island, helped us say “lagorn” (goodbye) to the northern haven.  Time to get out the bathing suit!