Pai Hot Springs

The road from Chang Mai to Pai was not one for the faint hearted.... 762 hair pin bends later and we had arrived.What a beautiful wonderful place!! Me and the girls found a room for 3 whilst the guys got a three bed place which became known as the 'bachelor pad' and it sure lived up to its title!!! Thank God there was no deposit haha!
Pai is a …

Hidden between the vast and seemingly endless mountain range of northern Thailand lies Pai, a small but well trodden and supplied town (even with 762 curves between itself and Chiang Mai – a stat they're very proud of) that attracts not only backpackers but also tourists from Thailand. This is a marked change from the South where …

Woke up first thing after a decent night's sleep good to go and hire a bike, it was a beautiful morning out there and me, Mike, Mike's friend Ella and Tom made our way over to hire bikes before we set off for the hot springs, with Tom riding as a passenger on the back of mine having had two excursions on those bikes!!

We passed Gav, Bev …

Pai is one of those places that most people who have travelled in South East Asia tend to rave about, so we had heard a lot before arriving. Nothing however could have prepared me for the legendary 762 curves in the admittedly scenic 3 hour drive through Mae Hong Son province to get there. Fortunately our driver was not a maniac, drove at a steady …

Well, Pai, the place that everyone recommended to us on our travels - a small hippy style town up in the mountains near the Burmese border. As most travellers have similar ideas and visions for their destinations, we had to check it out. So after a heavy night out in Chiang Mai we got the early bus up (4hours).



The bus journey …

... , called Bon. Bon tells us that we will be trekking through a couple of Karen villages, taking a dip in some waterfalls and hot springs, trying out elephant riding, and rafting down a river. It all sounds exciting enough and we look forward to not ...

... the mahout trainees from Lampang.  Pretty funny.  So we caught up and traded stories. Outside of town there are some hot springs.  One night I drove out to try them out.  The private ones were closed so went to the public springs ...

... much appreciated. You could in exchange learn about weaving, gibbons or go for walks or elephant rides or swim in waterfalls or hot springs. Anyway, that chance is there for people if they want it. We slept on Jaree's floor after lessons and a ...

... the rain fell harder and a massive storm rolled in overnight. The next morning we rented a motorbike and rode out to a gorgeous hot springs resort.  They had a small hot pool, a medium warm pool and a large cool infinity pool with lounge chairs ...

... home. The towns' aroma is a pleasant mixture of patchouli oil and Thai curry. Just outside town offers chances to relax in hot springs or visit waterfalls. But more than what this town offers to travelers, is its feeling and spirit which makes it so ...

... May. Pai still hasn't lost it's charm though. There are still the local attractions just outside the town, such as the hot springs, waterfalls and canyon. But being the start of the hot dry season the waterfall is reduced somewhat in size. And ...

... country to follow right sided ways. No harm done and in fact it was an amusing way to start the ride off. We visited some hot springs where the water was so hot some Chinese tourists were cooking eggs in a plastic bag. We took photos and when the eggs ...

... is excellent and there is little traffic and good road surface. We hired a bike for a fews days and took a trip out to the hot springs. The water is almost unbearably hot in the lower pools (think stepping into a roasting hot bath) and up to 80C at the ...

... times on our way to the Mae Yen Waterfall, bicycled in the searing daytime temperatures to the even hotter hot springs and to the awesome Pai Canyon, and feasted on the exotic richness of dragon fruit, mangosteens, pineapple, mandarins, and just plain ...

... a motor bike.  We decided to head to a nearby hot spring for a dip.  What we didn't know was when they say HOT springs, they mean it!  The water temperature was 80C or 176F, hot enough to boil eggs (for reference, hot tubs are usually set ...