The road to Pai.

After graduation, it was time for a little bit of rest and relaxation with my hubby. We left early the next morning to head up to Pai for one night, after which we would travel to the beach for another 5. I was hoping to spend a bit more time in the far north of Thailand and had been told time and time again by friends and strangers, "You have to go to Pai". I was also aching to dip my body in the local hot springs. After 6 weeks and not a single bath, I had grown tired of luke warm showers and missed the therapeutic relief only a hot mineral bath could give. I'm a bath baby and have a salt bath every chance I get. One night in Pai was going to have to do.

I had certainly found the right place to do it! Pripta Boutique Resort about a 10 minute drive from downtown Pai, close to the hot springs. I had found it on-line on http://www.agoda.ca/ and fell in love. It had everything I wanted - a quiet, secluded, romantic getaway, complete with hot springs and a private riverside villa. All for about $100 Canadian, which by Thai standards is quite a bit but to us is less then one night in downtown Toronto. I'm happy to say it was worth every penny. I was in my little piece of Pai heaven.

Getting there though, was an adventure all on it's own. I had been warned. By guide books, friends, strangers and locals, time and time again - that the road to Pai is treacherous, paved with winding roads, fast speeds and is best done on an empty stomach, with gravol. They were right and I'm so grateful that we listened, because it was one hell of a ride. From Chiang Mai to Pai it is 120kms, there are 762 turns on the road and the trip is about 3 hours long. For someone with a notorious weak stomach, I was worried!

Thankfully it all worked out. I never got nauseous or sick, or scared, even though we were sitting right up front with the driver in full view of everything. I was so tired and it was early enough in the day that I slept pretty much the whole way, I could barely keep my eyelids open. We stopped twice. Once to have a quick bathroom/snack break and the second when we got a flat tire. We all had to climb out with every piece of luggage, on the side of a sharp turn on a pretty narrow strip of road while our driver pulled a new tire out of the back of the van and changed it. It was pretty quick and none of us got squashed by a bus. I even managed to watch a group of cattle wander around the jungle by the side of the road, helping themselves to an early lunch along the way, their metal bells clanking as they walked. Then it was back to the winding road. Anyone who likes to drive would love this, there isn't a straight stretch except for the road you take to get to the base of the mountain.


We got to the bus station a bit later then expected, the passengers waiting were practically crawling over me to get in. Just waking up, I groggily found my way out, grabbed our bags and started looking around for a cab. There weren't any, just one guy taking people to one particular hotel that he was trying to sell. We asked him if he could take us to Pripta and he said no, but knew someone that could. A few minutes later he comes back with another guy who says he can take us there. We were both anxious to get settled and said yes, following him through a tiny gate, a temple and finally to his pick-up truck in the parking lot. We hopped in the back, opting for the "fresh air" option and enjoyed the 10-15 minute drive to our resort.

Once we got out of the city it was just mountains, rice fields and huts as far as the eye could see, we even passed an elephant on the road - how cool is that? When we got to Pripta - this is what we were greeted by and we felt ourselves instantly relax. We are given a welcome drink, a nice man checks us in and then we are told "our staff will take you to your private villa now". big sigh I could get used to hearing that! Two tiny Thai ladies drag our luggage down the hill, despite us telling them that "it's ok!". They are probably in better shape then we are though... We go down and down the hill until we are at the last villa by a river. A little wooden plank and to the left we enter the villa, through large creaky wooden doors and it is everything and more than we expected.

King bed, overlooking our private deck.

View from the villa. 

Lying in bed looking out. Could get used to this... 

Private hot springs tub, from the deck. 

This, my friends, is what bliss looks like. 

The whole villa and stairs coming down to the tub.

The view - river and dried up rice paddies in the distance.

Doors into the bathroom, a very french feel to it. 

Bathroom sink. 

Soap & basket of scented talcum powder, shampoo & conditioner.

The shower, with doors that lead to the hot springs tub.

The river in front of us. 

The river, shining in the sun. 

We spent the day napping, soaking in the tub and gazing over the river from the deck. As the sun set down we started getting ready for dinner and a night downtown. I had asked my husband what he felt like eating that night and he said Italian, so I looked online and found a place that kept coming up over and over, "Baan Pizza." With an address, phone number and name we headed up to catch a cab and enjoy a night out. So we were a little surprised when we found out the resort didn't have any taxis that can take us in to town. I guess most people rent mopeds or cars to get them around Pai, they don't seem to have any other form of transport like tuk-tuks, cabs or buses. Thankfully the driver that got us there also gave us his phone number in case we needed to get around. Otherwise I'm not sure what we would have done! The manager at the resort even brought us a cold glass of apple juice while we waited about 15 minutes.

"The hunt for the elusive Baan Pizza"

I asked the driver as we got in if he could take us to Baan Pizza and he seemed to know where it was so we headed that way. Nothing this night went as planned, but we did our best to roll with it. He stopped at a different pizza place, Amico's Pizza, but not Baan Pizza. Since I'd spent quite a bit of time researching this place and reading so many rave reviews, I wanted to keep looking. A map was brought out, we drove around for a bit, called the place but there was no answer and finally he just dropped us at the start to the night market and told us it was in there to the right. We made arrangements for a friend of his to pick us up, he wrote down his name and number and pointed at a meeting place for later. If all else failed I could call him and he could get in touch with him. This other guy apparently lived near our resort. Have I mentioned that I don't have a cellphone in Thailand?

Off we go into the night, in search of Baan Pizza. There is a small night market going on so we walk through it and the usual food and drink stalls, clothes and souvenir stalls trying to find italian in a tiny northern town. We get to the end of the street and turn right, walking down the main strip for quite a bit, still not seeing the restaurant or the side street it is on. Not sure if we were even going in the right direction we stop and go back to the main intersection we were just at to turn around the other way. We ask for directions twice, go back through the night market for a bit and then out of frustration and hunger end up at the first italian restaurant we were at in the first place, Amico's. I let my Baan Pizza go and just let my tummy do the talking. We both had thin-crust pizza and garlic bread pita. Mine was 5 cheeses and I was delighted to find they weren't just mixed together but rather lined up side by side so you could really taste and savour the differences in flavour. Yum. Bellies full and a couple of drinks in us we wander out to check out the market in more detail and see what Pai has to offer. I bought two original, non-digital photography prints from a local. Both beautiful and a perfectly unique souvenir. And we got our usual magnet to add to our collection. We stopped at a jazz bar and listened to music for awhile, cruised by a bamboo tattoo shop and watched one in progress while discussing the differences between machine and bamboo with a patron outside. Hand in hand walking down a tiny little street I laughingly joke that "wouldn't it be funny if we found Baan Pizza now?", and low and behold, not one block later, wouldn't we do just that... We both erupted with laughter when we noticed the sign out that said "Day Off" and finally it all made sense, why the driver couldn't get through to the restaurant for directions and even if he did we wouldn't have been able to eat there anyways. It was where the driver had pointed to and if we had just kept going for a little bit longer down that one street before turning around we would have found it. Ah well, what can you do? At least I felt better knowing that it did exist! I had to get a shot outside the "elusive Baan Pizza" (See above). In Thailand, you never know when a place will close, they don't seem to follow any of the same rules that we do back home.

We decide to call it a night and find a pay phone to call our next driver, who has no idea what we look like, barely speaks any english and is a complete stranger to us. The first pay phone doesn't work for some reason, the second takes our money before we can properly dial the number until we finally manage to get through to him. It seemed like we had come to an agreement with him about where and when to pick us up but you never know in a foreign country, my Thai isn't so great! And wrong again we are, when after what seemed like forever he still hadn't come, we didn't have any more change to call him again and didn't really know what to do. We ended up asking one of the night market vendors to call him for us and she told him where we were. So generous and it worked, our driver was there in a few minutes and we got home safely. We drew a bath with the hot spring water for the second time and soaked looking up at the stars, sleeping like babies. Vacation at last!

In the morning the staff brought us breakfast that we enjoyed out on the deck. We packed up and headed back into town, this time taken by the hotel driver unlike the previous night. Complementary even! Back to the bus station I have just enough time to sneak out to the Curry Shack, that was recommended over and over to me by one of my RMT's, Mr. Oliver Stubbs. Every time we were talking about Thailand (he has spent quite a bit of time here), he would say "don't forget to visit the Curry Shack!" I had exactly 45 minutes to find the place, get the food and get back to the bus terminal. Thankfully this time it was easy, it was one block away, easy to find, easy to order and I made it back just in time to enjoy their coconut curry with chicken, served in a coconut. It was really, really good. The chef had used the juice and the inside of the coconut to cook the dish and it came with brown rice. I added a mixed fruit smoothie to top it all off. I was a little bit too full for our crazy ride back down the mountain, but it was totally worth it! I managed to get back to Chiang Mai without throwing up, but unfortunately I can't say the same for all of my bus mates.

I can see why so many of my friends have fallen for Pai, it really is a sleepy town with more hippies in one area code then I've ever seen! If Thailand is hippie heaven, Pai is the mecca. I saw more fishermen pants and long dreadlocks then I have in my entire time here. It seems like a happy little place that has a good nightlife in town and all the quiet you ever wanted just outside of town. I'll definitely be back one day, if only for that hot springs tub....