TrongpaiExpat
July 20th, 2009, 12:43
This was just a short 4 day trip, two nights in Chiang Mai and then 2 in Pai in Mai Hong Son Province. We flew out of ol' Don Muang on Nok to Chiang Mai. Several months ago the BF and I were at a travel fair in Bangkok and I bought a package on this Resort in Pai called "The Quarter" along with discounted Nok airfare and some Budget Car vouchers. I posted a report on this travel fair several months ago.
Our first night as usual for us was a short stay at PJ Place, always a pleasure and up to high standards. I had intended on making a little tour of the gay bars but things did not work out as planed. We were there on a weekday, places were closed, but I was told things pick up on weekends. We wanted to check out "Note's" new bar The Radchada. First night we could not find it but went back in the day time and found it. We had passed by it several times the previous night but the lights were out and the sign is small. Next night we set out again but still not open? The Garden bar had two farang customers and the Adams Apple was all but empty. The go-go section not yet open but the place looks very nice. So, we gave up on the gay bars and found this very nice restaurant/bar around the corner from the Adams Apple, Sawatdee Sanutharn.
I have been to Chiang Mai many time but never been to the Chiang Mai National Museum so we decided to go. It portrays the history of Chiang Mai in an interesting way and is not the usual politically correct crap.
The gay scene was quite quiet but I would not call all of Chiang Mai dead. There were visitors, there's traffic and PJ's was doing well for slow season. Some of the better know restaurants had customers. The only place that really displayed the downturn in tourist numbers was the Night Bazaar.
To get to Pia, we drove up hwy 107 in the direction of Chiang Dao and picked up hwy 1095 straight to Pia. Well, it was anything but "straight" lots of hair pin curves, steep climbs and curves but the road was in excellent condition. Pai is not far but takes 3 to 4 hours because only the first 30 min or so is on level pavement. There must be a bus every hour from Chiang Mai, one with air the other not, small mountain buses.
The first stop was was Mok Fa National Park, Chiang Mai Provence, off hwy 1095. It's about 1 1/2 hours from Chiang Mai and you could make it there on a day trip. A short 300M walk along a foot path takes you to a high waterfall. Swimming is excellent and the water in the rainy season is not that cold. I would imagine it's very cold in the winter. There is one nature hiking trail and it starts out easy and then gets steep and not really all that easy to follow. A few hours of that and we backed out before getting lost. There was cell phone service all along the trail and we registered at the park ranger station, but what do you say if your lost?
We got in to Pai while it was still light. I would not want to drive hwy 1095 at night. The closer you get to Pai the more the road climbs and winds and my ears popped a few times. Pai is an interesting little town. Farangs have found it and they are mostly young in groups, a few young families, French, Dutch and Scandinavians. English speaking visitors are not common and the usual middle aged and geezer Pattaya farangs, well nourished Germans retired couples, Russians, and Arabs are not in the mix. Pai is off the huge tour bus route, they could not make the climb. There were some Thai tourists and we did spot a few Thai tom boy couples.
The Quarter was very nice. I am not sure I would pay the high season rates listed on the web page. We paid nothing near those rates. A walk in Swedish family walked in just as we were checking in and got a deep discount as well as a first offer. The Quarter was about 80% occupied. Not bad for slow season and the fact that there's a glut of resorts and guest houses in Pai with several more under construction. The Quarter is closer to town and if you did arrive via the bus, you could walk to this hotel. That is, if you just wanted to see Pai. The purpose of this trip was to visit National Parks, hot springs, waterfalls and none of that is in the little town of Pai. Some of the places we went were way off the hwy, on narrow winding steep roads.
We did take in a few of the in town sights and they are not your usual tourist traps. There's a nice Hainanese Village, a Lisu Village and the main street is turned into a walking street at night. These villages are not those tourist packaged fake villages selling packaged trinkets. These villages even have guest houses. There's lots of funky shops, restaurnats and a few low key open bars. The name "hippy" incorporated into some of their names but the hippy contingent I guess has moved on to other places, or died out, and the tourist looked more like Euro professional/working class people to me. I understand that there's a small farang expat community living in Pai. There is no visible gay places that I noticed. I am sure there's gay people but no bars or hang-outs.
The closest National Park waterfall to Pai is Mo Paeng. From the parking lot it's about a 200m walk down and up steps. Not as impressive as the one closer to Chiang Mai, Mok Fa but after a few young farang ladies left we had the place to ourselves. There's no hiking paths in this park. Then the nearest hot springs is Tha Pai Hot Springs. There's are several levels and the higher you go the hotter the water. The park had about 20 visitors mostly Scandinavians and a few locals using the natural formed bathing pools. We used one of the middle pools and had a nice hot soak.
One of the hot springs we went to was a long way off hwy 1095, Muang Pong Springs, along interesting little towns and mountain farming land. I expected to be alone, who would take this winding road that far off the hyw but when we got there there were two Swedish families in pick up trucks at the springs. A four wheel drive vehicle was better suited for this road but the Budget Honda City rental did OK but I had to be very careful.
On the way back we had some time and followed a sign for a "guiser". The name was Pong Dueat Guiser and Hot Springs. From the parking lot it was a 350m walk along a paved path with some steps. We came to a rock formation with pools of bubbling water shooting up a few meters with the slight sent of sulfur. You would not get in the water here but there was a sign 600m to pool bathing but we were short on time and did not go that far into the park. The only other person we saw at this park was a Thai couple and once they left we had the guiser to ourselves.
My tour of Pai was self drive and self guided. Most who visit Pai arrive by arranged transport, public transportation or on a small packaged tour group. There are motorbikes for rent but no cars in Pai. The motorbikes are ok if you stay in the Pai valley but I would not feel safe on those out of town mountain roads. Thai have a tendency to push driving to a dangerous extreme. There's a yellow line for the length of hwy 1095 but there's the Thai imaginary third lane for passing and you have to be alert in going around a corner and coming head on with a passing vehicle in your lane. The tour van driver are the worse.
This was my third journey into Mai Hong Song Provence. The other two hit the more usual tourist spots.One in particular, an interesting huge cave with a river with a river running through it, Tham Lot, I highly recommend but having been there twice before, I did not venture up in that direction. It's about half way between Mai Hong Son and Pai and worth the time it takes to get there. I wrote a report on Lod Sod and Mai Hong Son a few years ago.
Our first night as usual for us was a short stay at PJ Place, always a pleasure and up to high standards. I had intended on making a little tour of the gay bars but things did not work out as planed. We were there on a weekday, places were closed, but I was told things pick up on weekends. We wanted to check out "Note's" new bar The Radchada. First night we could not find it but went back in the day time and found it. We had passed by it several times the previous night but the lights were out and the sign is small. Next night we set out again but still not open? The Garden bar had two farang customers and the Adams Apple was all but empty. The go-go section not yet open but the place looks very nice. So, we gave up on the gay bars and found this very nice restaurant/bar around the corner from the Adams Apple, Sawatdee Sanutharn.
I have been to Chiang Mai many time but never been to the Chiang Mai National Museum so we decided to go. It portrays the history of Chiang Mai in an interesting way and is not the usual politically correct crap.
The gay scene was quite quiet but I would not call all of Chiang Mai dead. There were visitors, there's traffic and PJ's was doing well for slow season. Some of the better know restaurants had customers. The only place that really displayed the downturn in tourist numbers was the Night Bazaar.
To get to Pia, we drove up hwy 107 in the direction of Chiang Dao and picked up hwy 1095 straight to Pia. Well, it was anything but "straight" lots of hair pin curves, steep climbs and curves but the road was in excellent condition. Pai is not far but takes 3 to 4 hours because only the first 30 min or so is on level pavement. There must be a bus every hour from Chiang Mai, one with air the other not, small mountain buses.
The first stop was was Mok Fa National Park, Chiang Mai Provence, off hwy 1095. It's about 1 1/2 hours from Chiang Mai and you could make it there on a day trip. A short 300M walk along a foot path takes you to a high waterfall. Swimming is excellent and the water in the rainy season is not that cold. I would imagine it's very cold in the winter. There is one nature hiking trail and it starts out easy and then gets steep and not really all that easy to follow. A few hours of that and we backed out before getting lost. There was cell phone service all along the trail and we registered at the park ranger station, but what do you say if your lost?
We got in to Pai while it was still light. I would not want to drive hwy 1095 at night. The closer you get to Pai the more the road climbs and winds and my ears popped a few times. Pai is an interesting little town. Farangs have found it and they are mostly young in groups, a few young families, French, Dutch and Scandinavians. English speaking visitors are not common and the usual middle aged and geezer Pattaya farangs, well nourished Germans retired couples, Russians, and Arabs are not in the mix. Pai is off the huge tour bus route, they could not make the climb. There were some Thai tourists and we did spot a few Thai tom boy couples.
The Quarter was very nice. I am not sure I would pay the high season rates listed on the web page. We paid nothing near those rates. A walk in Swedish family walked in just as we were checking in and got a deep discount as well as a first offer. The Quarter was about 80% occupied. Not bad for slow season and the fact that there's a glut of resorts and guest houses in Pai with several more under construction. The Quarter is closer to town and if you did arrive via the bus, you could walk to this hotel. That is, if you just wanted to see Pai. The purpose of this trip was to visit National Parks, hot springs, waterfalls and none of that is in the little town of Pai. Some of the places we went were way off the hwy, on narrow winding steep roads.
We did take in a few of the in town sights and they are not your usual tourist traps. There's a nice Hainanese Village, a Lisu Village and the main street is turned into a walking street at night. These villages are not those tourist packaged fake villages selling packaged trinkets. These villages even have guest houses. There's lots of funky shops, restaurnats and a few low key open bars. The name "hippy" incorporated into some of their names but the hippy contingent I guess has moved on to other places, or died out, and the tourist looked more like Euro professional/working class people to me. I understand that there's a small farang expat community living in Pai. There is no visible gay places that I noticed. I am sure there's gay people but no bars or hang-outs.
The closest National Park waterfall to Pai is Mo Paeng. From the parking lot it's about a 200m walk down and up steps. Not as impressive as the one closer to Chiang Mai, Mok Fa but after a few young farang ladies left we had the place to ourselves. There's no hiking paths in this park. Then the nearest hot springs is Tha Pai Hot Springs. There's are several levels and the higher you go the hotter the water. The park had about 20 visitors mostly Scandinavians and a few locals using the natural formed bathing pools. We used one of the middle pools and had a nice hot soak.
One of the hot springs we went to was a long way off hwy 1095, Muang Pong Springs, along interesting little towns and mountain farming land. I expected to be alone, who would take this winding road that far off the hyw but when we got there there were two Swedish families in pick up trucks at the springs. A four wheel drive vehicle was better suited for this road but the Budget Honda City rental did OK but I had to be very careful.
On the way back we had some time and followed a sign for a "guiser". The name was Pong Dueat Guiser and Hot Springs. From the parking lot it was a 350m walk along a paved path with some steps. We came to a rock formation with pools of bubbling water shooting up a few meters with the slight sent of sulfur. You would not get in the water here but there was a sign 600m to pool bathing but we were short on time and did not go that far into the park. The only other person we saw at this park was a Thai couple and once they left we had the guiser to ourselves.
My tour of Pai was self drive and self guided. Most who visit Pai arrive by arranged transport, public transportation or on a small packaged tour group. There are motorbikes for rent but no cars in Pai. The motorbikes are ok if you stay in the Pai valley but I would not feel safe on those out of town mountain roads. Thai have a tendency to push driving to a dangerous extreme. There's a yellow line for the length of hwy 1095 but there's the Thai imaginary third lane for passing and you have to be alert in going around a corner and coming head on with a passing vehicle in your lane. The tour van driver are the worse.
This was my third journey into Mai Hong Song Provence. The other two hit the more usual tourist spots.One in particular, an interesting huge cave with a river with a river running through it, Tham Lot, I highly recommend but having been there twice before, I did not venture up in that direction. It's about half way between Mai Hong Son and Pai and worth the time it takes to get there. I wrote a report on Lod Sod and Mai Hong Son a few years ago.