June 22nd, 2009
Post by Djbenharvey from Travelpod.com
It’s hard to believe that one week ago, I was running around NYC with a winter hat on, and today I woke up in a beautiful hut in northern Thailand with a view of cows grazing on a rice paddy (paddie?). Basically, after all the flying, driving, hiking, elephant riding, and snake-show-cringing we had been doing, we decided we would do absolutely nothing and just sit by the pool all day. It was hot as hell down in Bangkok, but up here it’s only hot as hell during the days, and cold as hell at night.
This place (Bella Villa) is absolutely gorgeous. 14 raised wooden huts, and they’re not huts the way you think a hut would be – ours has a huge king bed, a nice tv, DVD player, huge slate tiled bathroom, perfectly manicured grounds, and an infinity pool – except that instead of the pool going off infinitely into the ocean, it goes off into a rice paddy. There are wooden swings overlooking the rice fields, and a separate hut for massages. Later we’re heading into town, which we discovered last night – it’s a really quaint town; lots of backpackers but also lots of locals. Very quiet.
Ugh. I had my first “squat toilet” experience last night; if you don’t know what I’m talking about, some bars and even hotels that don’t have Western toilets have these toilets that you stand or squat on when you’re doing your #2 thing. We were sitting at a bar in the middle of Pai, a twenty minute walk from our hut. And being the IBS sufferer that I am, well, I had to go. Which meant I had to go use this awful toilet in the back of the bar; there was no toilet paper, no spray thingy to clean myself. I’m not even going to tell you any more details, but just know it was horrifying. Oh, plus there were these drunken Australian backpackers waiting to use the toilet while I was doing my thing. They kept pounding on the door. It was a nightmare. I guess the only upshot of all this is that I got to use my squat muscles, something I hadn’t done since going to the gym back in NYC.
In Pai we met some drunken travelers who chatted us up; some of them had been doing the travelling thing for a couple weeks, some for eight months, some for ten years. It seems there are varying degrees of pride and showing off when it comes to talking about your travelling experiences. One guy said “I was a teacher for 32 years before I decided to become a beach bum; I earned it.” Another goes, “Oh, you said you guys are going to Koh Phangan? You should go to the Malaysian beaches; they are so much less developed than Koh Phangan.” Whatever. I guess even out in traveling land there is always “that guy” who wants to be the coolest kid in the room. But in this case he wants to be the coolest, drunkest, loudest traveler who has been to the coolest, most beautiful places for the longest time ever.
August 21st, 2008
By Andrew Forbes
The province of Mae Hong Son, in Thailand’s far northwest, once had a reputation as”Siam’s Siberia”—a place of misty hills and deep valleys as far from Bangkok as it was possible to get. Today the same qualities make Mae Hong Son an ideal destination for whitewater rafting on the Pai River, a swift flowing watercourse swollen by the annual monsoons to provide some excellent sport. Stay in the small and isolated town of Pai, populated by both Thais and local hill tribes. The accommodation is surprisingly good, as is the wide choice of food (for some reason there’s an excellent Israeli restaurant!). Rafting facilities are good, and you’ll find expert advice as well.
original post @ http://away.com/tripideas/chiang-mai-rafting-300318.html
April 15th, 2007
When summer season (March- May) starts coming in Thailand, one special thing that all Thai people are looking forward to is Songkran day (or Thai New Year). This is a grand festival of Thailand which is celebrated on 13 – 15 April every year. Songkran is the heritable tradition which represents gratitude, respect as well as relationship of family and society. On the first day morning (April 13th), people go to temple with their family. They go to pray, give food to monks, clean Buddha images by watering and decorating some Thai jasmine flower. Because we believe that this will bring good lick and prosperity to us and household for the New Year. Besides, people like to carry handfuls of sand to the temple which represents the dirt that they carry away on their feet during the rest of the year. This sand is then piled as pagoda and decorated with colourful flags on top. Later in the day people like to do community activities or stay with their big family to keep long relationship each other and cheerfulness for their rest of life. In some of Thailand, such as Chiang Mai Local Council provides Buddha images to be paraded on the main street of city, This encourage people, particularly teenagers and foreigners who don’t go to temple in the morning can water them and pray as well. On the next day (April 14th) it called “Grand Songkran dayâ€, this day people like to go out to throw the water by Thai water bowls or splashed guns to passed by persons. However, this will do with respect and heartiness each other. And it becomes a fascination of festival and can encourage foreigners enjoy the festival as well. On the last day (15th) it’s a time for cleaning and renewal, many Thais take this opportunity to give their home a thorough cleaning for New Year, and some of teenagers still enjoy watering as well. Songkran festival is not only Thai tradition or watering festival, but it’s valuable benefit which you will get from participation. Why don’t to book a trip Songkran festival in Thailand, then you will realise and definitely admire it.
thanks for the cute picture from cm108.com
January 11th, 2007
By bootsmade4wlkin
Here in this little town sitting right beside a little river,surrounded by beautiful forrest-covered mountains, is a little community of people who are stuck. They come only meaning to stay for a couple of days or a week and find themselves in the same hammock two months later. A sleepiness born from total and utter relaxation makes even getting up to order another fruit shake an ordeal. This is a place where no one asks you what you have done that day. They ask how you are, how you’re feeling in the world, because whether you’re here to smoke weed all day or to do some serious detoxing, everyone has that vibe. Everyone considers themselves people of the world, people who absorb things, people who are on some sort of personal quest. And so, in this world of floor pillows and beauty, surrounded by people with similar souls, it’s easy to just…stay.
For me, Pai was exactly what I needed. I was fresh from the craziness of Bangkok and the frustrations of getting my Russian visa taken care of, my body still pretty worn out from the travels of the last three months. Here I was able to free myself from worry and the strain of figuring out what to do next. In the mornings I did two hours of yoga with “Mama”, a crazy but fun Thai woman who fed us fruit afterwards and told us stories of her youth. For lunch I would fill myself up with rice, tofu, and veggies from the vegan restaurant down the street. Sometimes I would go back for more yoga, but sometimes I would just take a nap or read. As the days passed, both my body and my spirit became rejuvinated. I felt healthier with my vegetarian diet, my daily yoga classes, and the days of idleness. My last days, I pampered my body with a full massage and sauna treatment, then pampered my tastebuds at BB’s Wok and Roll cooking class. As the time for departure approaches, I feel the urge to just stay as so many others before me have. I feel the tug of a promised life of leisure and health in a place where inner beauty is just as important as outer beauty. And who knows, if I didn’t have a plane to catch to China in a couple of days, I might have become one of the stuck. But then again, even “pairadise” could get boring if wandering’s in one’s blood…
January 11th, 2007
By phil_and_lisa
4th July – Well we were still feeing pretty lethargic but in danger of becoming some of Pai’s drop outs so we finally managed to muster the energy to hire some mountain bikes. We also felt we should do something other than sitting about on this very auspicious occasion the 4th July. No, nothing to do with America, just that Pip and I have been together 11 years!!!!!!!!! And yes he made the customary remarks about the train robbers not getting that long etc.
The bikes cost us 50 baht each (about 75p) for 25 hour hire and were the best bikes we’ve had so far on our trip. They had 21 gears, well pumped tyres and even had brakes. Knowing that Pai is a mountainous area, we chose the flattest route possible but still had to get off and push several times. The free-wheeling back down was fun though! We passed beautiful countryside scenery and 3 elephant camps along the way. We had to stop to see Joy the baby elephant who kept putting grass on her head and then pulling it off again to impress us. The lack of tourists mean that most of the elephants are chilling out in the jungle and only come in if they have bookings and take it in turns to stay in the camps in case of passing trade. It’s off season now (many of the restaurants and guest houses are closed) but this season is worse than most because of terrorism, SARS, wars and the Burmese problems.
It was 7k to the hot springs and the warmest day since we arrived back in Thailand and it was also the middle of the day. Clever eh! We were therefore very hot and sweaty and looking forward to a relaxing dip. When we got there, we found wonderful landscaped gardens and a pleasant stream with smalls pools at the top. There was a sign saying the water here was 80 degrees!! It bubbled furiously and we thought better of sticking our feet in and wandered downstream a little. Even right at the bottom it was a struggle to put your feet in and so we had a quick rest and then set off back again. While we were eating lunch and patting ourselves on the back for being energetic, the was a huge downpour and we were glad we’d made it back in time. We had a lovely day but I think we’ll struggle to get back on the bikes tomorrow to take them back!
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