The Life of Pai

November 5, 2024

I was very excited to get to Pai.  I had not heard much about it, but from what little I had, it seemed to me like it was a lot like Chiang Mai was 30 years ago when I visited as a much younger man.  I remember taking the 13 hour night bus from Bangkok up to Chiang Mai in 1991 and stepping off into a mountain jungle paradise.  Well, there was a developed city then from which we embarked on a jungle trek, but still it felt more like a backpackers haven and not the bustling metropolis that it is today. 

That is how I felt when we completed the 3 hour drive from Chiang Mai to Pai and took a walk through the old town in search of food.  While there certainly seems like enough nightlife culture to satiate the young and single, there is definitely a more chill, hippie vibe permeating this mountain village.  The main walking streets, officially called Chaisongkran Road and Rungsiyanon Road, but known colloquially as "Night Market Street", are filled with food stalls of all kinds and clothing and knick knack shops as well as bars and restaurants catering to most all palettes. 

We spent two weeks in Pai at the lovely Pai Iyara Resort, a modest, aging collection of houses and huts about 10 minutes from the old town action.  There was a decent sized pool so the kids were more than content to hang at the resort all day after their schooling, but we managed to get away for a few specacular day trips to see the Tha Pai Hot Springs, the Kho Ku So Bamboo Bridge and Pombok Waterfall, and the beautiful, but frightening Pai Canyon - all on the visitors Must See list.  

In addition, we were able to connect with the BLISS Worldschool hub and enjoy a couple of activities with other like minded families with kids of similar ages. While our kids are all hard core introverts, I think it was good for them to be around kids their ages and of similar backgrounds for the first time in 5 months.

Our first day trip was to the Tha Pai Hot Springs where the kids had an impromptu science lesson whilst enjoying the springs 32-37 degree (Celcius) waters.  Francesca took them through how they were seeing a liquid become a gas (steam) and a gas (clouds) become a liquid (rain).  That is, by the way, the essence of the Worldschooling concept - that kids learn more out in the great wide world then confined to a classroom. 

I made a short video of the hot springs and the various pools of differing temperatures. 

The Bamboo Bridge, or Kho Su So in Thai, was a highlight of the trip.  There is definitely a reason that it is top of every tour company's must see list. Fortunately we were there in shoulder season which meant not only much smaller crowds, but also that the temperatures were not so hot and the rice fields were still green and not brown after the harvest. 

I made a short video of the Bamboo Bridge to help capture its magic in live motion.

The Pam Bok Waterfall is only a short distance from the bamboo bridge on the way back to Pai central.  At the trail head there is a kiosk with prices listed for the entrance fee, both for Thai locals and Tourists, but the gatekeeper charged us something in between those two.  Maybe he thought my 1/2 Filippino kids were Thai? 

The Waterfall was a nice, short walk/hike up from the parking lot to the falls. Ryan and Finley, our consumate adventurous risk takers enjoyed frolicking in the lower falls while Austen and Francesca, our more risk averse, less adventurous team members watched on from above. 

Here is a quick video of Pam Bok Falls.

Pai Canyon was also a spectacular day trip, but since there is an element of danger - I kid you not, 16 people have died in Pai Canyon in the first 9 months of 2024 with 5 perishing in August alone - the girls opted to stay behind and have a spa day instead.  So Ryan and I risked life and limb alone in our quest for adventure. 

In reality, while there were certainly some places that were treacherous, if one is not careless (and doesn't suffer from vertigo!) there should be no issue with crossing even the narrowest paths safely.  Ryan and I had heard about a 1.5 mile loop trail, but no one we asked seemed to know about it nor were there any signs, but with the sun fading we followed a path down into the forest, across rivers and back up the other side to complete the loop, just in time for sunset. 

Here is a quick video of Pai Canyon.....

We also enjoyed visiting a couple of the large Buddha statues in the valley - one of them being a short walk from the Pai Iyara Resort and the other being the famous White Buddha.  If you are interested, here is a post I put together from some research Ryan did on Buddhism and the various hand positions, or Mudra, of the Buddhist iconography. 

We also participated in a few "Meet Ups" with the BLISS Worldschooling Hub while in PI.   These are families from all over the world, most of whom have made the decision to leave behind their traditional lives in their respective countries in favor of living abroad in an exotic destination.  

Many of them are homeschooling or even "unschooling" which is where you don't have any formal lesson plan or cirriculum, but rather focus the learning based on what the child is interested in. 

We participated in a science class, a fubol (aka soccer) training session and an afternoon get together at the local weekend fair. 

Our kids did their own impromptu crafts and culture day when they came across some fallen bamboo leaves and collected them to weave baskets out of them.  See? Worldschooling! :) 

While our stay was short we did manage to do quite a bit, but also do quite a bit of relaxing and schoolwork.  Here are some pics of some of our favorite cafe's and restaurants and some other shots. 

On our next to last night we headed up, up, up to the view point at Yum Lai where we enjoyed a nice sunset and some Thai culture. 

We enjoyed our short time in Pai, but it was time to head back to Chiang Mai and the Yipeng Festival, that would prove to be one of the highlights of our trip.