Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Thailand: Pai - Memorial Bridge, Canyon and Awesome Paddy & Corn Field

As i said, Pai's town is nothing much can do except eat and nice cute handcraft shop, but outside of Pai town is amazing.

The only way you could go outside of Pai is rent a motorbike or bicycle.

I never ride a motorbike, so John's rent one and teach me how right there. 15 minutes later and i rent another one and ride it up and down hill like a wild kid, i even leave John behind and chasing the wind hahahhahahahahaha.

If you do not have a licence, don't worry about renting a bike in Thai, they don't even check your license, all you need is your passport and money.

So we rent 2 bikes for 2 days, the first day we decided to go south Pai, to the 2nd world war memorial bridge, canyon and paddy field. Actually we just ride all the way to south to see what is there. 

We got a map of attractions from the bike renting shop, a very rough one but is good enough for us.  

The map we got. Getting around is easy as there are only one and only main road. 

from Pai town to south. We ride to the bridge and turn back to the canyon, and turn into paddy field before go to Coffee in Love Cafe, that will be in next post.
Slow ride about half hour to the bridge, very enjoyable ride though, because Pai in located down in mountains, the weather is very different with any other part of Thai. You might not believe it, Pai do have winter.

Alright, the bridge is a very ordinary bridge, the only special thing is the big stamp alike billboard, you can stand behind the board and pretend that is your custom made stamp.

the stamp

The wooden bridge

stamp and bridge.


restaurant / cafe located opposite of the bridge. But we didn't go in because some china chinese talking real loud inside. 
We only stayed 10 to 15 minutes for photo taking, then we left to the canyon.

The canyon is just 10 to 15 minute ride from the bridge, the entrance is very not obvious, but you can keep an eye on a store that selling drink on the road side.

No charge to enter to the canyon, but remember to wear comfortable shoes because you need to walk some stairs up.
\
10 minute slow walk to the peak.

another stamp billboard on the peak, very nice scenery.

you can walk to the canyon, but you have to take the risk of slipping down. 

I managed to walk a little further, but i was too scare to continue.

very narrow walkway

John dares to dive into deep blue sea, but mountain height always freak him out.

me on the cliff.

arggg nice. =)

We spend about an hour in the canyon, just to enjoy the nice view and chill wind.

We left the canyon and wanted to get early lunch, but i saw the map and found a waterfall is nearby, i suggest to go and that turn out to be the best scenery of the day.

I don't mean the falls, the falls is nothing, but the paddy field and corn field on the roadside is amazing. If i never turn into the mountain road, we will never see the nice paddy field. 



Some paddy field.

then corn field.

we decided to stop and take photos.

Pai, around the corner =)

my ride and his ride =D

resident road. 

me 

Fat and me 

We're together, always.


Next post will be more attraction outside of town. Stay tuned!









Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
20130423, 1012pm
Rach in hand pain mood.

Friday, April 5, 2013

Thailand: Pai - Pai village, the harvest moon game-alike town

If you like big city like Phuket or Bangkok, Pai is not the place for you, because Pai is very small town, as i mentioned in the last post, Pai has only 4 main streets, the place is even quieter than Hatyai and Krabi. 

But Pai is a very beautiful small little town, full of cute little shops that selling handmade stuff, lovely restaurant and a lot of nice local food stalls. 

If you know how to ride a bike, you can rent one with only RM20 to RM30 per day to some awesome places outside the town, eg paddy field, hot spring, nice tree house resort and etc. 

Before go outside of town, lets see some photos that we took in the town. 

Pai has no high building at all

one of the cute bar.

dog is like a boss in Thailand. 

I don't know what is ting tong actually, haha.

this is post office, and the man is fake. haha

Pai's post office. 

Although Pai is small, but you can find anything you need for living in this town, including 7-11 and travel agency to travel to any places of Thai.

Of course, night market that full of foods and handmade souvenir. 


this is beverage stall, they use bamboo as cup.

choose a bamboo you want and they will fill in your choice of beverage. 

nice drink and you can keep the bamboo, and get discount next time you buy your drink here.

Pai united. I like!

I <3 pai="" td="" too.="">


painting on a random shop.


can you imagine all the shops in Pai is using same theme, love?


so cute!

I love Pai.

We dined in here once, just because of this road sign.

This is not for sale, so she is soooooooo cute, sitting still in the basket.

FYI Pai is very close to YunNan, China, lot of chinese china living in the border.

tasteless BBQ black sticky rice. 

on of the night market stall.

some food we had in night market.

We went out early to a hot spring one morning, then we had our breakfast in this noodle stall nearby Family House @ Pai.

Obviously this is a local stall, the owner doesn't speak English at all, we use our finger to order our food, and that noodle turned out to be the best food we had in Pai.

The stall is so hidden, but if you can find the temple that i post it in the last post, the noodle stall is just opposite of the temple.

the owner doesn't speak English at all, but he is so friendly.


clear soup noodle, best to have it in cold morning. 

Next post will be some places that outside of Pai, you can believe Pai can be as beautiful as like this, that you cant imagine you're in Thailand.

Stay tuned people!








Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
20130405, 1112am
Rach in wanna supper but cannot mood.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Thailand: Pai - Family House @ Pai Hotel Review

The best decision that i made in Pai trip was choosing the right hotel, Family House @ Pai.

I always love small / family run hotel, because i love it to feel like home and less crowded, and family House has fulfill all my requirement including bright room and located in strategic location, aka less than 5 minute walking distance to the main street.

If you know Pai, you will know Pai is very very small town, there are 4 main street and shaped like a square. Family house is by the river. 

When you see this temple on the main street, just turn in and go straight to the end.

walk in straight to the end and you will see family house is on your left.

Ta da! Family house don't have a very obvious signboard, but this is really a good hotel...

by the river. 
Both John and I didn't take down the hotel exterior, but the hotel is clean and comfortable, with only less than 15 cottages and right size swimming pool and riverside restaurant, we love this hotel in the first sign.

I love the hotel interior, very spacious, clean and bright, comfortable bed, lovely balcony, smooth WIFI (we even watch PPS there). The only cons that i can think of is the water pressure is not strong enough, but this doesn't bother us much.

comfort sofa and coffee table when you step into the room.
           
turn to your left and you got a nice big bed.

flat tv and a window on the right, so more sunlight in the morning. On the left is to the bathroom and closet without door LOL. 


lovely balcony. 
We both didn't get the bathroom photo, but that is clean and nice, we both love it.

The only video that i got was the riverside restaurant of the hotel.

But frankly speaking, the food wasn't the best, we had our first lunch in Pai here and that's the only one time we dine in there.

However, the breakfast is right and nice, we went out early for the hot spring in one day and skip our rent-inclusive breakfast, the owner offered us a take away chicken sandwich for free before we check out to Chiangmai in the next day, this make us even love them!

I believe if you're goin to hot spring in the early morning, you could ask them to prepare take away breakie as well.


the view from riverside restaurant.

Shiro, the pet of the owner, but she has passed away 2 months after we visited family house :(


The lunch - tom yam soup

vege with meat and rice.

sweet and sour pork

the breakfast, we like this. 


and me! haha.

Family house has only one type of room, so the rent is flat, we booked the room from agoda and get the offer of RM100 per night inclusive breakie, i think this is pretty good deal consider the location, room, and service. 

This is the official website http://www.familyhousepai.com/ , very information, and you can expect the room 100% same as the photo upon your arrival. I think this will be my first choice in Pai.

Alright, the next will be the town and some other nice places. Stay tuned.





Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
20130404, 0958am
Rach in hungry mood.