On booking our flights we realised that our Cambodian visa ended just when mum and dad hit Bangkok. That pre mentioned big bastard of a city was our first choice for a possible connection too. On reflection we thought we wouldn't meet quite yet in Bangkok and rather meet a little later in their third seaside location of Hua Hin. Besides their hotel pool there was much nicer.
I have wanted to visit Northern Thailand for a long time now and seeing that the flights northbound were so cheap I thought we "might aswell" take a sneaky week up there to explore and see what all the buzz is about.
The buzz is well founded!
First stop for us was Chaing Mai and flying in our trip started on the runway. From runway to room this relatively big town was pretty cute. I always talk about a vibe in a place and this place had one. We had booked at Dee Jai's backpackers and bearing in mind we had been living in our own place for a month we once again welcomed the change to meet new people to share some new experiences with. At Dee Jai's we met up with American Steve and spent most of our time there with him.
Emma and I had landed (once again) slap bang in the middle of a festival and after meeting up with Steve on the first night we headed round to the main square to catch the annual flower festival. Clouds of incense hung heavy in the air, lanterns floated away and hung from all the trees, the flowers that had given the festival its name lay all around and thousands of festival goers held baskets full of beautiful bouquets to bestow the many holy statues. An incredible first night was had in what turned out to be a few weeks in Northern Thailand.
In Chiang Mai we explored by bike and found many amazing temples, view points, waterfalls and mountain treks...
On what we had planned to be our penultimate night we had a few too many drinks. After those drinks and the conversation that followed we decided that rather than leave the North so quickly we would take another few days in this part of the world.
The next day, bleary eyed and frankly feeling like I wanted to be sick we briefly headed out and booked a bus to Pai for first thing the next day.
The next day's bus ride was beautiful. The start of a few days spent in what became one of my favourite places on this Asia trip.
In Pai we seen friends we had made in Chiang Mai and booked into a place just down the road from their hostel. For next to nothing a night we were lucky enough to have an amazing view over the mountains set up in the hills themselves and overlooking the small town below.
Pai itself is quite small and bar a few restaurants and places to eat, smoke, drink and munch mushrooms there isn't really a lot more to see. Sure who needs more when you have all that anyways.
In Pai we had a few wild days but also made a point of getting out on our motorbike to explore the surrounding countryside too. We biked from the canyon to waterfalls and every temple in between. Our time living in the clouds came to an end all too soon. On leaving day as we packed our bags for a long trip to Bangkok, I promised myself I would be back.
To Bangkok and onward to Hua Hin...
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