Backpack The Planet

PART ONE

If you have the stomach to conquer all 762 curves and bends (actual number) on your 4 hour road trip from Chiang Mai to Pai, you will be rewarded with a great treasure, I assure you. There is something about this place, actually alot of somethings – chill vibe, atmosphere, beauty, and adventure to name a few.

There are four groups of people in Pai, who all seem to coexist here fairly well. The Thai’s, the Hilltribes, the Resident Farang (Westerners), and the Tourists. I recently fell into the Resident Westerner category, at least for the time being as it will be my home-base while working on Backpack The Planet, doing my day-job as a web designer, and traveling throughout Asia and India.

I read on a blog somewhere that Pai has lazy mornings and I’m seeing much truth in that. If you want coffee or breakfast at 7am, you better have an open kitchen at your guesthouse cause it seems the restaurants and coffee shops don’t even get going till after 8am. But after 8am, everything changes and begins the seemingly perpetual string of street markets from morning till night. For a few hours in the morning, the street vendors come out and serve traditional Thai breakfasts of noodle or rice soups. But if your looking for eggs and bacon, have no fear, there are many many restaurants you will find suitable. My favorite morning cafe for some light fair is Cake-GO-O, a Muslim bakery that has baked goods to rival anything I’ve found in San Francisco or Chicago. Their muffins are awesome, but if you want the best they have to offer, come back for a sweet snack and get the cheesecake.

The Afternoon Market begins around 2pm. If farmers markets are your thing, this one will surely put shame to yours back home. Vedors selling everything from carrots to stir-fried insects of one sort or another line these streets. I come especially for the lady who sells the spring rolls with sweet chili sauce for 5 bhat, or when I’m feeling a bit more adventurous, the foul smelling but delicious durian fruit. Durian is a scary looking fruit on the outside, but the real scare will come when you open it up. I’ve heard the smell best described as rotting onions, but I assure if you can plug your nose and get this custard like fruit in your mouth, you will be pleasantly surprised and how delicious it is.

Just as the Afternoon Market wraps up, stores begin putting their goods out to the sidewalk, the food vendors start rolling back onto the street, and all the Artisans and Lisu Hill Tribeswomen lay out their handmade crafts, clothing, and accessories for the Night Market which lasts till around 10pm, then thats when the real fun begins….

A Slice of Pai will be a continuing series about my time in this wonderful little village.