Pai & Natural Mystic

After 6 nights, I left Chiang Mai and headed to Pai - with Ulli but not Seb as he had to head down to South Thailand -. Pai is situated to the west of Chiang Mai, 4hrs by slow bus. The road from Chiang Mai is mainly through the mountains. There are roughly 726 curves from Chiang Mai to Pai - as the t-shirts in Pai informed us - which reminded me slightly of Nepal. The curves anyway, the road in thailand are in better conditions.

The Lonely Planet describes Pai as such 'It isn't a Wat filled town emanating Thai-ness. Instead it is a corner of the world that happens to be in Thailand'. This may have been true when in 2006 but my god, that is no longer true - I will explain later.

We arrived in the early afternoon, and the place was packed. In the street and in the guest houses. Pai is not a huge town but it is full of guest houses and we could not find one with space - one we would accept anyway - I think we must have visited at least 15. Then a guy in the street said that the Natural Mystic guest house just out of the town. So we walked in that direction and found a little bit of heaven.

Natural Mystic is managed and owned by Pietro, an Italian from Milan. Pietro opened the guest house 2 years ago. His aim with the Natural Mystic is to keep it simple. Natural Mystic was his home. A few bungalows and word of mouth rather than heavy advertising. He had one advert at the service stop on the road between Chiang Mai & Pai. At Natural we met Alex, Elisa & Louise - who arrived just after us - and then later Marie-Lise. Thanks for you company as we explored, shopped, ate and drank on and off during the 3 days.

There is a saying in Pai, that you come to Pai to do nothing. And at Natural Mystic and Pai we did nothing. We planned to stay 2 nights but stayed 3 nights. How could I not. Pietro on the day after we arrived, in the morning, made italian bread, baked in his woodburning oven he built himself. It was originaly planned for that day that we would have Pizza in the evening - this did not happen as Pai ran out of fresh tomatoes! We had bolognaise instead. Then later picked bananas from his tree.

Why did I say that the Lonely Planet description is no longer relevant. Well, Pai may not oose Thai-ness but it di dnot mean that there was no Thai people. It was in effect full of Thai tourist. Pai has become the trendy destination of choice for Thais. It is cool to say that you holiday in Pai. I think I mentioned in a previou spost that the Friday - we arrived in Pai the Sunday - was the King's birthday, A national holiday in Thailand. An opportunity for a long weekend in Pai! When we explore the main street at night and th ewhere the night bazaar is situatted - really the only street - The street was absolutely packed. The following 2 days on the otherr hand, the streets virtually were dead. The backpackers and other tourist where still no tin evident even if Bangkok airport reopened - I am told that they expect a 30% reduction in foreign visitors this season. Pietro told me that the Thai's have big plan for Pai. To create a Monte Carlo. The big money is moving in. I would say, get to Pai now before it loose its appeal.

Do not panic, I did visit a Wat during my stay in Pai. Just one, but what a view. I think I stayed for 30min just enjoying the location.

On the last day - we booked a night bus to the Thai-Laos border, We hired bikes and visited the Hot Spring and Pai canyon. My god I am not fit. I cannot even blame the bike, it did have gears.

So sadly I left Natural Mystic - I have the address if anybody would like to book in the future - and to Laos and the mighty Mekong
River.