Why Pai? pronounced pie.

The story of how we landed up in Pai starts way back when we had missed the roundabout at Mae Sot (see story: To Burma or Not to Burma). The lovely owners of the Inn, who had been most hospitable, mentioned that Pai was very beautiful. We mentally filed the place name as somewhere to visit either before or after Chang Mai. On the morning of departure from their Inn, we were given a delicious breakfast of mango, papaya and tiny pink-skinned bananas and handed a foot long piece of bamboo stuffed with sticky rice, sealed with a waxy plug for ‘padkos’. ( food for the road). It made for a delicious lunch. We rode the half an hour back to the roundabout and this time took the correct exit to get to ‘friendship bridge ‘which goes over the natural boundary between Burma and Thailand, the Moei River. We did a U-turn under the bridge and glanced across to the Burmese side. As directed, we then slid off left up a side road, the 105.This took us up the border on the Thai side through the most amazing curving jungle road. It was good tarmac surface but given half a chance, the jungle would reclaim and swallow it up. The mountains on the west side were overwhelming and the jungle on the east side thick, green, twines and fronds all tangled around trees with leaves the size of tea trays/ very large dinner plates. Not claustrophobic, but closing in. As we came around one of the sharp bends we slowed down to pass through an police/army checkpoint and were surprised to be offered a much needed tumbler of iced coca cola on a tray by uniformed men with automatic rifles. We heard artillery fire which echoed against the steep cliffs of the gorge, the entrance to the target area was marked by red flags. A bit alarmed we asked if it was safe to ride on the road and were assured it was OK. The police box check point marked the beginning of a 10kms stretch of Burmese refugee camps. These camps are now well established villages, each fenced with guarded entrances/exits. The roof covering of each wooden house was made up of the dried ‘dinner plate’ size leaves from the local trees. We stopped at a hillside cafe for rice and BBQ chicken, 20 baht. The new bike handled the curves, the inclines and the descents for the full 234 km ride with ease. We found very simple lodgings at Mae Sariang in a traditional teak house and decided to use the pop-up tent on the bed for peace of mind against any lurking or biting creatures. In the morning, we found fresh mango at the market to start the day which was a rather chilly foggy one. We had 200 kms to go over very steep, high mountains. We were wearing long pants and long sleeved shirts, but decided to add the hi-vis green stretch hoodies and K-Way safari jackets. The mountain went up and up, reaching 900 metres above sea level. The cloud came lower and lower. I checked for any traffic, which was very occasional, and using cloud cover and the motorbike as a screen answered the call of nature. Mid stream, a 4x4 drove past and gave a hoot and a wave. I hoped that B was a good shield as he waved back. Oh well, too bad. At the next village we stopped for coffee and were confronted (in a nice way) by the car load of people who had hooted and waved. “where are we from, where are we going? Welcome to Thailand, have we been to Pai? we must go there it is very beautiful”. We mentally filed the name again. These lovely Thai people insisted on paying for our coffee and we went our separate ways. At 1267m altitude we were very cold so unpacked our fabric silver-lined superlight rainsuits adding another layer. And then visibility was zero. We saw the burning coals of a small fire so stopped to warm ourselves at the mountain top cafe, adding arm sleeves, neck scarves and socks. We were reminded of Lesotho and the Roof of Africa as we huddled around the fire, in the mist, all wrapped up, surrounded by invisible mountains. We still had thermals in the panniers as a last resort. The hazard lights went on and we cautiously made our way over the many mountain ridges that surround Chang Mai. It had taken 6 ½ hours to do 200 kms, that's an average of 27kms per hour. We booked into our room at Top North and that is the beginning of ‘One week in Chiang Mai’.

At the Horizons Unlimited mini meeting, we bought up the place name Pai. “oh yes, it's very beautiful, you should go there”. It’s Friday 13th, and with the lucky Dragon ring on my finger and two origami paper birds in my trouser pocket, we wave Good Bye to Chiang Mai and wish ourselves Good Luck. We are going to see beautiful Pai. The map app shows 2 routes, a quick 3 hour one or a more interesting twisty one taking 4 hours for about the same distance. Just for the interest we choose the longer version.

This time, with blue skies overhead, we ride through countless valleys and hills and mountains, it is magnificent. The road changes from tarmac to pot-hole tarmac. Then to gravel, with small stones which the all-terrain tires spit out like pips with a loud pop. Halfway, the road all but disappears into base course sand still under construction. At hairpin bends, going upor down, the road is composed of interlocking concrete bricks. We join in with the heavy bulldozers and excavators and other heavy construction equipment and keep riding towards beautiful Pai.

As a super-zoom, my camera is not ideal for photographing such stunning landscapes. It’s largest f-stop is 8, ideally an f-stop of 32 is needed to capture the height and depth of such amazing scenery. I set ‘landscape’ on the scene function and hope for the best. Each rise up a mountain is followed by a drop in a valley, where there are fields and fields of strawberries. I notice they are on the East facing slopes, catching the morning sun. The western slopes are covered in patches of Coffee trees; In between the jungle and forest separates the hills from the valleys. We are amazed at the height of the trees, they stretch both below and above us as the road cuts a divide through the contours.

The road improves and we spot a sign ‘Hot Water Springs’ and turn off left along a narrow concrete path. These are Boiling Hot. The steam is wafting off the rocks and water, the smell of sulphur is in the air and our ankles are getting warm just standing on the jetty overlooking the bubbling brook. Let's go. We're nearly at beautiful Pai. Its taken 7 hours, averaging 23 kms/hour. We see another fountain, spewing steaming hot water 2 metres into the air and stop to take photos. We chat to two guys from the Netherlands, riding trail bikes, swop email addresses and information about where to stay and what to do in beautiful Pai. After a few enquiries, we find a bungalow in a sweet smelling garden for 300 baht. Night fall very quickly here, in the space of 15 minutes from light to dark. The street lights come on and we walk around town, find the English Book shop and buy the recommended dirt bike maps for the area. Their is a surprising lack of big car/pick up traffic in Pai, with locals and foreigners on scooters and walking. There’s coffee bars, market stalls and a background hum of peaceful people. No shouting or loud noises or Boom-Boom music. This is good. Chiang Mai had been noisy 24/7. After good night’s sleep in our very pleasant room, where the birds wake us up gently, we look at our maps. What to do in Pai? “Oh look, there’s more hot springs, ones we can swim in”. Just a short ride away .

“Wow, wow, wow, my foot is stuck, I’ve lost my shoe” I exclaim loudly as we make our way through sludge into the warm hot springs at Pai. Hanging on to each other, I slip my foot back into the water, find a toe hold, reach down with my arm, grab the back strap and haul foot and shoe out of the suction. As we only have one pair of shoes each for the 4 month trip losing them is not an option. We soon reach the other bathers and a solid pebble footing and lie down in the flowing river to enjoy the warmth and jungle surroundings. The warm water is continuous, like a warm bath with the hot tap permanently open. My rather vocal entrance had attracted a newlywed couple from NZ, who recognise our SA accents. They swim over and we spend over an hour chatting about their Go Pro Hero battery problem (Brett, they need you), earthquakes, adventure motorbike travel and where to go and what to do in Phuket, their next port of call. When we degenerate into prunes, we emerge from the hot springs sedately via a stone wall, and are dry by the time we get back to Pai. It’s calm and peaceful, and warm, time to do washing and have an afternoon snooze. We extend our booking for another night and as night falls go in search of our friend from the Netherlends who has a Saturday evening stall in the Wednesday Market area. Many people here, locals and foreigners and monks, carry large cloth sling bags. Some are patchworked in bright squares, some subdued earth colours. The monk’s bags are tones of orange. The Saturday market at Wednesday market place is mostly locals and we come across a drawing competition run by the local school. The theme is ‘ My Dream Park’. A donation of 10 baht for a ticket and we pop our choice of number 39 in the ballot box. Hope it wins, we’ll never know. I buy a calm natural earth colour sling bag from our friend, glad that it is authenticated by him as being hand-made by the local Karon tribe people.

Our time in Pai comes to an end. We dress in our thermals as there is early morning cloud and mist, pack the bike and aim for Mae Ja. This trip is a dirt bike mountain pass adventure ride as described on the GT-Rider Map.