Many Pai Businesses Closing Down

[cmsally]

Apparently there was a Thai film shot in Pai which really made it the place to visit . Does anyone know what the name of the film was. I think it was about 2-3yrs ago.

A lot of BKK investors came in before then so it was probably strategically planned so they could make a return on their investment.

I would however disagree that it was the intention of the BKK investors to drive out the backpackers/tourists. A lot of the time people here invest in something and think they can increase the popularity by making it cleaner, more elaborate, more upmarket and of course more expensive in the process. To a certain extent this is true (ie. 4-5 star tourist) but regarding the backpacker market I think they will have misread it. There tends to be the outlook among the more upper class Thais that the tourists wants something more on par with what they get at home and they should be dishing this up with a somewhat token Thai flavour.

[lannarebirth]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_memo...ovie_poster.jpg

[Ulysses G.]

Apparently there was a Thai film shot in Pai which really made it the place to visit . Does anyone know what the name of the film was. I think it was about 2-3yrs ago.

A lot of BKK investors came in before then so it was probably strategically planned so they could make a return on their investment.

I would however disagree that it was the intention of the BKK investors to drive out the backpackers/tourists.

They have shot themselves in the foot once again. Thais mostly only fill the place on weekends during high season and my guess is that won't last a lot longer as momories of the movie wear off. Backpackers are avoiding it in droves and, as Winnie said, avoiding Chiang Mai as well.

Backpackers make many locations popular and eventually can't afford to go there, but Pai really does not have much to offer the rich tourists that they are hoping to get. I think that Pai will fall on its face - and soon.

[jaideeguy]

The main problem with these BKK YUPPY tourists is that this holiday season, gas was cheap and they invaded the north and other places in droves. What will happen when gas goes up [as it will for sure]??

Lots of these places saw a quick THB and it may not happen again.......

[cmsally]

Apparently there was a Thai film shot in Pai which really made it the place to visit . Does anyone know what the name of the film was. I think it was about 2-3yrs ago.

A lot of BKK investors came in before then so it was probably strategically planned so they could make a return on their investment.

I would however disagree that it was the intention of the BKK investors to drive out the backpackers/tourists.

They have shot themselves in the foot once again. Thais mostly only fill the place on weekends during high season and my guess is that won't last a lot longer as momories of the movie wear off. Backpackers are avoiding it in droves and, as Winnie said, avoiding Chiang Mai as well.

Backpackers make many locations popular and eventually can't afford to go there, but Pai really does not have much to offer the rich tourists that they are hoping to get. I think that Pai will fall on its face - and soon.

Unless someone can find a cheap way of making snow and find a few nice hills.

[cmsally]

The main problem with these BKK YUPPY tourists is that this holiday season, gas was cheap and they invaded the north and other places in droves. What will happen when gas goes up [as it will for sure]??

Lots of these places saw a quick THB and it may not happen again.......

Talking of gas; stock up with a few extra cans of gas and you could turn a nice little profit. Pai & Mae Hong Son have a habit of running out of gas.

My husband (being way more cynical than me) said all the Bangkokites were visiting in their droves as they foresee next year they might need a passport and visa. (in case you don't get it, that was his little red/yellow joke).

Next year they'll be doing the beach.

[PeaceBlondie]

Is it possible to drive straight through Pai, twice, and miss it? I know I rode to MHS and back and do not remember the hippies. Did not even see a Dead Head sticker on a Cadillac. Did not smell any smoke like my one and only CCR concert. No psychedelic tie-tied shirts. No Pai-heads. Did they pave paradise and put up a parking lot?

[adjan jb]

I do not remember the hippies.

Did not even see a Dead Head sticker.

Did not smell any smoke.

No psychedelic tie-tied shirts.

No Pai-heads.

"Got two good eyes but you still dont see", Casey Jones - Grateful Dead

[Niloc]

I have lived in Pai four years so far and I have never seen anyone I would call a 'hippy', maybe a few 'old farts' passing through but no hippies. Maybe Chiang Mai could send some up to satisfy the lookers and add a bit of colour to the town!!

Colin

[thecatman]

I was in Pai on Tues, Wed, and left on Thurs, and yes I definately noticed the lack of farang tourists and a huge increase in Thai/Asian tourists. It seemed pretty busy in the street market between 7pm and 9pm. I wouldn't say that the farang have been 'pushed out' at all, just that less are coming to Thailand in general, and even less are heading north (Chiang Mai was absolutely dead). So if Chiang Mai have no farang tourists, Pai isn't going to have any either.....go figure.

For the record, I really enjoyed my stay in Pai, (my 2nd trip there) and I firmly believe if anywhere has a 'lack of Tourist problem' then it's most certainly Chiang Mai. (Also, the pizza at Christina's in Pai was incredible).

Edited January 11, 2009 by thecatman

[papajohn]

I have lived in Pai four years so far and I have never seen anyone I would call a 'hippy', maybe a few 'old farts' passing through but no hippies. Maybe Chiang Mai could send some up to satisfy the lookers and add a bit of colour to the town!!

Colin

You must be a "young fart"

[Bill97]

I have lived in Pai four years so far and I have never seen anyone I would call a 'hippy', maybe a few 'old farts' passing through but no hippies. Maybe Chiang Mai could send some up to satisfy the lookers and add a bit of colour to the town!!

Colin

Will be sure to let you know in advance when we hippies are coming to Pai in colors but you must understand that most true hippies are rather old now.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Of course there are other places, like Mae Kampong (The treetop gibbon thing) but it's a bit more up-scale and not large enough to accommodate people in any kind of volume

Where is the darn place? They tell me left at Baan Huey Kaaw, but there is no left...

I've been there twice, looking for it.

It's a *right* turn past Ban Huay Kaew (assuming you're coming from the South i.e from the Mae On area). Ban Huay Kaew is where all the wholesale tree sellers are.

Mae Kampong is here: http://tinyurl.com/9x7ock

It's INCREDIBLY scenic. Pretty high up, so will be cold. (Weird plants overthere that you don't normally see) All good roads (fairly narrow, but all paved).

[Ulysses G.]

When is Sabaijai's band playing there again? He is not just a common hippy, but one of the first to march the Hippy Trail and he might have invented the Banana Pancake Trail.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippie_trail

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_Pancake_Trail

[Johpa]

I believe that Pai is becoming this new century's version of the Erawan Resort for Thais, a version of nature with enough domestication to be acceptable, with all inbred fears of the untamed forest removed. Bangkok folks like their nature to be manicured.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

It may be due to most modern cars these days being able to go up and down a hill without fuss, even with a Bangkokian driver at the wheel with no sense of gears. Gotta love those Bangkok plate cars with the brake lights on all the way down to Pai.

[Ajarn]

Of course there are other places, like Mae Kampong (The treetop gibbon thing) but it's a bit more up-scale and not large enough to accommodate people in any kind of volume

Where is the darn place? They tell me left at Baan Huey Kaaw, but there is no left...

I've been there twice, looking for it.

It's a *right* turn past Ban Huay Kaew (assuming you're coming from the South i.e from the Mae On area). Ban Huay Kaew is where all the wholesale tree sellers are.

Mae Kampong is here: http://tinyurl.com/9x7ock

It's INCREDIBLY scenic. Pretty high up, so will be cold. (Weird plants overthere that you don't normally see) All good roads (fairly narrow, but all paved).

As I thought. I know this road very well. A couple of years ago, they re-opened this road to through traffic. I believe it is in the re-opened section. Thanks for the clarification

[cmsally]

You can also get to Mae Kampong starting from near the hotsprings past Doi Saket on the CM-CR road.

I arrived one day by accident that way, got a bit lost

Road a bit narrow though, but there's a nice plant nursery selling those hanging trumpet flowers amongst other things.

[Ajarn]

You can also get to Mae Kampong starting from near the hotsprings past Doi Saket on the CM-CR road.

I arrived one day by accident that way, got a bit lost

Road a bit narrow though, but there's a nice plant nursery selling those hanging trumpet flowers amongst other things.

The road is a great road to follow, for many kilometers into Lampang Province and back. Great viewpoints, interesting tourist traps.. And long, lonely stetches

[cmsally]

You can also get to Mae Kampong starting from near the hotsprings past Doi Saket on the CM-CR road.

I arrived one day by accident that way, got a bit lost

Road a bit narrow though, but there's a nice plant nursery selling those hanging trumpet flowers amongst other things.

The road is a great road to follow, for many kilometers into Lampang Province and back. Great viewpoints, interesting tourist traps.. And long, lonely stetches

Ah, I seem to remember we were headed for Chaesorn (sp?) which is Lampang.

Something went a bit wrong though!

[Ajarn]

You can also get to Mae Kampong starting from near the hotsprings past Doi Saket on the CM-CR road.

I arrived one day by accident that way, got a bit lost

Road a bit narrow though, but there's a nice plant nursery selling those hanging trumpet flowers amongst other things.

The road is a great road to follow, for many kilometers into Lampang Province and back. Great viewpoints, interesting tourist traps.. And long, lonely stetches

Ah, I seem to remember we were headed for Chaesorn (sp?) which is Lampang.

Something went a bit wrong though!

It is a looong way to Chaesorn, but it does get there, sooner or later

[meadish_sweetball]

Apparently there was a Thai film shot in Pai which really made it the place to visit . Does anyone know what the name of the film was. I think it was about 2-3yrs ago.

รักจัง - The Memory

Some beautiful scenery but an utterly poor movie in all other respects.

A lot of BKK investors came in before then so it was probably strategically planned so they could make a return on their investment.

I would however disagree that it was the intention of the BKK investors to drive out the backpackers/tourists. A lot of the time people here invest in something and think they can increase the popularity by making it cleaner, more elaborate, more upmarket and of course more expensive in the process. To a certain extent this is true (ie. 4-5 star tourist) but regarding the backpacker market I think they will have misread it. There tends to be the outlook among the more upper class Thais that the tourists wants something more on par with what they get at home and they should be dishing this up with a somewhat token Thai flavour.

Exactly.

[Shah Jahan]

its funny because the thai tourists scare the falangs away and lots of the shops in town are geared for falangs and are empty when it is shoulder to shoulder on the street. thais dont frequent internet cafes/used books and pizza parlours (unless of course they want to take a picture of themselves eating a pizza)

current going rate for any land a 15 minute walk of pai center 2-3million a rai -

current rate of land in pai center - - who knows.. . . .

[lsemprini]

For the record, Amido's is still open 7 days a week (I just asked) and is still awesome pizza.

I think the OP saw Cristina's closed. Their roof caught on fire (floating lantern? insurance?) in December and they were closed for a week or two. Anyway their pizza is not stellar anyway, unless you like dry, cardboard-thin burnt bread with no cheese and few toppings. But they seem to be open for business again. Some of their pastas are nice.

There is also "Baan Pizza/Latina" which has a very nice all-cheese pizza (with the thinner European style pizza dough) and a nice fondue with focaccia bread.

[cm das]

For the record, Amido's is still open 7 days a week (I just asked) and is still awesome pizza.

This is great news. My wife and I are heading to Pai this weekend & we were crushed at the thought of no more Amido's.

[Tilokarat]

Would the shooting of the two Canadians (one died) by the undercover policeman have anything to do with the lower numbers of farangs visiting Pai? Apparently, the policeman was released from custody and is not in jail at this time.

[lsemprini]

For the record, Amido's is still open 7 days a week (I just asked) and is still awesome pizza.

Hi,

Just an update on Amido's:

A week or two ago, the large bamboo building housing Amido's Pizza was razed. Some developer bought the whole riverside area and kicked out all the tenants.

But fear not, Amido's will open again in a new downtown Pai location in a few months.

This will be at least the fourth location of Amido's Pizza in Pai, so they are used to moving.

In the meantime, I hear that the Thai lady who cooks the pizzas at Amido's is taking special orders, if you can spot her in town!

[lsemprini]

Would the shooting of the two Canadians (one died) by the undercover policeman have anything to do with the lower numbers of farangs visiting Pai? Apparently, the policeman was released from custody and is not in jail at this time.

Most sadly, as of May 2009, he is not only back in Pai but back on duty with his gun.

According to Andrew Drummond's website (a Bangkok-based UK reporter who has been following this case), Uthai Dechawiwat was briefly jailed in Oct 2008 but then released in Nov 2008 with the entire case, and all charges, dropped due to 'procedural errors' by the Pai police (wouldn't that be a reason to continue the investigation?), with the possibility, however unlikely, of a new case being opened in the future. The website justiceforleo.com of the father of the slain Leo Del Pinto implies that the investigation was actually ongoing as of February 2009, so it's a bit hard to tell what is happening.

http://www.andrew-drummond.com/tag/carly-reisig/

http://justiceforleo.com/

Edited May 22, 2009 by lsemprini

[injomtien]

If that murdering policeman who shoots tourists is still on the loose there it's no wonder that nobody visits Pai anymore, I will never return there, that's for sure!

[damian5000]

All those silly fancy coffee shops next to the mountains charging 100 baht for a cup of coffee, luxurious and expensive guest houses, pricy "fab and hip" clubs with swimming pools in the middle of them... ugh. now the little ma and pop places...don't want to see them shut down, but these uppity tourist venues, they can go and I hope they do... farang or thai owned, i don't give a poop.