Pai

[cloudhopper]

There is however one restaurant that has the most awesome burger.

Pai = blaah

If it is the one that I am thinking of, I was told recently that it has closed.

The Burger House has changed owners but the cook is the same and they've even brightened the place up a bit.

[jackr]

2-2.5 areas to the Mae Salong checkpoint via 107.

Same travel time as Pai, but better scenery and a funner road. The Fang, Thaton and Mae Hia area is truly breathtaking.

The 107's alright (way beyond Chiang Dao), but the 1095 is the dogs doodahs for fun... if you don't scrape the knee at least once (without coming off) on some of them hairpins, you're not into the fun index yet.

[KRS1]

1095 is ok, but 1096 going clockwise is where its at !

[IanForbes]

1095 is ok, but 1096 going clockwise is where its at !

NOW, we are getting somewhere! I have a bunch of friends coming up from Pattaya next month and I want to lead them around the Mae Hong Son loop again... with more side tracking this time. Pai is just a quick stop over to the more pleasant ride beyond.

[jackr]

Yes, that is the most interesting of them all for getting to Pai, taking in the 1349 from Samoeng... 40kms of which is still unsealed before Ban Chan. But for the layman, the 1095 to Pai is far more interesting a main route than the 107 up towards Mae Salong (which entails going through boring Fang). Another good route, op, is the 1178/1340 back road between Chiang Dao and Doi Angkhang.

[KRS1]

1095 is ok, but 1096 going clockwise is where its at !

NOW, we are getting somewhere! I have a bunch of friends coming up from Pattaya next month and I want to lead them around the Mae Hong Son loop again... with more side tracking this time. Pai is just a quick stop over to the more pleasant ride beyond.

Just did Mae Hong Son about 5 days ago, went in via 1095 and came out through 108 whole way back to CNX. Loved 108, there's so many variations of topology! Buts gets boring when you hit Jomtong.

There's one certain part of 108 that is smooth blacktop that last for about 15 minutes, i don't know what it is about that area, less wind, more oxygen or something but my bike absolutely flew in that area. The canyon on 108 is also great for some higher speed curves. There's another part that seems to be ontop of a mountain ridge and the sunlight up there is beautiful.

I'd recommend getting a good normal road map, the Gt rider map isn't very detailed and is more geared towards off road biking.

When in Mae Hong Son, look for Monkey Box restaurant on the lake in the middle of the city,it's the biggest structure on the lake and cheap beer @ 55 baht a bottle for Chang Export, the owner is from Wisconsin his name is Dave and a good guy. Around the lake you can find guest houses for 300 baht per night on the back side by the temple if your staying overnight.

[enigma6164]

Thanks everybody for the interesting comments. It's ggod to see even a somewhat trivial question can stir some controversy as to the merits of going to Pai or not.

For me the number of bars matters not, if i wanted that i'd stay at Chiang Mai. As for the boredom aspect of staying in Pai, bring it on I say. I relish the thought of spending a couple of nights with my lovely wife doing very little touristy things. Some people need to actually stop and take in their surroundings and truly appreciate what they see, not just notice the lack of bars etc. If there wasn't "boredom" in Pai, surely it would be because of an influx of tourist targeted activities. Nature does it for me every time.

Enigma

[KRS1]

If you like seeing beautiful views, Pai cannot compete with Mae Salong, or anywhere else for that matter, it's in a valley. - hence the boredom, the river is also a very ugly river. Only reason Pai became famous was the easy availability of dope in the past, but all thats over now.

If you do go to Pai and want a view, the bungalows on the way into the city offer fairly nice views. But still, you'll see only one range, instead of a vast array of many as far as the eye can see. (Mae Salong)

Edited January 22, 2012 by KRS1

[Johpa]

Pai is the T-shirt capital of Thailand. Some 10km before you even get into the tourist center, and Pai is very much a tourist town and nothing else, they are selling T-shirts along the side of the road. And then there are people selling the same T-shirts all the way into town and of course everywhere inside the town. I prefer Mae Hong Son with its more refrained central night tourist market and its get-away places like Mae Aw (Rak Thai).