Pai Crowded, Expensive

[TheVicar]

Just spent 2 nights and 3 days in Pai. Granted, the countryside around is magnificent: beautiful mountain scenery and clean air.

But the town? Ragged, crowded, terribly expensive (I looked at more than 15 hotels and guesthouses; the cheapest was B 800 a night; some were horrible, just a mattress on the floor, no t.v., no fridge, tiny, paper walls). And the restaurants? Went to a German-Thai restaurant at the beginning of the walking street and had to wait so long, we ended up buying Thai food at the walking street (as did other customers). The German food, when it finally came, looked nothing liked the pictures and was expensive and a small portion. The Thai food never came. Several people walked out because the service was so bad. Finally, tried a large Thai restaurant in the walking street: same result, maybe worse. I saw at least 2 groups walk out (both without paying; a large Thai party did not even touch their food which looked awful).

The only nice thing about Pai, in my opinion, was the walking street. Charming if less handicrafts being sold there and less entertainment than in CM's version. And the traffic coming and going: horrific, with vans passing on mountain curves.

So what exactly is the attraction of this place?

[LucidLucifer]

It used to be nice, but granted, I haven't been there for over 10 years. Likely just another example of a Thai resort resting on its laurels and past reputation.

[LarryBird]

Funny how people always complain about things being spoiled by other people trying to enjoy the same things as them. How often do you hear people complaining about popular spots not being what they want.. My favorite is people saying Phuket's not nice.. Excuse me, have you seen the beaches and nature there? It's remarkably gorgeous. Are people not able to ignore the elements they don't like? Just because you had a bad experience at a german restaurant in mae hong son, doesn't mean the place is garbage.. Can't you just enjoy the scenery? Why are farang always complaining about other farang being around?? Doi Suthep is so touristy, omg!! Pai isn't what it used to be!

[Briggsy]

Mass tourism has happened. See Had Rin (Full Moon), Ko Phi Phi, Vang Vieng, unmanaged, rampant and unchecked development of ad-hoc markets, accommodation and eateries, no simultaneous development of infrastructure, no master plan.

Avoid Pai if possible. There are plenty of other places to stay in Thailand. Have you tried Amphoe Non Din Daeng in Buri Ram. It has guesthouses and lots of activities in that area.

[villagefarang]

Going to Pai from Chiang Rai, whether on a motorcycle or in an SUV, for me is mainly about the roads and scenery. Having done it high season and low, the crowds do make it interesting and more lively, even if a little more inconvenient. If you want quiet just wait a bit for the high season to pass and it becomes a very different place.

[Happyman108]

Some common sense will know that many people going up to Pai during festive season, and with the sudden increase of customers how can restaurant have enough man power to cater for all? this result lousy cooking (maybe owner can't reject customer hence take in whoever that walk in but cook can't do it well) and long wait. Put yourself in the restuarant owner shoe, will you employ so many staffs to cater just for few days of full house during festive season while most of the week days few customers?

Best time to really enjoy Pai is on low season week days, don't even consider to go on a weekend.

[siamamerican]

Funny how people always complain about things being spoiled by other people trying to enjoy the same things as them. How often do you hear people complaining about popular spots not being what they want.. My favorite is people saying Phuket's not nice.. Excuse me, have you seen the beaches and nature there? It's remarkably gorgeous. Are people not able to ignore the elements they don't like? Just because you had a bad experience at a german restaurant in mae hong son, doesn't mean the place is garbage.. Can't you just enjoy the scenery? Why are farang always complaining about other farang being around?? Doi Suthep is so touristy, omg!! Pai isn't what it used to be!

No, it is human nature and not a bad part in certain instances. Many people enjoy a semblance of peace when touring sites. You are complaining that other people are complaining about mass tourism. A little hypocritical. Go up to Doi Suthep today and tell me what you think. Some people complain about the silliest things - it baffles me.

[wigantojapan]

agh pai when there was only 3 bamboo huts over the river for farang and 2 of them were empty

.plenty rats though chewing things well intae the night.but for 5 b a night ok.

its well known that pai is expensive and crowded now so what is the complaint and has been known for years.

moaning about a german bakery in thailand maybe that was a big clue that it aint as picterseque and peaceful as it once was.

lots of untouched places in thailand but no german bakeries and no wifi or coffee shops or hot running water or money changers,people talking english,or yoga retreats,or handicraft markets ,just rice fields ,the sounds of birds singing,rats scuttling about and oh yes Thaifood hot hot hot,,like pai used to be

[Thailand]

Not the best time of the year to go.

We were there in Sept. THB400 per night for quite acceptable accommodation for 2. Plenty of good inexpensive food and no crowds,we and our HK guests thoroughly enjoyed it.

Much like the Doi Suthep thread. Would not even consider trying to go there, or the surrounding area, at THE busiest time of the year.

[moe666]

At least he did complain about a Russian resturant

[rene123]

What is wrong you ask? The simple answer is you went during a holiday season. With a captive audience the Thais can charge whatever they think they can squeeze out of silly customers. A month from now you can pick and choose and dicker over the prices. The few times I've been there it was relatively uncrowded and I could get a good Thai meal for 40 baht. Besides, I only went for the RIDE. The actual town is sleepy and boring. I try to stay off the highways during high season around Christmas. That is even true within Chiang Mai itself, and I ride a scooter to sneek through traffic.

[Ulysses G.]

The actual town is sleepy and boring.

That has always been my take on Pai, but I didn't mind so much when it was cheap.

[Sparkles]

If you live here on a pemanent basis you don't travel to Pai, or similar, during the high festive season.I would have thought that was basic common sense. There are convoys of vehicles coming up north fron Bangkok to northern Thailand and local businesses are making hay while the sun shines. Low season Pai is delightful and accomodation very reasonably priced. No differnt in CM where low season "buy 2 nights get one free" at hotels/guesthouses is quite common.

[sabaijai]

You picked the worst time of year to go. Many residents flee during the xmas/new years week.

[Rasseru]

I went there for the first time two weeks ago and everything about the trip was delightful. The mountain roads were a treat on a motorcycle, and they were not particularly crowded going or coming back. The town was nice enough, though the walking street was my least favourite part. We ate at some fabulous restaurants, including a southern-style Thai restaurant that had the best Thai food I've ever eaten, and that I would willingly ride back to Pai to dine at again. Better even than the town, though, for me, was the countryside around it.

[hellodolly]

Some common sense will know that many people going up to Pai during festive season, and with the sudden increase of customers how can restaurant have enough man power to cater for all? this result lousy cooking (maybe owner can't reject customer hence take in whoever that walk in but cook can't do it well) and long wait. Put yourself in the restuarant owner shoe, will you employ so many staffs to cater just for few days of full house during festive season while most of the week days few customers?

Best time to really enjoy Pai is on low season week days, don't even consider to go on a weekend.

Funny how a place can be so well known for it's beauty and cheapness. Then comes holiday season when every one heads out to see it all and triples the towns population and people expect to get the same service they would if they were the only one in the room. It is high season so naturally the prices go up that is how they manage to make it through the low season.

Even the airlines charge more in high season and certain times of the week. for as long as the OP has been here and in This part of Asia he seems to have missed a lot.

[rene123]

for as long as the OP has been here and in This part of Asia he seems to have missed a lot.

Yah, but maybe he has to work for a living and can only take designated holidays like other working stiffs. Us layabouts can choose any time we want to travel. I'm not going anywhere for the next few days, and I wouldn't even go to Mae Sai if my visa hadn't run out.

[bristolgeoff]

pai was a nice town a few years back.it was laid back and only a few tourist then,now it is just over the top and is spoiled

[hellodolly]

for as long as the OP has been here and in This part of Asia he seems to have missed a lot.

Yah, but maybe he has to work for a living and can only take designated holidays like other working stiffs. Us layabouts can choose any time we want to travel. I'm not going anywhere for the next few days, and I wouldn't even go to Mae Sai if my visa hadn't run out.

Yes but you like me do not put up posts to critique book shops, restaurants and holiday destinations.

[Johpa]

pai was a nice town a few years back.it was laid back and only a few tourist then,now it is just over the top and is spoiled

A few years back?!? The last time Pai had only a few tourists was back in the 1980s. The town itself had been spoiled and over the top for the past 20 years. Still charming outside the town itself, but I much prefer traveling the extra few hours to MHS.

[brommers]

It is not just Pai. Anywhere that is so overcrowded in the festive season is a disaster.

Yes Pai has lost it's charm thanks to uncontrolled development but then so many places in Thailand are similarly afflicted.

So the answer is do not criticise the place for being over-run but arrange to travel outside this time of year because wherever you go will be overcrowded, service will be harried and prices will be doubled.

It is not unique to Thailand this applies all over the world in the so-called festive season. I simply stay at home, eat good homemade food and wonder why people subject themselves to this annual nightmare.

[lannarebirth]

I've never really understood the attraction to Pai. Chiang Dao is more scenic, closer, less crowded, cheaper. To my way of thinking it beats Pai in every way yet it's never captured the popularity of Pai .

The recent Thai invasion in Pai has to do with a film saome frieds of my wife made. Oddly enough they own land in Chiang Dao and not Pai. I asked the husband and wife producer/director, knowing what you know now about your films affect on Thai awareness of Pai, would you ever make aq film featuring Chiang Dao? They said NEVER!

[jackr]

pai was a nice town a few years back.it was laid back and only a few tourist then,now it is just over the top and is spoiled

A few years back?!? The last time Pai had only a few tourists was back in the 1980s. The town itself had been spoiled and over the top for the past 20 years. Still charming outside the town itself, but I much prefer traveling the extra few hours to MHS.

Nah it wasn't, Pai was still great in the '90s with hardly any tourists in off season and good well into the noughties, even up until a few years back. It's mainly down to that film (see above), but influx of Bangkokians in general at this time now. I can empathise with the op and have noticed the downturn in quality of food of late, including in CM, and the 'grabbing'. MHS's nice, as is CDao, but they just haven't got that setting and je ne sais quoi that Pai had.

[Rasseru]

MHS's nice, as is CDao, but they just haven't got that setting and je ne sais quoi that Pai had.

The setting is marvelous even now. The je ne sais quoi? Je ne sais quoi.

[jaideeguy]

Blame BKK, 10 yrs ago when it only catered to the backpacker scene, it was a great place to go.....but BKK discovered it and the old picturesque, quaint, friendly, cheap getaway got transformed into a ZOO.

Edited December 31, 2012 by jaideeguy

[thykeeper]

Pai changed dramatically over the course of one year. I lived there in 2005 and you could still drive down all the streets with speed because there were no street vendors. After they made that stupid love movie (which I suffered painfully through) I think the government allocated an increased tourism budget and began advertising. The next year it was totally overrun with Bangkok folks and street vendors, which is the state it remains in today. It's a total carnival for suburban city dwellers now and 100% tourism oriented which makes it really uncomfortable to do even simple things.

The weather in winter is great though if you like it cold like me. It's a total shame it can't be enjoyed though anymore...

[WinnieTheKhwai]

I find these topics a somewhere in between puzzling and amusing.

Also in 2005, and at almost any time after the early 1980's, tourists -though they mostly referred to themselves as 'travellers' back then-, liked visiting Pai *BECAUSE* it had some tourist infrastructure that, while basic, was very cheap. This made it a nice place to hang out without burning through too much money. (And for many, damned near no money at all.)

What else was remarkable about Pai compared to just about any other district-town in the North? NOTHING. Most of the district towns in upcountry Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son are scenic. They all get a mix of ethnicities (hilltribes, Shan, etc.), making their way to the morning market center, they all have waterfalls nearby and a trip to any one of them involves a similar number of hairpins and mountain views.

The one thing that was different about Pai is that it got tourists, making it an attractive place for other tourists to go and hang out, drink something, smoke something.

This, of course, should be good news. Because you could almost throw a dart at a map of Northern Thailand and find plenty places that are like Pai in the early 1980's. Sleepy district towns with almost no tourists. However this is not truly what most tourists want; they want Pai, frozen in time exactly on January 6th, 1997, the officially designated high-point when Pai had JUST the right number of visitors, reasonable prices, but still a handful of some pubs, coffee shops, massage shops, a dude with a couple elephants for that scenic photo, and a travel office to easily grab that minibus to the next 'vibey' place to hang. [A similar argument applies to the islands too, by the way. Everyone claims to want a deserted beach on an uninhabited island, without realizing that those don't have dudes with guitars playing Marley tunes, and if they want anything to smoke they'd better be growing it themselves.]

THAT is difficult. To find that peak with *just enough* tourist infrastructure that exactly meets your personal comfort requirements at a particular time in your life. But don't let anyone tell you that it's hard to find scenic, sleepy district towns in the mountains of CM and MHS.

EDIT: By the way, Mae Kampong is next. Or maybe Phrao. Or Wiang Haeng. Or Sop Moei. Please go there today because in 10 years time I don't want to listen to the whining about what it was like in 2012. Added bonus, you will be able to leer at people visiting in 2022 going "Maaaahhnnnnn you shoudave been here ten years ago.."

Edited December 31, 2012 by WinnieTheKhwai

[TheVicar]

I've never really understood the attraction to Pai. Chiang Dao is more scenic, closer, less crowded, cheaper. To my way of thinking it beats Pai in every way yet it's never captured the popularity of Pai .

The recent Thai invasion in Pai has to do with a film saome frieds of my wife made. Oddly enough they own land in Chiang Dao and not Pai. I asked the husband and wife producer/director, knowing what you know now about your films affect on Thai awareness of Pai, would you ever make aq film featuring Chiang Dao? They said NEVER!

I completely agree with this post. While lots of people responding here have said that it is foolish visiting Pai during the holidays, i visited many other parts of Thailand at almost the same time (within a day or so) and saw much nicer places. Pai to me was little more than a dump. Yes, beautiful countryside surrounds it, but the town itself? Way, way over hyped.

[TheVicar]

Pai changed dramatically over the course of one year. I lived there in 2005 and you could still drive down all the streets with speed because there were no street vendors. After they made that stupid love movie (which I suffered painfully through) I think the government allocated an increased tourism budget and began advertising. The next year it was totally overrun with Bangkok folks and street vendors, which is the state it remains in today. It's a total carnival for suburban city dwellers now and 100% tourism oriented which makes it really uncomfortable to do even simple things.

The weather in winter is great though if you like it cold like me. It's a total shame it can't be enjoyed though anymore...

Good post. Completely agree with this!

[tfc]

I prefer Pai these days to 13 years ago. I remember standing on the cattle truck/bus for the 4 hour trip down and it was not fun. The minibus these days may have crazy drivers but at least I have a seat. Pai also has better food and coffee now with more people but I still tend to avoid peak seasons.