So We Went To Pai

[Gillyflower]

I have Shan friends who proposed a trip to Pai.  I had been wanting to go for years so was delighted.  The trip up, bearable!  Spent 2 minutes in Pai before the Family came to pick us up.  We were in a lovely small bungalow resort miles out of town right near a Shan village.  We had all our meals there and the next day, I swear it, the whole village and me piled into a utility and we did the surroundings.  They looked after me so well.  When it came for going, they (the village) took us into Pai, where we waited for 10 minutes for the minivan.  And that is all I saw of the place. After the horrific down trip, I'm afraid I will never see it again.

[bubba]

5 minutes ago, bitcoinforever said:

just for your information Pai is the most ethically diverse towns in all of Thailand . you have the KMT Chinese ,Lisu ,Laha ,Akha, Karen, Hmong hilltribes ,Shan from Myanmar ,  Thai's, and the Muslim community, and of course the foreigners. The villages surrounding Pai are great places to explore.

 

There really are not any Akha villages in the Pai area. But minus all the tourists, what you have described is Mae Hong Son province as a whole, not just Pai. 

 

Shan are really the original inhabitants of the area. Most of Mae Hong Son province has only been Thailand since it was annexed by Thailand in the early 20th century.

Edited September 14, 2016 by bubba

[Gillyflower]

I have very good Thai/Chinese friends in CM.  The lady is the daughter of a Chinese who came in as servant with the Japanese army.  When the Japs went he was left behind and joined the household of one of the Lords in the Triangle.  This household was Muslim and if he wanted to go up the ladder he had to change his faith, which he did.  My friend is Muslim and her children went to the big Muslim school in CM.

 

Obviously nothing to do with Pai, but I am replying to the recent posts about the Muslim community.

[chiang mai]

There is a long established (old) Mosque near the centre of Pai and yes, some traditionally dressed Muslim men and women, no more no less than any other location in Thailand however - friends there tell us there are also some Methodists and a Baptist in town!

Edited September 14, 2016 by chiang mai

[puukao]

everyone tells me to go to Pai!!!!  I am soo sick of hearing about this place!!!

 

They yell at me , "Bpai Loei!!!"

 

 

[chiang mai]

6 minutes ago, puukao said:

everyone tells me to go to Pai!!!!  I am soo sick of hearing about this place!!!

 

They yell at me , "Bpai Loei!!!"

 

 

 

Which is one of the reasons why we went, we also got tired of people telling us we must go so we did, and they were right.

[daveAustin]

On 9/13/2016 at 9:09 PM, kekalot said:

the favorite thing for me was the hot springs.. not the actual tourist trap hot springs but some other place that I couldn't even tell you how to get there (someone drove us there in the back of a pickup).. they had two pools, a small one that was hotter and a big one that was a bit colder.

 

pretty cool stuff even tho I ended up with some kind of headache (overheating is my guess).

 

Possibly Pai Hotspring Spa Resort (used to be Tha Pai Spa Camping), not far from the natural hot springs. Used to be great when it first opened around 10 or so years ago, until it got on the Israeli 4WD tour circuit. They used to arrive late at night and make a huge racket, spoiling it for everyone.

 

I still like Pai but if op had have seen how laid-back and inexpensive it was 15-20 years ago, his eyes would pop out of his head.

Edited September 15, 2016 by daveAustin

[daveAustin]

17 minutes ago, puukao said:

everyone tells me to go to Pai!!!!  I am soo sick of hearing about this place!!!

 

They yell at me , "Bpai Loei!!!"

 

They tell you to go to the northeast. 

[chiang mai]

5 minutes ago, daveAustin said:

 

Possibly Pai Hotspring Spa Resort (used to be Tha Pai Spa Camping), not far from the natural hot springs. Used to be great when it first opened around 10 or so years ago, until it got on the Israeli 4WD tour circuit. They used to arrive late at night and make a huge racket, spoiling it for everyone.

 

I still like Pai but if op had have seen how laid-back and inexpensive it was 15-20 years ago, his eyes would pop out of his head.

 

I agree, but I have to say that even today we found it to be very inexpensive, food, accommodation, bike rentals, massage, all cheap as chips by comparison to CM.

[Johpa]

11 hours ago, bubba said:

Shan are really the original inhabitants of the area. Most of Mae Hong Son province has only been Thailand since it was annexed by Thailand in the early 20th century.

 

To the north of Mae Hong Son Province is the Shan State.  To the west is the Karen State.  The area was indeed annexed by Thailand from Burma in relative recent times.  There are few if any Thai villages in the province. You can travel the "elephant trail" from Wat Chan to MHS (motorcycle or 4WD only) and only see Karen villages. The same is true traveling from MHS down to Mae Sariang with some Shan villages reaching down towards Khun Yuam.  There are a few Lisu and Mong villages, with some large Mong villages east of Khun Yuam, but they are more recent arrivals.  The older temples in MHS Province are all Burmese architecture.  When I first visited Khun Yuam nearly 30 years ago it was one of those Thai towns they sent misbehaving government workers to as punishment.  It is now a delight to visit, but nightlife is limited.  For that it is back to Pai or MHS.

[chiang mai]

12 minutes ago, Johpa said:

 

To the north of Mae Hong Son Province is the Shan State.  To the west is the Karen State.  The area was indeed annexed by Thailand from Burma in relative recent times.  There are few if any Thai villages in the province. You can travel the "elephant trail" from Wat Chan to MHS (motorcycle or 4WD only) and only see Karen villages. The same is true traveling from MHS down to Mae Sariang with some Shan villages reaching down towards Khun Yuam.  There are a few Lisu and Mong villages, with some large Mong villages east of Khun Yuam, but they are more recent arrivals.  The older temples in MHS Province are all Burmese architecture.  When I first visited Khun Yuam nearly 30 years ago it was one of those Thai towns they sent misbehaving government workers to as punishment.  It is now a delight to visit, but nightlife is limited.  For that it is back to Pai or MHS.

 

One of my neighbours on the next soi is a police captain, he upset a general and he's been in Khun Yuam for two years with little prospect of anything, funny.

[Bredbury Blue]

We went about 2 years ago on a roundtrip BKK and back. We (family with pre-teenagers) really liked Pai and the surroundings. We also stayed at The Quarter which we liked and would recommend to people (we only had breakfast which was good) - it's next to the hospital - when walking the 5 minutes to the main strip, the Thai restaurant at the traffic lights crossroads was good.

 

OP might like to try Mae Sariang. We regret only over night staying there on our route from Mae Sot to MHS - should really have stayed longer! We thought it a really charming place to chill out though probably not a lot to do but drive around, see the market, relax.

[bubba]

37 minutes ago, Johpa said:

 

To the north of Mae Hong Son Province is the Shan State.  To the west is the Karen State.  The area was indeed annexed by Thailand from Burma in relative recent times.  There are few if any Thai villages in the province. You can travel the "elephant trail" from Wat Chan to MHS (motorcycle or 4WD only) and only see Karen villages. The same is true traveling from MHS down to Mae Sariang with some Shan villages reaching down towards Khun Yuam.  There are a few Lisu and Mong villages, with some large Mong villages east of Khun Yuam, but they are more recent arrivals.  The older temples in MHS Province are all Burmese architecture.  When I first visited Khun Yuam nearly 30 years ago it was one of those Thai towns they sent misbehaving government workers to as punishment.  It is now a delight to visit, but nightlife is limited.  For that it is back to Pai or MHS.

 

 

Apart from Shan, the predominant ethnic group in Amphur Pai and the adjoining Amphur Pangmapha is Lisu, followed closely by Red and Black Lahu. There are dozens of Lisu villages in each Amphur, and it would be a rare day if you drove between the two amphur and did not see any Lisu women in their traditional clothes.

 

I would suggest that the old temples around the lake in Mae Hong Son town are examples of Shan architecture, which is distinctly different from Burmese architectural style. Bagan would be an example of Burmese design style. 

 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

If you are going to Pai for a visit, I can recommend having a stay at Cave Lodge as well. The swifts flying in at sunset are just amazing.

It's on the internet.

[Johpa]

10 hours ago, bubba said:

 

 

Apart from Shan, the predominant ethnic group in Amphur Pai and the adjoining Amphur Pangmapha is Lisu, followed closely by Red and Black Lahu. There are dozens of Lisu villages in each Amphur, and it would be a rare day if you drove between the two amphur and did not see any Lisu women in their traditional clothes.

 

I would suggest that the old temples around the lake in Mae Hong Son town are examples of Shan architecture, which is distinctly different from Burmese architectural style. Bagan would be an example of Burmese design style.

 

Yes, lots of Lisu and Lahu villages around Pai and then following an arc towards Chiang Rai.  But relative to the Shan and Karen these are more recent arrivals.  The Tibeto-Lolo folks also tend to build their villages a little higher up the mountains than the Karen and Shan. 

 

I am sure there are those, like Joe Cummings, who can appreciate and note the differences between Shan and Burmese temple architecture, alas I am not one of those people.  FWIW, there is a great Shan temple just west of Khun Yuam, apparently still home to disaffected Thai bureaucrats, at ToPhae, containing one of the most spectacular Burmese style tapestries I have ever seen. The road to ToPhae also makes a nice loop back to the 108 just north of Khun Yuam, with only the northern most section remaining unpaved but not too rough.

 

Khun Yuam now has several guesthouse options apart from Baan Farang, but I usually still stay at Baan Farang as I always seem to meet interesting Thai professionals staying there as well.  The last visit it was a medical survey team.  And a shameless shout out to my niece who runs Wasita Coffee just south of the intersection with the 1263, before the school.

[TPI]

Why no  mention of the huge refugee camp on the left about halfway? There must be about 30,000 people in this giant teak leaf village, they stretch from the road up to the mountains! The Thai guards definitely do not allow photos to be taken!!

[Bredbury Blue]

^Where do you mean exactly?

I remember there's a massive refuge camp just out of mae sot on the west side of the road. That one?

[Johpa]

5 hours ago, TPI said:

Why no  mention of the huge refugee camp on the left about halfway? There must be about 30,000 people in this giant teak leaf village, they stretch from the road up to the mountains! The Thai guards definitely do not allow photos to be taken!!

 

Your probably thinking of the Mae La camp between Mae Sariang and Mae Sot on the 105, technically in Tak province.  The 105 is another great road and Mae Sot has its intrigues.  From Mae Sot you can drive further south down the 1090 towards Umphang for another great road adventure.  Although there is a Karreni camp west of MHS out towards Baan Nai Soi, but the camp itself, like all refugee camps, is off-limits without a special pass.