Jim writes on March 8, 2009:
Daeng and Sam and I left Chiang Mai at 4AM. Arrived Pai 3 hours later at 7AM, just in time for Daeng to give food to monks as they roam the town at dawn for alms. We walked around Pai and visited several wats, a Chinese village, and a waterfall but skipped the hot springs this time. Town feels more like a hippie colony [than a tourist trap but plenty of Thai tourists, too.] Arrived back in CM at 5PM the same day. Stopped at Sam's office on the edge of the city and then went out for dinner at my favorite Thai restaurant.
I didn't take many scenic photos in Pai, but you can get a good idea of what the town is like at this site taken by a fellow traveler who wrote:
"Having spent only a couple of days in Pai (pronounced Bye) this small town in northern Thailand is starting to feel very comfortable. I can understand why some people end up staying here for weeks on end. I'm about 20km from the Myanmar border and the surrounding scenery consists of the lushest green mountains I have seen so far in Thailand. When cycling around yesterday there were postcard scenes almost everywhere I looked on the horizon. The temperature is quite mild and the local people are friendly (perhaps too friendly as they keep trying to sell you cannabis). The town is big enough to support plenty of farang (westerners) but [tourism] does not seem to be the axis of income, so fortunately you are not asked if you want to go on a trek by every other person you meet."
