Going to Pai was a complete spur of the moment decision – having settled down in Chiang Mai for a few weeks to work I was feeling increasingly restless and was desperate to travel again.
Within days of deciding we needed a break from sitting in our room writing all day everyday, Dave and I piled onto our rented scooter and had an extremely fun but excruciatingly slow ride uphill through the winding mountain roads to Pai.
I have to admit that I didn’t know much about Pai when we arrived. Before leaving I had read several posts on other travel blogs saying how much they disliked the town so I didn’t have particularly high expectations for our few days there.
Fortunately, we made the excellent decision to stay outside of the main backpacker area where it was much quieter and we woke up every morning to views like this! Yes, it’s true — I was falling in love with Pai.
After a restless first night where it sounded like tigers were prowling on the straw roof of our bungalow all night, we decided to jump on the scooter and spend the day driving through the surrounding countryside.
Aside from having the some of the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever seen, Pai had the added bonus of being an excellent place to pose for photos!
With quirky and fun installations lining many of the roadside cafes, I found myself yelling at Dave to stop every 5 minutes so that I could run over and pose with something bizarre.
It all began with the Welcome to Pai sign.
My Kiwi boyfriend was highly impressed and broke into applause at my confidence when mounting a wandering sheep. “You’ve done that before”, he grinned in excitement.
After I forced him to take around 200 photos of me in various different positions we hopped back on the scooter and rode for approximately fifty metres before I shouted at Dave to stop once more.
I had just found the Coffee In Love cafe and its gardens were full of interesting things to take photos of. There was the red phone box, the Coffee in Love bench and a cute signpost.
Driving on, we soon discovered a pink-themed cafe with a giant cow outside and a whole host of pink items in the garden.
Dave even got to be all manly and ride in the pink jeep.
Stopping off for lunch, we stumbled across yet more bizarre statues – if only I could read Thai to know what the speech bubbles say. Anyone?
Running short on petrol, we thankfully managed to find a caravan, petrol pump and a lone sheep to keep us on the road.
…And to top off a perfect day of driving Dave crazy I made him stop one final time to take a photo of me with an upside down house!
Just like the time I dressed up as a terracotta warrior, I had such a fun and memorable day racing around Pai trying to find more peculiar items to have my photo taken with.
Pai surprised me – once you get away from the main street, the scenery is absolutely gorgeous. If you ever find yourself in the north of Thailand, it’s well worth taking a weekend trip to Pai.
Haha I love the pose, the whole place looks like a scene from The Magic Roundabout! xx
Sometimes it’s good to connect with our inner goofiness:) Great pics…
Wow even wardrobe changes between pictures.
I love that you changed into a pink shirt to coordinate with the pink shots!
.. And I’m officially obsessed with this place!
Ha, looks like the best fun! I love finding quirky things in the middle of nowhere! :-)
Ha ha! Cute photos, and quirky stops! Love it!
Looks good :D and good “photo opportunities” you found there ;) :D
HAWT POSES!! ;) :P
I could see a whole fetish develop over you sitting on sheep.
Clearly.
Those photos are so cute. I heard a lot of great things about Pai although I must admit I didn’t think it looked like that!
Greetings from Bali :)
Wow….you really know how to pose in photos.
I enjoy reading your blog. I think you’re funny!
Holy crap. I would totally have taken like 95% of those photos using the same poses.
I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not >_>
Best poser ever! I loved the fact you write “I forced my boyfriend to take about 200 pictures of me”
THat looks a lot of fun, its like a fairground that doesn’t move!
People that dislike Pai, haven’t even probably got out in the town. Although there’s a lot of tourists, it’s awesome, with very nice people and vibes. The little hidden bars are amazing with their fabulous design etc. If you don’t like people, there’s a big jungle or mountains, where you can hide yourself. As a solo traveller I prefer to stay in more busy places, because it just gets boring otherwise, but even these,backpacker places are awesome and you can enjoy your private time chilling in the hammock of the hostel etc