Pai, Thailand: have we just found the chillest place on the planet?

An anticipated 3 day stop, quite easily turned into 11 days. I wouldn’t call it getting stuck in Pai, it was just you get sucked into the rhythm of doing nothing. :) This place is awesome. Neither Christina or I have experienced such nice people in pursuit of just “living and being”. Nobody was chasing their tail here and life just seemed to slow down. Definitely a fun hip/hippy vibe, a little bohemian but that was a large part from the tourists in town. The locals were just simply nice working folks tending to their guesthouses, small restaurants and pubs and living a slow life. It was intoxicating, very picturesque everywhere as well. Pai is in a valley surrounded by beautiful hillside country (much like what you see in “Vietnam/War movies” except without the helicopters and bombs exploding). Little slice of heaven. We loved riding our little motorbike around the area, just sucking in fresh air and views.

Not So Hot moment: Getting locked in the bathroom by my own wife for about an hour :(
(was I being punished? I may never know...hmmmm, suspicious)

Todd and Christina’s tops in Pai, Thailand.

-Visited 2 local waterfalls-

-spent 3 full days using a 5 star facility pool and hot springs mineral spa (cost $1.50 per person per day-wow!)

-getting to know our guesthouse owners and staff at Mountain View Lodge; Mike & Tip, Soi and Chrissy, and permanent guest and party buddy Lil Ben. They were just genuine great people and we appreciated time getting to know them better. Bungalow was quite simple and very inexpensive (about $6.50 per night) but we had hot water shower and private bathroom. The place is really a joy because of the owners and you get free access to their huge Pool in town also if you stay. Must highly recommend them @ Mounain View Lodge.

-crushing some great books and reading and relaxing in our bungalow hammock and pool side at Fluid Pool.

-Fishing for Piranha at local owned pond, somebody show my cuz Jason Coomes this picture please. He’ll love it. Let’s just say we didn’t remove the hook with our fingers, more like pliers. About 3.5 lbs.

-Enjoying too many of the very best Gin and Tonics I’ve ever had at “Almost Famous Bar and Club Ting Tong”

-Taking the moped out of town to Sapong

-Taking 3 amazingly tough but good Yoga classes overlooking the river (2 hrs each session, wheewwww)

-Riding a moped and sounding “rmmm rmmmm brmmm brmmmm” like on South Park episode of the Harley Davidson guys. Gotta say, it sure was a fun time,"me and my old woman on our mini-hog." (Krista and Ben can relate to this :)

-Seeing all the Buddhist monks and getting great Karma for our next lives

-Sampling our favorite sandwich stand “Big’s Little Place” (Owner nickname is Big). I didn’t realize sausage, onion and fried egg on a baguette could ever taste so good. Wow! You gotta get one here, great guy also!

-Having an Aussie Burger at “Burger House”. An Aussie burger is a quarter pound: topped with melted cheddar cheese, onion, bacon, fried egg, tomato, lettuce and mayo. After many gins the night before and skipping breakfast, I couldn’t have been more in heaven throwing this town with some French fries, ugghghhghghghghgh!!!!!!!!!!! Good.

Pai, we’re gonna miss you a bunch, we can definitely see coming back here and staying for a while or a long while. What a place to enjoy. We can see why our guesthouse owner Mike, came to Pai for a week and ended up staying 6 years and calling this his home. We will surely be back. Wish the best of luck to Mike and Tip and gang on all their business endeavors and work.

Heading to Laos now, crossing the border finally and the slow boat down the Mekong River, it’s going to take 3 days to get there (Luang Prabang, Laos) and should be quite a travel experience we hear.