Hippy Pai

For the last few days I’ve been staying in Pai, a small hippy town in Northern Thailand. The days are very warm (low 90s) and the nights are quite cool (low 60s, high 50s). It’s a quirky town with a very mellow vibe, there are lots of coffee shops and places to get a massage. Initially this place felt like a sort of rural paradise, but it quickly dawned on me that everything around was conceived for western tourists. Everything – shops, restaurants, bars, accommodation. Things are quite inexpensive so Pai is an ideal location for weary travelers in need of cheap creature comforts. In one day you could have three restaurant meals, a massage, rent a motorbike, visit a waterfall, buy an outfit, and have a night out at the best club in town for around $20 – easily. Signs are up throughout town advertising local real estate so it’s easy to see why so many expats settle here.

From the pictures below you can see how relaxed local law enforcement is, the garden is about 100 feet from a bamboo bridge that serves as the main channel into town.