Getting to Pai was not the most pleasant experience. As recommended by our kind hotel manager, we booked a minibus from the main bus station where the drivers are controlled by the government to make sure they don’t drive for more than 8 hours a day. The first part of the journey was ok, but when we reached the mountain curves, that is when the fun started. The driver was very aggressive, following other vehicles far too close, overtaking anything in his way and even trying to take two vehicles at the same time on some blind corners where it was darn right dangerous!

We spoke to him many times about his driving style, noting that he is not the only person in the vehicle, but responsible for transporting our baby Audrey, another toddler and 6 other passengers. His excuses were “I’m on a tight schedule” and “I know this road very well”, but he eventually got our message and drove with more caution after really getting angry with him, mentioning the tourist police and taking pictures of his bus license. We stopped shortly before arriving in Pai for a toilet break and the two poor British girls sitting in the back were vomiting in the bathrooms :s

We got there in record time and in one piece, thank Buddha! We were very happy to get out of that bus and after a few days I handed in a letter of complaint to the tourist police and the bus company. I hope the bus company takes it seriously and addresses the root cause of his driving, being either the tight timetables set and/or the quality of the driver.

Arriving on the main walking street at the main bus station in Pai, we were quite surprised by the number of people and vehicles on the street. Our impression was that of a quiet hippy town with a bunch of baggy trousered backpackers roaming around, but it was much more than that. A mixture of Chinese, Thai and Travellers from all over the world seems to make it nearly crowded at first glance. We quickly jumped in a taxi and fled to our guest house 3 km outside of town. As we arrived, we were pleasantly greeted by the staff Peach, Bow, Mae and a lush, green garden with multi-coloured lanterns hanging from the trees. Most spectacular at night!

Later that day, Peach the manager took us to see her auntie Janna who has her second house located next to the nearby resort Puripai Villa. Janna and her sister was very kind in inviting us into her house. She has a fantastic property overlooking the valley with pool, garden and a great terrace to admire the surroundings. After a nice chat, tour of the property and some refreshing drinks we quickly got acquainted and she invited us back for dinner the next day. We had my favourite chicken coconut soup “Tom Kha Gai” and chicken cashew nuts “Gai Phad Med Mamuang”. Super tasty :)

We spent two weeks in Pai, mostly lounging and cruising around on the 125 cc moped we hired. There is no better way to get around Pai than with a motorcycle. With a pleasant temperature through the dryer months of November through January and the breeze flowing across your skin, I got excited every time I sat on that thing. With a decent acceleration it was very fun to drive, although I wish it were an electric equivalent powered by renewable energy. I think it is time to move out of this stupid era of burning materials to power our engines. It is not necessary any more.

One of our big highlights in Pai was the excellent choice of cuisine available. Given the growing number of tourists passing through, this town has an excellent array of restaurants, cafeterias and bars to choose from. Our favourite locations included in order of preference: Om’s Garden for her chicken burger, Fat Cat‘s veggie burger, Na’s kitchen and บ้านเบญจรงค์ (I don’t know how to say that!) for Thai and Earth Tone for vegan food, smoothies and kefir milk.

Our good friend Stuart Jones told us once that his wife Colette had a younger sister called Kerrie-Ann who lived in Pai, so we got in touch with her and we headed down to the boxing gym where her husband trains the arts of Thai boxing. We met her lovely son Louis who was a few months older than Audrey and walking already and decided to meet for lunch one day. We had a great time at Fat Cat’s and also had a great place for the kids to play.

As you may have noticed in some of our pictures, we are wearing jumpers and long trousers. After our first night in Pai we realised that Audrey needed something too for the mornings, so we went to the so called “Walking Street” evening market to find something appropriate. The only item we found that was small enough was a 2-piece, green and red father Christmas suit! Victoria was reluctant to buy it as she was afraid it would look ridiculous, but I managed to convince her that it’s about warmth and survival in such bitter mornings ;)

While we were there, Pai recorded the lowest temperatures for 40 years someone told us. Temperatures ranged from 32 during the day to 5 degrees at night. We were happy we took our jumpers and boots with us. Thanks Anna Rösinger for the recommendation :)

One evening we came across a very nice place while taking a walk called the Glücks-Camp Pai. As Audrey was hungry, we quickly found somewhere to sit down to breastfeed her inside the Glücks-Camp and we got talking to a few of the residents. There we met Tabea and her really nice son called Yuri who we coincidently met on many occasions in Pai. There were two other women that we met there, one of them was a bit of a typical, middle-aged grumpy German, who I was surprised to see at the Glücks-Camp (happy camp), although I suppose she needed it the most.

On our way back one day we ran over from what seemed a pretty long snake. I think it was about a meter and a half long, 5 cm in diameter and it flinched at the moped as we approached it. I didn’t see it until the last moment as we were approaching the brow of the hill, but there was definitely no time to slow down and would have been more dangerous to stop. I thought it was going to bite my leg, so I lifted my feet up… thank Buddha, nothing happened!

After acquiring food poisoning from eating too much unregulated street food (a condition we named PAP or Persistent Arse Problem or diarrhoea), one evening in Pai we were on the search for a good Italian restaurant for some pizza and pasta. We remembered that our new friend Janna had mentioned that a great Thai restaurant that she took us to one night, belonged to a guy called Bejilong, who had a son that owns the best Italian in town. We called Janna and tried to find out more, however all she knew was the rough location and that the restaurant belonged to the son of Benjilong. She said “just ask people”. So we found a place called Baan Pizza in the vicinity and I confidently went up to the staff and asked if this restaurant belongs to the son of Benjilong… They looked at me very strangely, said “no” and continued their work.

Given the confidence of Janna and her instructions, I thought it was quite a plausible proposal to ask, however the more I though about it and the more Victoria laughed about it, I came to realise that it was quite improbable that the staff would know the name of the bosses father. So we sat down anyway and had a great pizza :) After we left the restaurant and got back to the moped, I realised that the keys were still in the ignition. Whoops! Thank Buddha the moped was still there!

As the food was so great in Chiang Mai and Pai, we quickly developed what we coined a BAP (Big Arse Problem), which we will try to eliminate during the rest of our travels in South East Asia. Lots of swimming is on the agenda in Koh Chang!

Apart from birdwatching in our back garden, going on short walks, cruising around on the moped, eating delicious and dangerous food, watching sunsets at Puripai Villa and walking around town we catered to and played with our beautiful little daughter Audrey. She was by far the star of the show on many outings. Everyone in Thailand has been so friendly to her and she really enjoys seeing and interacting with people. She will be a sociable one I’m sure.

After our pleasant 2 weeks in Pai we were left feeling at home there. It became our home and family at Baan Salee Pai. We will miss this place.

To get back to Chiang Mai we flew in a small plane directly from Pai airport. It took 30 mins in contrast to 3 hours by minibus. For Victoria it was a bit nerve racking as it was her first flight is such a tiny plane that was almost claustrophobic and consisting of 12 seats. After a short panic, she got used to it and we really enjoyed the flight. After a couple of days in Chiang Mai again, we will fly back to Bangkok for a couple of days and then it’s off to Myanmar (Burma).

New pictures are now online from Chiang Mai. Victoria is currently writing an article about Chiang Mai and I am preparing one for Pai where we currently reside. The trip here was nail-biting to say the least, but keep your seatbelts fastened, more to come soon! You can also keep track of our progress and travel schedule on the map.

Good morning, good afternoon and good evening, wherever you are and whatever time zone you may be in ;)

I must say, I am most impressed with our 11h hour flight to Bangkok. I was really dreading the flight in a way, as I could have gone one way or another. Audrey was awake until about 2000 Frankfurt time and then she fell asleep until about 0200 with food breaks. The plane landed at 0300 (0900 local time). She never really cried, only shortly when mummy had to go to the toilet and she was hungry, but apart from that she was so happy to be there and to communicate with the other passengers on-board. Especially a little Thai toddler who was about 1 year old and running up and down the isles. Audrey definitely got more sleep than both of us. I had a very short power nap and Victoria got about an hour.

The 767 had recently been refurbished with a new cabin including a new in-flight entertainment touch screen with a highly welcomed USB port for charging your devices. The crew were very nice for German standards and they always praised Audrey for smiling and one even said they couldn’t believe how happy she was :) Something I also valued a lot for such a long journey in a sealed cabin at 43,000 Feet (approx. 13 KM) above sea level.

We arrived at 0900 local time in a very warm and humid 28 deg heat, that we felt as we departed the aircraft, but quickly entered the air conditioned terminal. It was quite a surreal experience entering quite a different world with Asian structures dotted around the terminal and generally very happy people (apart from the Europeans :).

Arriving at passport and visa control and we were surprisingly quickly redirected from the crowds to a very small queue for disabled, elderly and families! Great. It took us 10 min to sort out the visa and another 10 to wait for the baggage. 30 day visa with no fees.

The first thing we purchased was a sim card as recommended by our friend Chris who we will be staying with in Bangkok. Thanks Chris and Tang! It cost 400 baht (approx. 10 EUR) for a 4GB data tariff! Compared to Germany you might be lucky to get a 1GB tarif for that price!

After that we quickly queued for a taxi (we had to grab a ticket with a number from a machine that tells you which box to wait in) and 2 mins later it arrived to pick us up. Off we went and quickly asked for the air con. About 45 mins it took to Chris’s house, with quite a bit of traffic towards the centre of town.

Our first impressions funnily enough was that of a similarity to Moskow in Russia. The wide roads and style of driving was similar (any space or lane goes), the high rise white flats and a slight sense of chaos :)

We arrived after going through a maze of roads leading to Chris’s house. We had to help the taxi driver with Google maps in order to guide him, as even with Thai written instructions he was lost. Chris later mentioned that it is often tricky for drivers to find his house. Most taxi’s don’t have GPS to navigate. During our stay in Bangkok, we even got told once to get out of his taxi after showing him where we wanted to go with my smartphone! He didn’t even want to look at it. Some say this technology is the work of the devil, as this guy seemed to think so. In a way, it might be, but to get to the restaurant using GPS it’s hard to argue against it, right?

Anyway, we settled in to Chris’s place and met his wife Tang’s mum, who quickly took Audrey and ran upstairs to play with Nico, Chris and Tang’s son. Great! Time for a beer. Chris, as I am, is a beer fan and he served a great IPA brewed in Thailand called Happy New Beer. Superb on a world class scale. We decided not to go to sleep and try to hold it out until the evening in the new time zone, however as the day went on it became more and more difficult. On the way to Que Pasa, a Mexican restaurant that Chris recommended, I had a little nap in the car. There was no choice :D

There we had a super tasty Burrito, Taco and my first Thai beer, Singha. I prefer to buy only locally produced beers wherever I go as I don’t agree with unnecessary long distances some have to travel. Tip of the day: Buy local ;)

The first night was a bit rough as we slept like a baby from 2200 until 0200 and then we all woke up. Audrey seemed very lively so I went downstairs with her to play for a bit until she got bored and tired. We put her to sleep and then I couldn’t sleep, mind very active and eyes wide open for a few hours. Oh well. Jet-lag :)

One day later and we visited a huge market in Bangkok, just outside of the centre. Lots of action going on and our host Chris took us to one of his favourite spots to eat some crispy chicken. Delicious, with some nice yellow rice. This permanent market is huge. Many shops inside the main area are accessed via small alleys that criss-cross each other. If you need something, you will find it here for sure, somewhere, somehow :) There are no departments nor index, so you just need to know where your going or just calculate some time to look for it.

Later on, Chris set us up with a Canadian guy called Tim who he was friends with, who just happened to be up for joining us for a trip through town and could meet us spontaneously at the sky train station we got out at. We decided to head to Wat Pho that has a huge reclining Buddha. Tim lives in Saudi Arabia, but has ample experiences in Bangkok and knew his way round. One of his tricks was to take the canal boat through Bangkok to dodge the heavy congestion. Considered a tip in Bangkok, if you want to get around fast, consider using the canal/river boats and the sky train. Not only was it a nice experience to ride on the canals, but it was a nice breeze of air to cool oneself down.

When we arrived at our destination we quickly realised that the sun was very hot and Audrey needed some protection from the blazing sun, so we quickly hopped into a taxi that took us to a local market where we bought a UV umbrella. This worked a treat and we are continuing to use it nearly every day.

After another nice boat trip down the Chao Phraya River, we arrived at Wat Pho, a truly amazing temple that amazed me, given the size of the Buddha inside. My goodness, it basically fills the entire temple. Audrey was again a big star, with people taking pictures with her, Indian men trying to grab her and security guards all welcoming her while always having a big smile on her face, especially when she saw the Buddha and felt the energy of his presence. She was so excited to see him!

The temple and surrounding buildings were astonishing. Such amazing architecture and lots of gold. It was a real pleasure to be there at such a time, just before the sun was about to set.

In the evening we met up with Chris and Tang again at the Tawandang German Brewery in Pak Kret. When we arrived it was like, from what I could imagine, arriving at a high class casino in Las Vegas. Security at the car park entrance, roundabout in front of the giant building and a wide staircase before the entrance. When we got inside I was surprisingly greeted by rows of tables on two levels in front of a giant stage when there was non-stop, live performances taking place. We had a great selection of food, including a Schweinshaxe (crispy pigs leg) but, Thai style with a spicy sauce to go with it. Tasty! The beer was also pretty good. The Hefe-weizen was ok, but the draught beer was better.

I was gob smacked by the scale, professionalism of the artists, camera men, sound crew and hosts of the show. It was one good act after the next with a small group of primary artists performing many roles. Absolutely amazing considering the show was for free, the price of the food made up for that though. For the two of us we ended up paying 2200 baht (approx. 55 EUR) for the night including all drinks. Expensive judging by the prices we normally pay for food in Thailand, however it was worth every penny.

Next day after what seemed like a good nights sleep, Audrey was up for action as soon as she woke up, so we proceeded to play downstairs and get some breakfast while we were at it. Today was a lazy day so we spent most of it at Chris’s place where we had some fun in the garden and in the afternoon, Chris invited some of his ex-pats over for a super tasty grill session with superb IPA and delicious food.

On the last day in Bangkok, we took a taxi to the nearest and most convenient river boat station at Wat Soi Thong to Wat Arun. Just over the opposite side of the river to Wat Pho, we got off at the same stop and took another crossing ferry to the other side. This temple and it’s gardens are absolutely gorgeous. Again, Audrey gained much attention with Thai, Chinese and other foreigners. It seemed she also enjoyed seeing the Buddha again judging by her response to the environment.

Catching the ferry back to the other side led us into a nice rooftop bar called the Eagles Nest with moderately priced drinks to watch the sunset over Bangkok and the Arun Temple. Stunning :) The day after we fly for 1 hour to Chiang Mai.

As always you find more pictures from our travels in the gallery here -> Bangkok