Tag Archives: thailand

Life in Pai (Part 1)

Lazy. Quiet. Slow. There is no sense of time. After a day here you are not sure anymore for how long you have been in Pai. A day, two, maybe more? No idea, nor it really matters. There is nothing much to do, nor anything has to be done. Doing my laundry by hand proved to be beyond my abilities. Same with writing this blog. I naively thought I would have had plenty of time to do lazy day things like writing the blog, watching movies and such, but Pai proved to be even lazier than that. Writing this entry a week later after leaving Pai, I am still feeling the effects of this profound laziness.

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So what is the deal with Pai? Pai is a small sleepy village 150km north-west from Chiang Mai and 450m above the sea level. Elevation results in chill evenings and even cold nights. A thick blanket and hot water are must have. There are scenic waterfalls and caves, rivers and hills, hot springs and a canyon showing its best around the sunset time. The most stunning waterfall, Mae Yen, takes two and half hours to reach through the jungle (one way), but the view is well worth it. Lod cave is some 50km away from Pai, located near Sappong village is rather impressive too. Home to hundreds of bats and swallows, dark and large to the extent that there is a low oxygen sign deep in the cave. And indeed after some time spent there, I got a long-lasting headache. Local nature does not look tropical at all, but rather resembles taiga around autumn. Rather moderate, red-yellowish and abundance of the jungle is nowhere to be found. Must be the dry season.

Some words should be said about accommodation. I stayed in Baan Pai Riverside on the other side of Pai river. Very basic, cheap and tranquil. 150 baht for a bamboo bungalow or add 100 baht extra for a view on the river, a hammock and extra noise. Privacy and security are only an illusion. It is very quiet, unless somebody has a conversation. You can perfectly hear what your neighbors few bungalows away talk about. Bungalows are sometimes broken in, valuables are better to be stored at the reception. Bungalows are very basic, made entirely of bamboo (no wood) and some concrete on the floor in the toilet. There is no bed, only a mattress on the floor and a mosquito net. Ants are literally everywhere with toilet bowl being their favorite spot. Other inhabitants include huge spiders, frogs and slugs. That is ok, though. I did not mind, especially for this price. On the other hand there is hot water (actually hot), soap (!), toilet paper (!!) and even shampoo (!!!). In a nutshell, a very charming place, never mind all the downsides.

Black and white

I made a stop in Chiang Rai for two reasons, namely Wat Rong Khun aka The White Temple and Baan Dam aka The Black House. At this stage of traveling I have seen enough temples to have any interest in them. After you saw one, you have seen almost all of them. It is funny how guidebooks list temples as major sights, when in reality most of them are same-same. However there are ones that stand out of the rest. Lama Museum in Ulaan Baater was spectacular, as well as Angkor Wat in Siam Reap (visited it many years ago and might do it again soon). Wat Rong Khun is pretty special too and unlike any other temples. I learnt about it from a traveller in Singapore and after a quick search on Google Images I knew that it was something I would love to see.

Wat Rong Khun is a contemporary buddhist temple, which looks like as if H. R. Giger was asked to design a buddhist temple. In fact the temple is the creation of Thai visionary artist and hardcore buddhist Chalermchai Kositpipat. The work began in 1997 and is planned to finish in 2025. You cannot hasten visionary art. The temple really lives up to its name, the entire environment is glittering white being almost painful to watch in the sunshine. There is a great attention to the details, like white fish in the ponds or traffic cones on the temple parking with skulls on them. No smoking or drinking signs are rather hellish looking and clearly remind you that these habits are not very healthy for you. Not your average “no smoking” sign by any means. Skulls and other death attributes are in fact everywhere, which goes in a stark contrast with the white theme. Memento mori indeed. If the temple was not weird enough, there is a statue of Predator in one of the corners of temple. Very odd for a buddhist temple, but it kind of fits the overall theme.

Less known is Baan Dam aka The Black House located some 30km from Wat Rong Khun to the north. It is not featured in any guidebooks or tour itineraries and is somewhat difficult to find unless you know where to look. Baan Dam is created by another Thai artist Thawan Duchanee and is work in progress as well. Even though Baan Dam looks like a temple, it is a massive complex that can be best described as something in-between an art gallery, a chill-out space and a sacrifice ground. The main building is the home to an impressive art gallery featuring works of local artists and other buildings are sort of galleries-warehouses hosting assorted art pieces, animals skins, tortoise shells and horns. Very spooky and not intended for animal rights activists by any means. Toilets of Baan Dam are the most impressive: black and artistic and completed with wooden carvings and art pieces. Free to use too. There is also a wood carving workshop on the site, so you can see how traditional Thai wood carvings are created in real time. Baan Dam is not as popular as its white counterpart and the area is quite deserted, which only makes the strange enough environment even more eerie.

Media other portraits Wat Rong Khun as heaven and Baan Dam as hell respectively. In reality they are both pretty weird and sinister looking. Both creations are true pieces of visionary art, unique and simply mind-blowing. Not to be missed.

Other than that, there is nothing exciting about Chiang Rai.

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Breakfast drama

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A peaceful quiet morning in Pai, I am having a stuffed veggie omelette for breakfast. A hang-around dog is peacefully sleeping next to me. A cheeky cat walks nearby, recognizes me as a cat-friendly person, changes its direction and without further ado jumps on the table to have some of my omelette. I like cats, but not as much as to allow them to eat from my plate. The cat is firmly removed from the table and a piece of omelette is thrown on the floor. Now the dog wakes up to life, sees the injustice and starts barking at the cat. The cat stops eating, looks at the dog and freaks out a bit. Another dog hears the bark, approaches us and sits near the cat. This is a little bit too much for the cat. The cat gets into aggressive mode, gets her hair stood end and tail fluffed, starts spitting and clearly shows that the food is hers. One dog barking, the cat freaking out and another dog just sitting nearby just if it minds its own business. All accompanied by the peaceful Pai atmosphere. This drama goes on for some time, but eventually the second dog leaves and the first dog stops its bark. The cat finishes the omelette and without showing signs of gratitude leaves the crime scene. The first dog gets to lick the plate and then goes back to sleep. Peace is restored.

On Chiang Mai

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Chiang Mai is not that exciting after all. Positioned as one the most thrilling places in Thailand, Chiang Mai is just like a mini-version of Bangkok but without all that energy. The city itself is rather bleak and despite its rich history there is nothing much to see. There are a bunch of ancient temples, but once you see one, you have seen them all (with a rare exception). On the other hand Chiang Mai is not about seeing places, but rather doing things. There are plenty of activities to do in and around the city, but unfortunately most of them are aimed at extracting money from tourists. You can choose between a cooking school course ✓, a Thai massage course ✓, zip lining either at Jungle Flight ✓ or The Flight of the Gibbon, jungle trekking, a bungie jump, rock climbing, excursions to nearby sights and a bunch of other things. Other than that, it is all about eating, drinking and shopping. Celebrating St. Patrik’s Day in an Irish bar was an interesting experience. The place full of Irish all wearing green, drinking like there is no tomorrow and singing traditional Irish songs. Almost made me forget that I was still in Thailand.

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I thoroughly enjoyed cooking and massage courses, now the only thing needed to keep memory fresh is a lot of practice. Jungle Flight, zip lining through the jungle, was rather unexciting and not too mention expensivish and overhyped. First couple of rides were enjoyable, but after that it was all along “been there, done that” lines. There is a similar thing in Laos, Gibbon Experience, which I had tentatively planned to do first. The difference is the price is considerable higher(more than 200€ for three days), it lasts several days and you spend all that time up in the trees. Certainly not this time. As for shopping, Chiang Mai is known as the city for fashion in Thailand with plenty of things designed locally. Plus Northern Thailand is considerably cheaper than southern parts. One of my peak experiences in Chiang Mai was Sunday Market. On Sundays they close one of the streets for traffic and turn it into a night market extravaganza. Instead of buying things, I went for some photoshopping (in a literal way). As the result, I saved money and backpack space and snapped some decent shoots. I enjoy markets mostly for the food experience, as you get a chance to taste something different without going into the pricey gourmet territory. Small and cheap portions allow to taste several meals too. Plus things like fried grasshoppers, cicadas and silkworms are always a bonus. Oily, salty and crunchy just like chips.

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I spent five (or six?) days in Chiang Mai. It rained on the first two and got bitten by a dog right in the beginning, which might explain my non-excitement about Chiang Mai. Things got more on a bright side, though. Met cool people from different countries and finally rendezvoused with Noora ja Ilmari after half a year of traveling around same parts of Asia. Michael and Saara arrived too, fresh from Finland. On my last day I met Data, a traveller from Georgia. Data is the real name, it is Georgian Georgia, not the American one and he was from vipassana.He guided me through a hitchhike ride to Pai. It took three and half hours and three cars. Saved 150 baht saved and made new acquaintances along the way. Lovely. Should do it more often.

The case of rabies

On my first day in Chiang Mai, I got bitten by a temple god dog wearing a muzzle (must be Khao San quality). No teasing, no provokation, it just approached me and bit me lightly on my leg, as if it was its duty. The bite was nothing serious and I was going to dismiss it, as long as it did not show signs of infections as per usual. But a quick googling revealed that dog bites are not something to be taken lightly and the reason is rabies. Rabies is a virus with a 100% fatal outcome if left untreated and the thing is that it is symptomless until it is too late. Once symptoms manifest themselves, you will most likely die. Simple as that. According to wikipedia, some of the symptoms include hydrophobia and aerophobia. Now it would be interesting to see what a fear of air feels like, but given a fatal outcome I would rather not. So a small bite, which is hardly visible at all resulted in a trip to a hospital and a course of five vaccinations over one month.

Some comments about Thai medical services are in order. The service is quick, professional and efficient. They speak decent English too. Medical services are rather inexpensive – around 200 baht for a doctor consultation and another 200 baht for the nurse services (taking blood pressure and temperature, performing an injection etc). In contrast the price of one VeroRab vaccination is 635 baht. No Thailand discount on this front unfortunately, thanks to the global pharmaceutical cartel.