5. Northern paths, Chiang Mai to Pai

Arriving in Chiang Mai I was initially sceptical about the city’s well celebrated charms. To see so many tourists, shops, restaurants, travel agencies etc etc all supporting a huge tourist industry, felt quite arresting. I thought this might not quite be what I was looking for. Within hours, the city’s magic was working on me! ✨ 

First up, let’s enjoy a rarity for this blog, a live butterfly! Lots of them flutter around the temple grounds of Chiang Mai. With British butterflies in crisis, indeed, Butterfly Conservation have declared a butterfly emergency, I’m making sure I appreciate and enjoy every lepidopterous encounter. 🆘 

So, what is the key to accessing the magic of Chiang Mai? First of all, check in to a cosy hostel in the Old City. Mine had two dorms and a single room. I bagged the single room (by booking well ahead). Day by day, as I heard the complaints about noisy roommates, I felt the extra £2.50 or so for my own space was vindicated! 🏨 

Once nice settled into your hostel, take a walk around the local backstreets, get a feel for your neighbourhood. Being in the Old City is like being in a quiet village and lovely to see everyone taking such care of their gardens. 🪴 

Garden wall decoration. 

Find the cafes and restaurants that you like, go back day after day and build a rapport with the staff. They love your patronage! I went to this quiet little restaurant four nights in a row and made some serious progress in getting through my Trollope novels! (well, one down, five to go, that is)📕 

All my preferred eateries were within five minutes walk of my hostel, I didn’t need to venture any further. I never left the boundary of the Old City during my stay, in fact I didn’t leave the southern half of the Old City. It was wonderful to take life at snail’s pace for once. 🐌

He who is tired of markets is tired of life!  Bustling markets can feel quite frenetic and the array of food and wares overwhelming but a great place to inject a bit of pace into your day. And eat like a local. 🍜 

Equally, he who is tired of temples is tired of life. Though, the truth is, you can overdo it, running the risk of being ‘templed out’. However, I really enjoyed spending time in both the little ‘stumbled over’ backstreet temples and the more publicised tourist favourites. 

 

A place to acquire wisdom. 🧠 

My stay coincided with some kind of Design exhibition with pop-up craft shops, workshops and food stalls. With a bigger budget and bigger luggage allowance I might have been tempted to buy something but I can live without more stuff in my house. Regardless, I took time to stroll around the various exhibitions every evening, great for people-watching. 🧍 🧍‍♀️ 

I suppose, this being a bike touring blog, I shouldn’t write too much more about a stationary stage of my journey but, in short, I heartily recommend spending tine in Chiang Mai! 

Leaving Chiang Mai, I rode for three days through jungle-clad mountains to Pai. Taking a circuitous route, these were days that would test my mettle!  ⛰️ 

Nevertheless, the rewards of spending time in an environment so different to landscapes from home made it more than worthwhile. 

Occasional breaks in the tree line offered spectacular views to the horizon. 

Initially, most of the roads were sealed…  🛣️ 

…though damaged by the occasional landslide. 🪨 

I arrived at a temple late in the day, trying in vain to find someone to ask permission to camp. I also asked in the village for ideas but to no avail. So I returned and took the plunge, pitching my tent anyway. 10 minutes later someone arrived on a motorbike and, feeling very awkward and embarrassed, I retrospectively asked for permission to do the thing I’d already done! 

Anyway, I did my best to smooth things over with smiles and a contrite demeanour. 😀 

My ‘guardian angel’ was understanding and ushered me to a pavilion with shelter from the elements. And from ant incursions! 🐜 

My guardian angel! 👼 

The temple’s monks emerged as morning broke and they seemed a little bemused by my presence. I thought discretion to be the better part of valour and soon rode on. It had all worked out but felt a little cack-handed. I handed the guardian angel a donation as I left and he received it, I hope in the right spirit. Monetising an encounter can devalue it but I stressed that it was for the temple (rather than paying off my guilty conscience!). 

I also felt ever so slightly troubled by my white male privilege. I do recognise that not all groups could so easily ‘get away’ with taking the same liberty of improvised camping on private property. 

I don’t feel in any way entitled to do this kind of thing but, honestly, I do feel I can give it an go and expect for things to, generally, work out favourably. This is a privilege that doesn’t always sit comfortably with me.

The next day’s ride will go down in the annals as one of those mega days of torturous riding! Classic type 2 fun! As I got deeper into the jungle the road became a dirt track.

The surface deteriorated and the climbs intensified. As did the experience. I had to dig deep to keep motivated, especially on the numerous stretches where the track was just unrideable. No choice but to get off and push. And hope. At times, it felt interminable. I had visions of newspaper headlines, “Emaciated man emerges from Thai jungle after pushing his bike for a month”.  🗓️

Had I done this ride two days later, the dirt would have been mud (due to rainy weather). Might have ‘elevated’ the experience to type 3 fun!

All’s well that ends well and, at the day’s end, I rolled into a small highland village, Ban Dong Sam Muen, by this time, back on good roads. Unusually for Thailand, I was stared at a bit, though not uncomfortably so. I imagine few Western tourists stop here. The only open restaurant, a spit and sawdust kind of place, actually had an English translation of the menu and the chef served up a delicious plate of stir-fried pork with chilli and basil. 🌿 

After the challenging day of pushing Bertha, it tasted heavenly! And, fortuitously, I’d spotted this building on the ride to into the village (wild camp antennae were on full alert). So just a mile of backtracking and I was able to set up camp for the night. Fireflies emerged around the pavilion, glimmering briefly in ethereal spiralling sky dances as night fell. Who needs TV? I went on to sleep contentedly and as well as I could have hoped with my beloved self-deflating mat! ⛺️ 

The next few photos are from my ride into Pai. Some glorious downhill stretches, letting go of the brakes and flowing through sweeping curves. I felt on top of the world. Until the next incline! (of which there were many that day…)

Coffee shop that had been recommended by Francois - closed! Boo! 😒 

Fragile roads.

Mini-geyser. Hot springs are a big tourist draw in the area. 

Farmland near Pai.

Right, I’ve been sat in this cafe, hunched over my phone, for a long time and sense the staff may want me to move on now! There’s plenty I could write about Pai, a major backpacker hotspot that, unlike Chiang Mai, I don’t think I’ll warm to so easily (lots of bars with ‘chill’ in the title and cafes openly selling weed 😮). I’m staying in a dormitory for the first time in five years, it’s been OK so far! I have no doubt increased the average age of the inhabitants significantly! See you in the next blog!