Are you (planning to) traveling in South East Asia? Even more specific North Thailand? If you are, I would truly recommend you to visit Pai. This little village up in the mountain is a great escape from basically anything. Just a 3 hour drive by minivan from Chiang Mai, or a 4-5 hour drive on a motorbike (highly recommended!). It has a cozy center filled with markets and hostels, while being surrounded by mountains, canyons, river and waterfalls.
I went for just a day, as my weekends are very short and I needed the other day to run the basic errands. I took the minivan, which was a bit annoying at the end because at one point you'll become quite nauseous. I haven't tried going on a motorbike, but many friends told me that it's quite doable and judging by the view I've witnessed from the minivan, I think it would be really nice to be riding that route on a motorbike. Also eliminates nausea!
Since I've been living in Chiang Mai for the past 11 months, I was not that interested in the center, although I can say that there are a loooot of good looking restaurants, cafes, bars there. I was intending to stay at first and booked a hostel (Carrot on the Moon) in a more quiet place, which was really nice. I've only been there for 30 mins so maybe a bit too soon to judge, but what the heck.
I rented a bike, prices go from 100-250 baht depending on the type of bike, and immediately went to Pai Canyon. This place is super serene and a real sight for sore eyes. There is a rather slippery track so when you decide to go down that path, make sure you wear good shoes. I slipped and fell a few meters down, and that was quite scary, so please.
There were some waterfalls, hot springs and temples but as I've seen plenty of those I did not really take the effort to visit them. One temple was seen from afar and quite different than others I've often seen, which is called the Big Buddha temple. And yes you guessed it, you'll see a big buddha statue, which you can see when you'll go back to the center. It's a little bit similar to the big buddha in Hong Kong, but not as big I guess.
Another place I visited was called the World War II memorial bridge. It's nice to see, however crowded as heck with all kinds of tourists taking pictures, selfies, wefies and what not. There is a very nice cafe just across it though!
Well, just another short travel story from me. If you'd like to see things with your own eyes please watch my vlog about it:
Love, D.