From Chiang Mai we headed to Pai, it was only a 3 and a half hour journey up the mountains. We arrived and instantly loved the feel of the place. Ok, it was a tourist town but it was nice an chilled, exactly what we wanted. We had found somewhere we wanted to stay online so we headed straight there. It was a bit out of town, about 20 minute walk but it was well worth it. We had a bungalow which was probably the best we have stayed in, it even had an attached bathroom, although the bathroom didn't have a roof so kinda felt like you were showering outside. It had a lovely garden too and the people that worked there were really friendly. 

We freshened ourselves up and headed back into town, it was a lovely walk through the countryside. Pai is a small town in the mountains and is part of the famous Mae Hong Son Loop which is very popular with motorcyclists. Pai is a typical tourist town with a twist. It is full of restaurants and some bars that are all a bit quirky. After some food we decided to hire a scooter so that we could go off exploring the following day (and also meant we didn't have to walk home). Luckily we managed to get a twist and go bike which are a lot more user friendly.

The next day we headed into town for some breakfast then headed to the Hot Springs. There were several different natural pools all different temperatures. It looked a bit man made but when we wandered up to the top we found the source, hot water was bubbling out of the ground. There was a sign saying the water temperature was 80 degrees, obviously you couldn't go in these but we did see some people boiling eggs in the water. We made our way backdown and tried a few more pools, the temperatures ranged from 34 to 37 degrees, as you can imagine when the temperature outside the pool is 35 degrees, getting into a spring which is even hotter is not that enjoyable. So we didn't make it past the 36 degree pool before calling it a day.

From there we headed through the quiet lanes in the mountains and went to Pai Canyon. It was pretty cool, you could walk along the ridges of the canyons although Pete got a little scared at times as the ridges were very narrow and the drop was pretty high. 

After some lunch we then decided to head to the other side of town to the Chinese village. Again it was a lovely ride through the country side, however the Chinese village was a little disappointing. It was pretty much a few Chinese style buildings all selling souvenirs. We passed through pretty quickly and headed to the view point at the end of the village. It was a pretty steep climb, unfortunately the final part of the climb was too steep and the bike couldn't handle it with both of us on it so Kate jumped off and walked the rest of the way.

Due to the time of year it was very smoggy as people burn the rice fields so the view wasn't all that, but we did get given some amazing tea which Kate got addicted to. Unfortunately the guy didn't speak any English so we couldn't find out what it was.
In the evening we went to Baan Pit Ta Lew Art Gallery, it had been recommended to us by the owner of the bungalows so we decided to give it a go. It was an amazing set up, they had a small stage, campfire and lots of mats for people to sit on, they had a bar, a few stalls selling things like jewellery and some food stalls. It was basically a mini festival. It was fully of hippies! It was an open mic night so we had a mixture of music being played. The food there was amazing, Pete opted for the chilli and mashed potato. An unlikely mix but it was actually amazing! We also tried some bruchettas, BBQ chicken and of course some cake. It was a very good night, we met some nice people, had amazing food and some pretty good music. Kate was convinced the woman MC for the night who also sang was Flo from Florance and the machine as she sounded and looked exactly like her. Unfortunately when she spoke she had a French accent so that rules that out!

The next day we were fairly hangover free surprisingly so we headed to a place called Fluid which is a swimming pool with a bar and pretty decent music. We chilled out here for the day, it was lovely although the pool was bloody freezing!
As we really liked Pai we decided to stay another day, so the next day we hired another bike and went exploring. We drove round aimlessly through the countryside and through tiny villages, it was a lot of fun.