You know how sometimes you go to a place and it feels almost like you've been there before, like you somehow belong there? I'm in one of those places now. It's a small hippy town set in a valley 135 km north of Chiang Mai (and the journey from one to the other, which involves winding round no less than 762 bends up, over and down the mountains, is deeeelightful).

I almost don't want to reveal its name, but then the title of this post wouldn't work, and anyway, this place isn't such a well-kept secret these days. Two films, Pai in Love and Lost in Thailand, have made it a popular holiday destination for Thai and Chinese tourists respectively. There seem to be a lot of Americans here, too. And the French, well, they get everywhere!

What's so special about Pai then? To be honest, wikitravel provides a good description - I certainly can't argue with the use of adjectives such as relaxed, picturesque, tasteful and serene. To say it has a unique vibe - attributable to the "harmonious mix of Western hippies, Thai rastas and Muslims" - is fair, too.

This is true traveller territory - the kind of place where you get a good feel for the area and its people, whilst also being able to meet fellow explorers. The kind of place where you feel so at home, that you quickly understand why a lot of people living there aren't local - they're people like us, who came here and fell in love, and then did something about it!

So, we're staying put for the month - allowing ourselves a short-term opportunity to sample the life of Pai-ley. Early morning yoga on the balcony in front of our bunglow (a big, clean, newly decorated place with stunning views of the valley - which is jointly costing us the equivalent of just £3 a night and includes a friendly kitty called Catting!), breakfasts of fresh fruit, Thai massages, dips in the local pools and waterfalls... Pai-fect!