Day 93! Another travel day! Hopefully the last for a couple days. Today’s adventure takes me and my friends to a town I love a lot, Pai! The ride was long and winding, but we made it safe and sound. I’m excited to share what I get up to in this magical place!

I woke up this morning and had my hostels free breakfast of toast and bananas. It was a nice snack to start the day, but definitely not the most filling.

We then gathered our crew downstairs to decide our plan for getting to Pai today. I had been checking online and it seemed busses were booking up quick so we had to make a decision.

In the end Sam, Dan, and I decided to take a minivan at 3:30pm and Abi and Toby took their chance with motorbiking the winding road.

The ride from Chiang Mai to Pai is one of (if not the most) windiest road in the world with 762 twists and turns!

Dan was hankering for a smoothie, so we went out to brave the heat and find some!

It took us a bit to find one at a price we liked but eventually we found a fresh mango smoothie for 40 Baht. Even without sugar it was super sweet and refreshing!

The smoothie ended up being directly next to the entrance of the old city wall, so we walked over to it for my friends to see it for the first time.

Before we left for smoothies we met a new friend from Germany, Alina, who hung out with us for the morning!

Near the wall, they were setting up for the Songkran festival happening in just over a week. I’m very excited to come back to the city to celebrate!

We then started on a long walk to find food. It was already 100 degrees Fahrenheit and we were baking in the sun. But on our way to find food we found a small crafts market and perused it.

We took a right turn down a road which was beginning to lead us to the food we were searching for. It also led us to a road that I instantly remembered from my last visit in Chiang Mai! It was a minute away from the Mad Monkey I stayed at.

We finally sat down at a Khao Soi street restaurant! We had been searching for this dish specifically because Chiang Mai is known for it! The search was worth it as this was one of the best Khao Soi’s I’ve ever had.

We then walked back to our hostel and waited for our bus.

Before we headed out, we made a quick 7-11 run where I got a cheese toasty… but for 2 Baht more I got two of them in one pack. The quality wasn’t as good, but double the food was nice.

2:30pm rolled around and we hopped in a grab to head to the bus station.

We waited for about 40 minutes for our minivan to arrive. But once it did, we quickly loaded up, got in, and set out on the road.

The ride quickly became full of twists and turns. It was living up to its name as one of the world’s ‘windingest’ roads.

An hour and a half into our ride, we stopped at the only rest stop.

I remembered this one from my first time to Pai last year! But I definitely forgot how soon into the ride it was.

For the next hour and a half, we experienced wild bends and lots of twists in the road. My friend Dan was even getting motion sick during the ride.

But these bends brought amazing views of valleys that were basking in the golden hour of the sunset!! The sun was also a crazy shade of red due to the amount of smog from burning season, which is in full force in Pai.

Our friends Toby and Abi were motorbiking and left way before us. But I believe they stopped at a couple places on the way… and our minivan somehow caught up to them! We ended up passing them and all waving. They were very excited to see us and had beaming smiles as we passed!

Just before we were dropped off, a Thai local was dropped off at home. Her dog was insanely excited to see her and we had front row seats to the excitement!

We finally arrived in one of my favorite places in Thailand, Pai! Arriving here brought back a flood of amazing, happy memories with my original Thailand crew. But I’m excited to add even more memories to the list!

I had to immediately start off with a Pai classic though. I revisited my good pal, Gyoza Queen! And of course introduced my new friends to it.

They were just how I remembered them… perfect!

After dropping our things off at our hostel, we made it back to the walking street for dinner.

The night market wasn’t even in full swing and it was definitely bigger than when I was here last! Most of the stalls and food vendors were the same, but a lot of them had new stands.

We walked the whole street and then decided to eat at the cheap food stand in front of a 7-11. For 50 Baht I had an incredible Pad Thai sat in front of a convenience store. What can beat this?!

We wandered a bit more around the night market and then I called it a night and headed back to my hostel.

Tomorrow we’ll be partaking in another tipsy tubing. Allegedly this one will be around 300-500 people!

It’s amazing to be back in a place that is very special to me! I can already tell there’s a big difference in the amount of people here because it’s not monsoon season, but the vibe of the town is very much the same. The smog might take some getting used to, but I’m still looking forward to my time here!

– Elie