So many travellers come through here for 2 or 3 nights as they move across the north of Thailand and they seem to miss the entire point of the place. Slow down.
Pai has realised two important financial factors:
1. You can charge western tourists crazy amounts for alcohol and they will stay pay it out of desperation to get drunk, get laid and turn this little corner of the world into yet another Ayia Napa.
2. Chinese and Japanese tourists will pay through the nose for comparative luxury and a well staged photo opportunity with appropriate drinks vendors and cute souvenirs.
That is Pai at a glance, 2 or 3 days here and you would be forgiven for only seeing this side of the beautiful remote town. During the day the town centre is essentially 5 roads in a square all lined with restaurants offering both western and thai food, the modern conveniences you would expect, pharmacies, 7/11's, hardware stores and travel agents. Once night hits seemingly the exact same locations are replaced with massage parlours, themed bars and tourist novelty shops. The place comes alive with a night market full of street food all cooked to order. By all accounts safer and more hygienic than most of the restaurants due to quick turn over of stock. In the short time I have been here I have seen so many people come through the gym experiencing Muay Thai for a day or 2 at a beginners level before being distracted by the night life and then moving on. This isn't helped by the cliche of some trainers not only loving to drink their body weight but also their pursuit of the exotic flower that is the white woman. I'm talking in stereotypes, but thats because they seem to be important here. People stay so briefly that they get boiled down and over simplified time and again which only further perpetuates the stereotypes.
So far the stereotypes I have witnessed to be true:
1. Muay Thai trainers drink lots, gamble lots and still make it to morning sessions.
2. To a thai man western women are very exotic and if successfully seduced provide great kudos.
3. Asian tourists are an absolute danger on the road.
I have anecdotal proof of all three points. 1 and 2 in the same story. Halloween night, friday night. After training we all meet at the gym for drinks and a BBQ before heading into town. About 70% of people have made small effort with costume. Once the trainers start drinking they get inspired and break out the face paints and turn themselves into ghosts and ninja turtles using belly pads as shells. We head into town and drink until 5:30am. At this point trainer Pet is so drunk he passes out in the bar. 30mins later he wakes up, stumbles to his scooter. Passes out again folded over the bikes seat. Sleeps there for about 30mins before disappearing. He doesn't show up to morning training Saturday morning. Largely as it starts at 8am and he will have only been home about an hour by this point. The head trainer goes and wakes him and drags him to training. When scolded for not showing up on time his excuse is "I was so close to having sex with this white girl, but then a big english came and stole her". All was forgiven. Seemingly a very understandable situation that we are to be sympathetic too.
Point 3. I have hired a scooter twice. On 2 sundays here in Pai I have seen more scooter related injuries and truly awful road decisions than i would in 2 months in London. Stuff that just leaves you dumb struck. Every single time i have been out on the bike i have witnessed several Asian tourists riding on the wrong road side of the road. I have had to catch up with them and flag them to move over, even when they are coming at you head on they don't put 2 and 2 together. Just blindly against traffic carry on. About 20% of Asian tourists on scooters are also sporting bandages on their knees and chins, and if you pay close attention at junctions you often see a bike off to the side and someone treating a bleeding elbow or knee from a slow speed fall. It's amazing to see. Almost unbelievable.
When i mentioned this to the locals their response was very candid "oh yeah, 2 died yesterday... the police don't publicise it anymore. It happens so often it would be bad for tourism". Makes me very appreciative for the years of riding in central London and the west of England. It has prepared me well for the roads out here. Put simply they are unpredictable. Beautiful stunning views and long sweeping corners followed by pot holes, sand left on the road and the most worrisome; pick up trucks coming the other way in the centre of the road with no intention of pulling back to their side of the street.
They love the racing line.
So far looping around Pai has brought back my love for motorcycling. Something that had wained since my last crash and all the resulting hand surgeries. Pai is situated on flat land surrounded on all sides by jungle mountain regions. Pai is a little concrete development on an otherwise unspoilt vista. Riding round the fringes and up the mountains on all sides just makes me want to keep going. I have loved the riding here and it's making me very tempted to get a bike and ride south. Take a week and just have my own little 'Long Way Down'. Maybe ride down and fly back up. Even on a scooter it is glorious. Maybe I'll do my visa run by bike and take a trip into Burma or Laos like that.
But for right now I am happy here in Pai, watching the world go by. Getting to know some locals and finding my favourite spots to spend my down time. The tourists come and go, drinking all night and then moving on. Or arriving in mini buses at beauty spots, taking all manner of selfies without ever stopping to appreciate the place. Too busy trying to share it on instagram. Pai really offers both, stop, slow down and enjoy the thai speed of life or plough through, drink the drinks, take the pics and then hit the road. Either is good. There is no right way.
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