Over a week later and I am still recovering from the excesses of the annual 4 day Songkran bash….still loads of fun as usual!
Archive for April, 2010
Well ‘work’ has taken me and Tack out into the hills again as we needed to get a few pics for a couple of new tour/homes tay programmes we are adding to our websites. We headed out with Tacks trekking guide friend Joe and a few of his friends who acted as willing models for our pics. These are a few pics from that day. For more info on this 2 day action packed programme check out the Travel Hub Site here
Chiang Mai has more bars and night time venues than you can shake a stick at, you are never short of something to do at night time in this town. My favourite night time spot for the last four and a half years (and where I can usually be found on a Friday night) has been The Lost Hut. Run by its friendly owners Sai and Blake who are always welcoming to old regulars and new comers alike this laid back drinking spot is well worth seeking out.
To find this little gem of a bar head up either soi 1 or soi 2 off the Moonmuang road the bar can be found at the meeting point of these sois.
The main reason why we choose Pai for this trip was to try some of the off road trails which head into the mountains. I ended up hiring a Honda XR in town as the street tires on the D tracker were not up to the job. Anyway we spent the day in the hills having loads of fun on the trails and we passed through a couple of Lisu villages. I planned to shoot a load of video clips for this trip so I could put together a 5 minute mini video for the blog but as I was having so much fun on the bike I hardly stopped to get the camera out. In the end this is all I managed.
Every time I am in Pai I stay at a different place, I haven’t yet really found somewhere i really like but the Pai Lanna Resort wasn’t at all bad for its price. This was Robin’s recommendation and we grabbed 4 Bungalows, we ended up paying 400 Baht/night after a bit of mild bargaining,I guess rates vary a lot depending on the season and this rate was a low season price and a fare bit cheaper than what is advertised on their website.
The resort is about 5 minutes walk out of town set on a little hill overlooking the Pai River and Pai town. The owners and staff were friendly, the little wooden bungalows were in good order and the grounds were immaculately kept. I will probable give this another go next time I am in town.
Just got back from our latest bike trip. I have had the D Tracker over a year now and probably covered most of the interesting road trips in the North of Thailand at least once so we were looking for something new to do or a bit different. We decided to take one of the back roads to Pai. Many times I have seen the sign in the small town of Samoeng pointing towards Pai and some time back Blake had done this route. This road is mostly dirt track and unsealed but I noticed this is changing fast, a lot of the road was in various stages of preparation to be paved so I would guess sometime in the next 2 or 3 years this road may be sealed all the way. Anyway this road was great and felt real remote it passed a couple of hill tribe villages and it was good fun, Jasper who also joined us took a little tumble but nothing too serious.
Tack found this place on the internet (Baan Kang Muang)and we really loved our stay at this place. Usually beach side or beach front hotels are quite pricey in Hua Hin but this place was a real gem and although not right on the beach it was only a 50 meter walk away. Rooms had plenty of character and were well equipped with cable tv, air con and fridge. Rooms were spotlessly clean with big comfortable beds.
Although not right in town Baan Kang Muangit was further south towards Khao Takiap which we liked as the beach was less crowded down this way. Songtaews passed every 10 minutes or so for the 10 minute ride into Hua Hin. Normally we would just hire a motorbike but with Pinky with us we do not want to take her on the busy roads so the frequent songtaew service was dead useful.
As mum was in town and wanted a bit of beach time before she went back home and Pinky was now at a age where she would really love the beach we decided to head to the seaside. Normally Hua Hin wouldn’t be my first choice of beach destination I definitely prefer some of the laid back islands like Koh Chang and Koh Phangan with their palm fringed beaches but we choose Hua Hin simply because it was the easiest beach to get to and we wanted to keep travel time to a minimum and avoid any unnecessary stress, and as long as there was sand, sea and ice cream Pinky would be happy on any beach.
We finally moved into our new pad around the middle of January. Although not 100% complete it was livable. Even now still loads to do but we are getting things done slowly. Still no kitchen units but looks like this may have to wait a few more months as funds are getting low. Here is a few of shots of the outside. Still a few bits unfinished but hopefully I can work on these through the low season months.
Mum was in town for 6 weeks she arrived at the start of Feb and decided at short notice that she would escape the tail end of the British winter for the very agreeable tropical climate of northern Thailand. Mum mainly took it easy while she was here just spending some family time with Pinky but we did manage a couple of excursions. Mum had to do a visa run at the Burmese border so we thought it would be a good excuse to spend a night in Chiang Rai and see a bit more of Northern Thailand.
Thaistickyrice 