Thailand Chiang Mai 2024 Day 4 Pai: Of Sunrise & Love Coffee

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Thailand Chiang Mai-Mae Hong Son Loop 2024 Day 4 Pai: Of Sunrise & Love Coffee

Chiang Mai, Thailand Day 04: 12th January 2024 (Friday)

This is part of a non-cycling road-trip tour of the Chiang Mai-Mae Hong Son Loop, Thailand. Day 3 Around Pai:

Pai (Sylvana Hotel)>Yun Lai Viewpoint>Santichon Chinese Village>Pai Memorial Bridge>Tha Pai Hot Springs>Coffee in Love>Pai (Sylvana Hotel).

This is page 3 of a 10-page blog, Click Here To Go To Title Page.

< D3: Pai | Go to Other Days | D5: Pang Oung >

Route Recommendations, here're some tips on travelling in Thailand:

1. Traffic Directions!

Traffic in Thailand, is right-hand drive, so drive/cycle on the left. Same thing applies when crossing the road, take note of the direction in which traffic is approaching from!

2. Getting around the Chiang Mai-Mae Hong Son Loop.

Our tour package was for ground arrangements, and included a 10-passenger van to take us around the Mae Hong Son Loop, starting from & returning to Chiang Mai. It also included relatively good hotels/homestays. Charge per pax was at a very reasonable discounted rate. This excluded meals (other than hotel breakfasts), airport transfers, entry tickets and tips. This allow for individuals to have meals according to their own liking & budget. Allow THB100-150 per pax per meal should be adequate.

Note: Malaysian Touch n Go debit cards can be used where Alipay is accepted, such as at 7-Eleven outlets. Just ensure that the cashier use set the exchange to Thai Bahts.

Those interested in joining this guided tour can contact Eddie at +60-612-2600, whom we find was a very good & flexible guide and very attentive to our needs

3. Route & Traffic Conditions

Most of Thailand's main roads are paved well well-maintained and almost without portholes. In outlying rural areas, roads could be gravel & un-tarred. No toll is charged for most roads (including highways)! Traffic at the rural areas is fairly light, but there are traffic jams in Chiang Mai try to avoid peak hours.
The Chiang Mai-Mae Hong Son Loop roads are renowned for their scenic beauty AND also the many turns and bends. It is known as the Snake Route with 2,000 bends, some of them very sharp hair-pins, so do get motion-sickness medication in case you need them.

4. Weather

Weather at the Chiang Mai & Mae Hong Son provinces differs a lot between day & night time and between the lowland and highlands. November to January temperature ranges from daytime high of 33°C to a night-time low of 14°C. At highland areas like Pai, Doi Inthanon & Pang Oung, night-time temperatures can go as low as 10°C. So to bring warm clothing and practice layered clothing to keep on warm and still allow for stripping during hotter time of the day.

5. Communicating with Each Other

When travelling in a group it's important to be able to communicate with each other, especially if one got lost from the rest. Many Thai pre-paid phone sim cards can now be purchased on-line prior to the trip and delivered within a few days.

We separately opted for DTAC & SCT-AIS sim cards.

DTAC Happy Tourist Sim for calls & data covers a period from 8 to 30 days with unlimited data and cost about 40-50THB per day. For just data only it covers a period from 8 to 15 days and cost about 35-40THB per day. These DTAC Tourist Sim cards can be purchased via Lazada.

AIS (Advance Info Service) is the largest mobile service provider in Thailand, offering excellent network quality throughout the country, including rural areas. AIS Tourist Sim packages ranges from 8-day/15GB (at 299THB) to 15-day/30GB (at 599THB) to 30-day/50GB (at 899THB). We purchase SCT sim-cards which connects to the AIS network; the 15-day/7.5GB was bought via Lazada.

6. Communicating with Locals

Except for those involved in the tourist industry, most Thai don't speak English, especially in the rural areas. It will be helpful to have a driver who speak English.

In case of emergencies call the Thai Tourist Tourist Police at 1155 or (+66) 2308-0333 This hotline is available 24 hours a day and responders speak English. OR got to clinic or pharmacy as most doctors and pharmacists can speak English.

7. Places & Things of Interests

There were many scenic and beautiful places of interest; but one should not miss the following (Note: click on the GPS coordinates for directional map to the respective places):

a. Dawn & Sunrise at Yun Lai Viewpoint (ทะเลหมอก หยุนไหล) (GPS: 19.36903, 98.39538).at Wiang Tai.

b. Santichon Chinese Village (บ้านสันติชล) (GPS: 19.37074, 98.40271) at Wiang Tai.

c. Tha Pai Memorial Bridge (สะพานประวัติศาสตร์ ท่าปาย)(GPS: 19.29742, 98.46505) at Mae Hai.
d. Tha Pai Hot Springs (น้ำพุร้อนท่าปาย) (GPS: 19.30808, 98.47317) at Mae Hai.
e. Sunflower & Lavender fields at Coffee in Love (คอฟฟี่อินเลิฟ) (GPS: 19.33842, 98.43308) in Thung Yao.

f. Pai Walking Street & Night Market (ถนนคนเดินเมืองปาย) (GPS: 19.35962, 98.44236).

8. Food

a. Breakfast: Chinese noodles & dishes at Zhonghua Yunnan Restaurant (ร้านอาหารจงหว่า), Santichon Chinese Village (บ้านสันติชล) (GPS: 19.37074, 98.40271) in Wiang Tai..
b. Lunch: Traditional Khan Toke (one-tray) potpourri of Northern Thai Food at at Huan Khan Tok (เฮือนขันโตก)(GPS: 19.35691, 98.43992), in Pai town.
c. Afternoon Tea: Coffee & Strawberry ice-cream at at Coffee in Love (คอฟฟี่อินเลิฟ) (GPS: 19.33842, 98.43308) in Thung Yao.

d. Dinner: Thai Street Food (including grilled fish and Braised Pork Leg Rice (Kao Ka Moo, ข้าวขาหมู)) at Pai Walking Street & Night Market (ถนนคนเดินเมืองปาย) (GPS: 19.35962, 98.44236).

Note: For most lunches & dinners we ate together at the same restaurant, although we split into two or 3 groups and ordered by our group. This way each group can order food to their liking and budget.

9. Stay

Days 3 & 4: Sylvana Hotel, Pai (GPS: 19.36000, 98.44369); located within walking distance from the Pai Walking Street & Night Market.

10. Navigation

I used MapMyRide to track our routes and stops. Geo-tagging of places of interest was via FaceBook and Google Maps.

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PRELUDE

Yesterday was a day of colourful temples and serene waterfalls. We take a break from temples today, but instead will view an enchanting sunrise from a Chinese village, and later visited another hot spa pool. Oh yah, we also had an interesting Khan Toke lunch..... what's that? Read on to fined out!

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THE TRIP DAY 4: AROUND PAI

Small group tour of the Chiang Mai-Mae Hong Son Loop, Thailand. Day 4 Around Pai:

Pai (Sylvana Hotel)>Yun Lai Viewpoint>Santichon Chinese Village>Pai Memorial Bridge>Tha Pai Hot Springs>Coffee in Love>Pai (Sylvana Hotel).

Today we will stick around Pai and start in the wee morning hours to go to the to Yun Lai Viewpoint to catch a beautiful sunrise. This will be followed by a visit to the Santichon Chinese Village for some fun time, and later dipping in another hot spring before having a LOVELY coffee and returning to Pai.

(Click here for Around Pai Route Map)

Instead of writing afresh, I am linking to my day-to-day Facebook postings during the trip and embedding them here with some brief comments where necessary. Some additional photos are added for emphasis. (NOTE: Click on respective posts to link to the FB post to read in more detail. If you can't see the posts, please log out from your Facebook first)

It's a very early start to the day to catch the sunrise at Yun Lai Viewpoint. We left the hotel at 5:30am for a quick 20 minutes drive over to the foothills of Doi Miang where we will switch over to local jeeps that will ferry us up to the viewpoint. We had thought it crazy to start so early, but by the time we arrived at the ferry point, the area was area bustling with activity, with vans unloading their passengers who then rushed to catch the local jeeps.... we did likewise..... ahem.
(Local jeep charge is THB300 for a return journey, entry fee to the village is THB200 pax.

It was a good thing we came earlier, as upon arrival everyone was jostling for prime view positions on the benches and counters facing the rising sun. Within fifteen minutes all the good seating positions were taken and if one leaves ones position it will quickly be snapped up by another. The whole process of waiting and viewing the sunrise takes about an hour, so ensure that you have done one's toilet duties... otherwise ...

Anyway I detract, Mr. Sun slowly rose from behind the hills to grant us glorious views. The campers on terraces below must have had even better views.

As it creeped up and bathed the valleys beautifully too.

With the sun-show over, we suddenly realised that we were hungry. Fortunately nearby are a several eateries, and we popped into one that sold Yunnan-style Chinese food. It's breakfast, so we had didn't order dishes and had something light - fried noodles & fried rice and also a soupy noodle, together with Pu'er tea.

The village we visited seems to be more of a theme park, with stalls selling antiques and several food stalls too. But I guess the "village" we visited was a part built for tourists, and the actual residents stay in the houses surrounding it. Santichon Chinese Village was settled by Chinese people who fled China during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. After decades, former surviving Chinese soldiers and their the descendants living here still still adhere to traditional Chinese customs. The two thousand or so people living here are of mixed Yunanese, Thai hill-tribes people, former soldiers of the Y-Force (Chinese Expeditionary Force) of the National Revolutionary Army and their descendants.

The girls having fun on a manually operated Ferris wheel pushed by three local men.

Patrons dolled up in rented Chinese Three Kingdoms period costume.

Afterward, a short visit to the Tha Pai Memorial Bridge. This steel bridge. with a wooden deck. spans over the Pai River. It was built to replaced the original wooden one built in 1941 during World War 2. During that war, the Japanese wanted to invade Burma, then a colony of the United Kingdom. This wooden bridge was built using forced local village labour as part of the route to attack Burma. This "new bridge" looks rather antiquated as it is actually the old Nawarat Bridge (steel bridge) transported and re-erected here during 1975-1976.

Took a short hike into another hot spring, the Tha Pai Hot Springs. Like the Pong Duet Geyser (which we visited yesterday), this is also within the Huai Nam Dong National Park. But unlike the PDG, this one does not have a large spa pool, and instead have weirs built along the length of its outflowing stream to form several small natural spa pools.

On the hike out saw this odd looking fruit. Initially. I thought it was a species of Belimbing Buluh (Bamboo Starfruit). But this is the fruit of the Elephant Foot Yam Plant (Amorphophallus paeoniifolius).

Huan Khan Tok, our lunch place had a room filled with Mon Sam Lieung (Thai triangular pillows). This makes it a casual dining place where one can comfortably sit semi-repose on these pillows while dining.

But we opted to dine at an adjacent room with low seats. Our lunch was Khan Toke style, ie a potpourri of Northern Thai Specialities served on a round pedestal rattan tray.

The individual dishes were served in separate bowls within the Khan Toke. These included:

1. Pork Crispy Crackling (Kap Moo, แคปหมู), 2. Thai Spicy Minced Pork Salad (Larb Moo, ลาบหมู), 3. Chinese Cabbage in Tamarind soup (Kaeng Puk Kad Jo, ) 4.Northern Thai spicy sausage ( Sai ua, ไส้อั่ว), 5. Northern Thai Spices mixed vegetables, 6. Northern Thai red chilli dip (Nam Prik Ong), 7. Northern Thai green chilli dip (Nam Prik Noom), 8. Northern Thai Pork Curry with Garlic (Gaeng Hung Lay), & 9. Glutinous Red Rice (served in a separate bamboo basket).

After lunch, a short drive to Coffee in Love, where we had coffee & strawberry ice-cream, while having a nice view of the valley & hills beyond. A trail at the side leads to fields of sunflowers & lavender.

I always like Torch Ginger (Bunga Kantan), not just for it's aromatic properties when used for cooking but also for it's beautiful bloom. It's often plucked before blooming for cooking, ie in Penang Laksa, etc, but and it is seldom seen in full bloom. Saw these beautiful ones blooming with waxy pinkish-red petals, at our hotel Pai, the Sylvana Hotel.

After refreshing back our hotel, went our for shopping and dinner at the nearby Pai Walking Street & Night Market. Had a nice experience shopping and dining. Only black mark was a very cocky lady food vendor selling Braised Pork Leg Rice (Kao Ka Moo, ข้าวขาหมู) who rudely told us off when we asked for an extra bowl for sharing!

"S̄wạs̄dī txn yĕn"

(สวัสดีตอนเย็น; that's "Good Evening" in Thai)

(For more photos of the Day 4, Click Here)

This is page 3 of a 10-page blog, Click Here To Go To Title Page.

< D3: Pai | Go to Other Days | D5: Pang Oung >

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