The Life of Pai

It's hard to explain how much we enjoyed our 6 days in Pai. We really didn't want to leave and if we hadn't had flights booked to the Philippines, then we would have stayed for at least another week or two (or perhaps the rest of our lives!).

It is one of the most relaxing, magical places I have ever visited.

A big part of that came from the brilliant guesthouse we stayed at, on the river, quiet, serene...if it can make our kids relaxed, then there really was something special about this place. Hopefully this isn't the last we experience of Pai, we might very well be back sometime over the coming months.

We spent our 6 days eating street food, visiting countless local beauty spots and doing some great activities - planting trees for conservation, meeting an elephant, hiking the Canyon, bamboo bridges, waterfalls, hot-springs and much more.

A special day was at  Conserve Natural Forests who are a truly ethical conservation project, where we planted trees and spent some time with their elephant, Kamee, who is 25 months pregnant.  Unlike almost all other elephant sanctuaries in Thailand, this place is truly about elephant rehabilitation and the kids got to understand why riding, washing and playing with elephants might seem like good fun but is actually contributing to elephant cruelty. Miguel, the owner who is part Scottish, part Mexican was real inspiration and made a killer Passion Fruit G+T!

We also got to spend some time with Alina, Leonid and their kids, a family from Israel that we first met in Chiang Mai and who are also on their own year-long travel adventure.  The kids had a great time playing with other kids, it is definitely something they are missing and hopefully we'll meet up with them again over the coming months.

On our final evening, after 27 days in Thailand without a Thai massage, Shoshi and I decided to treat ourselves. The kids sat outside the massage parlour for an hour, like Glaswegian kids sitting outside the pub waiting for their Dad.  I had hoped to get a massage from the Thai version of Gal Gadot but it turned out to be more like her Grandma and Shoshi has to make do with her Grandma's best friend. Not since Tyson v Spinks has someone received such a beating but, as they say, no pain, no gain and we awoke the next day feeling 20 years younger.

In keeping with the peace and quiet of Pai, we'll just let the photos tell the rest of the story.