If you read up on Pai before going there, you might expect to arrive in a city full of hippies and magic mushrooms between the mountains. On the other hand, you will have also found out, that the town is a popular tourist destination. So how does a quiet hippie mountain village and heaps of tourists mix? Let's find out.

About Pai

Officially, Pai is a small town. In 2006 it had a population of just over 2000. Unfortunately I could not find any newer numbers, but it might be a lot more now. The town is about 150km northwest of Chiang Mai and near the Myanmar border.

Pai was once a quiet and traditional market village. It's culture is influenced by Myanmar. At some point however, Pai started to get popular for tourists. At first it was a lot of hippies who came to the town. That's where Pai got it's hippie reputation from. Not long after that, Pai started appearing on many tourism maps. That's when it started to get really popular. From that point on not only hippies but also a lot of backpackers visit the town every year.

The town has since adopted to its new circumstances. There are many bars with life music and hostels as well as luxury apartments for all kind of travelers. There are also multiple 7-Elevens in town. Many tourists are foreigners, but after some popular Thai movies were filmed in the town, the number of domestic tourists greatly increased as well.

My experience in Pai

Traveling to Pai

You might think, that getting to such a small village as Pai is one, might be difficult. However you have to keep in mind, that it is one of the most popular tourist destination in north Thailand. Therefore getting to Pai is very easy. You can probably book a van from Chiang Mai to Pai with your hostel. They are really cheap too. I paid 200 Baht (~5€) for mine, which is really impressive considering that you are riding in a comfortable van with max. 10 other people for about 3 hours.

Many people also rent a scooter and ride it to Pai and back. If you like riding scooters, that might be worth it. The road between the two places is very beautiful and as long as you don't go in the main touristic season, it's not very crowded either. You should keep in mind, that renting a scooter in Chiang Mai is considerably more expensive than renting one in Pai though. There is also an option to rent a scooter in Pai and return it in Chiang Mai. Therefore you might want to consider to take the van to Pai and then ride back to Chiang Mai with a scooter.

Getting around Pai is no problem. The town is small enough, that you can reach everything on foot. You might want to pay attention, that you don't book a hostel that's far outside of the town, since there are a few of them like the crazy monkey hostel, which I generally don't recommend.

Pai

Despite it's reputation as a small and sleepy town, Pai has a lot of things to offer. For a town that size, there is extremely much nightlife. There are dozens of bars with life music. There are also a few clubs. Every night there is a night market in the city center, which is very obviously directed towards tourists. You can buy souvenirs, get your hair done or get some street food. Obviously there are also a lot of shops, that sell weed all around town.

The countless tourist offices have a large variety of tours you can do. I did not do any, so I can not comment on whether they are worth it or not. Some of the most popular things are canyoning in the Pai canyon or visiting some waterfalls nearby. Another tourist activity Pai is known for is tipsy tubing. Everyone I met who has been to Pai did tipsy tubing. Most of them seemed to have enjoyed it, but it does apparently get very crowded. Personally I did not do it and I have to say that I don't regret it. There are just so many other cool things to do in Pai.

Pai is a pretty great place to get some nice food. You can get some traditional north Thai food or you can get food from all over the world. Pai has so many restaurants, that it's really hard to choose one. You should also be careful, because some of them are really overpriced (especially the ones selling western food).

Pai's surroundings

As I have touched on before, Pai is surrounded by mountains. The general area around Pai is also not very densely populated. Therefore there is a lot of untouched nature to see. There is so much hiking to do in the area, that you will most likely not have time to do all of it. You just have to be careful about planing routes with some trails, because many trails that look good on the map don't actually exist or are in very bad condition.

The first hike I did was to a waterfall (Mae Yen Waterfall) near the town. The great thing about it is that you can do it directly from the town center. You don't need to rent a scooter and drive somewhere first. The walk itself is very beautiful, since you are constantly going through the jungle along a little stream, which you have to cross quite often though. For me that was not a big problem, because I did it at the end of dry season, when the stream is probably carrying the least water. But that's something to keep in mind if you want to do the hike in rainy season.

The waterfall itself is really nice and definitely worth the effort. Something I also really liked about the hike is, that there where barely any people there. Nonetheless the trail was still in good condition. You should be a bit careful about snakes though, because I got really scared by a big boy, who slithered away from me just half a meter in front of me and there are some deathly venomous snakes in the area.

While the nature further away from the town really is pretty untouched, unfortunately that still doesn't mean, that it's in good condition. In the end of dry season, everything is very dry. That fact in combination with the farmers burning their waste products from farming leads to many forest fires. On my hike to the Mae Yen waterfall, I encountered 3 wildfires and large portions of the jungle got completely destroyed by the flames.

The other hike I did was not as cool. It passes by the big Buddha statue, that watches over the valley, which is really cool, but that's about it. My plan was to hike up some mountain to get a nice view of the valley, and while the view probably would have been nice, I did not make it to the top of the mountain, because the trail just disappeared half way up the mountain. There are some other trails up the mountain thought, so if you are interested, you might try the other trails up.

Is it morally wrong to go to Pai?

When visiting Pai as a tourist, you are obviously supporting the tourism industry in the region. However, you are also causing the destruction and displacement of culture and traditions, that are over 5000 years old.

Pai does not feel like a small sleepy village at all. There are no local traditions to be seen there at all. Everything was replaced with luxury accommodations and bars. And as far as I know, most of this tourism infrastructure is owned by only a handful of people.

At the end of the day, you are still supporting locals with your money when you go there and I don't want to tell anyone what to do, but now that I know all of these things, I have to say, that I would consider going to Pai again as morally wrong.

In my opinion giving tons of money to a few lucky people, who saw had the opportunity to make a lot of money from the town (some of whom are even western companies), is not worth completely destroying and displacing the culture and traditions, that have been practiced there for thousands of years. Not to mention the families, who have been living there for hundreds of years and are now forced to live elsewhere, because they can't work in tourism and everything around the town got way too expensive for them.

Please be advised, that I am not informed enough to talk about this topic in depth, so take what I have just said with a grain of salt and do your own research before you go, so that you can figure out on your own, if you consider it morally okay to go there or not.

What to do in Pai

In spite of its small size, Pai offers countless activities for Tourists. It's a great place for people who enjoy outdoor activities - especially hiking - or for party tourists. What you will not find here however, is authentic culture. As a person, who is not really into partying, those were my favorite things to do in Pai.

• Explore the town on foot
• Watch the sun set over the town from a high point
• Hike to Mae Yen waterfall
• Visit the big Buddha statue
• Go to the night market

Conclusion

So what is Pai actually like? Is it really full of hippies? The short answer is no. As I mentioned before, there were a lot of hippies in town in the past. However nowadays, all of the hippies seem to have vanished. The town still tries to keep the hippie reputation up, because it's good for business I assume, but it is very obvious that it's completely fake. The only thing that is pretty authentic for a hippie town is the drugs. It is pretty easy to get your hands on all kinds of illegal drugs (especially magic mushrooms though) in the town, which is probably in parts also because of all the party culture and all of the tourists.

Fact is, that the city is definitely not as sleepy and calm as advertised. Whether that's a good or a bad thing depends on your preference. I can say, that the town is very good for partying and it's one of the best locations for tipsy tubing in southeast Asia (at least that's what I was told by other tourists). From personal experience, I can also say, that it is a pretty nice place for hiking. While there are not really any impressive or tall mountains, there is a lot of untouched nature and some great scenery to enjoy here.

If you want to learn about the culture in the area, this is definitely not the right place. Please also inform yourself about the effects tourism has on the area before going there.

All in all, I think it's fair to say, that the town really has a lot to offer to a lot of tourists, which explains why there are so many of them there. If you are not really into partying though, I would reconsider if you really want to go there. While the nature around Pai is really beautiful and great for hiking, the town itself is really nothing special. It is very commercialized and only aims to be appealing to tourists. All of the rich culture has been replaced by western culture. Instead of hippies, you will only find capitalists trying to completely exploit the area. The town is just a prime example how tourism can ruin everything and while I did enjoy my stay here, it really wasn't that special and I wouldn't do it again.