I was trying to hide my two cameras swinging right beside my arms as we walked through Pai’s narrow Rungsiyanon Road. Even if the scene set before me spoke much loudly of touristy trappings, I couldn’t help but feel somewhat abashed that I was hefting two big cameras right along with all hippie backpackers this side of Northern Thailand.

CUTESY POSTCARDS BEING SOLD AT THE WALKING STREET

Say sawadikap to Pai’s version of Khao San Road. Aptly called the Pai Walking Street, it’s a half-kilometer road running along the main artery of the town. Along both sides, there’s nothing but shops selling souvenirs, handicrafts, artsy-cutesy-touristy stuff, restaurants, and bars.

Strips of pork, chicken balls, bean sprouts, liver, peppered with leafy greens, and swimming in piping hot soup flavored with pork blood. We wanted some local noodles and that’s what we had for lunch during our last day in Pai.

CRAZY BACKPACKERS IN PAI

When we asked Kiki, the sweet owner of House of Love Pai, where we can get the most authentic local food in Pai, she not only directed us to one, but she even drove us to the place herself! I told you she’s sweet. Passing by crazy backpackers near the Pai Walking Street en route to the public market, we eventually found our way to Phee-Bon Restaurant.

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We were undecided if we were going to push through with our visit to the Pai Memorial Bridge. We debated, what can we really see there? It’s just a bridge after all. But with plenty of time left to spare before sundown, which we plan on spending at the Pai Canyon once again, and with nothing else on itinerary, we finally decided to give it a quick visit.

THE ARMY GREEN PAI MEMORIAL BRIDGE

The memorial bridge, which a few dub as the World War II Memorial Bridge, is located some ten kilometers from town. Coming from the Pam Bok Waterfall and the nearby Pai Land Split, it was actually much closer to where we were lodging at the time, the Pai House Of Love.

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The view from our motorbike on the way back to the land split from Pam Bok Waterfall was very scenic. But we were so hell-bent on finally having a meal that we didn’t even stop for a single photograph until we saw the yellow sign indicating we finally made it for lunch without blacking out from starvation.

PAY WHAT YOU CAN FOR LAND SPLIT’S CAFE

The owner of the Pai Land Split welcomed us with a smile as we entered his gate. He immediately offered us crispy banana chips, peanuts, potatoes, and fresh papaya with roselle jam. He asked us if we wanted to try his home-made juice too, which was also made from roselle flowers.

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Unfazed by our minor motorbike fall and a flat tire during our morning visit to Pai’s Chinese village and Mo Paeng waterfalls, we again ripped through the town’s empty highways in search for its second waterfall. We were quite hungry since we haven’t had anything substantial since our very early breakfast at the House of Love and the single bowl of noodles we bought at the village.

En route to the second waterfalls, we made the mistake of ignoring the Pai Land Split where there’s a stall selling some organic food. We thought we’d pass another one selling something less organic since we wanted sinful meat for lunch. We were quite wrong; there was nothing in the seemingly unending kilometers until Pam Bok Falls.

Move farther up the seat, move farther up! We’re gonna fall! We are gonna fall!

And, ladies and gentlemen, we indeed fell from the scooter we rented for the day.

It was our second day in the sleepy town of Pai and unlike the past week we spent in Chiang Mai, where we simply winged it from day to day, we actually have a particular plan today. Waking up very early, a sign that we’re actually gonna do something, we packed our gear and roared away on a motorbike we rented at the Pai House of Love where we were currently staying. Our targets, two waterfalls, a Chinese village, Pai’s World War II memorial bridge, a land split—whatever that means—and Pai Canyon, again.

GOING TO THE PAI CHINESE VILLAGE BY MOTORBIKE

Our motorbiking skills were quite amateurish, to say the least. We were more comfortable pedaling bicycles, but biking through kilometer after kilometer of undulating roads didn’t appeal to us. So motorbike it was. Anyways, it was a steal at only a hundred baht a day.

My heart was thumping, hard. It wasn’t from exertion but from fear—the fear of plunging down Pai Canyon’s thirty to fifty-meter vertical drop. Somewhere in between uttering a non-stop prayer and balancing using two cameras on each hand, I made the mistake of looking down as I traversed the steep, foot-wide path. A very big mistake. My head quickly spun in vertigo as blood rushed through my fear-addled brain. The narrow path was only about four to five meters long, but it definitely seemed much, much, much longer.

THE SHORT HIKE TO PAI CANYON

It was our first afternoon in Pai. And after settling down and resting our nauseated heads at the Pai House of Love—blame the endless curves going to Pai from Chiang Mai—we decided to see the sunset at the best place to view it in town, Pai Canyon (not to be confused with the Pai Land Split).

On board a scooter we rented from our resort, we roared through the deserted highways of Pai, climbed through a winding 300-meter pathway and looked for our sunset.

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From Chiang Mai we went further north. To the town of Pai we went, via winding roadways—762 curves to be exact—a mountain getaway a few bohemian backpackers made their home some twenty-some years back. I have heard about this place too many times from my friends who have braved its nausea-inducing road, and this time, I want to see and experience it for myself.

ONE OF SEVERAL AL FRESCO AREAS AT THE PAI HOUSE OF LOVE

Before going, we coordinated with Kiki, Pai House of Love’s very friendly and pretty proprietress. Since we’re staying at her place and have zero knowledge on the lay of the land in Pai, we requested if we can be picked up at the bus station along the Pai Walking Street.