MAE HONG SON to PAI WITH LOVE

Thank you for sticking up with me. My write up here is more like a journal. So that it remains here for my future reference. I want to go back to these days once in a while...when things get tough here or when I just want to reminisce the good times we had there.

Wednesday- Day 3- 6.3.2019

Nature wake up call in Mae Hong Son. Alhamdulillah we woke up early and fresh. Today we planned to visit Long Neck Village, Suthong Pae Bridge on our way to Pai. Wahhh I was soo excited.

So this is our route today. A short one compared to yesterday route. But still not less than 600 corners.

We had our breakfast at the same Muslim restaurant next to the mosque. We arrived there at 7.30am but were chased out (not literally) coz it opens at 8am. So we did another tour round Mae Hong Son sleepy town. We went back to the Chong Kam lake and found another nice and cozy little eatery called Salween Restaurant. Unfortunately they served non-halal food and we had no choice other than revert back to the previous restaurant. I chose Khao Soi, the traditional Chiang Mai curry noodle. Nice curry noodle complimented with shredded chicken and fried egg noodle on top and few condiments of your choice like raw onion, chilly and lime. Mr Sam opted for chicken rice and fried samosa and popiah, teh tarik and coffee. Costs us only 170THB.

Khao Soi (pronounced as soay)

We should also get our sticker after this! Cool

Filled up our tummy, we continue to Long Neck Karen Village about 20km from town. It is actually the settlement for Myanmar tribes at the Thailand- Myanmar border. They were allowed to stay there but cannot go out from the settlement coz lack of proper documents. The road to the settlement was quite adventurous with streams and creek which flows into the road. My eyes roamed the area for a glimpse of wildlife like elephant, boar, snake or tiger. But sadly nada! The only thing that I spotted was a big chuck of elephant dung in the middle of the road. Where did the elephant go?? Little that I know that the elephant poop is used to make paper products in Thailand because high amount of fiber contained in their poop. Pass me the poop paper pleaseee.....yikesss

Tried my best not to bring the sample home 😊

WHOAAA this is great!!!! We have cow, monkey and tapir signage in Malaysia but they have ELEPHANT! The biggest animal on earth 

Mr Sam said the road is so slippery that you just need to go with the flow. Do not play with the throttle guys.. (As for me...I just went breathless for a minute..)

After about 10km ride, we reached the Karen Village. The entrance fee is 250THB /person. The lady who was the information counter cum stall operator asked for the money. We were like...really...are we being scammed or what. Mr Sam managed to find another blog telling the same story. Then only we feel relieved otherwise...hurmm..not particularly stingy or what. Just being cautious...

The village on the outset, you can see it's like an aboriginal village. Houses or hut from bamboo with zink or thatched roof made from sago or lotus leaves. Their source of income comes from selling woven cloth, gems, souvenirs and also donations.

 Bamboo houses with zink rooftop. 

 This is one of their speciality. Weaving. Bought 2 pieces for  500THB. Muffler and table cloth. 

Couldn't tell whether I bought it out of sympathy or I really like it. But I did saw a donation box below.

Beautiful Karen lady. 

This talented aunty sang a Burmese folk song for me while playing traditional guitar. Click the link below ⇩

Karen lady singing n playing guitar

You can see how long is her neck right. Well actually, it's not her neck that elongated but rather her shoulder is pushed down by the brass ring around her neck. They started to put 3 rings on their daughter when she turns 5. OMGoodness! My heart goes to the girl. The lady told me that it's not easy to sleep with the ring on her neck. This is what really happen to their neck and shoulder.

Well they do have sample for visitor to try and tadaaa.!! Haha it's actually a dummy semi circle ring tied up around my neck. 

On our way out, we stopped by the same information counter and bought few packets of sweet coated peanut and peanut candy to bring home. 3 packets for just 100THB only.

You can find honey, sweets and all sorts of nut from almond, peanuts to macadamia. Maybe 20% cheaper from the outside. 

Burmese basket and hat. Nahhh..pass

Rows of floating restaurant at the entrance of the settlement. Just view from the bridge. 

As the day became hotter, we continued our journey to Suthong Pae Bridge where the monk from the other part of village cross the huge paddy field to go to town to get their supplies of food and other necessities. It is an all bamboo bridge woven beautifully to create a sturdy bridge. Nothing much to see here except the bridge.

The entrance is actually a small wat with a big golden bell hanging. No monk seen that day. 

And we decided not to walk on the bridge to the other side. 

We continued our journey to Pai and stopped at this 1864 "goodbye signage" (I think). And we stopped for lunch at Drip Coffee at Ma Pha. Guess what we had for lunch......  

 YUMMEHHHHH

Maggi hot cup with croissant and iced cappucino... 

While busy "layan" corner, suddenly I saw big strawberry farm and a stall with two women sorting 3 basketful of red fresh strawberries. This one falls under wajibul ghunnah (obligatory)! haha.. Bought 1kg for just 150THB. Big and juicy slrpppsss...

  

Tried one line  "Neng kilo neng roi haa sib baht"

I heard strawberry is a good aphrodisiacs oopsss!!!

We reached Pai at around 3.40pm. We went straight to the 1st tourist attraction recommended by Trip Advisor that is Santichon Village or Yunnan Cultural Village. It is small village of the descendants of migrants from Yunnan, China. Nothing much to see except oriental design houses and small temples. The village is on the hilly side (>45 degree) and we were glad to have picked Honda Forza so that we could reach the top of Yun Lai View Point with ease. The entrance fee is 20THB /person. Tourist flock here to watch sunset and sunrise. You can see unique mud houses with hay roof here.

Recording activities on paper. Can't trust note on iphone anymore (But I'm using his note now hehe)

 Dried daisy like flower @Yun Lai View Point

Then quickly we checked in Baan Pai Nai Wieng. A house turned cozy hotel run by the owner herself. We loved this hotel coz it made us feel at home. Halal breakfast of our choice ordered first when checking in to be prepared the next morning. We freshened up and started touring around Pai the Town of Love. Pai is really a laid back town where you can unwind and relax. Having coffee in one of many hipster cafes and coffee shop. Or browsing through Pai Walking Street at  night. Our hotel situated just few metres from Pai mosque. So, of course halal food is easy to get around here. 

We stopped at Coffee In Love, a cafe for lovers to rekindle their love huhu...

Then we went further south of Pai town about 15km to another attraction that is Pai Canyon (like US Grand Canyon) to catch beautiful sunset.

No entrance fee here. Hoorayy

    I think it's worth it. We climbed the hill about 100 metres from the entrance. Peanuts hehe

After enjoying the spectacular view of sunset, we headed back to Pai town. We strolled the Pai Walking Street or night market as we usually call it here to look for food for dinner and souvenirs to bring home. Pai is branded as hippies town.Why? Ok come to Pai and you'll know. Hehe. We had nice chicken naan, mango with sticky rice (pulut mangga) and da bomb black coffee at one Tabligh coffee shop while listening to one boy doing hafazan. Heaven. 

I'm at Pai Wisteria Lane huhu

Dream catchers and broken glass bowl

 Cute pastel color tepen

Northern Thai and Burmese craft- handmade purse, hat and handbags

That's a wrap up of our first day in Pai. We planned to watch sunrise at Yun Lai Viewpoint tomorrow morning. The hotel owner said better to be there at 5.30am. So, nighty nite uolss 😴😴😴. XXX