Pai Saturday Market and Mini-“Golf”
By Lauren Gerzina & Justin Hayes
Lovely Breakfast, Pool Lounging, and A Nice Dinner
While the breakfast at the hotel was really good, Justin found a place that had more GF options, so we decided to change it up for food. We also desperately needed to do some laundry, and the restaurant was close by the self-service laundromat we found. We loaded up our laundry bag and headed out.
We got to the laundromat called Otteri and threw our clothes in the washing machine. It was about 40 baht to do a 7 kg load. We then headed over to the restaurant that was less than a block away. When we looked at the menu, it looked nothing like what we saw online, which had GF notations and other options like GF bread.
So we found another place that was a little further but looked like it had more options called Coffee Stains. After about a 5 minute walk, we entered a cute little shop that had a bunch of spices, teas, coffees, etc. for sale up front and some tables on the other side. We were greeted by a very upbeat guy and shown to our seats.
Lauren ordered a pumpkin spice latte (because of course), and Justin got a cinnamon dolce latte. We also ordered some bagel sandwiches (Justin’s meal was on GF bread). After we ordered, Lauren walked back to the laundromat to move the clothes over to the dryer.
She got back just in time for her food to show up. Both the coffee and food was delicious. We also got some cacao kombuchas that were also very interesting/tasty. As we checked out, we grabbed some tea leaves from their market. We headed back to the laundromat to grab the clothes, but realized that we somehow lost our laundry bag. Justin ran back to the breakfast place, but it wasn’t there, so he ended up buying a bag from a local market.
Once we got back to the hotel, we dropped off our laundry and asked the concierge if we could arrange another taxi to take us to the Saturday market and then to a place called Pai Bamboo Mini Golf that had great reviews. The day before, at Sweet ‘Art Café, Clem was baking some delicious smelling cheesecake that she told us she planned to sell at the Pai Saturday market. So we decided we should check it out.
We hopped in the truck (our driver was the same guy as the day before), and we headed over to the market. It was a smaller market than we’d seen elsewhere, and definitely more for locals. Around half of the vendors were ex-pats selling their wares. There was also a lot more “crunchy” stuff available like vegan baked goods (we even got a vegan GF cookie for Justin).
After we walked through the market a bit, tasted Clem’s delicious cheesecake she had been baking the day before, and purchased a couple small pieces of jewelry, we headed over to a café to get some iced tea. The café was really cool with several French bulldogs, some sort of white terrier, turtles in a pond, and some cages with iguanas and parrots.
We finished our drinks and headed back to our driver to take us to Bamboo minigolf. After a short ride north, we arrived at what looked like a farm in the middle of the Pai foothills. (it likely was a farm at one point). We were greeted by a bald, Scottish ex-pat with no shirt on named Jim (we knew his name from the Google reviews).
Jim had built a 13-hole minigolf course, but instead of clubs and golf balls, he created croquet-like mallets and used tennis balls. He also sounded exactly like Robin Williams’ impression of a Scottish guy talking about golf, so it was hard not to laugh as he explained how to hit the tennis ball with the bamboo sticks.
After a couple of practice putts at Hole 1, we were off to the races. It was actually really fun despite the heat. Jim had given us both straw hats to keep us somewhat shaded as we played. Justin got a hole in one on hole seven and only beat Lauren by one stroke. It was also amusing playing minigolf next to a cow pasture. We would definitely recommend if you’re looking for a unique experience in Pai.
Well, as long as you don’t talk politics with Jim. After we finished our round, we sat and had some Roselle tea and talked a bit with Jim about his background. He had been gone from Scotland/London for about 20 years, married a Thai woman, and now lives in Pai, basically running the golf course as a fun hobby.
He was also surprisingly extremely conservative and into a whole host of conspiracy theories from COVID vaccines with snake venom and how nicotine can cure diseases to plots by governments to control the world’s cars. We let him rant for a bit, and eventually found an out to say we had to get back to our hotel for . . . something.
Regardless, it was still a good time.
We got back to our hotel and took another dip in the pool – this time Lauren got in for a bit because we both got very hot on the golf course. After we cooled off, relaxed and had some fruit smoothies, we went back to our room to change and get ready for dinner.
We decided to make a reservation for the restaurant at the hotel called the Blue Ox. Lauren wanted to change things up from Thai food, so she got a steak with potatoes while Justin got Tom Kha Ga (chicken coconut soup) and Pad Thai with shrimp. We also ordered a very tasty Chilean red wine to go with dinner. It was really nice sitting outside, enjoying the nice weather, and chatting (without having to worry about a long walk back to our hotel since it was steps away).
We had a great time exploring Pai for a few days, but we were excited for the next chapter of our trip!
