Pai Canyon and The Bamboo Bridge
By Lauren Gerzina & Justin Hayes
Beautiful Views, Sweet ‘Art Cafe, and Trippy Cocktails
We woke up early and walked the 20 feet outside of our hut over to the breakfast buffet. Man, was it a good buffet. They had made to order eggs, a bunch of Thai food options, salad/veggies with dressing, coffee, juices, and a bread/toast station. All the food was very good and included with our stay!
After we ate, we flagged down the concierge and asked them about transportation. He said that we could get a private taxi to take us to the Pai Canyon and Bomboo Bridge and wait for us at each place. The price was really reasonable, so we booked it. We also told the concierge about a drawing class we booked from 1 to 4pm, and he said that he could drive us to the class for free after our morning tour.
About 30 minutes later, the driver showed up, and we loaded into his truck. He was a much better driver than the guy who brought us to Pai (not to mention the truck from the Chiang Mai transfer had a really bad transmission and squealed every time it changed gears). We got to the Pai canyon in about 20 minutes. Apparently, we were there way earlier than normal tourists – there was no one else there.
We walked up a steep hill and when we got to the top, we were greeted by beautiful views of the surrounding mountains (Pai is in a valley) and beautiful formations of dirt/rock that forms the canyon. Some of the areas were super narrow with steep drop offs (at least 100 ft drop) on either side – that made both of us very nervous. Some people were climbing down into shallower parts in order to hike farther into the canyon. We both opted out of this. But we did explore all of the areas that looked a bit safer. The views were stunning. After about 30 minutes of exploring, we headed back down the steep hill back to our driver.
After another 20 minutes of driving through windy hills and countryside (and a few dirt roads), we arrived at the bamboo bridge, which was not just a short bridge over a river or lake or stream – it was a walkway over rice fields that was approximately 800m long.
Again – it had gorgeous views of the mountains and fields and waterways. We followed the bridge to a small Buddhist temple in the middle of the field and went up to the 2nd and 3rd floors for some better views. Afterward, Lauren checked out the swing situation (there were various swings along the walkway) and she determined: 1) It was too hot in the direct sun to swing for more than a couple minutes and 2) the swings were too close to the ground and clearly made for shorter people to swing.
We continued on the path, over streams and through woods and all the way up to a forest Buddhist temple. It was a beautiful walk. After about an hour and a half of wandering and taking lots of pictures, we made our way back to our taxi driver.
We were back at the hotel in about 20 minutes. We split up because we didn’t have much time before we needed to leave for our drawing class. Justin head back to the room to put away some of our stuff and grab a few other things. Lauren walked about 5 minutes over to a Mexican restaurant and ordered food for both of us.
Justin got to the restaurant just as the food was coming out. Lauren got a mango salad which was delicious! Justin got a burrito bowl, but he complained that the meat tasted like it had been reheated (so it wasn’t his favorite). Once we scarfed down the food, we ran back to the hotel and asked for the concierge to drive us as soon as he could (it was about 12:50pm).
He drove us over to the Harmony Hub (the drawing location) in a songthaew truck. The Harmony Hub and the Sweet ‘Art Café are collocated and offer a location for locals and tourists to come be creative or take classes in drawing, painting, and pottery while consuming their delicious coffee, tea, and homemade cakes.
It took about 12 minutes to get there, so we quickly went to the front desk to talk to the barista named Clem (short for Clementine). She looked at us confused and told us there was no drawing class. Which is confusing, since we paid for it earlier. After a few calls to her husband (the co-owner named Sushi) and to the drawing instructor, it was determined that because Lauren had signed up less than 24 hours before the class, the online system automatically pushed the signup to the following Friday (December 8).
Sushi refunded us the class since we would not be in Pai on the 8th. So there was no class and we had no way to get back to the hotel until the concierge came back at 4pm. What a fun adventure. Did we mention that this location was in the middle of nowhere with no restaurants, shops, things to do, etc?
Clem was incredibly nice and offered for us to buy some art kits that they sell to people who want to come to their café and just chill (outside of a class). We bought the drawing kit for both of us. It came with paper, drawing pencils, colored pencils, and some markers. We chatted with Clem for quite a while and learned that she moved to Pai from France (she had a thick French accent) and started the café/creative space with her Thai husband. Cleverly, Sweet ‘Art Café sounds like Sweet Heart Café when you say it in a French accent.
We both had no idea what to draw, so Lauren pulled up a picture of Oswald (one of Lauren’s favorite Disney characters) and drew him while Justin followed a Youtube tutorial on how to draw/color and apple. Then Lauren asked Justin what else she should draw – elephants. So Lauren pulled up a YouTube video on how to draw an elephant and drew that while Justin . . . colored? You would need to see his artwork to understand.
We were done drawing after about an hour and a half and figured we could kill time by using their tree swings, chilling on hammocks, eating a delicious carrot cake (Lauren only – sorry Justin), and drinking some delicious homemade sodas/teas. At 4:10pm, the concierge still hadn’t shown up and we had no way of getting ahold of them. Clem called the resort and told them that we needed a pickup. The concierge came about 15 minutes later and apologized that he lost track of time. We honestly really enjoyed our chill time at the Harmony Hub and would definitely recommend that people go and enjoy the atmosphere.
When we got back to the hotel, we decided to cool off in the pool. Well, Justin cooled off in the pool while Lauren read her book on a lounge chair (it was a bit too cold for her liking). It was quite refreshing and relaxing.
For dinner, we went to a vegan restaurant called The Free Bird that also had gluten-free options. They had these delicious GF vegetable fritters that were fried in a chickpea batter. We had those as an appetizer and also ordered a second helping of them because they were so good. Justin had a green tea fried rice, and Lauren had vegan Mac & Cheese.
After dinner, we decided to grab some drinks at a cocktail bar Justin found that had somewhat interesting cocktails. Most bars around Pai all had the same, somewhat boring selection – Mai Tai’s, Margaritas, Pina Coladas, etc. While the drinks were good, it was more fun watching the other patrons.
To understand what we mean, you should know that Pai is basically the Portland of Thailand, full of hippies and . . . happy plants. The bar was playing some trippy music and had lights projected on the ceiling. When we arrived there was one girl standing in front of the DJ stand on the “dance floor” doing some sort of modern/interpretive dance, living her best life.
A few minutes later, she was joined on the dance floor by some other people who had recently enjoyed some bud (not the beer). The best part was when the bartender set up one of those lamps from the 90s that had the static electricity pulses inside of them (sometimes called a plasma bulb). When they brought that out, Justin leaned over and said, “watch this, this is gonna blow their minds.” And it definitely did. Each of the dancers took turns coming up to the lamp to play with it and have their minds blown. We were both very entertained by their entertainment.
Once we finished our drinks and watching the entertainment, we headed back to the hotel to get some sleep.
