Where's James

Pai

Pai was once a sleepy market town but it has been firmly on the Banana Pancake Trail since around 2006. Based on my experience in Chiang Mai I almost skipped Pai, but luckily not. The minibus took about four hours from Chiang Mai, a bit longer than usual as a lady with motion sickness clearly hadn’t read about the 762 curves she’d be going around. The town has a very laid-back vibe compared to a lot of other places in Thailand and that’s certinally helped by the number of hippies in town.

Posted by James Antrobus Sunday, February 9, 2014

Chiang Mai: Nimman

This post follows Chiang Mai: Old Town And Around. While I was staying in the Old Town I went to a software talk in the Nimman area of Chiang Mai. The stretch of road (Nimmanhaemin road) and the surrounding sois are popular with students from the nearby University and young locals and expats, particularly those working in the local tech scene. The night was hosted by GitHub, a hugely popular company based out of San Francisco.

Posted by James Antrobus Friday, February 7, 2014

Chiang Mai: Old Town And Around

As usual the story starts with a bus journey, this one being an eight hour trip from Thung Chang to Chiang Mai. Marco, the Italian owner of the bungalows gave me a ride down to the bus stop at 6.30am, which was nice of him. The early morning bus was first class only but came with a free pack of coconut oreos! Chiang Mai’s arcade bus station is at the end of the “super highway” and a bit out of town so I switched to a songthaew.

Posted by James Antrobus Saturday, February 1, 2014

Nan: Thung Chang

After my stop in Nan I’d planned to take the bus direct to Chiang Mai. My guesthouse owners though, knowing I’d wanted to do the hilltribe trek, advised differently. Friends of theirs own some bungalows in the small town of Thung Chang where it’s possible to visit some villages with your own transport. While there isn’t much there (and hasn’t made it into any guidebook) it was easy to reach by taking a local bus for a couple of hours.

Posted by James Antrobus Monday, January 27, 2014

Nan: On Two Wheels

This post follows Nan: Town and Temples. After failing to organise a trek and finding the public transport lacking I hired a scooter from my guesthouse. With a quick practice around town and a few backroads (where I had to brake to let a snake cross the road) I was ready to head out the following day. Na Noi is in the south of Nan province and around 65km from Nan town.

Posted by James Antrobus Sunday, January 19, 2014