Chiang Mai had begun to feel like any other city: hustle, bustle and nights that blurred into days. The next leg of our journey had the mountains in our sights, a welcoming and familiar respite from the pace of the city. A quick tuk tuk ride to the bus station and we were well on our way north to Thailand’s northern most provence. The attendant at the ticket booth spoke well enough conversational English to offer us a ticket to Pai, which didn’t leave for another 2 hours.
We looked for some breakfast near the bus station, as we had a 4 hour bus ride ahead of us and didn’t want to show up to Pang Mapha bus station hungry. As we walked away from the bus station we were hassled by tuk tuk drivers wanting to take us to old town (tourist area) of Chiang Mai. It took some head shaking to wade through the entrepreneurs until we located exactly what we were looking for, a local woman cooking a pot of stew over a charcoal fired pit. Two orders of Khao Soi and we were deep into bowls of wide rice noodles, chicken, and liver all boiled into a savory broth. We had found ourselves seated among the local bus and taxi drivers killing time between their shifts. After a few exchanges of broken Thai and English, we departed our newly adopted den mother for our bus to Pai.
The “bus” was best described as a minivan with 4 rows of seats. Our driver did the best he could to fit our bags into the vehicle, avoiding the luggage rack above. The 1,860 turns and bends of the Mae Hong Son loop lie before us. Along the trip, Garrett blogged while Stacey watched a recent episode of Saturday Night Live. A twisting 4 hours later, we arrived in our new home for an indeterminate amount of time.
Looking out the mini van window, we knew our stay in Pai wouldn’t be long. The streets were lined with signs written in English offering trekking tours, elephant riding and whitewater rafting trips. Goods only tourists purchase spilled into the streets: “traditional” bags crafted by hill tribes, flowing pants with Thai designs printed on them, T-shirts with funky pictures describing tourist life in Pai, etc.
We located a local map and headed down the street towards our bungalow. After crossing a bamboo bridge over the Pai River and weaving our way down a dirt alley through bungalow-style tourist cabins built on sticks, we found our destination, Pai Country Huts. The receptionist was kind and showed us to our bungalow and Stacey quickly filled the hammock on the porch. We were both tired from the trip and we decided to relax the day in the bungalow and strolling the streets.
Our effort to get to know Pai was diminishing by each step down its streets. We were disappointed by Tattoo parlors offering “traditional bamboo tattoos,” alluring reggae bars, and restaraunts serving burgers, pizza, and french fries in the land of delicious local food. It was official, Pai was the Thailand version of Cancun Mexico and we had found ourselves in the middle of spring break.
Many of the attractions of Pai lie beyond the city’s limits. Some of the top sites on our list were the Pai hot springs, Pai Canyon, and the white Buddha statue we noticed on our way on our way into the valley of Pai. After a lazy morning, enjoying the free Nescafe, we headed into town to grab a scooter to head for the hills. Our last cup of instant coffee made us late enough that we missed the last scooter rental for the day. The tourists in Pai must have known these necessary means of transportation sell out early…. it was time to hit the pavement.
The Pai hot springs are barely a walkable distance from the city center. We decided to head that direction and see how far we could get. The signs to the hot springs lead us across the river and up the hill to the north of the city. We walked along the road bordered by rice fields and jungle. Families were harvesting rice in the same fields as their ancestors, working as an efficient team with clear divisions of labor: cutters, stackers, threshers, haulers.
We followed signs to the white Buddha, making our first stop on the day. Most people ride their scooter to the highest set of steps and walk up the final 200 or so steps to the statue… not us, as we were lacking a motorized mode of transportation. Up the first set of stairs we climbed, and climbed, until we reached the monastery. The top of the stairs was guarded by two statues with menacing faces and swords in their hands, I can only imagine to keep the evil spirits worse than the likes of us. This was the first temple where we started to begin to notice the Burmese influence. After enjoying the wat and monastery, we headed up the second set of stairs to the white Buddha. The area appeared to still be under construction, with much of the stairs still exposing rebar from the concrete. The white three headed dragons and the Buddha at the pinnacle of the stairs presented a completely different image. We considered ourselves fortunate to practically have the entire area to ourselves. The platform around the statue presented the city of Pai and the surrounding area beautifully. From our private view, rugged mountaintops stretched above the grazing pastures, fruit orchards, rice fields, and tourist bloated city below. 
We departed the statue and descended down the stairs back to play our part on the tourist stage. Our stomachs began to talk back to us and we happily listened after smelling the frying of garlic. The Sunset View Restaurant greeted with us with a grandmother/ grand daughter duo. We were pleased to be out of the beating sun, but happy to retain our view. The menus were barely in our hands and we had chosen our meals. Stacey ate the best tom yum soup (coconut/ lemon grass/ vegetable/ chicken) and Garrett ate the best pad thai (fried rice noodles/ vegetables/ pork/ brown Thai sauce) in the country… hands down. We pleaded with our host to give us her secrets, to no avail. She offered us her cooking classes, at a cost, of course. Everyone in Thailand is happy to share their culture, for a price.
After bailing on the 3 mile (one way) walk to the hot springs and attending the night market, it became apparent we didn’t belong in Pai. The Cancun-like-lifestyle is not why we left our family, friends and employment for… this was a trip to experience Thailand for its culture, nature and philosophy. Bye Bye Pai.
The Pai bus station is in the heart of the city. Our decision to leave was reinforced with the loads of tourist pouring out of the buses wearing baggy flowing newly bought “tourist pants” (photo to follow). Luckily, we caught a last minute minivan down to Pang Mapha. The attendant at the ticket booth informed us the bus would arrive any moment and to stay close in order to not miss its arrival (better than the 2 day advance notice the minivans usually request). The minivan driver assigned us our seats and we were both asleep after a few minutes of travel.
The bus braked and turned through each of the 1864 twists and turns of the Mae Hong Son Loop. Sleep. Sweat. Tense. Grip. Brake. Stop.
Piling out of the bus, we were thankful to not be suffering the torture of the bus no further. Immediately, we notice the hand painted sign pointing the way to the Cave Lodge (www.cavelodge.com), our home for the next three nights. We grabbed some lunch at a local cafe, absent of english menus, white people and hot water. Our meals were at the top of the charts and we graciously thanked our hostess for some of the most flavorful and spicy food either of our forks had ever touched.
Two motorcycle taxi drivers, donned in red vests, swept us up the valley to the Cave Lodge, located on the Myanmar border in the town of Tham Lot, Thailand. A traditional Shan (local natives) lodge greeted us. Teak timbers, teak plank floors, bamboo tanks and bamboo woven walls framed the communal space we would spend much of the time we were at Cave Lodge. The kitchen servicing the guests was conveniently located adjacent to the lodge that contained the fire pit, swing and seating. We took full advantage of their 8 am to 8 pm hours, enjoying the Thai dishes prepared by the Shan cooks.
Arrival day was on par with any. Arrive… chill… relax… drink Chang… catch up on emails… FaceTime and collect beta from fellow travelers (and whatever we can squeeze from our hosts). We connected with some good buddies back home via FaceTime, renewing our sense of adventure. Our hostess showed us our way to our bungalow and we were set. An early dinner and early bedtime primed us for the day to follow.
Nescafe burned our mouths while the sun burned the fog from the valley around us. We had decided to check out the Tham Lot cave ran by natives. We walked down river from the Cave Lodge to our subterranean destination. Now, I have been in a few caves in my day… but nothing what Thailand has to offer. We hadn’t even planned a visit to the Cave Lodge before overhearing from a fellow American about how awesome the area was but, now we found ourselves entering a cave that has been utilized by local people for 2,000 to 5,000 years: Tham Lot Cave. The river flows through the mountain and the cave is accessed via the river. This incredible geologic feature is breathtaking in its beauty and uniqueness. Our guide lit her lantern and lead us to the entrance. What happened next was beyond description. 
Caves. Darkeness. Spiritual sensations. Flowing water. These elements combined to deliver an experience that proved unparalleled anywhere I’ve yet to visit. We departed the cave… our appetite whetted for future caves in the local area.
The Cave Lodge offers rafting, caving, hill tribe and general local sight seeing tours. One such tour caught our eye was the sunrise tour. For a nominal fee, we could drink coffee and watch the sunrise over Northern Thailand. Our alarm clock went off at 0500… helping us make the bus by 0530. At first, we could easily discern the foggy valley below, but the cameras weren’t capable of bringing the light to lens. The dawn broke and we found ourselves in the golden hour. Light streamed across the Karst topography below. Our fellow morning tourists were awed by the view before us, hushing the casual conversation that filled the 20 minute ride to our viewpoint. We listened to the sounds emanating from the jungle below, mostly the birds greeting each other for the start of another day. The fog held in the valley well past our departure and we descended back down the road towards our humble abode. 
An adventure awaited us. 200 caves dot the area and we chose the “Sacred Well Cave” as our destination. John Spies, owner/ operator of the Cave Lodge, instructed us to follow his hand drawn map… we eventually wished he would have offered more than advice, such as a machete. We headed out after our morning coffee (another cup of instant Nescafe) down the road towards Soppong and the farm field we were to walk through. After about 5 minutes of walking, John stopped on his way down the mountain. “Do you want a lift? I’m headed down that way and could drop you off where you need to leave the road.” We graciously accepted and hopped in the back. The spot he dropped us was a nondescript section of road, we surely would have walked right past. He wished us “Good day” in his charming Australian accent and disappeared down the road in the jungle.
We walked up the dirt road through corn fields and rice fields that had already been harvested. The corn must be used to feed the livestock, as the Thai diet includes very little of this familiar crop, aside from the occasional grilled corn on a stick. Following the map, we meandered up and over rice and bean fields until we came to the point where we entered the jungle. We walked up the valley between two steep cliffs and through the underbrush of the jungle. The path crested a hill and lead down into a 25 acre sinkhole. The path became more and more obscure in the 15 feet solid wall of banana plants, bamboo and all sorts of thorny brush. The vegetation had grown so thick we couldn’t see the cliffs above and we became a bit disoriented. The path had all but vanished when we saw some lumber haphazardly strewn in the woods. This sign of human presence was the clue we needed to choose a direction.
The bamboo crowds much of the competitive vegetation out of the forest by creating a thick canopy that prevents nearly any light from reaching the forest floor. The path opened up and we switchbacked up the hillside to the base of the cliff. We walked up and around some boulders and the cave began to present itself. We had successfully found the Sacred Well Cave! The limestone dripped from above and created stalactites that hung from above. The cave resembled a great gaping mouth with a dark hole waiting to devour us. Stairs had been chiseled into the soft clay down the entrance of the cave. We walked slowly down the ramp and into the cavern over 100 feet tall. Flowstone, columns, stalactites, stalagmites and other features surrounded us in the darkness.
We walked back into the cave about 350 feet to find a left hand turn the abruptly ended in a confined space and wall. Having seen much of what the cave had to offer, we turned around to search for the rimpool for which the cave was named. Rubble filled the center of the main room. Garrett guessed it was likely from a collapsed room. A vertical hole presented itself as we walked around the boulders. We shined our lights down the hole and decided the 15 foot depth was too much of a risk to take without the proper equipment and so far from help. One last quick look around the cave and we located the “Sacred Well.” The water was about 8 inches deep and the pool was 18 inches long by 10 inches wide. Supposedly, the well never ran dry and magically refilled itself. Locals have been purportedly been using this water source for 5,000 years to meet one of the most basic of human needs in a very arid section of the mountains. The water did not look clear enough to interest either of us in drinking and we decided it was time to head out of the cave.
The jungle was just as thick on the way out as it was on the way in. We followed our path out through the jungle and found some stinging plants on the way out. When we broke free of the forest and entered the bean field, our legs were covered in welts, scratches and mud. The sun shone forward on the path down from the mountains back to the comfort of the Cave Lodge. We were thankful to have visited the cave but we were relieved to have escaped the jungle with a few minor scrapes and welts.
