Pai is 3 hours north of Chiang Mai. There is a minibus service that costs 170-180 baht a person. Where they pick you up from your hostel and deliver you to the main street in Pai. There is a local bus service also for about 50-80 baht a person. THis can be taken from the local bus terminal. However they might try to charge you more.
Pai is even smaller than Chiang Mai. It is alot different than the Pai Briel remember which was mostly dirt roads and farms, rice fields. Now it is a tiny town with paved streets and hardly every a dirt road. It was fun just to walk around of an evening to look for shakes, food or banana pancakes!
The food and drinks are more expensive than we thought they would be. About 40 baht a meal. Shakes are 20-40 baht. Lucky we are only staying a little bit.
The accomodation is pretty cheap. You ca go as small as 100 baht a night (2 people) for a private cabin, shared bathrooms. For 200 baht for 2 people, you get a fan, and private bathroom. You can get something gorgeous for 300-350 baht if you stay in cabin near the rice fields - this I would recommend. There is of course resorts for 1800 baht a night which has the cable tv, airco, pool, private bathroom.
We are staying just off the main street for 200 baht. That is 4eur a night for us BOTH. AMAZING. The room is great and clean. Just no tv and airco - but who cares!
There is a bus from Pai all the way back to Bangkok for 450 baht. We made the mistake of booking our bus ticket from Chiang Mai as they people told us there was no bus from Pai to Bangkok.
From Pai back to CHaing Mai is 150 baht on the minibus or 50 baht for the public bus.
The sites here are the elephant camps. Where you can ride the elephants in the mountains and river. Cost from 300-500 baht an hour per person. Depends which company you book with. You don't have to book with the tour agency, you can scooter over to the camps easy and just select one you like!
THere are a few waterfalls in the area, the rice fields, the old city and ofcourse the temples. You can also do treks and see the native tribes from here also. I loved the view of the rice fields and the people working them. It is such a serene site that your whole body seems to sigh in relaxation.
Scooter is the best transport in the area. You can find a 100cc scooter for 80 baht a day. 160 baht if you want insurance. Not all companies will have this though.
