Hidden Wonders - A Piece of Pai

The small district of Pai, occupying a wide valley nestled high in one of Thailand's northwestern-most mountain ranges, may seem at first to be an unlikely spot for a tourism boom. But with sweeping upland views, natural hot springs, several waterfalls and a small but thriving arts scene, the town appears poised to become Thailand's fastest growing tourist destination. Both Thai and foreign visitors find themselves obeying the attractive district's siren call in ever-increasing numbers.

Shan migrants from northeastern Myanmar (formerly Burma) founded Pai in 1251 AD at what is today a sizeable village known as Wiang Nua (Northern Walled City). The original earthen city walls, bisected by a moat used as a second line of defence (and still filled with water), form a 14-kilometre perimeter along north, east and south sides of the original town. The modern centre of Pai District lies around three kilometres south of the original town site, in an area known as Wiang Tai (Southern Walled City).

The municipality itself counts around 4,000 inhabitants and, along with seven sub-districts and 61 villages, is part of Pai district, which numbers around 25,000 in total. Today most permanent residents of Pai are Shan, along with smaller numbers of northern Thai, Yunnanese, Lisu and Karen. Many Yunnanese residents, most of whose forebears migrated to Pai within the last 60 years, follow the Muslim faith. A large mosque can be seen in the centre of town.

Before World War II, travel between Chiang Mai and Pai involved an arduous week's journey on foot or by pony caravan. During the war, the Japanese imperial army cut a road between Mae Malai and Pai to supplement supply lines to their forces in British Burma. The well-engineered but unsurfaced highway placed Pai within a day's travel of Chiang Mai for the first time.

After the Japanese were defeated, the dirt road was upgraded to Highway 1095 but as it remained unsealed, the drive from Chiang Mai to Pai still took a minimum of six hours, and a journey onward to Mae Hong Son took another six. This meant that most inter-provincial travellers conducting business among these three towns had to spend a night in Pai.

In 1993, the road was finally sealed, reducing travel time between Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son to seven or eight hours. From this moment on, Pai began to transform from a town that was merely a tourist stopover en route to Mae Hong Son into a destination in its own right.

Among the main attractions in Pai are Tha Pai Hot Springs, a complex of bubbling brooks and streams geothermally heated to around 80 or 90 degrees Celsius. Both locals and tourists can enjoy a bath or a long soak here any time of year, but a hot mineral bath is especially welcome in the cool season when local temperatures fall precipitously at night and in the early mornings.

Several small resorts in the vicinity pipe water from the hot springs into tanks and tubs for the enjoyment of guests and day visitors. The largest section of hot springs is open to the public as part of the 1,252-square-kilometre Huay Nam Dang National Park, which straddles the parts of Pai and Mae Taeng (Chiang Mai) districts.

Other attractions in the national park include the Doi Gew Lom viewpoint, famous for its spectacular views of mist collecting in the valley below. Silver Orchids Palace, once a part-time home of the late Princess Galyani Vadhana, stands nearby and is open to the public at certain times of year.