When i was middle 2007 for traveling in Malaysia i go for a short trip to Singapore. I took the train from Kota Baru to Singapore city. The trip was around 25 hours and i don´t had a seat because it´s was fully booked. But still it was nice because i was sitting on the open train door and looked all the time to the jungle in Malaysia. When i arrived at the rail station in Singapore i was down and i just want to sleep. The taxi brag me to a guest house witch i found in the lonely planet for southeast Asia. This guesthouse was full so i was going to the “fragerance hotel” in a dormitory. I slept with 7 other backpackers in the small room with stage beds. One night was about 20 US, expansive for southeast Asia but cheap for Singapore . Actual everything is same or more expensive than in Europe.
Skyscraper in Singapore
For public transport Singapore have the “Mass Rapid Transit” underground witch works really good. The stations are widespread and i never wait longer than 5 minutes for a train. In this Asian metropole many things remember on Europe. First at all everything is clean what is unusual for a city in south east Asia and of course the bank skyscraper. The lifestyle of the people is as well close to the life of the Germans. Wake up in the morning, going to the office and enjoy yourself with material things. The people need stupid things and status symbols like big cars and other materials to forget the boring job and the daily grind. The fines for take waste away are high and there are civil controls! For example: a cigarette or a chewingum on street cost 250 US, go out of Singapore with car and your tank is lower than half cost 500US, they find one close box of cigarettes when you come in cost 150US per box… The government do everything to keep the city clean. The cigarettes cost 15US per box and You can´t buy chewing gum in Singapore’s shops. One evening i was in Chinatown for shopping and drink a beer for 10 US per pint.
Chinatown by night
My favorite part of Singapore is little India. Little India have many Indian restaurants with yummies curry’s. I can die for it! The Indian markets invite for shopping and the traffic is lower than in other districts. The Irish pub “Prince of Wales” serve cold beer in a nice and more or less quiet beergarden. There is a lot to see in Singapore: museums, temples, church’s, mosques, a zoo and much more. In the “Fort canning park” You can find the “battle box” witch shows Singapore in the WW2 and document the fall in 1942 by the Japanese.
Bloom in Singapore
At the fort canning park there are some walking ways to forget the fumes and the noice of the metropol.
My result for Singapore: Nice to see but not more! Not just because of the prices i will not come back to the city. Many countries in southeast Asia offer more for me than Singapore. Still its a nice city and a rich state in Asia but to be there once is enough for me because actually i don´t like big cities. That was i saw in the 5 days is that Singapore is just a big metropole with a European touch.
Click here for Pai accommodation and hotels.
My wife and me was in august 2008 direct after Chiang Mai in Pai. Pai is a small village at Mae Hong Son province in north Thailand with 3000 habitats. Here is everything small and idyllic. Small Restaurants, Cafe’s (like: All about Coffee, Pai Now, Sincere Coffee…) and guesthouses with style and ambiance dominate Pai. We was staying at the Breeze of Pai guest house next to the River. Some other good accommodation in Pai are the Lisu Hotel and Baan Pai Village. The most famous tourist features are elephant riding, rafting, hot springs, three waterfalls and some minority villages not far from Pai.
Pai Mae Hongson
The main sight is Pai itself! Musicians, artists. spirituals and backpacker must be fans of Pai in mae hongson. The mix of all give a harmoniousness cityscape. The harmonies of mountain and woodland is amazing. Actually i come to Pai to visit a friend who have some small bungalows and the Stone Free Bar at this beautiful part in mae hong sorn. Before he was living on Ko Chang and was the owner of Thale Bungalows. I was living 1,5 years in his Bungalows direct on the beach.
Siri, owner of StoneFree Restaurant
Nearly every evening sounds live music out of the pubs. Blues, Reggae, Rock n roll, jazz and many more options You have. Some famous locations for nightlife in Pai are “Buffalo Hill” and “Mellow Yellow“. The Pai hot springs come out of earth in a evergreen forest and runs into a small river. The natural river pools have about 40-50C, perfect for a hot mineral bath in the nature. The river witch runs slowly and easy through the mountains can be a mirror of the lifestyle of the habitats here in northern Thailand.
The slow river in Pai
One of my favorite sights in Pai is the “Nam Tok Mo Paeng” waterfall. This Waterfall is easy to attain with a motorbike (scooter). Its about 7 km out of the center.
Nam Tok Mo Paeng waterfall
The Stonefree bungalow park offer some easy but beautiful possibilities to stay. In the evening you can see the sunset over the mountains on this spot. The restaurant of Stone Free offer good and cheap foot, many good friends and a amazing ambiance, in nighttime you can listen to the “Sticky Rice Blues Band” which play from while to while at Thale Mhog in Pai.
The beautie in Maehongson is surrounded of ever green mountains who catch the clouds. From the “Wat Phra That Mae Yen” temple You have a good viewpoint over the environment and over the mountains with neon green rice fields. At the Chinese minority village you can see a beautiful Chinese open air temple with a big golden Dragon statue.
Temple at the minority village
After one week it was time to say: see you again Pai! We was going with a bus back to Chiang Mai and from there we book plane tickets to Bangkok Suwannaphumi Airport. The AirAsia flight was cheap and good. From the capital we took a taxi to Leam Ngop to reach the last ferry to Koh Chang at seven pm. For this trip in the north of Siam i used the Lonely Planet travel guide for Thailand.
My result for Pai: Its beautiful, one of the most beautie villages in south east Asian i saw right now! Amazing! Visit this small village in Asia, You will enjoy if you like quiet and relax holidays.
PAI: Love in the mountains!
Our second time in Pai
In April 2009 we come the second time to Pai to make holidays. We stayed about two weeks over the Songkran Festival. Compared to our first time here in this cosy village we did nothing, just relax and hang around with some friends. Just one day we did a daytrip to Mae Hong Son, Tham Pla Fish Cave and to a Longneck Karen village. But actually our normal day was like: we woke up at the morning in our Bungalow next to a small river, had breakfast than we walked back to the hut where we chill on our balcony and listen to the sounds of the nature. After lunch we sit on grass, talked and drunk some beers with some friends. At the late afternoon we droved nearly everyday to the central market in Pai to buy something for dinner. After food we was sitting around a small fire and went back to bed early. Pai in north Thailand is the perfect place to do nothing! The highlands around the Bungalows are beautiful, especially at sunrise when the fog hang inside the Mountains.
A road through the Mountains
After sunsent you will reconize some forrest fires in dry season. The Rain are rare in this time and the Asian Forrest are realy dry, so becareful where you put your cigarette. We enjoyed our holiday’s here at this peaceful place in Thailand and we will come back if we find time. Pai at the Mae Hong Son province should be a “must see” destination for Backpacker in Southeast Asia!
First at all i want to say that im a German guy in Thailand and not a english teacher. So please don’t expect “oxford-English”!
Hello and sawadee krap from the land of many smiles.
Today i want to report about Chiang Mai at north Thailand in Asia. I have bin at Thailands 2nd biggest city in the end of august 2008. My wife and I was going from Koh Chang to the north of Thailand. We was starting at our bungalow on Ko Chang at about 9am. We was going first from Klong Prao Beach to the pier in the north of the island. From Leam Ngop (pier mainland) we took the 12 oclock TAT bus to to Bangkok (need about 5-6 hours). From the Capital we took the night train at 10pm to Chiang Mai. We arrived on next day at 12:30 the train station in Chiang Mai. The run was long but nice, we don’t get any sleeping cabin because it was fully booked. So we was driving 2nd class on a chair. Open windows and the most of the time surrounding by rain forest. The sunrise in the morning was nice to see in the jungle over the teak trees. I used the Lonely Planet for Thailand for this trip. Totally tired but happy to survived 
we gone to the taxi stand at Chiang Mai station. Moun and me was staying at the Winner Inn Hotel in central-CM. It was 500 Thai Baht each night for a double room with hot water, frigde and air condition. If you like to stay direct in the old town, than are “The Garden Guest House“, “Fuengfa Place” or “Maa-T-Nee GH” good options for cheap accommodation.
At most i liked at Chiang Mai the Doi Inthanon National Park which is round about 80km away from CM. In this park is are really big and spectacular waterfalls.
You can not get closer than 50m without getting wet. The beautifulest falls here at Doi Inthanon are the Vachiratharn Waterfall and the Nam Tok MaeYa Waterfall. As well the highest spot in Thailand is located at the Doi Inthanon national park, with 2565m above mean sea level is Doi In the highest mountain in the Kingdom. On the top it was about 14 C, so really cold for old Siam. The park is really famous for the 400 bird species, nowhere else in Thailand you can find that much. Everywhere on the street are orchids and we was surrounding of evergreen rain forest. The mountains keep soft clouds in the slops. Beautiful! Than we was going to a Karen village to visit the minoritys in the mountains. If you want to watch more waterfalls around here you will like the Monthathan Falls on Doi Suthep and the Mae Sa Falls in Mae Rim about 15 km out of town.
Karen minorities
After we was driving to the “Great Holy Relics Pagoda of Nabhamethalidol – Nabhapolbhumisiri”. Here You can find two big pagodas and a huge lay outed flower gardens with the same kind of blooms that you can find in the temperate climate zone, because of the low temperature on the mountain they grow brilliant. The Thai royal air force built this constructions for memorial of His Majesty King Bhumipol 9th and for HM the Queen, the Mother of the Thais.
great holy relics pagoda
On the next day we was driving with the scooter to the “Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep Rajvoravihara” temple on “Doi Suthep” mountain about 15 km out of Chiang Mai. The 300 steps to the top of the temple are a little challenge. But it was worthwile! The temple is one of the most beautiful Buddhist temples i ever saw. It is worthwhile actually alone for the nice view over Chiang Mai city. We was burning some scent sticks and three candles for a good karma. After we walked three times around the golden pagoda to get protection and good luck for this journey. On the way back we visited the Chiang Mai Zoo. If you like Wat DS than you will enjoy as well the Wat Chiang Man, Lok Molee, Wat Morntheran and the Phra Singh Temple which is the most visited Wat here. Another highlight for friends of Buddhist temples is the Wat Srisuphan silver temple where you can have a Chat with Monks about Thai culture, the life as a Buddhist monk in northern Thailand and many other topics.
At night Moun and me was going to the night bazaar to eat yummie Indian curry and some kao pat kai (fried rice and chicken). For western food on the night market i can recommend the “Daddys” Restaurant and O’malley’s Irish Pub. I was buying some t-shirts and some souvenirs. Another tourist attraction is the Sunday walking street market where you can buy as well souvenirs and handicrafts. On the same road are some nice coffee shops like the “Doi Chaang” or the “Ratchadumnern Cafe” where you can rest for a while. An other nice place to flee from the fumes is the Suan Buak Haad Park in the south of old Chiang Mai.
As well for tourists who like night life in Chiang Mai the right destination, around the city are many disco’s, A GoGo bars and cozy Pubs with live music like the “Cafe del Sol” in the center of old Chiangmai. The most bars and western Restaurants you will find near the Pratu Tha Pae gate on the east end direct on the city moat. A nice Restaurant here at Tha Phae is the “Dada Kafe“.
From Chiang Mai we was going by minibus to Pai. It belongs to the Mae Hong Son province and is a small village about 130km away from Chiang Mai. For all motorbike travelers i can recommend the “Coffee Hill” Cafe on the half way from CM to Pai. Other travel options from Chiang Mai are Luang Prabang (Laos), Lamphun, Mae Hongsorn, Phrae, Sukhothai…
If you are looking for day trip possibilities from here than are Chiang Dao, Bor Sang handicraft village, Ban Thawai/Hangdong villages, Doi Inthanon national park and Doi Suthep good destinations for a pleasant day. For tourists who like to make sports at holiday i can recomment the Huay Tung Tao Reservoir for a day away from the fumes and pollution of the city.
Museums in Chiang Mai:
For all cultural tourists has CM a good variety of Museums and Exhibitions. The prices are mostly low which make a visit at the most Museums worthwhile and possible as well for families and individual tourists. Good addresses with nice exhibitions are CM National Museum, Chiengmai City Arts & Cultural center which tells the history of CM, World of Insects and the Tribal Museum.
My result for Chiang Mai:
Its a clean (compared to other big cities in south-east Asia) metropole with a lot of history. You can find many sights and Chiang Mai have many corners to explore. The people and the atmosphere are much more relax and friendly than Bangkok. Many locals speak English, its easy to communicate with the Thais because if they speak English the English is very easy and for everyone to understand. Like everywhere in Southeast Asia the peoples try to help you if you get lost or need any other information. The “capital of the north” have a healthy mix of locals and foreigners, so its pleasant to travel. Chiang Mai is famous as well for many kinds of Thai-culture and Thai Language classes.
Visit CM, You don’t will regret this holiday in north Thailand!
Chiang Mai Hotels Booking and Reservation
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