About a week ago we decided to take a few days to explore the countryside of northern Thailand.  Our destination?  The small town of Pai located in Northern Thailand’s Mae Hong Son Province.  Only 90 miles from Chiang Mai and a mere 8 days left of our bucketlist adventure, we decided to make the most of this journey and rented a motorcycle!  With 762 turns between Chiang Mai & Pai, we knew the drive would be challenging (for Austin) but would provide breathtaking views and a one of a kind, unforgettable experience.

On the morning of our departure day we loaded up the bike, caked on the sunscreen & geared up for the 3 hour journey through the mountains of Northern Thailand.  The sky was clear & the sun was shining.  We were thankful it wasn’t raining but boy was that sun hot!! Once we made it out of the congested city traffic and onto the country road, we could finally feel the refreshing breeze and enjoy the beautiful day we had been blessed with for this ride.

 

About an hour into our drive the turns started. Our straight road through the countryside soon turned into a winding road up the side of a mountain.  It was actually very similar to driving through switchbacks in the mountains of Colorado. Although the ride was absolutely beautiful and quite the adventure, my one word to sum it up is TIRING!  Our bodies were SO sore afterwards!  762 turns later and 3.5 hours of sitting on a motorcycle we had reached out destination…Pai, Thailand!

Our visit was a quick 2 days and we spent the majority of our time exploring the beautiful countryside (after all that is what Pai is known for). Whether we were hiking through a canyon or getting lost on a country road, we made sure to stop and take in our colorful, breathtaking surroundings.   Rainy season really makes Thailand’s countryside shine! Bright green as far as the eye can see…it was absolutely beautiful.  Once again we chose to stay a few miles from the center of town.  During our travels we have found that although we love to be close to a popular area, we don’t necessarily love staying right in the middle of it!  We like coming back to a quiet, relaxing part of town after a busy day.  Our bungalow in Pai was perfect for that!  There isn’t a whole lot to do in this small countyside town, so we took advantage of our quiet surroundings and spent our nights reflecting on our summer and making plans for the future!

So now here we are in Bangkok, Thailand.  Our last stop before making the long journey back home.  Can you believe its already been 2 1/2 months!  

xo Brittany