Motorbiking Tour of Pai, Thailand

Gearing up for a Ride in the Countryside of Thailand

“Have you ever ridden a motorbike?”  A thin Thai man asked our two friends Aileen and Ephrat.  With a shake of their heads, the man signaled to his partner.  “Come on.”  He waved to them, signaling the girls to get on the bikes too.  Engines roared and the wheels peeled out down the street.

“Where are they going?”  I asked Neil as our friends headed west.

“Not sure.  Hope they bring them back.”

After backpacking through Southeast Asia for 4 weeks, we’d ridden on tuk-tuks, bikes, and buses.  Now, it was time for a motorbike.

Pai is definitely worth the Hairpin Turns and MiniVan Ride from Chiang Mai

The day was overcast but warm.  Northern Thailand had been dry overall for us.  The rain followed us through Cambodia and Laos.  But 3 hours north of Chiang Mai in the small artisan town of Pai, the weather cleared for a great day of motorbiking through Thailand’s countryside.

Neil and I waited ten minutes next to our rented scooter.  We were riding together so that I could take pictures and relax.  When Aileen and Ephrat returned, the two Thai men waved us on with a smile.  Ephrat laughed.  “They gave us a lesson on driving.”

“It’s easy right?”  Neil had already taken a bike out solo a few days before.  Familiar with the roads, he turned on our scooter.  “Just remember to stay on the left side.”  And for the rest of our ride, we kept saying to each other—left, left, left!!

Riding Along on the Open Roads of Thailand

Traveling by motorbike is a good way to see the countryside.  Green fields opened up in all directions.  The air was crisp and the roads wide.  Stay to the left and traffic passes you.  Thai drivers seem to have a keen sense of farang or foreign drivers, skirting wide of us and zipping ahead as quickly as possible.  I’d say: “Car!” and we’d yield to the flow of trucks and motorcycles.  With an “all clear” we continued on our way.

With our bikes, we cruised to the waterfalls.  Thai families picnicked by the waters and school kids climbed the cliffs.  Screaming at each other, they hurled themselves feet-first down the rockslide and into the green waters.  They splashed and joked in a peaceful forest while we relaxed and snacked close by.

Kids Playing in the Waterfalls outside of Pai Thailand

Then we headed farther out.  Past pastured cattle.  Up hills and down country lanes.  We had the whole road to ourselves.  And the signs pointed us here and there, toward town and the single-strip airport and waterfalls.

Midday, we revved our engines for a long drive toward Coffee in Love.  A great café overlooking rice fields and mountain peaks.  They serve brownies, cheesecakes, and cookies too.  After a nice drive, Coffee in Love was a perfect interlude to a motorbike tour.

Continuing, we saw an old sign for Pai Canyon.

Parked, we climbed up the steep path and looked out over a micro-desert.  Here, the black-brown soil turned saffron and dry.  The land dropped off into a sinkhole.  Ephrat swung right, camera poised.  Neil and Aileen toed close to the edge, smirking.  A

Hiking Around Pai Canyon

narrow trail led around the canyon and then plunged into sparse foliage below.    I shook my head, thinking of scraped knees and broken ankles.  But Neil and Aileen walked on, unafraid.  They hiked around the perimeter clockwise.  In the distance, I could see Ephrat positioning landscape shots.

Our summer was winding down.  After traveling together through 3 countries, we’d synced up somehow.  In a place like Pai Canyon, some people would hesitate—thinking that everyone should stick together, stay in close proximity.  But the cool thing about our trip was that even when we split up, we always had an eye on each other.  We always knew where the others were.  So we were never really alone, even when we were doing our own thing.  After a month on the road, we became great travel companions.

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