Colliding Continents

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Chasing the Sunset in Pai

“Do nothing in Pai” – these words are proudly stated t-shirts and postcards on almost every hawker stall at the Pai night market.

We chased the sunset through the winding, steep mountainous road that linked Chiang Mai to Pai and Mae Hong Son.

Route 1095 is a winding rivulet of mountainous driving through some of the most breathtaking scenery in northern Thailand. The view on the drive to Pai, located between Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son, is especially spectacular during the early morning as the mist lifts off rice paddies and peanut farms into the valley, transforming from layers of grainy black & white into a warm, yellow tinged view.

Apart from standard eco tourism operators and daily tours, Pai does not boast a great selection of daytime tourist activities. It’s nightlife offers the requisite bars and restaurants. The night bazaar – in stark contrast to Chiang Mai’s professional street hawkers, mazes of stalls and armies of vendors – can be toured, combed and raided in under 30 minutes.

VW vans transformed into coffee shops, parked between vendors selling traditionally brewed tea in earthenware pot with tin coverings, offer a glimpse of modernity in this newly discovered town. Boutique hotels and backpacker hostels alternate along the streets. Pai, and most of northern Thailand in fact, is simply a place to unwind, a respite from the non-stop travel backpacker schedule or the hectic city life of Bangkok.

Two hours further north lies Mae Hong Son, the provincial capitol of northern-most Thailand. An hour’s raft ride from Burma, Thai Army presence is inescapable from road checks to soldiers driving up the mountain roads on 50cc motorbikes. When asked if he’d ever been to Burma, our driver succinctly responded, “No because I wouldn’t be let back in.” The border issue in Thailand is a testy subject, from Burmese refugees streaming in from the north to militants exacting violence in the southern province of Yala. Even the owner of an antique store, filled from floor to ceiling with World War II curiosities and Thai and Burmese relics, would not let anyone photograph inside her store, surely due to issues of provenance over these antique items.

The scenic drive to Mae Hong Son is spectacular, and its temples are architecturally stunning. Overlooking Jong Kham Lake is a compound of the temples Hua Wieng, Jong Kham and Jong Klang, which, according to translated signage, were ‘taken’ from the Burmese. The Mae Hong Son population is descendant from Burma (the Shans) or are from the hill tribes of Karen, Lisu, Mhong, Lahu and Lua. All are distinctly different cultures, and continue the heritage, dialect, architecture, and cuisines of their respective ancestors. Mae Hong Son has only been a part of the Thai kingdom for the last 200 years (http://www.maehongsontravel.com/).

The air cooled to a crisp evening, a shock from the comfortable warmth of the afternoon. The trip back to Pai was slow as we carefully drove down the steep roads we had made our way up on to Mae Hong Son. The sun sank slowly into the mountainous peaks of northern Thailand, out of the range of human sight. The van turned another bend of the road, and there it reemerged, the setting sun. I had to photograph it.

The driver switched gears from snails pace and sped on, looking for a safe spot to park so I could jump out of the van and capture the last few seconds of the sunset. Checking for oncoming traffic, I bolted across the road. To the right, a group of Thai tourists posed against the road barrier; their hapless driver shooting with one hand as several small digital cameras dangled by their straps on his other arm. To the left was sheer mountain face and road. For 30 seconds I shot continuously, hoping to capture the fluorescent pink semi-circle as it fell into the horizon.

I put my camera down. My father whistled; it was his way of telling me to hurry up and get back in the van. I was told once that, if you watch closely, a flash of green appears when the last bit of the sunset falls behind the earth. I looked, but no flash. I fished the lens cap out of the back pocket of my jeans and gently placed it on my camera.

There may not be much to do in Pai, but at that moment, I saw and felt the beauty of what “nothingness” has to offer.

Written at 10:57 PM by tara.k foto.

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