The prepared traveller and Chiang Mai to Pai

Post cookery course and a stone heavier, it was finally the time to explore Chiang Mai. That would have been all well and good if I wasn't having kittens about not having booked anything for Christmas and New Year. It's probably not surprising to most people that hotels, hostels and other affordable accommodation is in large part snapped up well in advance by eager, organised holidayers. So began the struggle to book somewhere - many people would just go and see what they got. Sometimes this works out, other times not and I wanted somewhere nice for Christmas. It deserved it (and so did I!).

It would be incredibly dull and pointless to go into details, but it is not easy booking accommodation with but a few days notice at this time of year. After a little bargaining, an inordinate amount of emails and plenty of eye-rolling, we sorted a place out in Pai, 3 hours north of Chiang Mai, for Christmas. And it promised spas, hot springs and mountains.

The remainder of our time in Chiang Mai was grand - our heads were filled with the sights and smells of the Sunday Walking Market which was bargains, colours, food and people (lots of them). The day after the market we noticed that the amazing display of lanterns in the village square had been taken down and concluded that these were in fact in celebration of the King's birthday on the 5th December. So we were lucky to see them.

The last full day in Chiang Mai, we changed hotels to a cheaper place (THB400/night) called "Loves Chocolate" which was great and is run by the nicest family. They also sell Belgium chocolate, and (despite being pricey for Thai standards, is still cheap by Western) if you need a chocolate fix this place can help. Works for me.

That night we ventured to the Mae Ping river, over the bridge to a blues bar to listen to live Thai folk music, which was really good. It happened to be just over the river from the Night Bazaar, so after we popped over there to browse around and take in the sights (as well as some very tasty donuts and other colourful foods). After trying not to spend to much money, we jumped in a Tuk Tuk (the second of the trip THB50) to go meet up with Jo and Jane (post trek) for a few drinks (a couple of cocktails and tequila). What happened after this is slightly blurry, but what I know for sure is that I woke up at 8.30am with a stinking hangover and we had to get a bus very shortly.

For the bus journey to Pai you will need: travel sickness pills, water, good shoes, a clear head and no fear of heights or Thai driving. I had some good shoes but was lacking in a lot of the other stuff. The journey can only be described as brutal and I am just glad I managed to fall asleep, otherwise I'm pretty sure I would've vomited out the window, straight down a cliff face. The road signs, depicting a wiggly line with an arrow at the end only gave half the picture of the journey and could not possibly prepare us for our drivers approach to blind corners (speeding and overtaking on them). I was simply thankful when we set foot in Pai: hot and hungover and tired as I was. A bowl of noodle soup soon sorted me out and shortly after we were piled in the back of a taxi on our way to the Pai Hot Springs Resort - very fancy...

...or so the website implied. The resort was nice, that is not disputed here. Whether it was quite the high-end spa it aspired to be I'm not convinced. Although not the resort's fault (it affected the whole of Pai) there was a power cut when we arrived: this meant nothing worked - no shower, no toilet flush, no water, nought. Good enough reason for a nap we thought. However when we woke up there was still no electricity. We headed out to reception, but communication was a slight problem so we resorted to the hot springs foot bath instead and waited it out there until there was light. The resort was over 6km outside of the main town, so this night it gave us few options for dinner (we were basically in the middle of nowhere) so we opted for the hotel's own restaurant.

The staff here were great and the food was really nice (and not too expensive like we were expecting). I had fried salted garlic ruby fish with various other dishes.

We had left the hot tub filling (yes our own tub filled with water from the hot springs) but when we returned it was rather chilly and the tub wasn't aiding with this - the water was at best lukewarm. A little disappointing. It was also really cold in the room (a self-contained hut raised above the ground) and we only had a sheet and thin blanket - I don't usually feel the cold that badly (and we were in Thailand) but woke up freezing.

So, there were a few down points about the resort - and for the money (THB4000/night - we swung a discount but this was the going rate) not quite sure it's worth it if I'm totally honest. The hotel we stayed in Bangkok was cheaper and it was a good 5*.