About 8km out of Pai are hot springs. Apparently many of the hotels and resorts have tapped into these as part of their “spa treatments” – again one is tempted to draw some loose comparisons here - if Chiang Mai is Thailand’s Stratford -on-Avon, then Pai is its Bath or Cheltenham.
Anyway forget about palatial classical buildings housing marbled baths - this place is an open stream in the middle of a wood.
Having parked and paid ( I think it is one of those places that charges about 200 baht - ten times extra for foreigners!) I walked up through a wooded valley. It was forested with a teak plantation but nearer the stream natural vegetation ruled – including some extraordinary phallic flowers (like red hot pokers) that protruded about three or four feet straight up from the ground, with garish green and orange tops. Apart from the plant life around the stream there were a lot of algae in the water - amazing how nature can evolve to such extreme environments. The stream from the hot springs flowed down through the valley in a series of pools. These pools were labelled and some had planks forming crude benches over them to allow bathers access.
First of all we walked up to the top were the hot water emerged. On first arriving we had noticed people buying what appeared to be eggs in a net bag – we now understood why, taken up to the top you could dip them in the water for a few minutes and cook them. Mists hung eerily over the water, the only indication of how hot it was until you looked into the pools and saw the water bubbling and shimmering with heat. A low timber wall had been set up to deter folk from thoughtlessly taking a dip in that scolding water.
As we walked back down the valley the heat was dissipated somewhat and my companion took a liking to a pool labelled “Mineral Bath” - he duly stripped down to swimming trunks, in his bag he had packed towel etc. – for those less prepared, I noticed there were rustic wooden screens to change behind at a discrete distance for the water. He lowered himself in, I dangled a toe in - my god! It was still hot!
My friend managed to sit in in this pool up to his neck for quite a long time, apparently without any discomfort. The only other people to brave this part of the stream were some rather large Germans poaching quietly away in a pool just up stream a little – eventually I managed to dip my feet in for a few seconds – maybe a minute or so, but it was too hot for me, full body submersion was out of the question, at least in that pool.

About 20 minutes out of Pai - you can hire a bike.
Or your hotel will arrange a trip out for you.
We stayed at Baan Tawaan. www.baantawan-pai.com/

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