Cashing in on Pai

Stefan warned me that there has been a lot of new development in Pai, but I wasn't prepared to hear stories of prices doubling or even tripling during the high season.

Pai is the first major town on the road from Chiangmai once you've passed the border of Chiangmai and Mae Hong Son provinces.

Pai has long been a popular destination, especially with young backpackers and independent travelers, but for me it's usually been just a rest stop on the way to and from Soppong or Mae Hong Son town, the provincial capital.

I didn't have a clue where I was going to stay in a town that must have a couple hundred guesthouses, hotels, and resorts, but I knew I only wanted to spend 200-300 baht per night ($6-10).  This seemed to be an easy enough mission since I'd already seen many signs offering "Rooms Starting At $300."

I was almost set to check out a place across the street from the Be Bop Bar when an older gentleman rolled up to me and my parked motorbike on his three-wheeled motorcycle and side car.  We chatted for a bit, he wondering where I planned to stay, me lying at first that I'd already booked a room, so that I could get a better feel for him and his angle.

He revealed that he worked as a three-wheeled taxi driver and that he could direct me to good accommodations ("Just name your price and preferred type of room") for which he'd be able to claim a 5% commission from the owner.  "I have this arrangement with many owners here in Pai," he explained.  "If you like the room,  I collect from them.  It will cost you nothing directly."

I liked his manner, so I agreed to follow him to TaYai Guesthouse where the woman owner set me up with 200 baht room.

She and her husband are originally from Chiangmai, and they entered the guesthouse business in Pai only three years ago to escape the Bangkokization of their native city.

"The air is better here, it's nice and quiet, and there are no thieves.  There are so many thieves in Chiangmai! Do you see all this stuff here?" she asked, referring to the kitschy ceramic animals and other tchotchkes decorating her very well-kept garden.  "In Chiangmai, this stuff would be gone in one night."

I shared some of my story with her (used to live here for eight years, had a Thai girlfriend, how I learned Thai, played in a Thai country band) and remarked upon how affordable Thailand still is even after some of the most rapid economic development in Asia.

"Ha!  Not anymore, at least not in Pai," she said.  "If you visit during the high season (November through February), I would have to charge you much more than 200 baht.  In fact most places here will charge at least 600 for the room you have, and that means no air conditioning.

"It's so busy here, with farang and Japanese and Chinese tourists, that most places are full.  You have to reserve rooms in advance.  Just the other day, someone reserved a room here six months in advance!"

This was all easy enough for me to understand:  Pai is popular with a certain set (youthful, "alternative", neo-hippie, etc), there are only a certain number of rooms available, market forces dictate these prices, and so forth.  And I'd (barely) come to accept that restaurant prices were about double from those of Chiangmai.  But then my landlady dropped a real stunner.

"In the high season it gets so full that now they've opened up camping down by the river," she said.  "One tent spot is 600 baht!  Now they have hundreds of these camping spots, and still the tourists keep coming, Thai tourists, too.  Everybody wants to come here, it seems like."

Even now, with the low season, the rainy season now in full swing, she seems to be doing okay.  On the couple nights I've stayed here, she 's had at least 8-10 of her 15 or so rooms filled with farang, Thai, and other Asian customers.