Muay Thai at eight, mango for breakfast, a loop around Pai.

At eight in the morning the IT guy is standing on a mat. Muay Thai, first time ever. Two hours of sweat, kicks, punches, knees, and a trainer who makes it all look so easy it is almost rude. The coordination gets into the blood only slowly: first the arm, then the hip, then the leg, and mostly in the wrong order. By the end at least I no longer look like a pole dancer.

Niko in blue boxing gloves kicking the pads of a Muay Thai trainer in an open-air gym. — Eight in the morning, first kick. The trainer holds the pads and smiles kindly.

After a shower, the well-earned breakfast: passion fruit and mango smoothie, lately my favourite, and sticky rice with coconut milk and mango. Simple, good, done.

Stone wall with battlements and coloured flags in the style of the Great Wall, in the village near Pai. — A small Great Wall, in the middle of northern Thailand.

The afternoon belongs to a loop outside Pai. First the Chinese village, a completely different atmosphere from town: clay houses, red lanterns, a wall like a small Great Wall, founded by people who fled communism. Then waterfalls in a narrow gorge, then a coffee at Coffee in Love. Love is written on every wall here; this is Pai after all.

View from a bamboo daybed with coffee across rice fields to the bamboo bridge and a temple. — One of the bars at the edge of the field. Coffee, feet up, view of the bridge.

On over the bamboo bridge, a long walk through the rice field. Very calm, very beautiful nature, people working hard in the middle of it, and small bars along the edge where other people watch very relaxed. At the end stands a wooden temple. Finally Pai Canyon at sunset: narrow red sandstone ridges you balance along while the valley below slowly turns orange. Once again the kind of scenery where only the music is missing.

Three people sitting on a sandstone rock in Pai Canyon watching the sunset over the mountains. — Sunset in the canyon. Only the music was missing.

Never mind, instead a long conversation with five Israeli women. Pai is not only a hippie place, it is apparently a nerd place too. Most of the people I get talking to here are software engineers or something close. Of course: since AI came along they all have plenty of time to enjoy life and travel.

More photos from this chapter

Muay Thai trainer demonstrating a knee strike in an open training hall with punching bags. — This is what it looks like when someone can actually do it.

Muay Thai trainer mid high kick, tin roof and trees behind. — Hip, leg, arm, all in one motion. With me it is still three.

Two young Muay Thai fighters laughing and touching gloves. — Gloves together, done. Respect here is not a show.

Passion fruit and mango smoothie with mango sticky rice on a wooden table by the street in Pai. — Breakfast after two hours on the mat. Earned.

Large white seated Buddha against a blue sky with clouds on a hill near Pai. — The white Buddha of Wat Phra That Mae Yen, 353 steps above Pai. Very large from below, the whole valley from above.

Clay house with thatched roof, red lanterns and flowers in the Chinese village near Pai. — Santichon, the Chinese village: clay, thatch, lanterns and mountains behind.

Stone bridge over a pond with thatched houses and mountains beyond. — Bridge, pond, thatched roofs. Very quiet here in the afternoon.

Red lanterns on a line above golden lettering and two lion statues, mountains behind. — Lanterns, lions, mountains. The village entrance.

White wooden terrace with a swing bench and heart-shaped chairs, Coffee in Love lettering on a brick wall. — Coffee in Love. All white, all hearts, coffee good anyway.

White brick wall with a mock fireplace, ferns and the words Coffee in Love, a yellow house behind. — Love is written on every wall here. It is Pai, after all.

Stone walkway with wooden railing along a stream in a narrow green gorge. — The path to the waterfalls, wet and green.

Narrow waterfall between high rock walls with a swimmer in the pool below. — Pam Bok, a waterfall in a narrow rock cleft about eight kilometres south of Pai. Anyone who wanted could go in.

Bamboo bridge with a wooden swing over rice fields, a wooden temple and mountains beyond. — The Boon Ko Ku So bamboo bridge: 800 metres across the rice fields, built in 2016 so the monks can walk dry-footed to the village for their alms round. The calmest kilometre of the day.

Bamboo bridge over green fields with two walkers and a rainbow in the sky. — Even a rainbow. Pai does overdo it a little sometimes.

Three farm workers in straw hats bundling rice, thatched houses, a temple and mountains behind. — Rice harvest by hand, while tourists sit on swings next to it. Both belong here together.

Red wooden arched bridge leading into a bamboo walkway towards thatched huts and forest. — The end of the bridge: small huts, a stream, forest.

Stone steps with lanterns leading to a forest temple, next to a river-stone stupa with coloured flags. — The temple at the end of the path, built from river stones, in the middle of the forest.

Crooked tree on the edge of a red sandstone cliff in Pai Canyon, a pavilion and mountains behind. — Pai Canyon. The tree holds on to the edge, so do the visitors.

Narrow pale sandstone ridge with a hiker, surrounded by pines and green forest. — In places the ridges are one step wide. You walk slowly.

A postcard about this chapter?

A thought, a question or just hello. It goes straight to me.