Northern Thailand - Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Northern Thailand - page 922

(Ban Huay Pu; mains 30-70B; 9am-8pm) The house special here is lâhp kôo·a, minced meat
(beef or pork) fried with local herbs and spices. The restaurant is on the road to Mae Hong
Son, about 1km north of town, just past the well-posted turn-off to Sipsongpanna.

Yunnanese Restaurant
(no roman-script sign; mains 30-180B; 8am-8pm) This open-air place in the Chinese village of
Ban Santichon serves the traditional dishes of the town's Yunnanese residents. There are
several dishes using unique local crops and other dishes involving exotic ingredients such
as black chicken. The restaurant is in an open-air adobe building behind the giant rock in
Ban Santichon, about 4km west of Pai.

CHINESE $

Witching Well
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( www.witchingwellrestaurant.com ; Th Wiang Tai; mains 75-140B; 7am-11pm; ) In town, this
buzzy foreigner-run place is good for authentic sandwiches, pasta and pastries.

INTERNATIONAL $

Ping's Burger Queen
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(Th Wiang Tai; mains 60-80B; 2-10pm) Burgers are huge in Pai, and of the various vendors,
we're certain that Ping does the best job. Everything is homemade, from the soft, slightly
sweet buns to the rich garlic mayo that accompanies the thick-cut fries.

AMERICAN $

DRINKING IN PAI 101

There are dozens of bars in Pai - too many to list here - and given the fickleness of the local drinking
scene, few are likely to be still around by the time this goes to print. Instead, here's a cheat sheet to
downtown Pai's drinking scene: most of the open-air and VW van-based cocktail bars are along Th
Chaisongkhram; Th Wiang Tai is where you'll find the largely indoor, live music places; Th Rangsiy-
anon is where most of the 'guesthouse' style restaurant-bars are located; and a knot of open-air
reggae-style bars can be found at the eastern end of Th Raddamrong, just across the bridge.

Getting There & Away

Pai's airport is around 1.5km north of town along Rte 1095 and offers a daily connection
to Chiang Mai (1990B, 20 minutes) on Kan Air ( 0 5369 9955, nationwide 0 2551 6111;
www.kanairlines.com ; Pai Airport; 8.30am-5pm) .