A WINDOW ON PAI (PART 1)

IMMERSED IN NATURE, SURROUNDED BY RICE FIELDS

#attimidiordinariafotografia

A road passes through the green jungle - Pai, Thailand.

Fields and palm tree cultivations - Pai, Thailand.

Two men on motorbikes ride down a hill of fields - Pai, Thailand.

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Pai is a town in Mae Hong Son Province located in the northern part of Thailand, close to the border with Myanmar. Starting from Chiang Mai, the 'capital of the north' of the country, one has to undertake a few hours' drive along a road that traces curves and hairpin bends in the surrounding mountainous area, before entering the quiet valley that hosts it.

Although tourism has taken on a particular prominence in this town as well as in the whole of Thailand in recent years (see next posts), what characterises this place most of all is representative of its geographical position and the morphology of the land that surrounds it: nature. It is enough to walk a few hundred metres following the course of the main roads to find oneself immersed in the vegetation. Being captured by the palette of colours that permeates every corner of the country, which in these rural areas becomes the absolute protagonist, is therefore inevitable.

An alternation of plains, hills and small mountains accompany the gaze over landscapes that take one's breath away and that, out of wonder, one can hardly consider real. Small roads meander gently through the dense jungle trees, welcoming the rays of sunlight that manage to filter through the foliage of the tall trees onto the black asphalt, thermal springs scattered here and there host tourists and locals intent on relaxing or cooking eggs in the hot water, caves with stalagmites and stalactites that can be travelled through on foot or in small boats, a small canyon of reddish earth that finds its splendour in the warm shades of light at sunset.

Within this natural scenery, one element above all makes the landscape unique: the cultivation of rice. The entire valley, as well as the neighbouring areas and the north of the country in general, are dotted with the intense green of the rice fields: a uniform sea of stalks swaying in the wind, interrupted only to leave room for the narrow passageways dark with shadows that separate one expanse from the other. Arriving in this area in September and October, when the rainy season is ready to come to an end, one can admire the fields in their full form and see the blades of grass slowly curving and, day after day, leaning a little further forward, yielding to the increasing weight of the rice grains.

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The view over a valley full of mountain profiles - Pai, Thailand.

A man works surrounded by the green of a rice field and the landscape - Pai, Thailand.

A paddy field in detail, grass stalks and grains of rice - Pai, Thailand.