The “Thai tattoo” – Pai, Thailand

You might think this drawing is slightly exaggerated, but I assure you it’s not. The ‘Thai tattoo’ is a common phenomenon amongst travellers referring to the scars they have after a motorbike accident in Thailand.

In Pai, a town up north from Chiang Mai, you’ll see every 1 out of 5 travellers getting around with band aids, crutches, or even a wheelchair, The windy road from Chiang Mai to Pai is done by many on a motorbike, being part of the ‘Mae Hong Son loop’ and from experience I can say: even the best drivers will have a hard time not sliding down one of the extremely steep and slippery turns, especially when it starts raining..

Luckily our ‘Thai tattoo’ remained very limited 🙂

But also the rental companies in Pai don’t seems to bother whether you have any motorbike experience and just rent motorbikes to anyone. This, combined with driving on the left side of the road and a rather crazy drive style of Thai vehicles make the roads around Pai pretty dangerous.The hospital in Chiang Mai even put an ATM right next to the entrance, That comes in handy with all those tourist knees to stitch up every day!