Pai Historical Bridge

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Thailand Fly & Drive – Part 20

By the time we reach Pai, my daughter is feeling faint from the motion-sickness. Thankfully she doesn’t throw up. We make a much needed stop at the Tha Pai World War 2 Memorial Bridge. My wife and daughter sit at the side to rest, while I take my two boys to explore the bridge.

During World War 2, the Japanese army needed a route from Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son to attack Burma (Myanmar). To complete the route, they need to build a bridge over the Pai river. They forced the villagers to work, using elephants to drag trees for wood. This bridge became crucial not just for the Japanese, but also for the daily life of the villagers. Although it was burnt down after the war when the Japanese soldiers left, the villagers rebuilt the wooden bridge in its current form.

You can see though that the bridge isn’t exactly in pristine condition. It has been weathered by a fair bit of rust, and some of the joints are actually missing. Still seems quite stable (much more stable than the suspension bridge we crossed at the Kaeng Song Waterfall), but proceed with caution.

In the middle of the bridge is parked a nicely decorated motorcycle with side car, providing an excellent photo opportunity with the pretty river and mountains in the background.

The boys are escaping from the Japanese soldiers in a stationary motorcycle and sidecar…

We make it safely to the other side. It was a good short walk for the boys and I. We make our way down to the river bank to explore a little and to take some photos, and also to pay a visit to the restroom conveniently located there. 😛

The other side of the bridge, with lovely scenery in the background

We go down to the river back to explore a bit

We then proceed back to meet the girls. There are some lovely cafes on the other side of the road which invited us to go have a snack. We ordered some nuggets and spring rolls and they were very tasty and well made! All in all, this was a great place to take a break and to get a breather before continuing along our journey!