Taiga's First Road Trip to Pai: A Husky in the Mountains

Taiga is a red and white Siberian Husky with ice-blue eyes, living in Pattaya, which he considers an insult. For five years he has lain in front of the air-con at noon and sulked about the heat. So when I decided to take our first long road trip to Pai, in the northern mountains, I told him: this one is for you.

We left at four in the morning, with a car full of bottles, towels and snacks. I planned the route in advance and checked a few dog-friendly guesthouses in Pai through the Wagdee places list, because many places do not accept big dogs. Between Pattaya and Chiang Mai we made a night stop, and in the mountain road after Mae Malai there are almost eight hundred bends to Pai. I drove slowly and stopped often, because dogs can get carsick, and Taiga had a small meal only hours before. I would not travel with a husky without asking the vet first, so we also had a check-up and a talk about tick prevention before leaving.

Taiga sang for the first two hours. A Husky does not bark, he gives speeches, and every truck driver at every petrol station on the route got one. At the third stop he lay down quietly with his nose out of the window, and when the air changed from hot to cool at the first mountain pass, he stood up on the back seat and was perfectly still, as if the smell was something sacred.

The guesthouse in Pai was a simple wooden hut near a rice field, with a woman who adored him. At dawn I woke up because Taiga was standing at the door, pulling gently at the blanket. We walked in the mist along the river and he ran in the cold grass with his tongue out, like a puppy again. Later we went to a viewpoint above the clouds, where tourists stopped us for photos every five minutes.

We stayed four days. We had to be careful about ticks in the grass, and we checked his coat every evening. He made friends with a local dog called Mao and a very old cat. On the last morning I found him lying on the porch, looking at the mountains.

The drive home was long and quiet. He slept the whole way, and when we arrived in Pattaya's thirty-three degrees, he sighed, walked to the air-con and lay down. I think he is already planning the next trip.