Pai is a small town in Mae Hong Son Province, Northern Thailand, near the Myanmar border. The town is located along the way called Mae Hong Son loop that is a 600km circuit that starts from Chiang Mai and goes through the province of Mae Hong Son. Although there are many views, the city is named after the Pai river. During World War II, the Japanese army wanted to have a route from Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son to attack Burma which was a colony of the United Kingdom at that time. To establish the route, the bridge was built over the Pai River (Ta-Pai river near Ta Pai village) in 1941 using elephants to drag trees from the jungle and forcing villagers to work. After the war, Japanese soldiers left and burnt down the bridge. However, the villagers was in trouble because the bridge was very important for their daily life, and rebuilt the wooden bridge over the Pai river. In 1973, there was a huge flood there and it destroyed the bridge. In 1976, the steel Bridge called Nawarat Steel Bridge was built and it still remains as a remainder of the history.
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