Santichon is a Yunnan Chinese village about 4 kilometres west of Pai, perched on a hillside with views across the valley. The village was founded by KMT soldiers who fled mainland China after 1949, and their descendants have maintained elements of Yunnan Chinese culture including language, cuisine, and architecture. The settlement now receives tourists and has leaned into its cultural distinctiveness with tea houses, costumes for hire, horse rides, and an assortment of Chinese-style food stalls.
The cultural experience is somewhat packaged but not entirely hollow — the community is real, the Yunnan tea is genuinely good, and the setting is attractive. Come for the views and the tea rather than the horse rides. It is most pleasant in the late afternoon when the light on the valley is good and the tour groups have thinned out.