Blogs from Nan, Northern Thailand, Thailand, Asia

I should have taken big bag off. And why am i wearing two tops? Standing in Chiang Rai bus ticket office, to hopefully get on the day's sole run to Nan, I'm sweltering under shade in humid, cackling May. Calves dripped upon, I dab my brow and upper lip - pointless! A friendly smile, in full length jeans, from the waiting room seats. I motion jokily to my heat handling powers, just chilling here.. Back outside, waiting passengers lean on boxes and piled bags, text, sip fruit juices. The bus drivers and station runners can be picked out with their pale blue shirts and quick, knowing gestures to usher buses in, check tickets, load up trunks. A blue stream of activity. A white bus rolls over, 'Chiang Rai to Nan' - the leaners swing up, the ... read more

So I realize that I am a bit behind on blogging my daily rides, but the ride schedule has been a little more demanding than I thought it was going to be. Plus, it certainly doesn't help that every time we stop for the evening, our tour guide Noah rings the "Beer-thirty" bell. Anyway, stay tuned for more entries and thanks for reading. สวัสดี S̄wạs̄dī - Hello from Nan, Thailand! Today we left the Golden Triangle and rode along the scenic farming areas to Chiang Rai city. In Chiang Rai, we visited the White Temple (Wat Rong Khun) one of the top 10 wonder temples in the world. Along with the main temple, there were several smaller temples. All of the temples in this area are colored white except for one, smaller golden temple. Any ideas ... read more

Nan is a boring place for tourists. If you like to party, don't go there. There are some nice parks, but they are far away from the city and cost 400B/person ($13). We did, however, see a wild ceremonial opening-day parade for a new Chinese wat. We awoke to the sound of a vicious battle happening outside our window. At this, we got up and ran outside to find a parade in full force at 7am...and it's no joke that these guys like firecrackers. They have these long strips of loud ones that they hang from signposts and the last five are M-80's. Loud noises! Lots of kids with drums and long strings of dragons going up and down the street. It was very well organized and beautiful, though, with the parade stopping at every Chinese ... read more

Hey everyone! Sorry that a) i havn't written on here for ages and b) I havn't replied to many of your emails and messages, I have been SO busy these past few days packing and sorting out stuff for our holiday (we're off to Koh Samui tonight woohoo!) and the lesson planning etc has been getting on top of me a bit too! So anyway thought I'd fill you in on what we did for my birthday (although as the others were limited to Nan for my birthday surprises, they couldn't find anything amazingly original but it was still pretty cool :-) ) Ok well we went into Nan on Saturday evening, and my first surprise was that we were staying in Nan Fah hotel (we've stayed there b4) with hot water shower wahey - big ... read more

Hey all Right, this weekend it was Lay Krathong festival or the Festival of Light. I'm not entirely sure of the origins, its to do with thanking the water and it takes place in the twelfth lunar month, on a full moon. Mam lek and her husband offered to take us to Sukhothai, which is around 300km away from us, as it is supposed to have the most spectacular celebrations. The ride to Sukhothai was er slightly cramped and uncomfortable, but we made it in one place and were met by the daughter of one of mam lek's friends, Jeh: she was to be our guide for the evening as she was 'closer to our age' as mam lek put it! As this was Friday night it was not yet the climax opf the festival (Saturday), ... read more