half the distance, twice the time

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I am currently in the city of Nan, located in the most western of northern Thai provinces, Nan. It's a pleasant little town on the Nan River.

I optimistically thought I might get here in a day, but it took two in the end.

The first day on the road was quite the adventure! As many of you know, I have never taken a roadtrip on a motorbike before. As such, I have a few things to learn.

For one, as the bike does not have a fuel gauge, I discovered the hard way that it only travels maybe 200 - 250 km per tank, very much unlike a Honda Civic! For another, my odometer appears to be in miles! Gee, didn't think of that! As a result, I ran out of fuel on a steep, windy, narrow uphill stretch that was being resurfaced. Finally, even after switching to the reserve tank, the bike doesn't like to restart right away when it is really hot (at least that seems to be an emerging trend).

After clearing the top, I coasted down the other side keeping my eyes peeled for a gas station. Instead, I found a rainstorm. And I mean rainstorm! Where did that come from? I hadn't seen a hint of rain in weeks! My only option was to pull over at one of these handy raised shelters they have at the sides of the road and wait it out. The shelter helped, but the rain was quite sideways and I got pretty soaked anyway.

By the time the rain let up, it was after 4pm and I adjusted my plan to two top priorities: a) find fuel and b) seek shelter for the night.

I spent the night in the nice little town of Phayao located on one of Thailand's many man-made lakes. It has quite an attractive waterfront. I don't think they see a lot of tourists there. I stayed at a hotel which had one of the only three signs I could read (the others were 'Sony' and '7 Eleven') in the entire town. I was the subject of much staring and some of the Thai men seemed to find me 'beautiful.' Ooh-lala. I think mostly they are very impressed by my ridiculous motorbike that is twice the size of what everyone else drives.

Yesterday was less eventful, but I spent quite a lot of time finding the right routes. Mostly the highway signs have place names in Roman script as well as Thai, but not always. Stops for directions, lunch or cold drinks are also taking much longer than I expected. Everyone is curious about me and wants to chat! My Thai being what it is, limited to about four or five phrases, it is pretty hopeless unless they speak some English.

Wow, is it ever hot out on the open road! Not so bad while I am riding, but when I dare to stop, it cooks. It is nearing the end of the dry season and the terrain is absolutely baked. Lots of the ground vegetation has or is being deliberately burned as is the practice of the hill tribe folks in this area. The air quality is pretty bad from smoke everywhere I go.

I landed in Nan at around 3pm yesterday and my stomach started rioting pretty badly shortly after that. (What did I expect? What ex-vegetarian eats pork noodle soup for breakfast and pork pad thai for lunch? Enough already!) I quickly located several tetra packs of liquid yoghurt and a bag of crackers and settled in for a mellow evening. Whatever it was seems to have passed relatively quickly, but I decided on having a day off today in Nan to take in the sights and have a break from the ride.

I have successfully found not one but two vegetarian restaurants in Nan. Enjoying a pork-free day!

Will head south bright and early tomorrow.

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Photos

scorched road to Nan
Route 1091

Phayao waterfront
Phayao

smokey morning sky
Nan

downtown early Saturday morning
Nan

boat racing on the Nan river
Nan

Wat Phumin
Nan

Wat Phra That Chae Haeng
Nan

no shoes allowed in the Nan National Museum
Nan

Comments

[Audrey]

Great photos!
What an adventure you are having. The shots you've put here are lovely. Hope you are getting video, too.