02-02-2020 – Nan and back to Chiang Mai
Although we were staying in Nan today, we had to move hotels due to availability. So we started exploring about 11am. After a few temples we decided Tesco lotus was our lunch stop.
After lunch we headed off to the hotel for an afternoon sleep. 5pm we headed back to the markets for dinner. On our way there we stopped at the river to see a training boat. A good day and great evenings food.
Late in the evening, we could hear thump thump music so we headed out to explore at 11pm. We drove for 5kms ending up at a huge night party. Was very interesting to see.
03-02-2020
After such a a late night we took our time in getting out of the hotel. we spent the day just taking it easy around Nan.
04-02-2020
Today we departed Nan for Phrao. This is our third trip to phrao, each previous trip we have been ill.
Leaving Nan we visited a coffee shop in a rice plantation and a number of temples. With lunchtime upon us we stopped at amazon for coffee and fuel. Eventually we reached our first planned stop for the day Na Noi. Here erosion has formed some great natural sculptures in the cliffs. Our drive from here took us back into the Mountains reaching 1350m. It was a beautiful drive.
Our next stop for the day was a cave system Pha Nang Khoi Cave. We had this site to ourselves an it was great. The caves were decorated with coloured lights and much larger then we expected.
05-02-2020
Early start for today so we can get the hire car back to Chiang Mai. So alarm set for 5:30am had us up and into the coffee before we started the 3 hour drive. Drop off at budget was easy and we took a Grab to the hotel.
Organised the washing, found a pad Thai for lunch and had a sleep for the afternoon. Late afternoon headed off for a shampoo and blow dry before heading to our favourite restaurant for dinner.
06-02-2020
Today we headed off to see the start of the Chiang Mai flower festival setup and then on to Siri Wattana markets. In no time it was lunch time so we found a great local lunch at the markets before heading back to the hotel to meet up with Neil and Connie arriving from Bangkok. Spent the rest of the afternoon chatting before heading out for dinner. Great night catching up was had by one and all.
07-02-2020
With the awesome foursome back together we grabbed a bus to the airport to confirm our hertz rent car. We then found a great coffee next to the shopping centre before finding lunch at the same centre. Then back to the hotel for an easy afternoon. 4:30 we were off tot the Chiang Mai flower festival when we ate and throughly enjoyed the displays, entertainment and food. Great evening was had by all!
08-02-2020
Hertz arriving at the hotel at 10am for us to receive the car. We were on the road by 11. Our planned point for the day was Uttaradit. So to get ourselves ready for a long drive, about 4 hours direct, but we never go direct, we headed for Amazon.
By 1:45pm we arrived at Wat Ban Som Poi where celebration were in full swing. Before we knew it, we were sharing ice cream, papaya salad and cake. Then we were shown the dancing and we enjoyed some of the Thailand white spirit. Fantastic time and such beautiful people at this temple.
Next stop for the day was Wat Nam Lom where we again met some lovely people.
By 4pm we arrived at Wat Phiphat Mongkhon, a huge temple complex which was stunning to see. You really only understand the size of this place by looking at it from a drones point of view.
Uttaradit was in full party mode when we arrived so we picked up our hotel room key and headed off to join the locals. I don’t recall seeing another non thai at the event. It was just enormous, food, music, goods for sale and temples. Colourful lights everywhere. Thousands of people everywhere! Just a fantastic night!
09-02-2020
Alison behind the wheel today, so watch out thailand. Last nights accomodation included breakfast which was a simple rice meal. Tasty! Heading of from Uttaradit our first stop was Wat Khon Ruea, a older temple with huge standing Buddha. Was here Alison met Steve, a Canadian living in Thailand who invited us all around for a cold drink. We spent a lovely 1/2 hour discussing life as an expat living in Thailand which was interesting to hear about.
Next stop was a cross between a temple and a shop, a huge Chinese place. We caught a buggy from the car park which was fun. We then visited a temple which was setting up for a night event which we circled back to later that evening. Next stop was amazon coffee before a spot of lunch. From here it was back to Phitsanulok for the afternoon.
10-02-2020
Today we headed to a temple which is magnificent. It’s centre piece is a enormous statue with 5 heads of Buddha overlooking the valleys below. The temple beside it has incredible mosaics used throughout it. As we all enjoyed this temple so much we stayed so long enough to have lunch as well. From here we headed south to a military museum high in the mountains before we headed back down to Phetchabun. Here we found a huge temple beside cafe amazon to enjoy. Next stop was our hotel before we headed out to dinner where we were lucky enough to have a lovely lady help us order as the menu was all in Thai.
11-02-2020
This morning we drive south to see a temple we had seen photos of yesterday. On our way we passed by a grand university which was decorated in golds and white. From there we continued on to the Wat Thammayan. It turned out this temple was also under construction, but what we saw was incredible. The sheer size of this complex is mind boggling. From here we decided to head around the southern tip of the mountain range we have been driving down. Here we became lost! Google decided every goat track was a good road. All 4 of us with our favourite map guidance had a solution, none of which helped. So Steve got us on the out of trouble. Sadly this meant our landed arrival in Khon kaen would be quite late. Short on our daily 10,000 steps we headed out to the night lights to stretch our legs.
12-02-2020
Today we travelled from Khon Kaen to Sakon Nakhon. Before leaving Khon Kaen behind we visited a couple of the key temple here. Wat Thung Setthi was our favourite. From here we worked our way to Lam Pao where a long bridge crosses the huge lake. It is giant! Thee were some water buffalo at rest here so we decided to take some photos. One was a little grumpiest and chased us off. The high light of the area was the huge complex at Wat Phuttha Nimit. This complex is still being built for 20 years. Still a bit to do, but awesome. We a some went to the reclining Buddha where I think the animals were so at rest. Even the rabbits came up to you for a scratch! From here we went to Sakon Nakhon where we found a hotel and night markets for an excellent pad Thai.
13-02-2020
The course for today was to move from the hotel that turned out had no windows in any of the rooms to another one and then do a drive around the lake Nong Han. The afternoon we headed for Dong Mafai a truly amazing complex. I found a T-shirt produced in the indigo dye and a Thai Astro We arrived at the car park and grabbed a truck taxi for the drive up the mountain. The use of natural building products in the temples and the carving of statues in huge rocks here is done beautifully. Dinner was decided that the pad Thai was so good last night we would head back again.
14-02-2020