After two nights home to refuel and get the laundry done, we started the second half of our vacation by heading to Nan, one of our favorite cities in Thailand (you can read about our last visit here). Because Nan is so far northeast, it is sort of an undiscovered gem inside the country. We took a LONG bus ride to the Nan bus station outside the city and walked to our guesthouse. We stayed at Nan Guesthouse, which was a good deal for the money, with a great location and a cafe with delicious breakfast right across the alley. We spent our first two days exploring the city, catching up on our internet surfing, and eating a lot of good food. We visited Poom 3, a nationally known restaurant with a famous chef/owner who appeared on a number of Thai TV shows. Sara ordered their signature dish, massaman curry, complete with apples, pineapple, and naan (in Nan!) It was so delicious, in fact, that she forgot to take a picture. We did find one in the paper though.
One night, on the recommendation of our guesthouse owner, we headed north out of the city to visit a brand new "market", which was the equivalent of a mini-mall in America but with several discos and bars blaring karaoke and club music in between the art galleries and clothing shops. It was as bizarre as it sounds, even more so due to the fact that it was essentially deserted on a Saturday night. The two+ mile hike out of town wasn't a total failure though, as we lucked into finding Nan's only pizza restaurant De Dario’s. Sara and I need to eat pizza once or twice a month or we start to dream about cheese, and since we don't have anyplace to get pizza in Hang Chat, this was an especially good find.
On our last full day in Nan, we rented bicycles and visited two of the most famous temples in the area, on opposite sides of the city. The ride was quite peaceful.
The first temple Wat Phra That Chae Hang was beautiful, featuring many ways to make merit, one of Buddha’s footprints, a Buddha that barely fit into the wihaan, another huge Buddha reclining, and rabbit figurines everywhere. (Rabbits are kind of Nan’s animal, like Lampang has the rooster.)
The second temple Wat Phra That Khao Noi was especially worth the visit, as it sat atop 300-some steps, built into the side of a mountain, and featured a gorgeous view of the city. We were also very happy to find a sweet little cat up there, and we gave her as much attention as she could handle.
The rest of the day was spent bumming around town, including a trip to a local coffee shop Milk Club for super cheap drinks.
And I’ll leave you with this little gem Sara spotted near the bus station. Language win?
It was a great vacation for both of us, and Sara did an excellent job relaxing and doing nothing, neither of which are her strong suit. After our trip into the mountains and our time in Nan, we made our way home to get Sara ready for another week of teaching. It wasn't easy to go back to work, but as anyone who reads our blog would tell you, we know the next vacation won't be far off!
One night, on the recommendation of our guesthouse owner, we headed north out of the city to visit a brand new "market", which was the equivalent of a mini-mall in America but with several discos and bars blaring karaoke and club music in between the art galleries and clothing shops. It was as bizarre as it sounds, even more so due to the fact that it was essentially deserted on a Saturday night. The two+ mile hike out of town wasn't a total failure though, as we lucked into finding Nan's only pizza restaurant De Dario’s. Sara and I need to eat pizza once or twice a month or we start to dream about cheese, and since we don't have anyplace to get pizza in Hang Chat, this was an especially good find.
On our last full day in Nan, we rented bicycles and visited two of the most famous temples in the area, on opposite sides of the city. The ride was quite peaceful.
The first temple Wat Phra That Chae Hang was beautiful, featuring many ways to make merit, one of Buddha’s footprints, a Buddha that barely fit into the wihaan, another huge Buddha reclining, and rabbit figurines everywhere. (Rabbits are kind of Nan’s animal, like Lampang has the rooster.)
The second temple Wat Phra That Khao Noi was especially worth the visit, as it sat atop 300-some steps, built into the side of a mountain, and featured a gorgeous view of the city. We were also very happy to find a sweet little cat up there, and we gave her as much attention as she could handle.
The rest of the day was spent bumming around town, including a trip to a local coffee shop Milk Club for super cheap drinks.
And I’ll leave you with this little gem Sara spotted near the bus station. Language win?
It was a great vacation for both of us, and Sara did an excellent job relaxing and doing nothing, neither of which are her strong suit. After our trip into the mountains and our time in Nan, we made our way home to get Sara ready for another week of teaching. It wasn't easy to go back to work, but as anyone who reads our blog would tell you, we know the next vacation won't be far off!
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