Up until the 1980s, Nan was a province in the North of Thailand crawling with bandits and communist insurgents and therefore a no-go area for tourists. Nowadays it remains fairly remote and untouristed but without the bandits and hence a great place for a week's holiday. You can read about the trip in full here or stay on this page for just the photos and a few explanations. There are a few practicalities listed here.
We got the night train from Bangkok to Den Chai. A nine-hour trip with clean sheets for ten quid. Not too bad.
Phrae
Between the railhead at Den Chai and Nan is the province and town of Phrae. We decided to spend a day and night here to have a look around and hopefully rent a car for the rest of the trip. Phrae town is a quiet but interesting provincial town with enough sights to make a days wander worthwhile. There are plenty of old teak houses including some in a grand colonial style such as Vongburi House (below) which houses a small museum.
Phrae's main claim to fame is Wat Luang, but I must admit it didn't even warrant a photo being more important for historical reasons rather than photogenic. There are a few other interesting wats though, including Wat Phong (below)
Wat Phra Non's stupa is quite interesting in that it is protected by European figures
After a tough day wandering the sights, a cycle rickshaw (samlaw) back to the hotel was just the job. The hotel wasn't too bad either. We had heard that most of the hotels in Phrae were fleapits so we chose the most expensive: the Maeyom Palace. Hardly a palace but at 900 baht a double room plus breakfast and a large swimming pool to rest tired limbs, it was pretty good.
No luck on getting a hire car in Phrae, so we bussed it on to Nan, a couple of hours away.
Nan is an interesting little town, very similar to Phrae, but a bit more worldly-wise, with more bustle and a few more sights. Wat Phumin is the main one, a 'Thai Lu' style wat. I'll tell you about the Thai Lu a bit later.
Note the unusual cruciform shape (above) and also (below) the interesting murals showing life in Nan 200 years ago. The four buddhas staring out from the central pillar are also very impressive.
Like Phrae, Nan has some interesting vernacular architecture - attractive teak stilt houses in common parlance.
Other interesting wats include Wat Phra Tat Chang Kham
and Wat Hua Wiangtai
Nan museum is also a fascinating place. It's housed in a large attractive teak building which contains some impressive exhibits including on local ethnic minorities and also some interesting buddha figures. And most of the signage is in English.
As dusk arrived so did thousands of swifts. Swooping and diving for insects in the fading light. Once it became dark they disappeared. But we found them. Huddled together on telephone wires above one small junction in the city. A remarkable sight
Nan's night market is an interesting place not least for its relatively extensive fresh fish section
Like in Phrae we had heard most of the Nan hotels weren't up to much so we once again splurged on the top place: the Dhevaraj. And at 600Bht a double, a bargain. Unfortunately they didn't have rental cars either but they sent us round the corner to a TV repair shop whose owner apparently had the only car rental in town. He may have repaired TVs but he didn't do much on his jeep as it didn't have a passenger seatbelt or handbrake, but at 800Bht a day we weren't to quibble about safety standards.
The following day we followed the Nan river north, it's quite a big river with a broad and fertile valley with an attractive backdrop of mountains. It's a particularly rural scene with few people but plenty of paddy fields. Our destination was the Doi Phu Kha national park, but there were a few places of interest to visit along the way first.
30 kms north of Nan we reached the town of Tha Wang Pha. We took a short detour here across the river to Nong Bua a small village famous for its weaving and interesting wat. The people of the village are Thai Lu. A group which is fairly widely spread in Nan and Phrae. They are originally from Xishuangbanna, in China's Yunnan province but migrated to the area in 1836. They are ethnically Thai and so are not so different from the local people but are famous for their weaving and their style of temples (typified by Wat Nong Bua and Wat Phumin in Nan) which is distinctive. Wat Nong Bua is one of the most charming of the wats we saw on this trip. I think both because of its position in the middle of a pretty village, and also bcause it had some interesting murals and Buddha images. Round the back were a few traditional teak stilt houses. Underneath the houses there were a couple of old ladies working on old fashioned looms. When we appeared they were only too pleased to show us some of the sarongs they had made in the Thai Lu style.
Getting back on the main road we crossed the river again and this time we managed to see a couple of dragon boats in training for their annual regatta. I don't know whether dragon boating started here before it became more famous elsewhere but it is still very famous in Thailand and in Nan in October is where it all happens.
The next town up the valley is Pua, which itself could provide an attractive base for explorations in the area as it has a couple of good hotels and restaurants, but it was here that we turned right off the main road to start our ascent into the mountains.
The road soon starts to climb steeply through a series of very sharp hairpin turns. Just as well that there is very little traffic on this road. The weather had remained fairly cloudy for the past few days but strangely enough we seemed to actually pass through the clouds here and we saw glimpses of the sun.
Finally just a few kms from the national park we saw the sign for our destination - "The Bamboo Hut". Here we turned off the road and it was a final 4kms on a small track. We had heard about The Bamboo Hut from the guidebooks but also it had got excellent reviews on a website we often look at - travelfish. It has to be said it is fairly basic accommodation; small bamboo huts spread on the mountain slope behind the communal eating area. The communal shower is a bamboo pipe with spring fresh water. In fact the paying tourists (150Bht per hut per night) live in much more primitive conditions than the local villagers, but William the owner has guessed right that this is what they want. There is however the modern convenience of electricity so that modern but basic travellers can still plug in their lap tops and recharge their batteries (literally).
Here's what the inside of one of the huts looks like and that view.
(NB you need to press the play button to start downloading the file. While it downloads why not look through the other pictures below?)
Although the conditions are fairly primitive, the place has a wonderful get-away-from-it-all feeling and the views are fantastic
A few other inhabitants of the Bamboo Hut
When we got there there was just one other couple staying, They had taken over a year travelling by motorbike from Germany. There had factored in another year getting to Australia. They told us they had been at Bamboo Hut for six days and had not seen any other tourists.
The following day we were joined by a Dutch couple. William had told us that this year had been very quiet. What with bird flu, the Tsunami and now the military coup Thai tourism had taken a hit (there were still hordes of tourists on the islands down south however).
While we were there one of William's cousins got married. We didn't get to find out anything about the marriage, but we did find ourselves at the celebrations. these seemed to consist of extremely loud karaoke and everyone get completely drunk. There were about half a dozen different kinds of home brew rice wine on offer and some interesting food. Most of it very tasty, but we decided against the raw pork (the red dish below)
The German couple had just come back from a trek with William when we arrived and the Dutch couple went on one while we were there. These treks were very popular but we decided on a more leisurely tour of the area in our Suzuki Jeep. We went on a small loop of the area taking in the villages of Ban Bo Kleua and Ban Pa Klang (famous for salt wells and silver jewelry respectively), but mainly just soaking up the wonderful scenery. Unfortunatley however, or time was up and we were soon descending the mountains and once again getting the overnight train back to Bangkok.
Practicalities
Train: there are 4 or 5 trains from Bangkok to Den Chai, we took the night train both ways, on the way up leaving at 10pm and arriving at 8am and for the return leaving at 8pm and arriving at 6am. Price for a/c 2class sleeper aboput 700Bht (10pounds)
From Den Chai to Phrae there are many Songthaews waiting at the station 30Bht for 20minute trip
Hotel in Phrae was Maeyom Palace: Very comfortable, nice pool, satellite TV 900Bht double room with breakfast
Many local buses from Phrae to Nan 2-2.5 hrs (in fact regular buses to all towns in northern Thailand - the buses throughout Thailand are very good)
In Nan we stayed at the Dheveraj Hotel. another comfortable place 600Bht for a double room per night. They also have a charmless restaurant but with good and cheap food.
The hotel staff can direct you to a small place round the corner which rents out a jeep at 800Bht per day.
Roads in Nan province are all in excellent condition and traffic is light. On the road to Pua there are a couple of resorts (Nan valley resoprt is one) which seem OK, great if you want to stay in the countryside. Pua itself has a couple of decent hotels.
If you are travelling by public transport it may be difficult to get from Pua to the Bamboo Hut as there may be only a few songthaews each day and they may take some time.
Bamboo Hut is excellent but basic. Huts are 150Bht per night, shared bathrooms. Breakfast and evening meal is extra (they also have cold beers). For lunch you can get excellent noodle soup from the village noodle soup shop.
