North of Thailand day 22

Pha Tang to Nan

Imagine, the evening before you had a great sunset and the next day you wake up and see this:

This time of the year it’s normal in the mountains but anyways I thought by myself…WTF!

So, go to breakfast first, get the stuff ready and hope the best that the fog will leave.
But no, I started in the fog.

Lucky me that after 2 km riding down the hill, I arrived under the clouds.
Great views – have a look by yourself.

From Pha Tang riding south you go on the Hwy 1093.
60 km of fun riding until the Phu Sang national Park located in the east of the Payao province.

There, the fun in the mountains was over. Weather started to get hot and a lot of trucks on the road.

All got better when arrived in the Hwy 1345. Perfect roads, mountains and twists again and cool weather with great views.
Honestly I have to say that Nan is my favourite province in the North of Thailand. There is no special reason, itˋs just a feeling.
Maybe because of not such overcrowded like Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai or Mae Hong Son?!

Everyone travelling on Thailand roads see monks travelling. Usually small groups or individual travelling monks.
This was the first time in many years that I see a line of monks travelling, longer than 1 km. No idea how many of them where on the road, it must have been hundred and more.

When monks travel like this, it’s – in Thai – called Thudong. They travel from city to city and is one way to propagate Buddhism.
At sunset, they will stop walking and sleep where they are.
They have to make clear that the place where they stay is close to a city or village.
Like this, they can collect alms and get food from the people in this area.

Sometimes, they have supporters who wait them and prepare food in the nearby village.

They walk 3 days, 7 days or whatwever, depending on their destination.
Those monks focus on practice and learn from practice.

If you see novices or young monks travelling like this, this might be a highschool or university event. They walk then for 3 or 10 days.

While taking a coffee break in the mountains I found a nice resort north of Nan. Unfortunlatelly not available due to a sports event. As all of the other resorts in this area.
Unlucky me, the resort was really nice.

As I am flexible and in times of internet, I decided to ride close to Nan, 8 km out of the city in the west.
Found a great host there, save parking, 80 sqm just for myself and the owner is super super carying and friendly.
Check out Ban Arma homestay.

Conclusion:

Even that the day started with grey, it turns into a colourful and awesome riding day.
Considered retrospectively, I would think that riding that trip in reverse might be more fun.

Find the details of the tour in the links below:

Calimoto: https://calimoto.com/calimotour/t-i0cPlwvHw1

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