Changwat Nan

After a really good Thai buffet breakfast this morning which included rice soup with pork meatballs, sticky rice baked with banana in banana leaf, guava juice, papaya and watermelon and a sort of Thai churros which the local people dip into sweetened condensed milk, we set off into the Khunnan National Park for a 2 hour drive up along the famous twisting and hilly 1081 road to Bo Kluea.

Yesterday we had noticed signposts in Nan advertising the No. 3 curve and this lay right on our route. It is a double curve which resembles the number 3 and is a great attraction here. The viewpoint was absolutely full of cars parked in partly dangerous positions and a couple of good hmoured policemen were trying to keep the selfie - mad tourists under control, one of them roaring into a microphone.

There were several viewpoints for the stunning scenery in the hills along the way and we arrived at the tiny village of Bo Kluea with its shops and restaurants and the salt pans which have helped to develop this region close to the Laotian border.

The mountain salt is found in natural ponds and is extracted in flat pans heated over log fires in little huts throughout the village. This is sold to tourists in various forms, as soap and bath salts and body scrubs as well as for cooking. The local wampee fruit, black organic rice and herbs are also on sale . There are plenty of restaurants along the street.

We were attracted by a stall selling feather light slightly sweet rice flour crackers and also bought some peanut cookies as well as some small salt products to take back home.

Our journey back to Nan took us through the Doi Phu Kha National Park , through ancient virgin forest and with absolutely spectacular views but hardly any viewpoints for photographing them. And you wouldn't want to risk stopping on these twisting roads to take photographs.! At one of the rare stopping places about 20 cyclists who had made the 1,700 metres up the hill were resting before the downhill ride. Later we stopped at a temple and a chompoon phu tree which is allegedly the only tree of it's kind to exist in its natural habitat here in the forest.

On our way back to our hotel, we stopped to visit a noble teak house in the city which has won architectural awards for the conservation of historical buildings. Here a lady explained how cotton was spun and woven and sang a song in the Lanna language to the sound of her phin, a local stringed instrument rather like a flute.

Willi strolled over the walking street market when we got back, while I managed to stave off a migraine by resting in the room. With success!Read more