I enjoy the ride but did not stop and take many pictures.
I arrived at Wat Bo Kaeo (วัดบ่อแก้ว) but had forgotten I had added this stop to go a specific way and kept thinking this doesn't look anything like a national park. It still was a pretty temple and I remembered in a few minutes why I wasn't at a national park.
I rode on to the site called Sao Din Na Noi (เสาดินนาน้อย) which is called a tourist attraction rather than a national park. I had decide I would go ahead and pay the price to enter but no one was at the pay booth when I arrived. I had read a couple of reviews that the place was not worth the price so I rode through the attraction looking at the rock formations and then back out. I didn't even take a picture.
I rode the rest of the way into the city of Nan and stopped at Wat Phaya Wat (วัดพญาวัด).
My next stop was at the top of the hill that overlooks the city of Nan at Wat Phra That Khao Noi (วัดพระธาตุเขาน้อย). The standing Buddha was being worked on so not much of a picture.
I started out the following day with a short stop at the Old City Wall of Nan (กำแพงเมืองเก่าน่าน).
My next stop was at a Yamaha dealer. I had been riding a while with the oil light flashing that tells me it is time for an oil change. I also wanted to get the front brakes checked but the checking got lost in the language barrier. I got new brake pads on the front of the bike and have no idea if I really needed them yet but figured it couldn't hurt and made me feel better going down some of the steep hills I have been riding.
This day was one of those days of travel where I was not really feeling like playing tourist. I had planned to visit the Nan Museum and I stood in front of the building looking at the price difference between foreigners and Thais and decided to just go get something to eat and go back to the hotel for a rest.
The rest did wonders for my outlook on playing tourist and late in the day I went to visit a number of temples. I started at Wat Ming Mueang (วัดมิ่งเมือง).
My next stop was at Wat Phumin (วัดภูมินทร์) with the pretty murals and black Buddha statue.
Just down the street I stopped at Wat Phra That Chang Kham Worawihan (วัดพระธาตุช้างค้ำวรวิหาร).
I went across the road to Wat Hua Khuang (วัดหัวข่วง). I did not go into this temple since something was going on there but the temple was packed with high school or college kids. I asked it I could take a picture and this is what I got.
I had been being drizzled on for most of these afternoon temple visits but the rain picked up as I rode out of the center of town to visit Wat Phra That Chae Haeng (วัดพระธาตุแช่แห้ง พระอารามหลวง). I was soaked by the time I arrived at the temple but after I get this wet I don't even make an attempt at getting out of the rain. Now looking back on it I assume I was not that impressed with this temple since I only took 2 pictures.
I rode back into the city and stopped at the Nan Night Market and bought some food. The vendor was nice and handed me an umbrella to try and keep dry while they fixed my food. I am usually not much of a fan of Night Markets but would rather go to a normal market and avoid the crowds but with it raining I did not have to worry about crowds. Normal markets are great for getting Thai food but Night markets are great for getting non-Thai food like the Kebab I had for dinner this night.
My second full day in Nan I used to do some of the rides recommended on the YouTube page Thailand Top Riding Routes. I rode out of the city on Route 1169 to Route 1257 and took it to Route 1333. One of the many things I need to watch out for while zipping around is the dogs. Every now and then some will chase me but near misses of hitting one has happened often. They often sleep in the middle of the road and don't seem to want to move for motorcycles or cars.
I only took a couple of pictures on this route but I did another attempt at filming with one hand and riding with the other. This time in Profile rather than Landscape. YouTube only allows one minute shorts with music so I cut the 2 and a half minute clip down to one minute stuck on some music and uploaded it to YouTube.
At the end of Route 1333 it runs into Route 1081. I think Route 1081 may be considered the famed Doi Phu Kha Loop but for a motorbike loop that is famed I could not find any specifics on what roads make up the loop on my internet searches. I also looked for the Nan Motorbike route and found a bit more information on the Nan Motorbike loop but most of it is from tours where you rent a bike and take the tour. The tour sites did not list the specific roads and it seemed to go all over Northern Thailand and not just Nan.
Once I was was on Route 1081 I headed up towards Bo Kluea (บ่อเกลือ). I did not have anything specific I wanted to do in that area and the road had major work on it so a little while after passing a massive boulder in the middle of the road I turned around. I should have stopped and taken a picture of the boulder and the path it cleared coming down the mountain but didn't see a good place to park near it.
I enjoyed riding on Route 1081 and have seen somewhere that is considered to be the prettiest road in Thailand. It seemed to be an easier ride than the 1257 and 1333 that I had ridden to get there but it had a lot more traffic and a lot of groups of motorbikes out cruising. I may have to come back sometime and ride the full length of 1081 but for this day I rode back to 1169 and back into the city of Nan.
Once back in Nan I stopped at Wat Suan Tan (วัดสวนตาล) which I had passed the day before when leaving the Night Market and added to my list of places to visit.
There were a number of bikers staying at the same hotel that night out enjoying the long 4 day weekend on a motorbike ride in Nan. I moved on to Phayao (พะเยา) the following day but more about that in the next post.
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