Day 14 - Monday 1 December 2014, Phrae

Incessant chatter.....This morning when I wake the routine is hardly normal. For the second night in three days I've been subjected to interrupted sleep. At some unearthly hour a couple move into the next room and engage in incessant chatter. I awake from quite a deep sleep and can't settle for a good hour. I debate whether to take the law into my own hands, but peace seems to return soon after and so does my sleep. Although I wake at the normal time and road noise is rising, and general activity is increasing, I fall back asleep. Its 9 am before I'm fully awake so no time to work on my blog. At least the breakfast routine is the same, if a bit late. My plan is to spend the morning in the province before heading south, but that's already compromised. Nevertheless, I make a start and reach my first site just after 11 am. With better luck I could have added this yesterday as it was on the way into Nan.
Pratup Cave Forest Park..... Thankfully, Pratup Cave Forest Park is near the main road. It's a perfect recreational area at the foot of a cave system. The park encloses a small arboretum then a trail leading to a number of limestone caves. The obvious ones are just a few hundred metres from the road but except for the first they do require a steep climb. Without liquids to worry about and with a generous supply of concrete steps, I'm up for it again. I spend about 45 minutes exploring the park and arboretum, but I'm no tree expert and with the names either written using scientific names or in Thai, I can't really add more about these native species. It's time to head back to Nan.
Happy Birthday.....As I head back to Nan despite the late start there is something else not normal about this day that I must factor into the day's events. It's Katoon's birthday, and she needs a blessing from a monk and has already identified the venue. It's one of the temples we visited a few days ago. She's singled out the temple Phra That Chae Hang on the eastern side of the Nan River. I simply can't refuse the request even though it is consuming more valuable time. It's 12.45 pm before the ritual is over. One positive is that we can eat at the same riverside restaurant we used before. I simply can't resist the kow soi. So this is it; the end of my stay in Nan Province. Well, not quite.
Ban Marabri.....Logic should dictate that I head south on the 101. The provincial border is not too much more than an hour away. As I look at the time I take a decision to take a more scenic route out of the province. I start by heading west on the 1091 towards Phayao. This will take me through Doi Phu Nang National Park. I will have to be careful with the time. Fortunately the road is good even though after 30 minutes the mountain climb begins. At around 2 pm I pick up a sign which I take to be a waterfall. The board indicates a distance of 11 kilometres. Let's go for it; it should delay me only 45 minutes. The road is tarmacked and surprisingly good even by park standards. At first, it drops sharply towards the valley, rises steeply to the next ridge then carries on undulating, offering more glorious views. After 11 kilometres there is a signboard, but there's no waterfall as I expected. All I can see is a village, and it's not quite like the other hill tribe villages I've become accustomed to. It is really primitive. So what seems to have singled this one out? I'm about to find out as I climb a steep concrete road that reveals a scene hardly touched by the outside world for centuries. All that's here is a collection of bamboo huts except for a more substantial building to my left. It soon becomes clear that this is the nursery school complete with about 10 little bodies asleep on mats. Two teachers are on duty here and the young male teacher explains that we are welcome to look around. It's hard to intrude on someone's privacy, but all indications are that we are welcome. The only hut I feel comfortable in is what I can only suggest is a community hall barely 12 feet square with a bamboo table in the middle. Initially, just a few children occupy the room but soon a few older ladies arrive. The only other thing in the room, apparently the only example in the village, is a TV. Quite how much value it is to some of the children I'm not sure because none, except one of the older children looking after a sibling seems to speak fluent Thai let alone English.
The only folk currently in the village apart from the teachers are the old and the young. All able-bodied persons are out on the hillside gathering in the annual harvest of corn. This is all another culture shock to me having witnessed relative prosperity in Thailand in recent years. In the community room I am quite shocked with the condition of clothing and personal cleanliness of the children, but there is one precious piece of information I do manage to obtain from the older student. That's the name of the village. It's Ban Marabri and that rings a bell. From the information I obtained from the National Museum in Nan I know that this is one of the smaller minority tribes in Nan Province, and they were nomadic until quite recently. Armed with this I can do further research. I return to chat with the teacher who explains that there was a visit to the area by the King some years ago. Then, some provision was made for the people here that enabled them to at least reroof their houses with tiles and tin removing the previous bamboo thatch. Electricity and water were also provided but since then there has been very little help. I'm really moved to make a donation. From the register, no one has visited the village for over a week. What I donated will provide the nursery children with clean clothes or food for a week. As I bid my farewells this really is the end of my Nan provincial tour and what a way to end it!
Nan exit.....I head back to the 1091. This diversion has cost and hour and a quarter. I continue west through the forest until the road starts its descent into a broader valley, through the small town of Ban Luang, then on towards another town, 20 kilometres away but first, finally, I exit Nan Province. At Chiang Muan I turn left, joining the 1120. It's exactly 4 pm, and I'm no nearer to Bangkok than I was in the morning. I'm now in the southeastern corner of Phayao Province, incredibly, but as I pass through another section of the park I'm in yet another province; that of Phrae. It's here that the mental strain of constantly looking around for potentially interesting sites comes to an end. It's time to really hit the gas. By 5 pm I'm passing through to town of Song on the 103 from Ngao and spend awhile looking for suitable accommodation, but there's nothing that looks convenient to shops and restaurants. I hand the driving back to Katoon again with the intention of pressing on to the city of Phrae. Now we're back on the 101, the driving is much easier. We make it just before dark, and it seems this city is familiar to Katoon from her distant past. She easily finds a hotel in the city.
Paradorn Hotel.....The Paradorn Hotel will be the first hotel I've used this tour and, as such provides everything including breakfast. The rooms are well-equipped but the one I choose is a little cramped compared to what I'm used to. Given the cause for celebration today it's appropriate to eat in the hotel off the dinner menu. That provides the most expensive meal so far this tour, but honestly I've been amazed how easy on the pocket this adventure has been here in the north.
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