It has been a long time since I have written anything here! Life has been busy over the last month as I enrolled in a couple of online courses and have been helping a friend with her various websites. And I have had four requests in the last couple of weeks for articles about life as an expat in Thailand which I have yet to get to. Boredom is something I will never encounter in my retirement years. I know it is getting bad when life and building in my virtual worlds is put on hold for life in the real world! Although I know most of you would say that is a good thing lol!
On Tuesday morning, a small group of us headed north on our scooters and motorcycles to Lake Phayao, located about 150 km northwest of Chiang Mai. The weather managed to stay incredible for the two days we were on the road. Sunny skies and moderate temperatures made for a great ride. It dipped down into the low 20s (Celsius) through the mountains which was a little chilly for us!
Phayao lake is a semi-natural freshwater lake that covers an area of 2.3 km² at an altitude of 380 m. and has a mean depth of only 1.7 m. The town of Phayao is located on the southeast corner of the lake. The artificial lake was created in 1939 to improve irrigation in the area. It was added to the list of 61 most important wetland areas on August 1, 2000.
The ride from Chiang Mai passes through beautiful flat lands, valleys surrounded by low mountains and a scenic mountain pass full of twisting highways and switchbacks that anyone on two wheels loves. There were numerous coffee stops along the way but any western elements slowly disappeared as we moved further from the city of Chiang Mai. We didn’t have to cover many kilometres before English became pretty much non-existent.
The town of Phayao is off the beaten track when it comes to tourists. It is possible to get there by bus but however you look at it, it is a sleepy little town in the middle of nowhere. After the city lights of Chiang Mai, it was a very peaceful night away from pretty much anything! Everyone we met was really friendly in a good way. There were no massage parlours in sight anywhere and nobody really paid us much attention as we walked around. It was nice not being asked to buy anything or “Do you want a massage?” as we strolled along the small lakeside area. We didn’t book anything ahead of time and ended up finding a great little guest house right by the lake for $20 per night.
If you are looking for nightlife, this is not the place to visit! We had a difficult time finding any food after 7:00 and most of the town was shut down by 9:00 pm except for a few small almost empty bars. We saw a couple of other foreigners but that was about it. Any type of Western food is non-existent except for one pizza joint that closed before we could get to it. But the Thai food was great! When in Thailand….. Roger wanted pizza for dinner and a western breakfast the next day, both which were unavailable! The quest for pizza lasted quite awhile but when we finally found some, the restaurant was closed for the night!
The next morning we stepped into a small open restaurant thinking that we might be able to at least get a couple of eggs and some bread. The older woman in charge did her best to understand us. Of course, she didn’t speak a word of English. We managed to order a couple of plates of pork fried rice and thought that we had been successful in ordering a few fried eggs, with the help of some broken Thai, charades and even some beautiful fried eggs hand-drawn on one of the serviettes. But it was lost in translation! A little while later, she arrived with four humungous plates of fried chicken along with the pork fried rice. We didn’t have the heart to say she had misunderstood and proceeded to put back as much of the chicken as we could. And it was a hell of a lot of chicken! We left quite a bit but I am sure it didn’t go to waste. As we all say, every time you step out the door. it is another experience!
So for well under $100, we had our gas, food, accommodation and beer for the night. Pretty hard to beat!
For tourists visiting Chiang Mai, this would be a great little overnight trip. Rent a car or scooter and head out of town. The road is great, the scenery is spectacular and there are numerous interesting things to see along the way.
another good report
many thanks