In the Middle of Nan-Where?

I took a six hour bus ride into Nan last night and apparently I've arrived in one of the last corners of Thailand as yet mostly untouched by farangs. I'm only about 20 miles away from the Laotian border. My intention was to head up to Pua an hour north of here and then east into one of the national parks, but the weather isn't cooperating.

The last two days there has been a fine cold drizzle and a slate gray sky. In other words, the weather has been EXACTLY like it is during a Portland February. Apparently a storm from the Gulf of China is doing a tango with a storm from the Phillipines, creating this unusual weather.

So I'll be heading to Phrae instead, and then most likely on to Lampang. However, if the weather gets better tomorrow, I'll head up to Pua and I might be off internet for a while.

Wandering around the streets of Nan you would think I'm wearing a spacesuit or carrying around bagpipes. School just got back in session for the kids and they all find me incredibly amusing as I pass by. It's not very often one sees a farang wandering around here, apparently.

I've been hanging out quite a bit with three other farangs at my guesthouse-- a New Zealander, a British girl who has been teaching in Bangkok, and, get this-- a guy from Portland, Oregon. That's Rob, Lis and Roger. Roger is actually starting a trekking business here in the fall.

Last night Lis and I got dinner at a rather seedy bar and after way too many Singhas a drunk Thai from Bangkok joined us and insisted we join him on his trip to Chiang Rai. He kept trying to buy us more beers and seemed insistent on spreading the love. I came back to the guesthouse to find the lock busted on my door but nothing missing. There's something just a little off-kilter about Nan, or maybe it's just me and the weather.