Tuesday, March 13
I was awoken this morning in Nan at 7:30 AM by very loud Chinese opera music coming through my screened-in windows. I laid in my not-so-comfortable bed, under a spinning ceiling fan, feeling nauseous and having some trouble breathing. When the Thai National Anthem started blaring at 8, I strugged out of bed and into the bathroom, only to discover that this hotel didn't have hot water.
By this point, I was very worried that I had something seriously wrong with me. It felt like food poisoning, which I know meant that the next few days would be no fun at all. Eventually I made it to the door and went out into the extremely smoky air outside. I wandered around town for a while, feeling mostly miserable. Several people stopped me to chat -- Nan is a friendly town for sure, but I was in no mood to talk. I forced myself to eat at a nearby hotel even though I wasn't very hungry.
But luckily, as the day wore on, I felt better and better. We ended up driving around town and checking out some of the historical temples in town. Wat Phumin was especially interesting, with a cruciform-shaped temple. In the center of the building is four seated Buddha images sitting back to back. So no matter which of the four doorways you walked through (north, south, east or west), you would be faced with a golden Buddha smiling down on you.
We decided to stay in Nan one more night, but to move to a better hotel. We found one -- a three-story building made of all wood, giving it a homey, comfortable feel to it. It also had air conditioning and hot water, and still was only 400 baht (US$11) or so.
For beer and boy bands tonight, everyone we talked to recommended the Varachon Pub on the Nan River. Sure enough, it was a happening place. This band, however, gave us a break from the US pop from the 70s and 80s and instead played all Thai music. They were also quite good musicians. Even though we didn't know any of the songs, it was great fun to just listen and watch the crowd enjoy themselves.
