A travel blog as inspiration for Traveling, Living & Motorbike riding in Thailand with Destination Travel Guides about North & North-East Thailand.
Subscribe to this blog
FOLLOW BY EMAIL
The other side of Bangkok
Get link
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps
Yes this is also Bangkok, just 10 min away from the busy streets and high-rise buildings. Bangkok has so many faces. If you are in Bangkok just jump in any public transport and just wonder around. I call it getting lost.
It is rice harvesting in the valley of Pua. Groups of farmers work together to harvest the rice by hand. Today the land of farmer Som, tomorrow the land of farmer Gan. Although this plot was about 2 rai (about 3.200 sqm) it was done in half a day with about 10 people. The cut rice is now drying in the sun and later a threshing machine will come to the land to thresh the rice (what gives a lot of small dust particulars in the air).
When traveling from my home town to my home country I had to stay 1 night in Bangkok as my flights to and from Bangkok did not connect. So I did choose a hotel that is near the Airport Rail Link to Suvarnabhumi Airport. And the Mercure Bangkok Makkasan Hotel is indeed only about 400m from the Airport Rail Link Makkasan station. For more information see Mercure Bangkok Makkasan Hotel.
I had a smooth & fast check-in and although I arrived a bit early I could use my room directly. The room is not so big but comfortable and has everything you need. In the afternoon I wanted to go shopping and wanted to take the free shuttle-bus service to MRT station Makkasan. But as this free shuttle service is only going once every 30min I just missed it. So instead of waiting I just walked it, took me just a bit more as 5min. Be aware there is no side-walk. This ritual repeated itself in the evening. But then the MRT station was totally crowded so I walked to Asoke & Sukhumvit, what was a bit …
As usual when friends visit us in Pua we do visit the Wat Mongkul, originally named the Wat Kong, near Tha Wang Pha. About 45 km north of Nan town and 15 km from Pua town. Just 4 years ago it was just a local temple with a nice local style museum and a stunning view. Now it is one of Nan's temple highlights to visit. What results in many people visiting this temple to make photos, mostly selfies. But still a fun place to visit. Following are a few photos I made this time.
While passing Wat Hia in the evening it did look so beautiful with all the lights that I had to stop and make some photos. No, it is not an old temple but beautiful designed and build in Tai Lue style. Following are 2 more photos. On the walls are murals of the destruction of the old temple after a storm and the building of the new temple. The new temple is designed by a local architect.
While living in Thailand I was already many years thinking about starting a small guesthouse. But living in Bangkok, Pattaya or Khon Kaen that seemed not the right location for the kind of guesthouse that I wanted to start. But when we found our new home in Pua, Nan province I knew this would become the place to start our guesthouse or homestay. So when we finished building our own house between the rice fields of Pua we started at the next project "our bungalow". And the creation of our bungalow is almost finished, just the finishing touch have to be done. We are calling it "Non Nan Pua", what in Thai means “Sleeping / relaxing between the rice fields”. A place where guests can relax in comfort and enjoy the view over the rice fields & the mountains of Doi Phu Kha. And as our bungalow is between the Tai Lue villages Ban Ket and Ban Hia it is also the perfect location to experience the real local way of slow life in Pua.
I was meeting a friend and together we did visit the Kunst Hal in Rotterdam where was the impressive retrospective exhibition ‘Joana Vasconcelos. I’m Your Mirror’, featuring the work of the famous Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos (1971). And there was also an the exhibition ‘Joost Swarte everywhere’ that pays homage to fifty years of drawing by presenting a cross section of Swarte’s body of work – from his first cartoons, original drawings, sketches, designs and objects to his most recent work.
We did start with Joana Vasconcelos. I’m Your Mirror, the photo above "Don't shoot the messenger" is a huge pistol made out of old telephones. The photo under is a small helicopter dressed like a bird.
After the first exhibition we walked into the exhibition "Joost Swarte Everywhere".
I was walking in Rotterdam and enjoyed the almost autumn scenes in a park. Nothing special but when you are living in Thailand then you start to appreciate the changes of season in the Netherlands. And I just love trees. So 2 shots of trees, leaves and skies.
Well not the kind of beans I would eat ... but drink. Coffee beans. There are a few coffee plantations in Nan province. Most of them setup by Royal Projects. And there are a few local coffee brands. For more information about the beautiful Nan province see Destination Travel Guide Nan, North Thailand.
I love to wake-up early and enjoy the cool morning to make a walk or get lost in any city. This time I was in Phnom Penh and made a walk along the riverside boulevard where are always people around.
For the merit of the future of our new homestay (and for the family of my wife) we did visit a local so called jungle temple. It is a small forrest where a groups of Buddhist monks are managing a simple temple. And one of the monks ever had the idea of building from a scooter a TukTuk. So the right rear wheel is actually the rear-half of a scooter, incl. the engine & chain. Extended building created something that looks like a TukTuk but with 4 wheels and a bit weird steering construction. Not sure if it is still in working order but the kids loved to play in it.