Thailand - The Rough Guide to Southeast Asia on a Budget - page 752

though not as interesting as those in Chiang Mai, with
food and crafts for sale.
★

Wat Phumin
With a five-hundred-year-old cruciform
building as its centrepiece, bisected by
two giant nagas, Wat Phumin , a
five-minute walk south of the museum
down hanon Phakong, will please even
the most over-templed traveller. What
really sets this temple apart are its
murals, the bright, simple colours of
which seem to jump off the walls of the
bot. Executed in the late nineteenth
century - though retouched in recent
years - the paintings take you on a
whirlwind tour of heaven, hell, the
Buddha's previous incarnations, local
legends and incidents from Nan's
history, and include stacks of vivacious,
sometimes bawdy, detail, which provides
a valuable pictorial record of that era.

Aroy One Baht Th Tipchang T 089 700 9444. Cheap
eats in a nice old wooden house staffed by happy young
Thais. The spicy snakehead fish soup, served in coconut
milk, is a bargain at B40. Highly recommended. Daily
4pm-midnight.
Grandma's Café Th Tipchang. Central coffee hangout for
artsy young Lampangers, which serves good espresso and
simple dishes (fried rice B35). Mon-Sat 10am-7pm.
R Lampang Th Talat Kao, just east of Riverside Guest
House T 054 225278, W r-lampang.com. Part guesthouse,
part doll's house, with shades of green and pink providing
the backdrop for a weird and wonderful collection of
curios. Occupying a prime spot on the riverfront, its
cheapest offerings are small fan ro oms w ith mattresses
on the floor. Bicycles for rent. Double B350
Riverside Guest House 286 Th Talat Kao T 054 227005,
W theriverside-lampang.com. Traditional garden compound
of elegant, mostly en-suite rooms in two teak houses;
the hel pful owner also rents out bikes and motorbikes.
Double B350
Riverside Restaurant 328 Th Tipchang. This relaxing
bar-restaurant-bakery on rustic wooden terraces over-
looking the water offers a wide variety of excellent Thai
dishes, including northern specialities (from B70) and
Western food, live music, and fresh pizzas Tues, Thurs, Sat
& Sun evenings. Daily 11am-midnight.

10

ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
By plane The airport is 2km northwest of town, served
by Nok Air flights from Bangkok (3 daily; 1hr 40min) and
Kan Airlines from Chiang Mai (2 weekly; 45min). A/c
minibuses run between here and the Dhevaraj Hotel , in
the centre of town.
By bus The bus station is in the southwest corner of
town, off the main road to Phrae; songthaews to the
centre cost B20.
Destinations Bangkok (10 daily; 12hr); Chiang Mai (9-11

daily; 6hr); Chiang Rai (daily; 6-7hr); Den Chai (on the
Bangkok-Chiang Mai railway; hourly; 2hr 30min);
Phitsanulok (5 daily; 6hr).

NAN
Ringed by high mountains, the small but
prosperous provincial capital of NAN ,
225km northeast of Lampang, rests on
the grassy west bank of the Wang River.
Few visitors make it out this far, but it's a
likeable place with a thriving handicraft
tradition, a good museum and some
superb temple murals at Wat Phumin.

ACCOMMODATION AND EATING
When it comes to eating, there's a good night market,
about 500m north of the museum on Th Phakong.

TOURS AROUND NAN
★

Fhu Travel 453/4 Th Sumondhevaraj
T 054 710636, W fhutravel.com. Owner
Fhu and his wife can organize two- to
three-day treks (around B3700/person,
based on two sharing) which head west,
through tough terrain of thick jungle and
high mountains, visiting Mrabri, Htin,
Hmong and Mien villages. Other options
include cycling tours around town,
one- or two-day whitewater-rafting
excursions, kayaking, and trips to Luang
Prabang in Laos, via the border crossing at
Huai Kon in the north of Nan province,
which is open to foreigners.

The National Museum
he best place to start a tour of Nan is at
the National Museum , just off hanon
Phakong in the southwest part of town
(Wed-Sun 9am-4pm; B100), which
occupies the century-old palace of the
former lords of Nan with its superb teak
floors. Its informative, user-friendly
displays give a bite-sized introduction
to Nan, its history and its peoples, the
prize exhibit being a talismanic elephant
tusk with a bad case of brown tooth
decay, which is claimed to be magic
black ivory.