As stated in this thread: https://teakdoor.com/laos-forum/74565-rr-in-vv-3.html I recently did the road trip from Chiang Mai to Nong Kai on a visa run, taking the more direct (and much more scenic) route advised by another poster. Went with the missus and another couple. When we got to Loei on the way back, I wanted to head north and check out Phrae and Nan, but our co-travellers had to be back in CM.
When we got back, the missus and I decided another road trip was in order, to check out Nan mainly, as the missus has always wanted to go there and it looked interesting and quite isolated.
It was a great 3 day / 2 night trip and following is a travelogue. They don't see a lot of farang folk out that way and I highly recommend visiting this area, it would be worth hiring a car for a few days rather than bussing it or doing a group tour.
I would just like to give credit to the awesome Mazda BT-50 that has racked up 36,000 kms in road trips and general driving in the year since I bought it. I opted for no 4wd after talking to a supposed expert who claimed none of the roads in the north or Thailand require 4WD and it would be a waste of money. Now I'm wishing I spent the extra dosh on the 4WD version, as there's been quite a few hairy moments and many tracks not taken due to being limited to 2WD.
And yeah, I'm no gun photographer so the shots are pretty rough.
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We left Chiang Mai at 5am to head down highway 11 to Lampang, before turning in more or less a straight line for Phrae. A lot of these pics are taken from a moving vehicle. These are from the route from Lampang to Phrae...
We get to Phrae and it looked pretty much like your average small Thai city....
...Until we got to the main street and there was all these clothes shops displaying their wares outside on the main street. I asked the missus what the go was, she said everybody knows Phrae is about fashion. Fair enough.