I start Monday before 6am as I want to get out running before the long bus ride. I get in a 66 minute run/walk and grab a shower. The bus ride to Nan is supposed to take 5.5 hours but it's really 7 hours. It's a beautiful ride of twisty, undulating, and smooth roads. But it seems like everytime you turn around the bus driver is stopping to let someone out, pick someone up, deliver a package, or to take a break. Regardless the scenery is beautiful and I make it to Nan in one piece. After checking into the hotel I go looking for a bicycle and there is a good shop right across the street from the hotel. So I do the negotiating and agree to come back on Tuesday to pay and leave a deposit and change the pedals and etc. I walk around and stumble onto a restaurant that looks suitable and I have a spicy Thai curry. And then I walk home with a quick stop for some dark chocolate at 7-11 and a quick walk around the Nan night market. It sure seems like there is a ton of meat being sold as there are many butcher shops and many night market stalls selling meat.
I sleep a shade late and then have breakfast. Near 9am I walk over to the bicycle shop and except for my pedals the bicycle is ready. The price has gone to 600 Baht from 450 Baht, but I think the owner got confused about how long I want the bicycle for. We can straightne it up when I return the bicycle. I start riding and ride by a university and then catch up to the 101 road that I came to Nan on. It's a wide, smooth road and a lot of up and down hill for a good ride. As I get back to the city I detour to a famous Buddhist temple and check it out and stop in at a 7-11 for some supplies. After a shower and reading the news I watch some Netflix and have lunch in my room. Later I go out walking and exploring and I have trouble finding a restaurant. Not necessarily a vegetarian restaurant, but any restaurant. What's going on in this place?
After breakfast I'm out the door on the bicycle at 9am. There is a bicycle criterium race going on today (on a Wednesday morning?) that I get detoured around by police. And then I head south on the 101 road with smooth surfaces and a wide shoulder. Whereas going north was rolling hills with some punchy inclines, going south has a couple of very gradual hills but is mainly flat. I ride out to a convenient turn-around point and crank along back home for 55 kilometers. Not a bad ride on a soft-tired mountain bicycle. After a shower I go back to the first restaurant for more spicy Thai curry but it isn't open yet. So I go to the 7-11 to pick up supplies and go back to the hotel in the heat of the day to work on websites with lunch. Later I go for another walk and scout out how to get across the Nan river before tomorrow's bicycle ride.
I'm awake and out of bed at 6:05am and grab an early breakfast. I take some time to read the news before going out cycling. I cross the Nan river and try a couple of different routes. It's a decent ride with some hills but I cut it short at two hours. After a shower I try to return the bicycle but the shop is closed - probably for lunch. Thus I eat my lunch and return the bicycle a bit later. I spend time gathering everything together since tomorrow is a transit day to Bangkok. And I do a few financial calculations but no serious web work today. Later I go walk around and bid farewell to Nan. I'm disappointed in it. After every Thai person lept for joy when I said I was going to Nan, I found it underwhelming.