Nan boat racing

James, Julio (a foreign exchange student from the Philippines who is spending a year at our school) and I spent the Saturday and Sunday of early November visiting some fellow teacher friends in Nan, which is a city about 45 kilometers south of us in Thawangpha. Nan is the capital of our province, and has a bit of a city feel; especially compared to the wild trees, rice fields, and soft lush hills that make up Thawangpha’s night scene. Saturday afternoon we hopped on a bus type of construction and arrived in Nan late afternoon to catch the end of a long day of boat racing.

Each year Nan hosts a fantastic old school boat racing event that spans two weekends and creates quite the buzz. The event is located near the city center on a small portion of the mighty and muddy Nan River and attracts enthusiasts from all over the country. Boats race in a head to head type atmosphere ripping through the water amongst maddening music that could be likened to a medieval romping circus that continuously blasts from towers of speakers populating the concrete seating areas where visitors eat snacks from the hundreds of venders selling their barbequed squid, used leather boots, pad thai, guns, fish, and just about any other necessity you might require on such an afternoon. The boats hold about 30 or more people and are extremely skinny and elegantly designed. Each person on the boat wields a small wooden paddle and the visual experience of watching 30 or 35 people whip these small paddles through the water propelling long dragon decorated boats is uniquely fascinating. I had never seen humans perform such a feat and for a moment I thought I was on another planet watching funny creatures race fantastical red yellow dragonhead boats along a desert river against each other to the deep gongs and wild shouts of wide-eyed onlookers.

Boat racing!

After the boat-racing event James, Julio, and I made our way over to meet up with our friends Katy and Holly. They have a delightfully furnished 3-bedroom house on the outskirts of the city and we immediately dug the place. A couple of other teachers joined us at their relatively sprawling pad, which made for a solid group.

The seven of us headed to a bamboo outdoor indoor restaurant for some Johnny walker red label and interesting live Thai music. The band had a nice setup with lights and was apparently famous throughout Thailand for combining traditional Thai elements with a full rock flavor. More foreign English teachers seemed to roll in as the night advanced and after a few hours we paid for our whiskey and called in quits. James, Julio and I didn’t have a way back to our friend’s house to we started talking to people with trucks. Within 5 minutes we were sitting in the back of a black Honda pickup flying towards our spot while 2 Thai guys up front did the navigating. We easily got rides around to places the whole weekend by very friendly locals who always seemed to insist that we “hop in the back.” This is the customary way to get around in areas away from major cities where there are no taxis.

The next morning we climbed some steps and gazed upon a beautiful temple. A large golden Buddha rested atop and seemed to be casting peaceful vibes down on the entire city of Nan to which he looked over.

James and I then hopped on the back of a truck taxi and as I came back to Thawangpha I realized how nice it was to be able to live in such a peaceful happy place surrounded by nature. The verdant bucolic country vibe of Thawangpha has definitely grown on me since I got here and I think that feeling will only grow as the time slowly waltzes by.

James and I heading back home