Listen, I hate writing travel blogs as much as you probably dislike reading them, but while you have the chance, I need to convince you to go and visit Nan province in the North of Thailand. My wife and I recently returned from a four-day trip and loved every single moment of it. I think this is the Thailand that many of us dream about - peaceful, orderly towns surrounded by incredible scenery, welcoming and friendly locals, not a scrap of litter in sight, and best of all - during the whole time I was there, I only saw four other foreigners to glare at.
Travel in Thailand doesn't get any better than this. The trip was meticulously planned by my wife, based on Thai travel blogs and trip reports that she had read on-line. We were following a well-trodden path because Nan Province has long been a popular destination for the more discerning Thai traveler.
The holiday got off to a good start. Don Muang Airport has come in for a fair bit of stick lately for long immigration queues, etc but navigating the domestic terminal was a breeze. Despite being busy, even at six in the morning, check-in and security were as painless as it gets in these tiresome days of air travel.
We even found time for a quick egg mcmuffin under the golden arches before our 7. The flight to Nan takes sixty-five minutes. This is a far cry from the noisy, polluted sprawl you left behind an hour ago. We hadn't pre-booked a hire car but that wasn't an issue.
At least three or four car rental firms maintain counters in the small arrivals hall. We opted for a Thai rental firm over one of the big international names and their service was excellent. The paperwork was minimal, the staff drove our car around to the front of the terminal building, and all in all we felt that just over a thousand baht a day for a newish compact automatic was a fair deal.
