Short break with my boyfriend

The touristy part of this trip has been reduced to his minimum, as my boyfriend has just opened a karaoke in his home village and of course he has to make the shop turn.

The income is not great, purchasing power upcountry is not very high and the average bill does not reach the Pattaya levels for sure. Some week evenings can be very depressing, while Friday and Sunday allow more people to come. Those who had a chance to go to this kind of places know that the comfort is not great, but a lot of sanuk can be had. Of course some foreign sponsor helped him to start the activity, without hoping a huge return except giving a boy the opportunity to earn a decent living.

Tha Ton bridge

He could find an uncle to replace him for four days, so we met in Chiang Mai and a short drive with his car brought us to a very nice first stay in Tha Ton close to the burmese border. This place is known for its temple, which offers great views all over the region. We then went to the Tachilek market in Burma for some shopping.

No stop in Chiang Rai, so no update on the local scene, and it was then Phayao and its lake - still one of the best-kept secrets in Thailand.

And I could finally reach his home in Phrae province and see how the bar looked like : a small place in the middle of the rice fields along the local main road, with nice (female) staff and fresh beer.

It was already time to hop on the plane from Phrae and go back - alone - to Bangkok for some days.