What?? More Wat's - Lovely days near the Lao border

Chiang Muan to Nan 73 km, a big climb up for the first hour and a half.  Two car loads of people from the weekend were heading there as well to farewell the police chief who was starting a new job in Nan the next day, they met us just at the top of the first climb with lots of laughter and encouragement! Then across the top and down into a village for the obligatory noodle soup, which is sometimes the only thing available. We have had it heaps, none ever quite the same, I didn't finish this one as I thought it tasted Yuk... Onwards up the second big climb of the day. Taking it slow, about half way up, my eyes, feet and hands started itching and swelling. The start of an allergic reaction to something I ate at lunch... Great! So I swallowed two different antihistamines, tried to keep calm as Trevor read the instructions on the epi-pen and sat in the culvert on the side of the road for a couple of hours and slept. (Photo) Luckily my tongue and lips did not swell, so epipen stayed intact, eventually felt a bit better and headed off slowly. I think Asia lives on legumes and there are peanuts in everything so even being very careful there is still cross contamination. Still had 40 km to go to next accommodation. We saw a few camping spots but didn't have much food or water with us. Arrived in Nan about 5 pm, my right eye almost swollen shut and just a bit shattered.
Next day had a quiet morning in Nan. The kaffe (coffee) ( photo) culture is definitely in the Thailand so we have a latte when we can, got to get calcium from somewhere... Headed out in the afternoon to see a few more Wats. Some very impressive old ones. Buddhism seems to be an intrinsic part of Thai life. In every city, town and village there are many many wats. The bigger the place the more there are and the more money is spent. One Wat we visited in Nan people were buying gold leaf and applying it to spheres to be placed somewhere. A lot of visitors to the Wats, mainly Thai but also foreigners.  Some appear to be tourist attractions. There is no fee charged as they are places of worship but donation boxes abound. The poorer areas there are noticeably less Wats and less opulence...
Nan is close to the Lao border and years ago had its own local dynasty and  sovereignty. Parts of the old city wall remains. (photo)
Just on dusk we decided to bike to the viewpoint, the police chief had just finished work, was out for his evening bike ride and spotted us so he joined us showing us the way, (photo with him) and then we shared dinner. So a nice end to the day.
Nan to Pua - 74 km, only one climb of 20 km out of the town then a nice ride up a valley. Found a nice place to stay, they call everything a resort here but I think it just means they can accommodate plenty of people as they are not like resorts as we know them. Local rice soup included for breakfast. It contains rice, pork and vegetables and many condiments available to add to it. It is great watching the locals get it just how they individually like it. It is a real ritual. Add some dried garlic, ( dried gloves with skin still on) fresh spring onion and coriander, dried chilli, fresh Chilli sauce and then the fish sauce, soya sauce, pepper etc, it all goes in and then they stir it for about 5 minutes and then repeat it all if they have another bowl.
But it is Yummy and filling.
We were heading into a more remote very hilly area with not much accommodation so spent the next night just 25 km up the rd to reduce the following day to 70 km. So a short ride and relaxing day to Chiang Klang.
The photo of the large Buddha we could see from quite a distance, just randomly in the countryside. I put my bike in front of it to give the size perspective, it is enormous.
The large clay pots are everywhere as well and often contain water.
There are layers of hills with lovely valleys nestled amongst them, agricultural area mainly growing vegetables and strawberries and lots of banana palms. Difficult to take good photos as there is a real heat haze all day despite still being chilly in the mornings.