Caught bus at 9am for our two and half hour bus ride to Phayao . VIP bus with wide comfy reclining seats and of course AC. £5.00 each for VIP bus. Crazy.
Arrived Phayao and asked how to get to our hotel ( we got the T – shirt now and have all our hotel addresses in local language)
They pointed to a charabang red bus not a tuk tuk or taxi . Strange we thought, perhaps it goes past our hotel. On we get and show address to where we want to go and get a bit of a nod. Bus fills up and off we go. Electric fans in the roof and all doors left open, old school AC. Nice lady money collector for ticket asked for 50 baht which seemed a lot for a short trip !! Well we soon found out that we had truly f—-d up this nights stay. Our hotel was in a place called Chiang Kham in the Province of Phayao and another two hours from Phayao town. Too late now. Arrived Chiang Kham still with smiles on our faces looking forward to a nice relax at the hotel. Crap hotel, called the Rico Resort. Not what we expected and not what the web photos showed. A lot of the fots were of the owners own house and swimming pool and those of another complex which he owns nearby. Rico the owner was a nice chap from the states but had no idea how to run a hotel. The experience to complicated to describe in full here. Not awful but dissapointing. Had to work out how to get to our next nights stop in Chiang Rai without going all the way back to Phayao. Luckily there is a bus direct. Had a nice meal with the owner, Rico at his house and two other Dutch guests.
The following photos look better than the actual place. It was very peaceful and great views over the paddy fields. It is nice getting out into the country and see Thai life for real which is what this sort of holiday is all about. So looking back we will not really regret our stupidity and put it down as all part of the adventure.
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