We were at the train station by 7:30 in the morning, only to find that the train would be two hours late arriving in Chiang Mai. As I mentioned earlier, this is a common occurrence in Thailand.

We eventually arrived in Phitsanulok at 6:30 pm and checked into a quaint guest house. It was a little more expensive than our previous ones, but it included breakfast, a towel, a western-style toilet and something on the bed that could be a sarong or a cover, I wasn’t sure which. I used it for a cover as there was no other. There was no hot water either, but the days were so hot it didn’t really matter.

The next morning, after enjoying a relaxing breakfast at the outdoor lunch bar, while listening to sweet classical music playing in the background, we headed off to find the long boat races. They were held on the Nan River that flowed just outside the temple gates, and the event was a festival of vendors selling food, clothing and hand-made toys within the gates.

The long boats are similar to the “dragon boats” that we see racing at events across Canada to raise money for the Breast Cancer Society, but the paddlers are much more colourfully dressed and the speed of the boats is not comparable.

Long Boat Racers pushing hard

Waiting for the gun

Pushing Hard

A colourful crew

Orange-clad monks enjoy the show

Boats lining up before the crowd

A number of tin buildings, many using advertising signs, lined the far side of the river.  The larger one was a restaurant where we got a good lunch and had a front-row seat

Tin Buildings line the other side of the river

Some of them looked like they could be homes to large families

Tin Buildings line the other side of the river

We spent one more day in Phitsanulok before heading back to Bangkok. A tour of a Buddha factory was interesting.

This Buddha looks ready for bronzing

This one is still an unfinished plaster cast