wanderingstraycat

Second Thepvong Place, stayed there last Dec. Google for their website. It's down a lane off the south side of Charoen Muang Rd (parallel to  Charoen Muang Soi 1 & Yantarakit Koson Rd), so you don't get noise  from the main road. Has sheltered space for parking bikes. They had rooms cheaper than those mentioned on their website. B350 got me the cheapest - a bright clean double with AC & hot shower (no meals). Cook didn't seem crazy to me but the Thai food was good (didn't try any of the Western food options). Though menu prices didn't seem to be up to date...

Phrae is good for exploring by bicycle, there's some 'free use of pink bicycles for tourists' system & a map of recommended routes around the flat old town area (demarcated by the old city walls), which has relatively little traffic. Best info + maps from the coffee place called Nok Bin located along Wichairacha Rd near Wat Siboonreuang, in the southern part of the old town. Lonely Planet mentions a branch outlet near Pratuu Chai, but it has closed down, although Nok Bin now has a small shop in Phrae bus station.

Temples - i liked Wat Phra Non (something about the overall structure that resembles the temples of northern Laos). There's also Wat Pong Sunan (IIRC) with a large reclining Buddha outside, plus two Burmese-style wooden temples, though not as impressive as the one in Chiang Kham (Wat Nantaram). Many old teak houses, with a few converted into museums. Every evening food stalls pop up at the Pratuu Chai roundabout. Also one small Thai food place at the corner of Charoen Muang & its Soi 1 that seemed quite popular with locals. A few coffee places & other restaurants along Charoen Muang Rd esp closer to Pratuu Chai, & there's supposed to be a walking street along this road on certain days (need to check my notes). Directly facing the southwest entrance of Wat Phra Ruang (in the old town) is the home+studio of an artist who paints reproductions of the temple murals from Wiang Ta (somewhere along Rte 1023, west of Phrae city), quite an interesting character...the original murals are like a less well-known version of the Wat Nong Bua murals of Nan province & have all been removed to Rai Mae Fah Luang in Chiangrai.

ANA also has an advisory:
"[Information]
To Departing Passengers from Bangkok Suvarnabumi Airport
Chronic congestion in passport control area of Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport are acknowledged.
Moreover, due to increase of airlines' extra-flights in the period of  "Chinese New Year", it is expected extremely long lining up at passport  control. Especially, through 1st to 13th February, ANA recommend  passengers to show up at our check-in counter 3 hours earlier than the  standard departure time."

faced the same problem at Suvarnabhumi outbound immigration on 28 Dec 2010. queued through lunchtime, slightly less than half of the immigration counters were manned. 10 minutes before take-off, still stuck in queue with people whose flights were departing earlier than mine. with 2 minutes to spare, ran to gate F6, only to find that quite a few passengers were still behind me (was seated in row 2, stopped counting after more than 15 walked past).

alphazulu,

have sent you a private message with the contact details of 2 shops in the Sam Peng area.
not sure if am allowed to post their details & websites here...