Around the World in 174 Days - Part 2 - Bangkok to Chiang Mai

Hi,

Firstly, apologies for some of the wonky fonts! It is proving to be quite a challenge formatting this on an IPad!

All of the photos can be found at the links  below:


https://photos.app.goo.gl/RZpNy1btt8AkWa7x8 Sleeper train

https://photos.app.goo.gl/j67EwtUxVLJnGRhK6 Chiang Mai day 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/1R2hsJN7uHiRgy2w5 Doi Suthep



When I last wrote we were about 2 miles outside Bangkok 

Just a slight rewind to fill a gap. 

After a final Pad Thai in Bully’s, we returned for a last walk along Soi 4 to pick up our bags and taxi to Hua Lampong for the overnight sleeper. 

As I have already mentioned, we arrive early for all travels. It’s just something we do. Consequently, at 5pm we were heading for the station to catch the 7:35pm train (well! you never know do you?). Not long after we got in the taxi, the skies opened up and it rained and rained for the entire journey and I do mean rain that windscreen wipers can’t really deal with! We were concerned that we would be put out of the cab with luggage in the middle of the storm but fair play to the driver, he found some shelter close to the station so we could stay dry. We had pre-arranged the fare at 250 baht (around £6) which was reasonable for the distance. I must say that transport rates are pretty good so far in Thailand. I am guessing this is because there is so much competition, with taxis, tuk-tuks, scooters that will give you a pillion ride as well as the public transport system on Bangkok. 

So, here we were, 5:40 pm for a 7:35 train. 

Hua Lampong is a busy station and there were people everywhere, many sat on the floor in the middle of the station concourse and most of the seats taken. We managed to find two seats as far away from the platforms as you could possibly get and staked our claim. 

15 minutes later it was National Anthem time. Up we stand, although two female backpackers about 5 metres away from us declined to stand. Whilst they were given some withering looks from the locals, they weren’t whisked away to The Bangkok Hilton so that tested the theory slightly. (I will continue to stand out of respect for the custom of the country I am visiting). 

All pretty uneventful from then on. People watching is very interesting but there wasn’t much to report, other than a girl feeding some sort of baby bird in a basket with a syringe! At around 7:10, Lucy went to find a loo and when she returned, told me that she had found the first class lounge. We were travelling first class as it is the difference between sharing a sleeping carriage with 6 others or having one to yourself and, although more expensive when compared to standard class, it is still extremely reasonable by UK standards. 

The First Class Lounge was adjacent to the platform but, by the time we got there and showed our ticket, the attendant just pointed us towards the platform where our train was being prepared. (We have another sleeper train later on in the trip so will bear this in mind). 

The train was scrubbed and hosed down diligently and eventually we were allowed onboard. 

Our cabin consisted of a Lower and upper bunk bed folded down to make a long settee type seat, a sink in the corner and one plug point. By the time we had put our luggage in, it was very cramped but there was room for us to both sit reasonably comfortably. 

A lady stopped by with a small bottle of orange juice, one for each of us and it was delicious, freshly squeezed, with no bitterness and very cold. 

Shortly after this a uniformed gentlemen knocked on the door to make our beds up. He efficiently raised the top bunk, erected a ladder and arranged foldaway mattresses and pillows on each bed. 

Orange juice lady then returned with food menus. We had been warned that food onboard was expensive so we had bought our own provisions consisting of little pre-packed sandwiches and salted egg crisps so we declined (orange juice Lady looked extremely dejected so one presumes that she makes a living from selling meals onboard and doesn’t get paid if you don’t order?). She also offered us a breakfast menu which we also declined (another sad look!). “Coffee, orange juice?” she said and we agreed to this (I held a vague hope that this may have been part of the First Class package but read on). 

That was the last time we saw anyone that night. 

The train left about 20 minutes late and I commenced writing my previous blog post. About 20 miles outside Bangkok the train just stopped and didn’t move again for over an hour. We are still not sure if this was a scheduled stop just to clear the station?

I wrote until just before midnight and finally published another chapter of the blog. Lucy had already turned in on the top bunk (we thought that was the safest arrangement). 

I then laid down in an attempt at sleep. To be fair, the “bed” was not uncomfortable. I am 6’2” tall and there was easily enough room for me to lay straight(ish) but sleep was hard to come by. My Fitbit actually registered no sleep whatsoever but I did doze periodically. The train is noisy and the ride is bumpy. 

I gave up entirely around 5:45 am and contented myself with watching the sun rise over the jungle as we plodded through. What I was seriously impressed with (and still am) though was the level of connectivity. Except for in a few places, I had data connectivity (sometimes 3G but mostly 4G) for nearly the whole journey. When I think that between my home in Haslemere and Guildford there is zero connectivity, this is a considerable achievement. I am currently on a coach going through remote mountaintop villages and have 4G with 5 bars. Impressive stuff. 

Lucy awoke about an hour after me and we sat and watched the jungle go by with the sun gradually rising over the mountain tops. It was a really peaceful few hours but more hours that we thought it was going to be! 

At round 7am, orange juice lady came around with a tray of coffee, lovely orange juice and a rather tasty chocolate brownie. I don’t really have that much of a sweet tooth but this was really rather good. She offered us more coffee around 1 hour later which we grateful accepted. 

Then, at about 8am (our scheduled arrival time was 8:40am) she returned with the bill (not part of the 1st class package after all then?) for 600baht which is about £15. Now by UK standards this is not unreasonable for 4 coffees, 4 orange juices and 2 chocolate brownies but we are starting to get into Thai mode by now and that is very steep indeed! (Later that evening, we paid 600baht for dinner with 3 beers each to put things into context!)

Once our bill was paid, smart uniformed man came to dismantle our bunk bed and we prepare for our arrival into Chiang Mai. 

2 hours later, we arrived in Chiang Mai!! No announcements, no apologies, no delay reply, the train was simply two hours late. 

We all piled off the train and walked out into the main station area and were quite literally inundated with a hoard of taxi and tuk-tuk drivers waving flyers to try and get our custom. 

💡 (it’s one of those moments). Having researched this slightly beforehand, if you ever find yourself arriving into Chiang Mai on a train, walk through this hoard and head for the bright red vehicles which are known locally as Songthaew (red trucks that act as shared taxis all over Chiang Mai). You will find other like-minded travellers doing similar. A driver will greet you, ask where you are going and sit you with other travellers heading in the same general direction (this is likely to be into the Old City to one of the many hostel, hotels or guest houses). You shouldn’t pay more than 40baht per person for this ride (we paid 50 because we had a heavy bag each as well as a backpack) The heavy bags went onto the roof rack and we joined 3 other passengers and were taken to our hotel. I have no idea what the taxi drivers outside the station were charging but I doubt that it was as little as 50baht

Our hotel (The Anika Boutique Hotel) was delightful. Located by Chang Phuak Gate on the edge of the Old City. Although this is a 32 bedroom we hotel, we had one of only two rooms which were actually occupied. Consequently, it was very peaceful. Staff were all really helpful and friendly and our room clean and spacious with a very comfortable bed. Despite the lack of sleep, it was time for a quick shower and off out to explore Chiang Mai. We are spending very little time in any destination so having to maximise the little time we have at each. 

If you like temples, Chiang Mai is without a doubt the place to head for. It is difficult to walk more than about 50 metres without stumbling into one. 

Close to our hotel were Wat Lok Moli and Wat Rajomontean with its massive white Buddha statue staring out. We spent some time wandering in and out of temples and just generally getting our bearings around the old city. 

We then happened to stumble upon the conveniently named “John’s Place” Bar so had to stop for a quick beer!

It was here that we discovered a law which was previously unknown to us. 

It is illegal to sell alcohol in Thailand between 2pm and 5pm. 

This law is clearly completely ignored in Bangkok as we have definitely drank beer in bars between these hours but they certainly adhere to it in Chiang Mai so if you are planning a boozy afternoon in a bar, you may want to rethink?

We hadn’t planned on a boozy afternoon anyway so set off on a walk around the entire perimeter of the old city which is still marked by a moat and occasional remnants of the old city wall. The city is 1.5km square but with various things to look at and explore the walk took quite some time. 

One of the features of Chang Phuak (White Elephant) Gate is the Night Market which sets up about 5pm and houses lots of food stalls. 

We headed over once the sunset and, with the help of diagrams in the menu and on the walls of the makeshift stalls and lots of pointing, we managed to have a delicious meal and 3 beers each which we ate on plastic tables for the princely sum of 600baht (about £15) between us. 

Chiang Mai (and we are hoping the rest of Thailand) is considerably cheaper than Bangkok. It is also a far calmer and more relaxed atmosphere without the bustling chaos which is everywhere in the capital. 

The combination of very little sleep the night before, a long walk around the city, good food and a few Changs meant for an early night and I slept like a log, until 5am. 

My early wake up allowed me to do some research on the next few days which has been really helpful. 

There is a saying about eating an elephant a mouthful at a time and this trip is a great example of that. It is far too vast two take in the whole thing so the best way has been to look no farther than about 4 days ahead and work out what you may wish to see or do. We found this method really helpful on our earlier trip in US and Canada and see no reason to do this any differently. 

Once we were both awake, showered and dressed it was time to venture down for breakfast. Due to the small amount of guests in the hotel, breakfast was a la carte and consisted of a fried egg, barely cooked pork sausage, the blandest ham I have ever tasted and some lettuce and corn relish, still it sustained us for the planned trip that day to Wat Pra That which is nearly at the top of Doi Suthep 

When we were initially planning this trip, we looked at organised tours via Tripadvisor at many of our stops. The organised trip to Doi Suthep came in at £44 per head. 

💡 If you are ever planning to visit this temple, please, please do not pay £44 each! From our hotel, we walked for about half a hour to Chiang Mai Zoo. At Chiang Mai Zoo, the songthaews are lined up waiting to take the trip up to the mountain. Granted, you will need to wait until there are 7 or more passengers but the ride up the mountain costs 40bhat (£1) per person. The winding trip takes about 25-30 minutes and you are dropped off at the entrance to the temple. There are a number of snack, coffee and souvenir stalls around the entrance and we wondered around these until taking the 306 steps up to the end temple. The staircase is flanked by two ornate green serpents and whilst the climb is strenuous, it isn’t exhausting. At the top, entrance to the Temple is 30bhat (75p) per person (free if you can convince the guides that you are Thai!). The climb is well worth it. The array of statues and artefacts is stunning. Beautiful jade green and orange Buddhas brightly shining against a blue sky backdrop and a view from the viewing platform is breathtaking. 

We spent a good hour or so just meandering around the temple. When we left the temple we fancied a coffee but sadly there was a power cut and none of the stalls were operating. We found a songthaew which was headed back down and the driver tried to quote 60bhat for the return journey. We stood our ground for 40 (it’s ridiculous how tenacious you become, happily bartering over 50p but there is a principle at stake here!). She agreed 40 which meant that the other 6 passengers, who had already agreed at 60, now only wanted to pay 40 and the driver really had no choice. We became the songthaew heroes for saving everyone 50p. 

We decided to get dropped off at the Zoo and walk back into town, although the rest of the passengers were taken back to the city for their 40baht fare. 

So! We did the trip up to Doi Suthep and back for a grand total of £2.75 per person as opposed to £44 simply by doing a tiny bit of research. 

We walked back to our hotel via the local Tesco Lotus (yes! It’s a thing!) to stock up on pre-packed sandwiches, crisps and drinks for the coach to Chiang Khong the following day. We had time to catch up on a bit of IPad telly (a VPN is a must on a trip like this) before packing and going back out to the Night Market for another meal (we did have a few cheeky duty free G&Ts in our room before venturing out). 

And that was Chiang Mai. We would thoroughly recommend this as a couple of night stopover on your way around Asia. 

Next stop, Chiang Khong before crossing the border into Laos.