A New Take on Train Travel

10 February 2012

To date this trip, I’ve traveled by plane (jet and propeller), train, car, jeep, truck, bus, matatu, subway, motorcycle, speed boat, row boat, sail boat, ferry boat, long tailed boat, tuk tuk, bicycle rickshaw, and elephant (and probably some other modes I’m forgetting).  I think I’m becoming a qualified evaluator of various modes of transportation, and I have to say that the train from Bangkok to Chang Mai was definitely a high point.

Before

After

First of all, as opposed to the three bunks on each wall of the compartment I’ve experienced on other night trains, these bunks were only two high. That meant you could actually sit up on the bottom bunk when the top bed was down. Also, the bottom bunks were quite wide as they were transformed from two person benches—you probably could sleep two people down there reasonable comfortably. Not only that, there were only two sets bunks on each side of the main train aisle, which translates to four beds where in some trains I’ve traveled on have been six or even eight. Finally, the efficient way the in which the train attendants transformed the train from seater to sleeper and back again in the morning was an art. Pretty impressive indeed.

What luxury!

Chiang Mai is a city of 170,000 in northern Thailand. It’s been settled by many different ethnic groups and became part of Thailand in the 1300s. It’s home to several temples and much farm land, and our group decided that it would be fun to explore the city on bikes. Our first stop on the 30 k tour was to a temple followed by a visit to a leprosy hospital. We visited a farm where we tried bananas, oranges, mango, and small corn on the cob and had a street-side pad thai lunch. After that, we went to Wat Suan Dok temple which was built in the 14th century.

Pretty nice bikes!

Buddha and Me

One of the many temples we visited

Farm break

One of the most famous attractions of the city is Doi Suthep, a temple founded in 1383 on a mountain in the northwest of the city. The site was actually chosen by an elephant carrying a relic of the Lord Buddha; the elephant denoted the site by trumpeting and then circling before lying down. There are 331 steps up to the temple, and at 6:00 each evening the monks there can be seen and heard chanting.

There are over 300 steps to the temple.

Upkeep

One smart elephant

Unexpected bell ringing

Chanting monks

 That evening we had dinner in the market and entertained ourselves looking through the various goods including “very good copies” of 1980 Casio watches, fake Ray Bans, carved soap flowers, and flowing pants and skirts.