We are now in Chiang Mai after a 14.5 hour train ride from Bangkok. Within the past week, Chris and I have had two long travel legs, one was a 16-hour flight from SFO to DBX with all the luxurious amenities of Emirates Business Class, the other was a second class sleeper train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai with all the basics: aircon, clean sheets, and a bathroom (not necessarily a clean one, just….a place to go pee). It’s entertaining to think that within a week, we experienced two very different travel days. Both were equally successful at getting us safely from one point to the next; but one had us traveling in the lap of luxury, while the other had us traveling with a squatter. The wide range entertains me!
I loved the train!! It was a far jump from our swanky experience on Emirates but Chris and I are pretty low maintenance when it comes to travel. (Cue Chris’s eyebrow raise in reference to me saying that about myself.) There were no flutes of Veuve Cliquot being passed around on trays like water; but, there was fresh fruit and orange juice for sale. There were no nifty lie flat buttons to adjust our seats, but a porter came by and changed our upright seats into bunk beds. There was no bathroom with a 30,000 foot view overlooking our flight path, but there was a toilet – a Western one! – that essentially was a hole that opened straight down to the moving tracks. So a different kind of view.
The length of the travel was about the same, both overnight trips. And both times, I slept really well. The vibrations of the train ride were so soothing, I got sleepy fast, like a baby being rocked to sleep. Pretty quickly, I didn’t even notice the stopping and going of the train, just got lost in my audio book until sleep washed over me. We were also strapped into our bunks pretty tight so we wouldn’t roll out, almost like being swaddled. (The baby analogy works! No wonder I slept like a “fill in the blank.”)
As snug as a bug in a…bunk bed.
Chris and I both had upper bunks across of each other, which made for fun photo opps. In the bunk next to us was a monk who had a Paul Frank phone case on his iphone. I wondered who he was talking to and what he was browsing. (Aren’t monks supposed to not have possessions, or have monks become more modern?) Below us was a Thai guy who facetimed with his lady friend before departure and spent an inordinate amount of time grooming his bowl cut hair beforehand, carefully adjusting each strand. He smiled really big and looked great while on his call though.
The monk in the bunk next to us. He had a Paul Frank case on his iphone.
After waking up at around 6am, Chris and I made our way to the restaurant cart where we had hot coffee and enjoyed gorgeous scenery of the mountains at sunrise. Light filled the train and pretty quickly, everyone was just staring out the windows enjoying the beautiful views. We passed wide expanses of jungle greenery with the silhouettes of mountains filling the background. We passed small towns with street markets and all types of commuters. It’s not a surprise to see people loaded up on scooters in Asia, but this time I saw a woman on a scooter with a young girl holding on from behind and an even younger boy clinging onto her front leg as they zipped down the road. A little jarring for my American sensibilities, but hey, it seems to work here.
Sunrise view from the train, just a few hours away from Chiang Mai.
Now we are checked into our guest house room in Chiang Mai. Our guest house was pretty well reviewed and 250 baht (or $7 USD) a night. Private bathroom, fan and full bed with free wifi. The bathroom makes me nervous but Chris says it’s standard for SE Asia. Shower is over toilet and no toilet paper. A hose instead. Already we have a welcome visitor staying with us. A house gecko who will hopefully eat any mosquito or bug that finds it’s way in. I welcome his eating habits, I just wish he’d stay hidden from me. It’s not fun walking into the room and seeing him scramble away. Ahhh, but it does remind me a little bit of Hawaii.
Thank you to our Honeyfund friends who helped support our travel on planes, trains and tuk-tuks. We hope you’ve enjoyed seeing some of our photos and reading about our journey.
Bangkok Train Station at sunset. This is the view from where we ate dinner.
For Chris’ pics of our train trip, see his post at Night Train to Chiang Mai