planes, trains, n tuk tuks….

9:45 our train pulled into Chiang Mai, both of us ahd been up for hours (still jet lagged).  The scenery was such stark contrast from the city dust of BK. Now surrounded by lush veggitation, banana trees, villages, hills and mountain backdrop, and misty morning air.  A brief moment of panic that it looked chilly and we no longer had anything appropriate to wear, due to the great Bangkok downsize of everythin including pants.  The humidity immediatly hit us when they opened the door…crisis overted, no pants needed.

A quick Songthew ride(a pick up truck w/ 2 long benches in the back that are not metered) and we were greeted @ the Parami guesthouse by a sweet thai girl named Pom who showed us to our twin room, fan, ensuite room overlooking the courtyard complete w/ mino pond andthe biggest bird of paradise 2 stories high) .  Perfect.  No Kho San Rd. situ here.  Family run b&b outside the tourist area.  Still before 11am we headed off to find the Indian Consolute to sort our visas as it may take several days and we had that time here.  First needed to stop by the happy duck photo hut for more passport fotos as i downsized those as well.  The happy duck was harder to find than its name would suggest, and a rather slow process.  An hour later we arrived at the consolute at 12:38 and were kindly informed that they don’t issue visa paperwork after noon.  Really?  8 minutes late and the capacity to issue paperwork shuts down?  If this is any indication of how the country will run, we will need to buy a watch. (yes neither of us brought one. )  Who needs the burden of time when living an adventure.

spent the afternoon seeing some of the city, and met a tuk tuk driver who offered to drive us around for an hr for 50B.  1.75$ for an hour!  that tuk tuk must run on hopes n dreams not petrol or he is going in the hole.

Sprite new backpack in tow hoped on a tuk tuk, (something dana could never have fit in) and headed to Hualampang train station.  No english signage.  Not one word.  luckily Thai’s are very helpful (even when you don’t ask) and we soon figured out platform 5 in 1.5hrs…filthy from sweating all day we were not looking forward to sleeping on a train in that condition and opted for a quick shower in the public train station shower room.  only 1oB!  surely it can’t be that bad when all the proceeds must go to keeping a spic n span shower space.  Well somebody’s getting rich.  I’ll quote B. “it’s like the ymca but with homeless people”.

We boarded the train w/ the help of 4 thai attendants (not that we needed them, just helpful remember) excited about our 2nd class, ac, upper sleeper berths.  A highly recommended combination.  Now i’ve done my fair share of sleeper trains (my first kidney stone was on a night train through germany)  and was confidant of the expectations and conditions.  wrong again. There were no private rooms at all.  just regular seats below and what looked to be closed beds above.  Our seats were the beds but the man beneath b’s bed scolded her for even trying to open it.  So we just sat in others seats and looked around in wide eyed confusion.  An American couple with two thai children next to us, looked confused as well and said that this was “not exactly what they expected”.  What happened to our highly recommended combo?   Well about an hr into the ride this snaggle toothed smiling thai attendant came round and lowered the beds, fliped cusions, mechanisms, buttons, pulled out plush sheets, pillo9ws, blankets, and CURTAINS no less!   Superb.  And we had doubted.

Snuggled into the best sleeping conditions we’d had yet.  (except we downsized our sleeping masks in BK- every ounce counts- and the lights stayed on all night)

our guest house Lamphu house had a nice courtyard filled with Euro transients emailing and skyping.  It hardly felt like bangkok....more of an EU Convention in flip flops.  Despite our rather small room, 1 bd, no sheet, fan only, we ... [Continue reading this entry]

After a quick shower n snooze we checked out f our hotel n headed to Bangkok city center backpackers district Kho San Road / Rambutri street to find a guesthouse.  Kho San is a world renound SE Asia backpackers crossroads ... [Continue reading this entry]

A two hr flight, a 3 hr layover, a 13 hr flight and I arrived in Tokyo Narita Airport which was to be my rendevous spot with Beeler before we boarded another 7.5 hr flight to Bangkok.  Her flight arrived ... [Continue reading this entry]