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Published: September 21st 2015
After spending the last couple of days in Bangkok, we move on today and head for Chiang Mai by train later this afternoon.
We had had our Intrepid welcome meeting last night, where we met our fellow travellers for the next couple of weeks. We have 11 in our group, including Katie, our tour leader, who is Thai and lives in Chiang Mai when she is at home. The greater percentage of our group are all Aussies, except for 3 of us.
We have Rick & Libby from NSW; Jim from Queensland; Catherine from Victoria; Joe, from NSW; Ted and me and, for the first time, not the mum and dad of the group; Dave & Anita from England and Rory from New Zealand.
For Ted and me, this is an unusual Intrepid group for, on all the other Intrepid trips we have done, the majority of the group has been of a much younger age. This time, 6 of us are on the other side of 50.
The alarm went off at 5-30am, as we had to be down for breakfast at 6-30am. Bags packed and moved into the 3
day-rooms that Katie had organised for us. Ted and I moved out of 308 and put our stuff into Room 319, Dave and Anita’s room.
Breakfast in the Princess dining room, just off the lobby, was good with plenty of variety to choose from. I had a lovely omelette again with “everything” – tiny morsels of ham, capsicum, mushrooms etc. and a little pork sausage. A couple of slices of toast with marmalade and my trusty crunchy peanut butter that I always travel with, rounded off my first meal of the day
Finishing by around 7-15am, we headed back to our room to do our last bit of packing up then move our stuff into Dave and Anita’s room. We had to be back down in the foyer to meet up with Katie by 7-30am, as our group was heading off to Wat Pho temple first, then going on a canal boat cruise by long-tail boat.
Wat Pho is one of the largest temple complexes in the city of Bangkok and is famed for its giant reclining Buddha. Measuring 15 metres tall, 46 metres long and covered entirely in gold leaf, it seems as though the figure
has been squeezed into the building which accommodates it. Buddha’s feet alone measure 5 metres.
Whilst in the Buddha’s presence and you are feeling as though you could do with some good luck, you can purchase a small bowl of copper coins for 20 Baht and, slowly drop them into the 108 bronze bowls lining the wall as you walk along, 108 being a significant number, referring to the 108 positive actions and symbols that helped to lead Buddha to perfection. Dropping the small pennies into the bowls makes a lovely ringing sound and, even if your wishes don’t come true, you have the satisfaction of knowing that the money collected, is given to the monks to be used to renovate and preserve Wat Pho so, go to a very worthy cause.
It started to rain whilst we were at the temple but, we managed to dodge the showers for the most part and finished our visit around 10am. From here, it was only a short walk down to the pier through the market to where we had to take our boat for our canal cruise.
By now, it was raining quite heavily, so it was a
bit of a tricky exercise trying to clamber aboard the long-tail boat with everything being so wet and slippery, and trying to keep your balance, whilst the boat rode up and down on the swell caused by the other river traffic. There was much overbalancing and grabbing for the nearest support or someone else’s outstretched arm, whilst you scrambled in and tried to find somewhere dry to sit down, which was a forlorn hope in itself, despite the best attempts of the boat driver and tour leader, Katie, to wipe down the wooden bench seats for us.
Finally all aboard, we spent the next hour cruising up and down several canals in the pouring rain through some of the poorer areas of the city. Many of the stilt houses were quite ramshackle and, in many cases, parts of some of the buildings were in a state of collapse – front verandahs, outside rooms, porches, staircases, etc.
Many of the wooden stilts that the houses sat on, were either rotted right through or very close to. Some of them were completely broken through altogether. Very precarious accommodation for the home owners. Now and then, we would pass a very
nice house sitting right in the middle of all of this dilapidation.
It seemed such a pity that in many places, the canals themselves were afflicted with floating debris of all descriptions – plastic containers, bottles, clumps of lotus plants and other assorted rubbish. However, we did see several small Komodo Dragons swimming in the canals – didn’t know they could swim and always thought that they were endemic to Indonesia but, that’s what Katie called them so, being a local, we assumed she would know.
By now, there was a humongous thunderstorm happening and even though we had a roof covering, it didn’t do a whole lot about keeping us dry and the rain off. Ted and I were sitting right beside one of the metal supports for the roof where it came down and joined the side of the boat and, every so often, or when the boat lurched a bit, we would get this deluge of water pour down the metal frame and in onto us from where the water had pooled on the roof.
Poor Ted got absolutely drenched all down one side. I fared somewhat better and, did get wet but, my
backside was the worst affected for, when the water poured in, it hit the end of the wooden seat we were sitting on, ran along it and straight under our, you-know-what’s! However, it was all good fun and, not being able to do a thing about not getting wet, accepted it for what it was. A hot shower and some dry clothes would soon fix that.
We got back to the wharf around 11am and pretty much all of us went straight back to the hotel, as we were all soaking wet or drenched to the skin to varying degrees, intending to have a shower and change into dry clothes. Ted and I came back in the same taxi as Dave and Anita (the 11 of us were spread over 3 taxis), which worked well, as it was their room that we had stashed all our gear in.
We needed to go to the 711 supermarket again to get some soft drinks and some snacks for the train – we also needed to get some more money and there was an ATM right next door so, decided that we would do that first, before going back to the
hotel. On the way there, we introduced Dave and Anita to the procedure for crossing the road, much to their amazement and somewhat dismay.
By the time all of this had been accomplished, we had all pretty much dried out in the tropical heat so, heading back to Dave and Anita’s room, with the original attention of having a shower and changing our clothes, was no longer a requirement. Instead, we ended up spending the next several hours just chatting in their room, whilst we all got to know each other a little better over a cup of tea or coffee.
By 2-30, we were all feeling a little peckish so, headed down to the lobby bar where they have a bar menu all day, and each ordered a sandwich between two of us (the sandwiches were quite large) as none of us was very hungry, and also a Singha beer each. I (Jan) rarely drink beer at home but, when we travel and it’s hot, that is what I normally drink, as it’s easy and cold and quenches your thirst best. I’m not a soft drink fan either. Normally, we have found that the local beers throughout
Asia are very good.
4-30pm was the meeting time in the lobby to get our mini-bus to be transferred to the railway to get our train to Chiang Mai. Joseph (Joe) was the final member of our group to meet up with us and was going to do so at the station. Even though it was now peak-hour traffic in Bangkok, it still only took us about 20 minutes to get there.
By now, it was around 5pm and our train didn’t leave until 6-10pm so, we had plenty of time. Bangkok Railway station is quite imposing but, not a lot to do there other than to get something to eat, or to have a coffee, etc.
Joe managed to find us in plenty of time before we had to board at 5-30, so we spent the remaining time introducing ourselves and getting to know one another.
We boarded by around 5- 45pm and found our berths (13-22) in Car 5 – Ted and I were in 15 & 16.
Even though this train was a “sleeper”, unlike the trains we have travelled on throughout China, Mongolia and Russia, it only had ordinary seats that
fold/pull down for your bed and, very little storage space for your bags. The only storage was under the seat and, because these are quite low, not many bags fitted there. Ted’s and mine both ended up parked in the aisle, among others. There was not nearly as much space on here as we had had on the other trains. Seeing as how this was an overnjght train, we thought we would probably be in compartments of some description, much the same as we have had previously on the long-distance trains we have travelled on.
With some bags having to be left in the aisle, this made it difficult for anyone to get past and I felt very sorry for the staff trying to do their job around such obstacles. Also, for other people trying to get through.
They provide a meal service on board and you order your meal from a pre-printed menu brought around by the cabin crew who also then set up a portable table between the seats in preparation for the arrival of your meal, having pulled it out from a small storage area under the seat. In a short while, your meal arrives,
being delivered directly to your seat, along with any drinks. A couple of bowls of soup also came with your main meal and then a small plate of sliced rockmelon (cantaloupe) for dessert. The food was quite tasty and, there was also tea and coffee to finish.
By now it was about 8pm and the cabin crew were wanting to get started on making everyone’s bed so, with a lot of shuffling around to get out of the way as they made up each bed, we watched as the male cabin attendant went about his task.
As previously mentioned, our seats were our beds with the seats themselves folding down into a lower berth, with an upper berth that folded down from above. It was a bit of a shemozzle come bedtime, with the cabin attendant having to make everyone's bed once the evening meal was complete and the crew had come around and cleared away all the dishes, etc.
However, I must admit that he was very quick and efficient in his task but the problem lay in the fact that there was very little storage for bags, etc which meant some of them
had to be stored in the aisle which made things difficult for the cabin crew getting to and fro, especially when they were serving our meals but, they also were very good and didn't drop a tray or spill a single drop! Felt sorry for them though having to clamber around stuff as well as other people.
It was a bit of a shambles when the beds were being made, as the passengers had to vacate their seats and find somewhere to hover for the few minutes until their bed was made so, it was a bit like a chess game, with us as the pieces, as we shuffled around. Being well-organised though, as the attendant pulled down the upper berths, the fresh linen and cotton blankets were already there, packed in sealed packs. Overall, it wouldn’t have taken him more than a couple of minutes to make up each bed.
Our cabin attendant came and made up our area around 9pm so, I went to the bathroom to make myself scarce whilst all of this was going on and was going to head off to bed upon my return and catch up on my journal,
when some of the others decided it was too early to turn in, so all went down to the restaurant car to chat for awhile, including yours truly.
The restaurant car closes at 10pm and, 20 minutes or so before that, the attendants started making up their beds, whilst we sat and chatted, for the restaurant car is where they sleep. No flash beds or bedding for them, instead, they make their beds on top of the tables by pushing 2 or 3 tables together and then placing thin matting or some kind of thin padding on top - either there, or on the floor, Katie said. A few minutes before 10, we left them to it and made our way back to our own beds and turned in for the night.
We each had our own curtains that slid across on a rod in front of our beds for a bit of privacy and to shut out some of the light but, unlike China, where they turned off the lights at 10pm without warning, these cabin lights were left on all night and, also unlike our previous long-distance trains in Asia - at least this train is
air-conditioned.
It’s about a 13 and a half-hour train journey to Chiang Mai, so we should arrive around 7-30am tomorrow morning.
Sweet dreams ….
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Mike Rowley
non-member comment
Hi from Canada
Looks like you are having fun.