Night Train to Chiang Mai

Day 5 – June 18, 2016

Saturday

Last night we took the overnight train to Chiang Mai. It’s about a 12 hour train ride so it’s the perfect length for a little fun on the train and then you wake up and you’re almost there. We caught the train at about 9:30pm. The kids were exhausted from a long day around Ayutthaya. We settled into our two compartments: we did a girls bunk room (we had another roommate – a graduate student named Lauren from California traveling solo for 2 months through Asia) and the four boys had their own compartment. The beds were already made when we boarded the train and we were exhausted so we pretty much just settled in and went right to sleep. I loved the gentle rocking of the old train on the track. I put my earplugs in and let the gentle swaying lull me to sleep.

This morning we woke up to fields of rice paddies and jungle scenery out of our window. After cleaning up and packing up, we watched the scenery and got ready for the day. The kids and I walked down to the dining car for breakfast. The food was below average and way more expensive than anywhere else but the views from the dining car were pretty amazing. And call me crazy, but I thrive on adventure like this. It’s totally rustic and low budget. Nothing fancy at all. There were bugs in the sink and the toilets barely flushed but my bed was clean and I was on my firsts overnight train in Thailand. I felt like a kid at Christmas! I loved it!

Our driver picked us up from the train station. I have loved that we can have a driver here in Thailand because the driving is a little crazy and sketchy and they drive on the left so we were a little nervous to drive. And it is pretty affordable! For a really nice, air conditioned12 passenger van and driver for the entire day is about $50. No insurance on top of that since we’re not driving. And they know exactly where to go. It is totally low stress!

The kids were craving some American food for breakfast. They’re tired of noodle bowls. So I found a little place called “The Hideout” in Chiang Mai where they served some amazing French toast. Not Kneaders, but still delicious!

We headed out to Doi Suthep, a national park just in the hills above Chiang Mai. They had a beautiful temple with the coolest dragon stairs leading up to it. On our way out, a cute little old Thai lady tried to sell the boys 2 birds in a basket. She told me it was good luck to release a pair of birds at the temple. I have no idea if that’s a real thing or not, but it was only 50 baht (about $1.75) so I bought the birds for the boys. They loved it!

Niwat had told us that the Chiang Mai zoo was really good so the kids wanted to go. I would say the Hogle Zoo is far better but here you could hand feed the giraffe and elephants and they had a panda so that was cool. After a few hours at the zoo though they were so hot and tired that we decided to go back to the house and swim.

The pool was so refreshing and the house is absolutely amazing! It is a

Thai style kind of colonial house owned by a couple that is a British husband and a Thai wife. The house feels like a beautiful combination of those two cultures. More Thai for sure, but it almost feels like a Thai home for British royalty. I almost feel like the royal family visiting Thailand. The house has a caretaker that lives in a guest house next door. She and her husband are amazing. They open and close the house each night. The house itself has only air conditioning in the bedrooms so the rest of the house is open-air with old wooden shutters and screens that are opened each morning to let the breeze flow through the house.

They have old fashioned kids toys and every bed is a four poster bed with mosquito netting. The house is near a world class golf course where we ate our dinner tonight. I am feeling seriously pampered.

Breakfast on the Overnight Train.

The temple at Doi Suthep

Freeing the birds for good luck.