Chiang Mai is in the northwest of Thailand, not too far from the Burmese border. It is described as "a cool mountain town", and that's true. A lot of tourists will come to Chiang Mai when ready to take a break from Bangkok. It's still hot here, but a much needed reprieve on the unreasonable swelter of Bangkok. (I heard Cambodia, specifically the Siem Reap area, is 'well hotter' than Bangkok, so you all can look forward to several straight posts on how how it is.) It is cloudy all the time here in Chiang Mai because of fires in the surrounding mountains. I think most of the fires are set intentionally for a number of different reasons.
I had a ticket for the 7:30pm train ride from Bangkok to Chiang Mai last Monday night. The train was scheduled to arrive at 9:30am the next morning but we got in 2 hours late. I was assigned to a bed in Car 5. Seats were converted into beds a couple hours en route, at the appointed bed time. Car 5 wasn't really working when I boarded. The lights were off and the fans were still. Moments after setting my bags down, I began to literally pour sweat. I had been wearing my long trousers that day because entering the Grand Palace with shorts on was prohibited. They were soon to be soaked through. I met a couple nice young people, an American girl traveling solo and a nice couple from England/Germany(him/her). I shared around the two big, cold bottles of Chang Beer(the one with the elephants)I had carried aboard and this worked nice against the heat. This was the first beer I tried in Thailand and it was well timed. I liked it just fine, but in truth you could've given me a three year old can of Keystone Light from a bad batch and as long as it was cold it still would've been the best beer I've ever tasted. I soon felt about to pass out from heat exhaustion and I slumped against the seat. Around this point the fans kicked on, and saved me. Luckily, more beer was on offer from a nice Thai woman on the train, and we had plenty.
The sleep was almost nonexistent for me, but most of the others seemed to do OK. I had an upper berth, which was fine, but a couple factors prevented any good sleep. The light just next by bed spilled generously through and over the top of my curtain and lighting the white, curved ceiling much too bright. I know what you're thinking because I thought the same thing. No, you can't cover your eyes with something. I'm not sure if mentioned, but it's pretty hot here. I tried to lay part of t-shirt over my eyes, but it's just too sweaty. In addition, the track was very bumpy. No big deal.
I must eat. I'll publish this and another continue in a few minutes if I decide to do the mass-upload to smugmug right now.
Cheers
I had a ticket for the 7:30pm train ride from Bangkok to Chiang Mai last Monday night. The train was scheduled to arrive at 9:30am the next morning but we got in 2 hours late. I was assigned to a bed in Car 5. Seats were converted into beds a couple hours en route, at the appointed bed time. Car 5 wasn't really working when I boarded. The lights were off and the fans were still. Moments after setting my bags down, I began to literally pour sweat. I had been wearing my long trousers that day because entering the Grand Palace with shorts on was prohibited. They were soon to be soaked through. I met a couple nice young people, an American girl traveling solo and a nice couple from England/Germany(him/her). I shared around the two big, cold bottles of Chang Beer(the one with the elephants)I had carried aboard and this worked nice against the heat. This was the first beer I tried in Thailand and it was well timed. I liked it just fine, but in truth you could've given me a three year old can of Keystone Light from a bad batch and as long as it was cold it still would've been the best beer I've ever tasted. I soon felt about to pass out from heat exhaustion and I slumped against the seat. Around this point the fans kicked on, and saved me. Luckily, more beer was on offer from a nice Thai woman on the train, and we had plenty.
The sleep was almost nonexistent for me, but most of the others seemed to do OK. I had an upper berth, which was fine, but a couple factors prevented any good sleep. The light just next by bed spilled generously through and over the top of my curtain and lighting the white, curved ceiling much too bright. I know what you're thinking because I thought the same thing. No, you can't cover your eyes with something. I'm not sure if mentioned, but it's pretty hot here. I tried to lay part of t-shirt over my eyes, but it's just too sweaty. In addition, the track was very bumpy. No big deal.
I must eat. I'll publish this and another continue in a few minutes if I decide to do the mass-upload to smugmug right now.
Cheers
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