Bangkok to Chiangmai

Thailand.
Bangkok - Chiangmai
I am so lucky to have such an adorable guy. Little Jeremy came over and gave me a big bear hug. "Papaaaaaa" he said. We walked out of the arrival hall to the street, across the pedestrian bridge to the other side of the road, there we took a taxi for BS Apartment, Sia Rangsit about 5km from the old DonMuang airport. Jeremy went on and on about the colour of the taxis, there were blue, red , pink and purple taxis.... he was on cloud 9.
We soon arrived at the BS apartment and settled down. BS Apartment stands in the shadow of Asia airport hotel, it has no star ratings, however it is clean, the rooms are huge, it has all a couch potato would need. DVD, big screen TV, Cable TV and some X-rated CDs on the house. There are many foreigner there too, the courtesy and friendly gestures of the people there makes one feel like home. I guess that is why.
We went out for dinner nearby. We had either noodle or fried rice I could not remember but I know it sure did taste good. Everything taste good in Thailand.

20 August 2006. The next morning we woke up late, we had to on the TV, tune it to Cartoon network just to help little jeremy to get up. For breakfast I had a couple of choices in hand. Food are generally cheap and tasty in Thailand. How many times have i said that already??? I look forward to every meal. In between meals there were many snacks too. and NO i am not fat.. We walk alittle cross the pedestrian bridge over to the other side for the famous chicken rice. The chickens were huge!! really. I wonder how they breed such huge chickens, maybe they were genuine adult chickens.. those in KFC's were short lived teenagers. Poor thing, "save the chickens"!! After that we went back to the hotel to prepare ourselves for our trip to Chiangmai. We packed our baggages, stuffs to bring over to chiangmai and stuffs to leave at the BS apartment.

A little after noon, we were ready, we checked out , left our bags at the counter ( I even left my notebook to their care ) . We walked towards the bus station all ready and in high spirit. We were about to go on a ~ 800km train ride up north to Chiangmai. I took my time to let Eunice know alittle more and more about the trip, I wanted it to be a surprise. I planned it well, I knew because I just went for the similar trip just 2 weeks ago ! This one gonna be interesting. She was just as excited as i am, i could see it in her eyes.

We took a bus for BTS train station, Chatujak Station. Don't know the bus number? just ask.. "Pai Chatuchak BTS station, BUS?? " In the bus,

Jeremy was restless, I really did not know where he got the energy from. He was like a Seiko kinetic watch, he moves and moves and moves.. the more he moves the more energy he has. In the bus I usually keep a look out for our destination, if u want to play it safe (advisable). Let the conductor know ( with aid of sign languages ), he'll notify you once you're there.

At chatujak station, we walk alittle then enter the underground MRT station. Bangkok MRT network is very modern and well constructed. We took the MRT train to Hualampong station, which is the last station. In the MRT train, Jeremy went Seiko again !

We got off the MRT train, follow the signboards to the Hualampong Railway station. Travelling in thailand is no sweat. There are plenty of English signboards and the people there are terribly friendly. With over 300 billion baht (US$ 7 billion) in tourism revenue last year representing about 6% of the nation's GDP, it had to be.
At the train station, I immediately went on to buy the train tickets, left them both at the Station entrance. They wandered of. There were counters dedicated just for foreigners! It cost THB800 to Chiangmai, and the return ticket cost THB790. You can buy them both at Hualampong Station, if you wish to post-pone your return, you can do that at any tourist agency in Chiangmai, will just set u back another THB100 - 200. Where to find these agencies? they are like mushrooms in Chiangmai, u wont't miss them. We planned to stay in Chiangmai for 3 days and 2 nights.
At the railway station there were seat-seats and floor seats.. local and foreigner alike eat, sit and sleep as they wish. It was very relaxing. Jeremy seiko-ed for abit. I bought hotdogs at the stalls, we sat on the floor, lied down and examined the ceiling.
I also booked our stay at Chiangmai at a tourist agency at the station, it was located on the second floor. While sitting on the floor ... look up, u won't miss it. A 4-5 star hotel, Raming Lodge in Chiangmai costs a mere THB1200 per night, plus breakfast.
It was about 1pm, we had time.
We decided to do some shopping for stuffs to eat and play on the train. Our train leaves at 6pm Got out of the station, caught a tuk-tuk. "Sawadeekap, pai MBK, Tau Lai kap (how much?).". " huk sip Baht kap ( THB60 ). Off we went on a tuk-tuk to MBK shopping center. This is a very popular shopping mall, it is one of those malls packed with small vendors ,shops, DVDs, games and plenty of nice things to eat. It is huge, highly recommended to ladies. Man with wife and kid who wish to cut down on expenditure...highly NOT recommended. There we bought drinks, chocolates, cup noodles, coffee, biscuits, clothes (Eunice's idea) and a gameboy (Jeremy's idea). Everywhere we went after that was like dragging along a little robot with both its' eyes glued to the gameboy. Parents take caution !! Those things are like Opium.
Later, we went back to the station, exhausted. Sat on the floor and Jeremy was finally got tired and he fell a sleep.. thank goodness. I ran up to the tourist agency and recharged the gameboy there. It is advisable to pack enough food, drinks and snacks, cause on the train you will probably stay up late in the night. A set meal on the train costs THB150.
Not bad but choices are limited. We sat around, look around then later look at the clock.. "oh my god".. Eunice picked up the stuffs, I wore my backpack and picked up sleeping Jeremy and ran for the train. I think I almost did 200 meters with my backpack and little Jeremy. At last we made it to the train OK. I could no longer feel my arms, Jeremy has grown quite abit since. We treat him like our best friend. Having him is the most wonderful thing in our lives.
We got into our train car, it was nice. In the beginning, it was like 2 benches. The car attendant caught a glimpse of sleeping Jeremy, he imeadiately came by and offered us to make bed. Both benches combined into a bed. Jeremy slept for just a little while longer. When hewoke up, his first words was" Gameboy yeeh?" Here he is with his center of the universe, a game boy. The upper bunk was just alittle bit cheaper and it has no windows. For first timers, it is good to take the lower bunk as it is bigger and you will also be able to enjoy the amazing morning view while approaching Chiangmai later. I took the top bunk, Jeremy and Eunice the bottom bunk. We ate dinner, cup noodles, bread and plenty and plenty of snacks. One word of caution though, hot water can only be obtained from the canteen car, and the canteen operator will not give away their hot water easily. Hot water comes bundled with a can of coke. So be prepared.
Foreigners are always in a party mood, especially when u put them together in a train car and plenty of beer to go by with. If you are looking for a good night sleep, then good luck to you. When buying your train ticket, another important thing u should do is to request for seats away from the automatic door. Imagine people go in and out, psssst.. open, then the noise from the train grew louder... tuuk tukk teekk takk tukkk teek takk... then pssssssst ... close. 2 minutes later... pssst... open...again. all night long....
The next morning, the view was incredible, as we travelled closer to Chiangmai, it was all hilly areas, dense vegetation, wide open fields, village houses, hills and hills, beautiful! Everything was just wonderful. Fancy waking up in a train, Jeremy loved it. I think we should do this for our kids, it will be a wonderful experience for them. We ate breakfast and sat back and enjoyed the view. At about 8am, we arrived at Chiangmai. The weather in Chiangmai is much cooler than that in Bangkok. According to the locals, during year end, the winter season, temperature can go as low as below 20 degrees c. Chiangmai train station is quite small. If you booked your room from any tour agency in Bangkok, there will certainly be someone waiting for you at the station, they will carry a card bearing your name. We taught Jeremy how to say "sawadeekap", he said it right but shy away almost imediately after that.
The tour agency guy will pick you up and you guess it right! He will bring you to his shop and offer you many tour packages and motorcycle rental. Don't get slaughtered , the price they offer you will be the most expensive around.. why? because you're new. Kindly, thank them for their courtesy and go about hunting for tour packages on your own. It is easily 30% cheaper. I know one cheap and good tour agency there. 1 full day Chiangrai, Chiangsien, Golden Triangle + boat trip, MaiSai border and Long neck village will only cost you about THB1200. Some foreign people believe that it is unethical to visit the long neck village. However the locals see it differently. There in town you can rent a small 110cc motorcycle for THB150 per day, petrol not inclusive. Be prepared to surrender your passport. It is quite safe to ride in Chiangmai. The traffic there is not as chaotic as Bangkok. It is a wonderful way to get around. The city is square, it is surrounded by canals and ancient walls. It is a city of temples. There are more temples there than Penang, Malaysia. We checked-in, left our stuffs at the hotel, came out and rented a bike. Jeremy sat infront of me and Eunice at the back. We toured the city. We ate pork leg rice, for lunch that afternoon. We continued to tour the city, visiting temples after temples, stop whenever and wherever we wished. I kept an eye for nice things to eat, Eunice kept one eye on clothes shops and another on Jeremy. Jeremy went on and on about wanting to go back to the hotel to have his dose of Opium! The next time round, we got so tired of it and brought Opium along wherever we went. It kept him quiet. We enjoyed ourselves very much. This was taken in the market. Jeremy was attracted to the fishes. We left him there for awhile, we walked away going about our shopping. He just stood there, with those fishes. The Thai ladies took notice of him and spoke to him. Didn't know what he said, but I admired his courage. Sometimes I think even at 3 and a half years old, he is already half a man. He can even handle the camera, he took this for us, not bad for a 3 year old. Here is another ancient temple. This one stands 5 ,6 stories tall,built hundred of years ago. It was definitely worth a visit. It takes only about 20 minutes to make one full round, around the city on bike.

Along the way, we also stopped by a beautiful garden, Jeremy blew bubbles and fed the pigeons there. He mingled with the locals as though he knew them for ages already.

We went back to the hotel after that, showered and nap. We woke up in the evening and headed for the night bazaar. The night bazaar is a must place to visit in Chiangmai. It is easy, it you have gotten around abit with the bike. You can use the map and navigate yourself around. You can also choose the easy way out, catch a tuk-tuk, there are plenty of them. It is advisable to take the tuk-tuk. I recommend 1 very good place to eat there. It is like a seafood food court. There you have plenty of choice, seafood is cheap and tasty. Try the Pad Thai with prawns and the famed Tom Yam Kung soup !! excite your taste buds, I think it was just about the most delicious food I've ever tasted. honest ! I nearly ate the bowl too.
Jeremy insisted on eating by himself with a pair of chopsticks. After dinner, we toured the night bazaar. Arts and crafts are aplenty. The quality of the products there were good and the price were also reasonable. If you're moving in a new house and have been shopping around for lights and decors, instead of Ikea.. try Chiangmai.
How is this picture? It was taken by a 3 year old, Good? I thought so too. Maybe I will buy him an SLR on his 5th birthday. :)
We called it a day shortly after that , went back to the hotel. The next morning, we woke up early, went downstairs for breakfast. The van came soon after breakfast.
The tour. We were bundled together with an italian man and 2 other Italian ladies. They were awfully friendly and alot of fun to be with, especially the ladies. Jeremy glued to them. The rest of the trip, I think he spent more time with his new found friend than with us !
The first stop is a Hot Spring about an hour away from Chiang Mai. The water in the hot springs was 95 degrees C, locals boil eggs and bamboo shoots in it. The river just beside the springs has strange red colored soils. It was interesting, Jeremy went about with his friends as usual, here is a pic of Jeremy and Corinna. Double peace !
We set off again, this time the ride to the next destination the ancient ruins of Chiang Sien took more than 2 hours. The journey was uneventful. You will pass by Chiangrai city. Jeremy was never bored throughout the trip, he always has something to do or someone to disturb. He kept the ladies busy. Actually deep inside, it's kind of a blessing for me, cause they got Jeremy off my back. I was happy. He switched seat front to back and back to front again in almost every 5 minutes interval. After plenty of "Jeremy !" . "Jeeeremy !!! " we arrived at our destination.
All these while we were brought about by our tour guide, a local Thai. We stand in awe of a great ancient temple. It is remarkable, the seer size makes you wonder how people many hundreds of years ago were able to construct such a structure without machineries. We spent about half an hour there.
The Golden triangle was next, it only took a few minutes from the ancient ruin to the Golden Triangle. The triangle is a border, a meeting place between 3 countries on the Mekong river. This is the border point between Laos, Thailand and Burma. Many years ago, it was a heaven for opium traders. In case you are wondering, no , there isn't any more opium there anymore. The Mekong river is huge. Standing on the Thailand side, across the river is Laos and left bank is Burma. During the boat ride later, the boat man will bring you to a place where all 3 countries were just a stone throw away from each other. Maybe during opium trade many years ago, all they needed was a good strong arm to do exports and imports.. :p
Soon we got into our safety jackets and headed for the boats. The small motor boat can take 7 person including the boat man at one time. It is powered by old 3 litre Nissan, Toyota Diesel engines. I think it was taken out from trucks. They are awfully powerful, be prepared to get wet. We enjoyed the boat ride very much. It brought us to the center of the triangle, then to Laos. We stopped for half and hour at Laos. It wasn't much of Laos actually, just a piece of land on Laos with tents setup to sell sourvenirs and snake whisky. Do try them. I did and it burnt from my lips right to my stomach. It has cobras and scorpions in them, try yes but buy a bottle, i think not. There you can chop your passport, it's free It is not an official chop, so you don't get another 30 days in Thailand. We shopped about, Jeremy went about with his "teachers" he said, he held Corinna's and Eugennia's hand and swing about. He was happy. The ladies had fun with him too. We bought key chains and a can of Laos beer for Pa.
Another boat ride back to Thailand. The boat was travelling at high speed, we pin Jeremy in between and took a snap, how's this?. Lunch came after that, the buffet lunch was good. Nothing fancy but still good. I think mainly because we were all quite hungry. Jeremy went about his usual self. He is extremely cute sometimes, especially with ladies. They were good friends. We chat for a while, got into the van and set off of Mae Sai border, Thailand and Burma border.
The Maesai border is the most Northern part of Thailand. It is a busy little town swarmed with shops, peddlars locals and burmese alike. The Thai visit the Burmese border for shopping. There are day markets selling all sorts of products at both side of the border. It is a very busy place, one should take good care of their belonging while sight seeing. The picture, in a distance, you can see a light blue arc, if u zoom it up real big, it reads "Union of Myammar". The border city on the Burmese side is called Tachilek. Jeremy and Eunice went along with the italians, they walked about Mae Sai shopping. The products there weren't Thai or Burmese, they were all Chinese !! 95% if u ask me. Chinese traders use the Mekong river to transport products from China. It is a pity. I looked around for Burmese product in Mae Sai but to no avail. The tour guide told me the only Burmese product you can find there are the currencies and "yellow powder" (facial powder Burmese ladies apply on the faces for protection against the sun). I walk through the left side entrance of the arc, exit Thailand, walk across the brigde and entered into the Union of Myammar. At the imigration I paid THB500, they took my picture and kept my passport. huh?! no passport, I was puzzled for a moment. They gave me a slip and said ok. I realized that I am only to claim my passport back during my return.
Tachilek is small border town. It is not as busy as Mae Sai. Imediately after the river, on your right there it is again, a day market packed with people. The products there are no different from the ones in Mae Sai, all chinese !! I had only 10 minutes there, I walked alittle further down. A couple of man approached me , they said " Sui puiyin, puiyin sui sui"( in Thai which means..pretty girls?, girls pretty? ), you know what they were up to, I needn't go further. Burmese language is very different from Thai. I walked around, it looks like a quiet little town. I stopped by a road side stall .I thought that if I can't get any Burmese sourveniers, I might as well try some Burmese food. Happily I bought Burmese pancakes.
Later I learnt that the pancake man was a Nepalese! Time ran out, I quit and went back to Mae Sai, heart broken. First time in Mae Sai, did not have time to cross the border, heart broken, came so close to Myammar. Second time in Mae Sai, managed to cross the border, better.. but still alittle set back, came back empty handed. The third time, I will go to Mandalay. There I guarantee I won't miss it !
Next in our itinerary, the Akka and the Long neck's hill tribe village. These hill tribe people originated from Burma and China. According to the locals, they lived in the hills of Thailand on working visa ! really. There is the Akka people, the ladies are the head of the family. Whatever the ladies say, the man follows. The ladies wear a large traditional hat. When they smile at you while chewing on their tobacco, smile back! Try not to notice their beautiful teeth. There are also the "Big ears" ( huge ear rings, at least an inch in diameter! ) and the popular "Karen Long neck ". Most western visitors refuse to visit the long neck people because they believe these people has been expoited for commercial gain purposes. There are many sides to this story, the local Thai believes that we should visit them because we are the only source of their income. The locals claimed that these people are Burmese. Over here in Thailand, they work for tourism whereas in their home country, they have to plough fields under the hot sun while wearing the rings. The girls start to wear ring around their neck at a tender age of 4. They add one ring each year until it is impossible to add anymore. I carried the sample rings, you can see it in the picture, I believe it was at least 3 kilograms. It is quite pityful if you ask me. I believe this culture is too cruel. I asked why, why still do this. Culture they said, culture. The lady in the picture speaks good English by the way, don't be surprise. She said she wants her baby girl to be just like us. Do you want to know the story behind the rings? Well, I believe most of you would want to. It all started like this,.. A long time ago, in a village in the jungle. The man went out to hunt and left the ladies and the children at home. There came a tiger, it killed the ladies. It bit them at the neck, the hands and the legs. The man came back and was devastated. One night the spirit came down to one of the man while he was asleep, the spirit told that man that all the ladies in the village should wear rings around their neck, hands and legs. That's the end of the tour.
After the village, it was a 4 hours of long and winding ride back to Chiangmai. By the time we reached Chiangmai, it was 8.30pm. The van dropped each of us at our hotels, we bid goodbye to our friends. It was a pleasure knowing them.
We refresh ourselves at the hotel and went out for dinner. Yup, you guess it right, we went back to the night bazaar seafood food court to inject ourselves with Tom Yam Kung and suck on Pad Thai. What you see on the table here cost a mere THB300, beer included. It was delicous, I had to recap. I can't stand it. It's too good. One day we may just take a flight to Chiangmai just for these 2 dishes.
After dinner, we walked along the night bazaar. Shop alittle more , went back to the hotel.We still have another day tomorrow, our train leaves Chiangmai for Bangkok at about 5pm. We're cool. I took my camera and said "Jeremy, give me ... big eyes.. .. " , snap!
The next morning, we started of a little easier, took our time eating breakfast at the hotel. After that I went out to rent a motorcycle again, since we have to check out of the hotel at 2pm. I rented the bike for half a day, it cost THB100. We tour the city again, this time we took a different route. We found beautiful temples and also many new shopping areas. Eunice was happier than ever. We left her at shop, me and Jeremy wandered off. We can back later for Eunice, she was on a shopping spree. Ladies, chiangmai is a good place to shop. Trust me. Eunice wasn't so much of a shopaholic back home, here in Thailand she is like a shopaholic on steriods ! Buy buy buy.. it
's cheap, it's nice..buy.. Back at the hotel in Bangkok, I scratched my head bald thinking on how to carry those things back home. We had lots of fun, here is 3 year old camera man at work again. How's this one? Initially, Jeremy stood quite near. We told him we like us and the statues behind in the picture. He held the camera up and down for awhile, .. we grew impatient and asked him. Then he said , "cannot". It was quite funny really, we got him to take a few steps back ... and snap! Not bad eh?!













Stop motion animation.
1) Download these 2 pictures. 2) Launch your picture viewer 3) Switch between these 2 pictures real fast 4) Say "Vroom.. vroooooommm". Please do item 3 and 4 at the same time.



Temple in the heart of the city.
Goodbye Chiangmai, you've been so wonderful. We will miss you, see you again soon.

Our train left Chiangmai. I've been to Chiangmai twice, both times the train to Chiangmai has bigger lower bunk bed and the return trip has smaller lower bunk bed; to Chiangmai, the train car was 100% foreigner, the return trip has locals. I wonder.
The train reached Bangkok at 5.30am, if you stay at Sia Rangsit, you can get down at DonMuang station , from DonMuang( old airport ) to Sia is only about 15 minutes. BS apartment is a cool place to stay, it allowed us to check in even at 6am in the morning. Before we left for Chiangmai, we reserved a room, we came back 1 day late. However everything was just fine.

We slept till noon, woke up for lunch and to Bangkok town once again. Eunice gave me that look, that shopping look ! We went to the Siam Ocean World at the Siam Paragon shopping complex. It has huge collection of ocean fishes. Sharks, luggage size garoupers and etc. Jeremy enjoyed himself , but we think he enjoyed the little playground in the Ocean world more than the aquarium itself. There was a touch pool, here we have Jeremy with a star fish. The entrance tickets was THB1250 adult, THB750 kids. Pricey!
In Bangkok, to get from 1 place to another around the city is easy. There is the sky train, the MRT, the ever realiable tuk tuk, the taxi and the bus, take your pick.
Next MBK ( Mah boon Krong) shopping complex, the national monument. Areas around the national monument, there were swarms and swarms of shops. Bangkok is truly a shopper's heaven.





































It's time to say good bye, someday we'll come back again.
Cheers,
Jeremy,Eunice and Jackson.