We took an overnight sleeper train from Ayutthia to Chiang Mai. We got on a bit after 9 pm. The train is full of foreigners as this route has become popular with tourists. The seats convert into a lower bunk, and there is an upper bunk that is pulled down. The train was full so the combination of people and luggage filled up all available bunks and luggage racks, so I slept with my backpack in the narrow upper bunk. All those years of backpacking with the Scouts and sleeping in a one-man tent prepared me for this. We rode these trains 30 years ago, which was prior to any air conditioning, just some open train windows and an oscillating fan. Fortunately there is now air conditioning. One thing that hasn’t changed is the toilets. They still reek and they still dump straight onto the tracks. Enough said. I opted not to take a picture to prove it.
In Chiang Mai we visited the Baan Celadon factory and store and saw the steps to making their beautiful pottery. Next door was a silk factory and shop, where they showed all the steps of making silk, starting with the moth and ending with woven fabric. Both stores profited from our visit.
Here’s a sport unique to Southeast Asia. Takraw is scored and played similar to volleyball, but played with feet, legs, head etc using a wicker woven ball. We happened upon this tournament one evening.
Can you peel and slice a mango this fast?
And here we are enjoying that mango as part of mango sticky rice, for breakfast. You can do that here. These are Thai yellow mangos, which are melt-in-your-mouth delicious.
We attended church here as well. The service was all in Thai but we had headsets and a translator so could follow along. We enjoyed the speakers and met some interesting ex-pats living in Chiang Mai.
Next up, a three day trek to visit some Karen hill tribes, followed by a couple days with elephants. You know, the usual stuff. We’ll be incommunicado for most of that time…
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