Vehicles

Exploring Pattaya & Beyond
TRIP TO CHIANG MAI
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Article kindly submitted by Wilson
In two parts - Part 1
The New Year was looming, and I had the choice of
staying in Pattaya, or heading off elsewhere to see
the old year out. My recent trip to Chiang Mai had
been Ok but left many things undone, so I decided
to rectify this and revisit the area.
About a week before, I went to Bangkok to book the train,
and managed to get almost the last tickets available for both the
outward and return journeys. On my return to Pattaya, I found that
the hotel I usually stay at to be fully booked and it took a couple
of hours of trawling the ‘net’ before I found a place that had a
vacancy.
Arriving at Hua Lamphong station on the evening of 30th
December, it seemed like the whole of Bangkok was on the move
for the holiday period. The 19.35 train to Chiang Mai should
have left from Platform 3, but standing there in its place was a
train that took you back in time to the days of luxury train travel,
‘The Eastern and Orient Express’ bound for Singapore via Kuala
Lumpur , The rear portion of the last carriage had open sides as
an observation car, walking alongside the train revealed palatial
wood panelled compartments and a dining car , tables complete
with lamps, silver cutlery, cut glass wine goblets and Champagne
buckets. At least six chefs in tall hats were preparing what must
have been a feast of culinary delights, for those aboard. One can
only imagine the cost of travelling in the decadent and luxurious
style of an age gone by.
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For those merely mortals like
myself, we were herded to platform
6, to which our ‘Special Express’ had
been diverted. At 19.35, the time it
was due to depart, it arrived at the
platform for us to board, having
located our allocated upper bunks,
we awaited for our ‘Express’ to depart,
which it did an hour late. The initial
part of our journey was more like a
commuter train than an ‘Express’ as it
lumbered slowly along with frequent
stops, although none of them at a
station. The lights in the sleeping car
were left blazing all night, despite
each bunk having individual lighting.
The arrival time according to the
timetable was 8.45am, but of course
this was never going to be achievable
given our delayed departure. Two
hours out from Chiang Mai at 10am,
travelling through the jungle on an
upgrade, the train got slower and slower until we came to a halt, it
seems that the engine did not have enough power to get us over
the incline, and so we began to move in reverse, all the way back
to the last station where a ‘down train’ could pass, and a second
engine summoned from Lampang to help get us up and over the
hill. Having eventually overcome this obstacle the ‘Express’ arrived
at its destination at 1.15pm , some four and a half hours late. Having
phoned ahead to the hotel to advise of our impending late
arrival, we were told not to worry, as the train frequently doesn’t
arrive until 4pm!!. One wonders at the wisdom of giving an arrival
time at all, as we were informed that it never arrives on schedule
anyway.
After checking in at the hotel, the next priority was to hire
a motorbike, but again it seemed the world and its wife wanted
to do the same and it was some three hours before we located a
renter with a motorcycle. At 1000Bt for four days hire, I considered
it expensive, especially as I’d just returned a motorcycle I’d had on
hire in Pattaya which had cost me 3,000Bt for six weeks.
In the evening we visited the Night Bazaar, (top picture
next page) like every market in Thailand, the items on offer are
the same, the only difference being the name on the ‘T’ shirts,
which of course in this case was ‘Chiang Mai’. It being New Years
Eve, we walked to the moat and City Walls, which encircle it, and
were fortunate to find a concrete bench to sit upon. The sky was
full of ‘floating lanterns’, obviously being released from all parts
of the City and its surrounds. On the other side of the ‘moat’ we
watched as revellers, lit and released lanterns, some unsuccessfully
as they became entrapped in the trees on their journey
skywards. Fireworks were being set off all the time, and all around
us by individuals, some of which exploded prematurely causing
those in the immediate vicinity
to scatter. Nearby where
we were sitting, a busker
played ‘Old Lang Syne’ on a
Saxophone accompanied by a
passer by on a ‘penny whistle’.
At midnight and our entry into
the New year, the sky exploded
as fireworks from all around the
City were propelled into the air,
it was like being in the centre
of a 360 degree display and accompanied
by the noise of artillery
fire. Eventually we made
our way back to the hotel along
streets littered with the remnants
of spent pyrotechnics .
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New Years day, and we
left to visit Doi Suthet Temple,
(Middle picture) unfortunately
it appeared that most of The author of the article, Wilson and his
Chiang Mai had the same idea lovely lady pictured at Doi Suthet Temple,
too, and the traffic was bumper
to bumper until we were
well out of the City, and on the winding mountain road that leads
to the Temple, fortunately for us, my motorcycle skills, honed in
Pattaya, made short shrift of the traffic problems with various
undertaking, overtaking, and straight down the middle manoeuvres,
although I imagine that some of those in gridlocked vehicles
would have taken several hours to reach their destination. We had
some respite from traffic congestion for about fifteen kilometres,
before encountering more traffic jams some three kilometres
from the Temple, negotiating these was a little more difficult due
to the road being quite steep in places and having many hairpin
bends, but all was overcome and we arrived a little over an hour
from setting off. To get to the Temple, one has to climb some three
hundred steps, difficult enough under normal circumstances,
but even more so given the volume of visitors
moving both up and down, plus the number of children
in ‘costume’ sitting on the stairs at regular intervals hoping
to have their picture taken, and receive a ‘tip’ for their
trouble.
After having escaped the throngs at the Temple, we
continued onward and upward along the twisting mountain
road to Bhubing Palace, where the Royal Family stays
during seasonal visits. The gardens are beautifully laid
out with all manner of colourful blooms and plants. The
‘water reservoir’ contains the ‘Fountain of Celestial Water
of People’, at all areas of the gardens,
tranquil music is playing, giving a
relaxing feeling to the whole experience.
Still continuing up further
into the mountains we came to Doi
Pui Mong Hill Tribe village, (bottom
picture) sustained by tourism
there were many opportunities to
purchase local crafts at a considerable
discount for the same items
in the City, visitors could also hire
traditional costumes at 30Bt each, to
wear during their visit, and of course
be photographed in, mainly by the
waterfall, and in the gardens which
are also a feature of the village.
Our return journey to the
hotel, whilst again encountering
considerable traffic was a little easier
and enabled us to arrive back before
darkness fell.
This article will be concluded in
the next issue
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