Day 11 - To the North

Trip Start Dec 17, 2007

Trip End Feb 14, 2008

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Flag of Thailand Chiang Mai, Thailand
Monday, January 21, 2008

Arrived at the Bangkok station at 6:45 am, 45 minutes late. Bangkok station is like the Wiesbaden Haupebanhof in Germany or the Nankai's Numba station in Osaka- the end of line station where all the trains pull in head first. It was a long walk from the last car to the main entrance, half of it under the shed. The waiting room was large with an arched ceiling and shops lining the sides. I bough a paper and was reading it when all of sudden at 8 am, a song started to play over the loudspeakers. I looked around and everyone was standing up as they were playing the Thai National Anthem. I stood up too and was a little embarrassed as I was a slow.

I had some free time so I wandered around a bit. The subway station was next to the train station so I decided to take a ride. The one subway is very new and it is on the same level as Japan's newest subway lines with electronic tickets like Suica and the platform has walls and doors so you can't fall on to the track

The Bangkok Station's Shed

. It is a big contrast to the rail system which is old and a little rundown with shacks built right next to the track.

Finally, I got bored and decided to go to the airport and waste a couple of hours there as my flight wasn't until 3 pm. I met up with Tak finally as he flew up from Krabi after taking an extra day scuba diving. We boarded the Air Asia plane, a discount airline which meant no assigned seats and no free drinks or snacks. The Flight to Chiang Mai was just over an hour (compared to 12 hours by train). From the plane, I got a good look at the landscape of Thailand and it seemed pretty flat with lots of farms.

Soon, we arrived at the Chiang Mai airport which is close to downtown. Chiang Mai is Thailand's second city located in a valley in the more mountainous northern part of the country. It reminds me of Medford or Kofu in Japan as they are in a valley surround by mountains and they are all hot dry places. Chiang Mai was drier than the south part of Thailand. Chiang Mai is an ancient city and it was once the capital of a northern kingdom. In the middle of the city is the square old town surrounded by a moat. There used to be a wall; which encircled the old city which was about 1 km by 1 km and some parts of the walls can still be seen. The walls were torn down to build a road that runs counter-clockwise along the moat and the road on the other side of the moat runs clockwise.

Our hotel is about 200 meters south of the old city. The place is a little rundown like it has seen better days. The lobby is large with many knick-knacks scatter throughout like elephant tusks and a grandfather clock. The place reminded me of the hotel in Haruki Murakami's book, the Wild Sheep Chase, the Dolphin Hotel. Or the Diamond Lake Lodge in Oregon. Next door is a Japanese cafe with comics and there is a pool out back. The rooms also have a dated look with hard wood floors and interesting trim around the doors.