Overnight Train to Chiang Mai

We got a taxi to the train station, Huala Lamphong and easily found our platform. We waited a little while before they began boarding the train. As we boarded our 1st class sleeper, the Captain of the train was giving a pep talk to the train staff. They were all lined up in front of the carriage listening intently to what he had to say.

On board the cabin was tiny. It was a 2 person cabin, with barely enough space to sit the backpacks on the floor. It had a tiny little fold up eating table. Shortly after we had settled in the Food and Beverage lady arrived to get our dinner and breakfast order. Followed shortly thereafter by the Conductor who gave us our pillows and bedding. He would come back later to make up the beds. He did. He came back about 45 minutes later ready to make them up but it was only about 8:00pm. So we agreed he could come back at 10:00pm to make them up for us.

The beds are bunk beds, the top one folding out for sleeping on. I’d never been in a sleeper cabin, nor on the top of a bunk before. Unfortunately I didn’t sleep very well. It was very cold so I had to put on long pants and my fuzzy sweater to keep warm. I thought the clickety clack of the train would rock me off to sleep but it didn’t. I slept fitfully throughout the night.

When we got to Chiang Mai the next morning the usual number of touts were waiting outside. We took a moment to get a cup of coffee at a little café across the street from the station and orient ourselves on a map to where we were and where we needed to go. The tout who had been badgering us about getting a taxi somewhere also sat down at a table and had breakfast. Once we figured out where we were, the tout was ready for us, and we needed him so we got in and headed off for the Banana Guest House. It had been recommended in Lonely Planet, not that that’s always a good thing. In this case we wouldn’t find out what the room was like until checkin time at mid-day, so we sat in their restaurant and had breakfast. Which was standard food.

The accommodations turned out to be less than stellar, though cheap. It really stank, so we decided to look for another guest house the following day.