Travel in Thailand

I am planning a trip to Thailand in February. I was thinking of taking the
train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, however I seem to be getting indications
that it's not that good an idea.

Has anyone done this recently and can you comment on the trip?

Bob

Not sure why people are telling you that. The other option is a bus. From
personal experience, it's LONG ride on a bus - particularly if you try to
do it at night. I had difficulty sleeping in a seated position and find the
night buses, particularly with the amount of stops they make (even on a VIP
bus), are quite hard to sleep on. IMHO, the train is the way to go. We
didn't take a train to Chiang Mai, but we did take one down south on our way
to Krabi and it was wonderful.
"Bob Knight" <bobknight@cogeco.ca> wrote in message
news:HKgDb.7541$8Y4.310533@read2.cgocable.net...
> I am planning a trip to Thailand in February. I was thinking of taking the
> train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, however I seem to be getting indications
> that it's not that good an idea.
>
> Has anyone done this recently and can you comment on the trip?
>
> Bob
>
>

I took the train with my family summer of 2002. It was great. Go at
night and you don't need (want) air-con. On the way back to Bangkok, we
stopped off in Ayudya (sp) for a couple of days. Well worth it.

We found trains to be our favorite mode of transport in Thailand and
Malayasia.

Rick

Bob Knight wrote:
> I am planning a trip to Thailand in February. I was thinking of taking the
> train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, however I seem to be getting indications
> that it's not that good an idea.
>
> Has anyone done this recently and can you comment on the trip?
>
> Bob
>
>

"FMF" <fmfoundry@> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:3FE90E84.3060304@...
> Bob Knight wrote:
> > I am planning a trip to Thailand in February. I was thinking of taking
the
> > train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, however I seem to be getting
indications
> > that it's not that good an idea.

Any reasons why this shouldn't be a good idea?

> I took the train with my family summer of 2002. It was great. Go at
> night and you don't need (want) air-con.

A definite: YES.
Aircon maybe fine during the rainy season, but now you don't need it.
If you've travelled before with an aircon train, you wouldn't want it since
it has the great disadvantage that the temperature cant be controlled by
the passengers. When travelling 3 times with aircon sleeper in the upper
bed I found it 3 times too cold. IIRC Lonely Planet says the same. It's no
fun lying in the upper bed with constant cold airflow around you (the
outlet of the cold air is - guess where - 50cm above one end of your bed).

Only 2 weeks ago I did Trang - Bangkok with an overnight Rapid train
without A/C.
My Thai-Friend wasn't so happy about that, but I was. It's oh so nice when
taking a train that leaves around 12:00 and you can open the window, really
see the outside and let the wind in. *sigh*

The only thing you have to take care of: insects.
An open window leads sooner or later to insects inside.
At night, when you can't see much outside, you can have ventilation by open
window + no insects with a light- + insect-shield which you can move in
front of the glas-window. Works pretty well.


Be prepared to a night not "smooth as silk", since the Thai rails are a bit
shaky.
You might get not much sleep if you normally have only a light sleep.

The night can be shortened with some drinks in the restaurant-car (but I
don't know when they close) or later with some drinks in the beds which are
brought to you by some kind of waiter (carrying a bucket with water and
drinks).

During the first hours of your ride there's excellent service :)
Many people walk through the train selling you this and that, be it roasted
squid, para-nuts, drinks, rice dishes... almost everything you want.

My advice: for long distances + cheap fare take the train. Shaky, slow as
hell, but fun!


> We found trains to be our favorite mode of transport in Thailand and
> Malayasia.

ACK!


less than 5 days back in Germany and already wanting to go back to .th ....

sighing:.... tmo! :)

Thomas 'tmo' Endt wrote:
>
> "FMF" <fmfoundry@> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
> news:3FE90E84.3060304@...
> > Bob Knight wrote:
> > > I am planning a trip to Thailand in February. I was thinking of taking
> the
> > > train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, however I seem to be getting
> indications
> > > that it's not that good an idea.
>
> Any reasons why this shouldn't be a good idea?
>
> > I took the train with my family summer of 2002. It was great. Go at
> > night and you don't need (want) air-con.
>
> A definite: YES.
> Aircon maybe fine during the rainy season, but now you don't need it.
> If you've travelled before with an aircon train, you wouldn't want it since
> it has the great disadvantage that the temperature cant be controlled by
> the passengers. When travelling 3 times with aircon sleeper in the upper
> bed I found it 3 times too cold. IIRC Lonely Planet says the same. It's no
> fun lying in the upper bed with constant cold airflow around you (the
> outlet of the cold air is - guess where - 50cm above one end of your bed).
>
> Only 2 weeks ago I did Trang - Bangkok with an overnight Rapid train
> without A/C.
> My Thai-Friend wasn't so happy about that, but I was. It's oh so nice when
> taking a train that leaves around 12:00 and you can open the window, really
> see the outside and let the wind in. *sigh*
>
> The only thing you have to take care of: insects.
> An open window leads sooner or later to insects inside.
> At night, when you can't see much outside, you can have ventilation by open
> window + no insects with a light- + insect-shield which you can move in
> front of the glas-window. Works pretty well.
>
> Be prepared to a night not "smooth as silk", since the Thai rails are a bit
> shaky.
> You might get not much sleep if you normally have only a light sleep.
>
> The night can be shortened with some drinks in the restaurant-car (but I
> don't know when they close) or later with some drinks in the beds which are
> brought to you by some kind of waiter (carrying a bucket with water and
> drinks).
>
> During the first hours of your ride there's excellent service :)
> Many people walk through the train selling you this and that, be it roasted
> squid, para-nuts, drinks, rice dishes... almost everything you want.
>
> My advice: for long distances + cheap fare take the train. Shaky, slow as
> hell, but fun!
>
> > We found trains to be our favorite mode of transport in Thailand and
> > Malayasia.
>
> ACK!
>
> less than 5 days back in Germany and already wanting to go back to .th ....
>
> sighing:.... tmo! :)

A small warning about the train and AC.

I took the Daytrain and they run the AC on max while at the same time it
was cloudy and raining.

It was ice-cold on the train, I really could have used another sweater
or something of warming wool.

/Anders

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