Nord - Thailand

As often as I have been to Thailand now, but never in the north, Chiang Mai. That is about to change now. My train is supposed to start at Don Muang station, according to information on the internet it actually departs from the old Lua Hampong station, but there is some information that the trains now only start from Bang Sue. The new huge station near the Chatuchak market. So I took the line bus to Lua Hampong. When I arrived there, a nice service staff asked me where my destination was. When I answered Chiang Mai, she looked at the clock and said it doesn't depart from here anymore. I should quickly take the bus behind me, it's free and goes to the new Bang Sue station, with a little luck I can still catch my train there. The bus started immediately, and when I got on, it also pressed hard on the gas pedal, but according to Googlemaps, it started to drive in a zigzag route. I still had 45 minutes until the train was supposed to depart according to the schedule. I was relatively relaxed. But then there were constantly red lights blocking the way with a 120 second waiting time, according to the display. I looked at the clock, still 20 minutes and 3 Km left, I was getting nervous. 10 more minutes and finally the station came into view. I got off the bus and walked quickly to the indicated platform 2, when I arrived there they told me to take a seat, the train hasn't arrived yet... phew, made it.

5 minutes later, we started, we could board and the train departed on time. Initially very enthusiastic, the journey became increasingly boring. You could constantly hear the paralyzing air conditioning buzzing and there was hardly any change outside in the first 7 hours. The only variety was provided by the stewardess, first with coffee and a snack, then with lunch and later again with coffee and cookies. The view outside became more interesting in the last 3 hours, as we were now filled with the pure jungle. After 10 hours and 30 minutes, we finally reached Chiang Mai.

Chiang Mai

One thing straight away, from the moment I arrived in the city, it felt very relaxed. And it was going to stay that way. I decided to rent a bike to explore this city and that was absolutely right. I don't know exactly how many temples there are, but there are countless, one might think they are more beautiful than the other. And just when you think you can't have any more gold, you suddenly find yourself in front of a stupa completely made of GOLD! That leaves you speechless and at least dazzled, incredible. And it just doesn't stop. When you leave one temple, you enter the next one after 50 meters.

In the evening, people gather at the Walking Street at the local food market, there is no other way to describe it. Here too, you should stop eating after chicken, pork, fish, noodles, rice, papaya salad, cake, Thai pancake or whatever else there is, before you burst! So Chiang Mai is really great and worth a visit. And with my nice little resort in a small, quiet side street, with a sunny terrace, I was happy again.