We had the greatest Hostess in Bangkok. 
They were always so concerned about us . 
  
Tip and Am are amazing drivers. They can weave in and out of Bangkoks traffic like professional drivers on a race track.

They took us to the train station and to the train and made sure we got on the right train and the right seat. Our children would have been glad to know how well we were taken care of.

We highly recommend this homestay. 

OK. We are on the train and on our own. It is a new adventure heading to Chaing Mai . One of the northern most cities in Thailand.
 
It is the second largest city in Thailand
 
The train is second class. With air conditioning. Really nice for our needs. It leaves at 6;15 pm for a 14 hour trip to arrive at Chaing Mai at 8;15 am

We are not alone. The train is loaded with foreign backpackers. The ones next to us were from Holland, Belgium, New Zealand.

Probably at least 100 backpackers from all over the world just waiting for the trains departure while we were there .

The train has very comfortable seats built in a sort of unit and we get the whole thing for the two of us.

We have about an hour leaving Bangkok before the sunsets and we can no longer see anything.

The staff knows abit of english, and out waiter is always making faces and with his bits of english joking with us.

About 8pm he asks if we want our beds made out.

The seats make into really nice beds and the top bunk comes down, so Roy gets a 3/4 bed and I get a smaller than single. But plenty of room for both of us.

It is a bit different trying to sleep on a train. It rocks back and forth, it lurches, It slows down and it brakes with a jerk. It sways. 

But amazing when your tired you just go to sleep.

This is a narrow gauge railroad, very uncommon in the US . 
  I think their are only two in the US. One in Colorado .

Wake up about 4am an hour and a half till coffee. Bummer!!

Well coffee is finally here, they put up our beds and pull out a table . 

This is a really slick set up they have. 

We start seeing lush forest, jungles. Banana , coconut trees. and rice patties everywhere.
 
There are mountains here alto not like the ones in the USA . These are smaller alto it really drug the train down to a slow crawl.
 
We arrive in Chaing Mai caught a red truck into town to our hotel.

There are three kinds of taxis here in Thailand. The Tuk Tuk is a three wheel taxi. Then the red trucks with a covered backend you can sit in it and plenty of room for luggage, but open. The the regular taxis. 

Our hotel is really really nice , for a weeks stay it is $16 a night. We have an out door wash room on our balcony if we want to wash our own clothes and hang them. We have a really nice bathroom. A queen bed refrigerator and microwave ,,,,,hey and TV. go figure! They speak english and we can understand the news--------ugh. It keeps us up to date with whats going on in the states.

We are waiting till 5 pm , right across the street is a pizza place reviews say not to miss!! It is suppose to be the best pizza in Thailand.

We had Incredible pizza in Mexico so will see how this stacks up. Will let you know.