The overnight sleeper was certainly an experience. We boarded about ten in the evening because the train was an hour late, having been assured we would be able to eat aboard. Our stewardess only grudgingly allowed us to eat if we ordered immediately and there was no choice. We also decided to try things the Thai way with a small bottle of whisky. While we waited for our meal Alison decided to explore her temporary home. Clearly, it doesn't take long to explore a space two metres by two metres but even in that time Alison managed to upset the neighbours. There was a door inside the carriage which she decided must be our private loo. She tried to unlatch it, pushed it, pulled it but it wouldn't budge so she called out "Is there anyone in there" then turned to me for help. At that moment there was a knock at the door and Alison was faced with a very excited and large French woman who wanted to know, in French, why Alison was trying to get into her carriage.
Our meal arrived with the whisky and a bucket of ice. The only problem was that it was brandy, not whisky and it was a half litre not a small bottle but never mind we had two cold seven ups to mix with it and lots of ice. The meal was reminiscent of aircraft food in the bad old days and when the bill came in the morning dinner and breakfast had cost more than a berth on the train. We know we were seriously ripped off but when I queried an item the stewardess not only refunded it but came back later with a hundred baht which she said she had accidentally overcharged. My advice to future travellers is, take your own whisky and ask for an itemised bill.
Arrival in Chaing Mai was the worst we encountered anywhere in Thailand. The station is about two kilometres from the town and the taxi drivers and "official" guides think they have you over a barrel. We had to fight our way through the crush but eventually found ourselves braving the Indianapolis track which runs round all four sides of the old city. Rather than stay in the night market area between the moat and the river we thought we would base ourselves closer to the sights so first we checked out the backpacker area in the north east corner of the old quarter. One look should have been enough but we looked at a room just to confirm our suspicions. We even saw two people we knew, our next door neighbours from the train but they didn't say hello. Phase two of the plan was to seek out "Gap II" a new branch of one of the well established guesthouses located in the south west part of the old town. As is our fate, this involved a long walk.
As we headed south west we stopped at a restaurant for a drink and watched the proprietor as he managed service in a most efficient manner. Not once was he observed serving anything to any table, his role was very much maƮtre d', he took all of the orders and his band of waitresses delivered everything. He also found time to chat in between orders and proved a friendly soul with good English. Refreshed, we marched on and checked into Gap II which was a comfortable enough place although its wifi system lacked range to be useful in the rooms. Breakfast, included in the price, was tasty if lacking in variety. Later on the day we checked in we returned to the restaurant we had found and enjoyed our first experience of Thai cuisine. Not the food designed for tourists but what is produced for ordinary Thais on a daily basis in enormous quantities by noodle shops across the country. Essentially the main dish is a soup to which is added boiled noodles and the meat or meats of your choice. Spices and condiments are on the table enabling the diner to achieve his own favourite blend, after a few tries; we were hooked.
Chaing Mai has several wats easily viewed in a day and being a new experience we viewed most of them. The only other event worthy of note was our visit to Il Forno, an Italian restaurant offering pizza baked in a wood oven. Our hopes were not high and we almost didn't reach it. The rain drove us into an English pub, The Queen Victoria which sold English pub food. We were lucky enough to see a couple of meals being delivered which persuaded us not to order. It was a genuine English pub from the early "Brake Bros" era. The rain abated and we found our first choice, much closer to our guesthouse than we had remembered, we had already walked three times further than necessary. It was a unique place. The pizzas were produced without the usual flourish of tossing the dough in the air, no surprise since the chef had only one arm. This didn't prevent in making the thinnest and most Italian pizzas we had eaten for many a month. The one small curiosity was the wine. We could have a half litre carafe of red wine twice but not a litre but we could have a litre of white. However it was measured it was still Italian and excellent. The tables are few and well spaced but for once it is not for the privacy of diners. The head waitress was in an electric wheelchair which she handled with the same consummate skill she did the orders.
The only noteworthy sight in Chaing Mai we missed was the night market, apparently very large. The two nights we were in town were wet. We decided to continue north and had to find the bus station, which we knew was further out than the train station so asked reception to arrange a taxi which the young man there did with great flair by taking us to the entrance and waving down a shared taxi which then proceeded to drive us round the town almost missing the bus we were headed for. We needn't have worried, buses on that route are always busy and we had to wait for the next one anyway.
French Farce
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Other Entries
2025-02-13