Chiang Mai

Arrived in Chiang Mai after a 14 hour overnight train ride. We splurged on the 1st class a/c sleepers - good thing too. Other than waking up every time the train lurched (thought I was falling off the top bunk), was a smooth ride. Not sure if there trains are always late, or if this was an unusual event - we were almost 2 hours late - and there were some folks trying to catch a flight - ouch. The Ayuthaya train station was a tiny one. The board said that our train would arrive at 21:00 and leave at 21:01 - did not leave much time to get on!

Love Chiang Mai so far. Our hotel is in the quiet north-east corner and it's fantastic. We are pretty far north - the terrain is more mountainous. Could move here for an extended period of time too. I keep saying that this entire trip.