Travel notes from Chiang Mai, Bangkok and other places in Thailand and Malaysia

Travel in Thailand
Bangkok is a quite busy city with much traffic with tuc-tuc's busses and 
cars. But the royal palace and the different wat's (temples) like wat Po 
are very interesting. It is nice to take a ferry on the river or a 
long tail boat along one of the channels in the city. This is the fastest 
way to get around the city. The routed boats are very cheap. For 
example there are long tail boats leaving frequently from the channel at 
the main railway station going to the river north of the Royal palace. The 
boats take about 10 minutes, but a bus or tuctuc takes 30-45 minutes 
depending on traffic.

After a few days in Bangkok you would probably appreciate a more calm 
place. When I visited Thailand two years ago we went by train from Bangkok 
to Chiang Mai. Compared with Bangkok Chang Mai is different. It is less 
crowded and the surroundings are nice with the mountains. Of course there 
are a lot souvenir shops and people arranging walking tours and 
trekking in the mountains. It is easy to get to Chiang Mai, there are 
busses trains and flights from Bangkok. From Chiang Mai you can make tours 
outside the city quite easy. Just north of the city is a well known temple 
on the top of a mountain. From here you have a nice view over  the 
landscape and the city after you have approached the hill by jeep from 
the city and climbed several hundred stairs.

Chiang Rai is north of Chiang Mai halfway towards the Burmese border. 
Nearby are elephant camps where tourists can make short elephant tours in 
the forest. There is also a snake farm. Along the road is also a hot 
water spring. It is possible to cross the Burmese boarder after paying an 
expensive fee but you have to be back before down. The river along the 
golden triangle is nice. There are also easy assessable mountain villages 
along the road which are possible to visit. You can driver around 
yourself or there are plenty of companies arranging quite cheap one day 
tours in Chiang Mai. We stayed here for 3 days before we returned to the 
south.


On 31 Jan 1996 VOONHO.LEE@applelink.apple.com wrote:

> Hi Holger,
>  
> I read from net you seems to be very active in SEA area.
>  
> Friend and my intend to spend 4-5 days in northern Thailand over end 
  February, for some kind of relax trek. You have recommendation ? You 
  mentioned Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai.
>  
> I would typically choose strategy of staying put for 2 days before 
  moving to next location, not touch and go type. Relaxed pace preferred. 
  And small tribal.
>  
> You have infor on tribal festival around Feb time frame.
>  
> We would be coming from Singapore arriving most likely Bangkok.
>  
> Regards,
>  
> Voon Ho.

Hi Voon Ho,
It sounds great going to the north of Thailand from Bangkok. If you don't 
go by air, train will be most comfortable and safe. There are also plenty 
of bus companies running -  they are often cheaper and also faster, but 
specially during night the driving sometimes could be a little more 
dangerous than going by train. The train stops in Chiang Mai and this is 
a much calmer and smaller city than Bangkok. The town is also a bit 
touristy and there are plenty of hostels, many of them offering 3 day 
trekking tours in groups with a guide. We didn't go trekking ourselves but 
we heard from other travellers that it is nice but quite primitive, 
sleeping on a floor in a cottage in some mountain village often only 
reachable by foot. 

Instead we made a one day tour by minibus to Chiang Rai, and the Burmese 
border and the golden triangle visiting a couple of ancient temples and a 
hot water spring. We liked the tour. Along the road we also visited a 
a couple of Akka mountain villages (similar to those you stay in when 
trekking). 

The Doi Sutep temple in Chiang Mai is nice with a good view of the city 
from the mountain. Jeeps from the northern part of the wall around Chiang 
Mai go up the hill to the temple. It is also possible to continue to the 
summer palace with the nice gardens.

If you want to stay in Chiang Rai there are buses going from Chiang Mai. 
Resent years Chiang Rai has become an good alternative for tourists who 
don't want to stay in Chiang Mai. 

Many travel bureaus in Chiang Mai also offer one day tourist tours which 
include visit at a elephant camp where you also can make a short ride on 
an elephant in the jungle, a short rafting tour in a small river, visit 
a snake farm, seeing a small flower park and a little waterfall.

But most interesting I believe is to see the different nature in the 
northern mountainous part of the country and the way people liver here 
compared with the busy Bangkok area.
I have not got the festival information - perhaps someone else can 
forward it to you.
I have traveled with train from Singapore to Bangkok about two 
years ago, but in the opposite direction. The first and second  
class air-conditioned vagons are very comfortable compared with
those in Thailand. The saloons are furnished with airplane seats.
Traveling by train is safer than going by bus, specially if you 
travel by night.

Singapore is a very modern city and when you travel north things 
become more different along the way.
 
The train stops in Kuala Lumpur where you can look at the city
for one or two days if you like. They have a nice park and the
old Chinese quarters are interesting, specially the night market.
Here are also several cheap hostels.

There are direct trains going to Butterworth. If you stop at a 
station a few hours before Butterworth you can take a bus up
in the mountain area where it is cooler, the tea is growing and
it is possible to make walks in the jungle.

There are hotels in Butterworth but there is not much to see. I 
think it is better to take the ferry across to Penang. This takes
about half an hour, is very cheap, and Georgetown on the Penang
island is more interesting. There are ferries leaving every 15 
minutes or so. There are also plans to built a bridge across
but I do not know if it is built yet. There are plenty of hostels
in Georgetown. If you have time you can take a small mountain train
up the hill up on the mountain on the middle of the island from
where you have a good view of the island. There are monkeys in
the forest. It is possible to walk down from the mountain, it takes
about 2 hours, or take the mountain train back again. There are
many city buses in Georgetown going here.

When you continue north you have to change trains near the Thailand
border. These trains continue to Bangkok. They are less comfortable
but OK. Bangkok has very heavy traffic with cars, tuctucùs (motor richas)
but the longtailboats are very fast and cheap. There are longtailboats
leaving from a channel just beside the main railway station in Bangkok.
They stop at the big river north of the grand palace. Nearby is an
area with many cheap hostels. You can write to me if you have more
questions.
From Thailand we continued our journey by train to Malaysia and Singapore