Chiang Mai

The night train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, via Ayuttaya, is an excellent mean of transport: relatively fast, cheap and comfy. And the beds are pretty large too :-) 

Just make sure that you buy your train ticket on time... We went to the train station in Ayuttaya on the day before the planned departure just to find out that there were no tickets left for the sleeping couches. We were pretty surprised because it was just middle of the week with no major holidays around. Another visit at the station early in the morning next day was more successful - we got two tickets but not next to each other, which in the sleeping compartments makes things much easier. The station clerk must have seen our disappointment because he promised to change our seats to neighboring ones, if possible, later on during the day. And he did :) the trip was very comfy (train no 1, 2nd class sleeping seat) and we arrived to Chiang Mai only 15 minutes late.

We stayed at the Julie's Guesthouse, which was nice, clean and cheap (300BTH for a double room with a fan and ensuite bathroom). I guess we were lucky to get a room there without booking, they were full for the next days.
After renting bicycles we made a tour around the old town and subscribed for an evening cooking course at Asia Scenic.  Our teacher was India and she made the classes not only useful but pleasuring and funny.A very much recommended experience :) we cooked 4 dishes and visited a nearby market to get a short lecture about spices used in Thailand. 

Our first visit to the Night bazaar was very interesting, as it was our first experience with such a huge night market in Thailand (and maybe in general). We did not buy too much, but wandering between the colorful booths was entertaining. 

Next day we decided to see what is there to see outside of the old town. Bicycles came handy again. We took a very informative and relaxing boat tour. It was pretty expensive (400BTH for 1.5h) but sightseeing from a boat gives another insight into the city. 

Our challenge on that day was also to do our first laundry in Thailand. We looked for regular washing machines "for rent" that would be fast and straight forward to use but found nothing like that. In the end we used the regular laundry service (can be found on every corner) and decided to pay extra for an express laundry service (ready in 4-6hours) instead of the regular service (ready next day). While cycling around the town we found the Saturday's market that was much nicer than the Night Bazaar and full of local people as well. If you have a chance to go there - do it :-)

The attraction for the evening - Thai boxing at Thapae Boxing Stadium - was the weakest point of the day and not worth the money (800BTH) in my opinion. But I am not into these sort of sports anyway...

.

Kanchanaburi and Erawan National Park

A ride with the 3rd class train from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi was a very interesting experience.
On the way the railway passes just few centimeters from buildings and trees - definitely something not to be seen in Europe. 

We were also impressed with the amount and quality of food and drinks provided by the local vendors selling their products in the train. You do not have to worry about starving during the 3-4 hours trip :-)

We stayed at the Jolly Frog (200bth room with a fan and ensuite bathroom) that was clean and good value for the money :-) View from the Jelly Frog garden 

and our terrace:

The biggest nearby attraction is the river Kwai Bridge.

"There is a slight technical problem with the Bridge on the River Kwai:  It crosses a river all right, but not the River Kwai.  Pierre Boulle, who wrote the original book, had never been there.  He knew that the 'death railway' ran parallel to the River Kwae for many miles, and assumed that it was the Kwae which it crossed just North of Kanchanaburi.  He was wrong - It actually crosses the Mae Khlung.  When David Lean's blockbuster came out, this gave the Thais something of a problem.  Thousands of tourists flocked to see the Bridge on the River Kwai, and they hadn't got one, all they had was a bridge over the Mae Khlung.  So, with admirable lateral thinking, they renamed the river.  Since 1960, the Mae Khlung has been known as the Kwae Yai ('Big Kwae') north of the confluence with the Kwae Noi ('Little Kwae'), including the bit under the infamous Bridge." (source)

 On the next day we traveled to Erawan National Park :-) It is definitely something to recommend, especially if you do it on your own, with the public transport (a bus). Do not forget your swimming suit :-)

.

Bangkok

After arriving to Bangkok and a 20 minutes' train ride (Airport Link) to the Phyathai station the adventured started. We decided to use the public transport as much as possible during the entire trip and therefore we went to a bus stop, where we expected to find bus no 503. Nope... Plenty of other numbers, but not 503. Ok, I said, no worries, I know another stop where the bus should stop (I checked the bus lines earlier), just 10 minutes walking from here. While walking the we were asked about 20 times by the TukTuk drivers if we needed a ride. And the number 503 was not on the other bus stop as well... 

I got really confused... and than I saw drTBBE waving his hand at the bus approaching the bus stop. It was 503, and it stopped right where it was when drTBBE had started hand-waving: in the middle of a 4 lane street :-) Anyway, we took the bus and asked the lady collecting money for tickets that we wanted to go to Phra Nakhon. After about 20 minutes she said that we should get out at the next stop, as we did. I still have no clue where we left the bus but it was not Phra Nakhon :-) But it was pretty close to Phra Nakhon. After about half an hour we found our guesthouse, Amarin Inn :-)

We spent the evening in the Khao San road area that is full of tourist, food, loud music and booths with everything you need and do not need.
Sunday passed on visiting the old town with many temples and the Grand Palace:

.

Lazy Saturday...

I like Saturdays, especially the lazy ones... We had to make a very difficult choice today: Christmas shopping or a walk in the middle of nowhere... 9C and sunshine made the choice easier :-) 

.

Happy Birthday dr TBBE!

.

Leuven

.

Water in the trunk - Toyota Auris

A couple of days ago we found an "aquarium" in our trunk, about 5 cm deep, in the "bowl" where the spare wheel is located. After some internet explorations we learned that most probably it is a seal around a trunk ventilator or a seal around rare laps that let the water leak inside the boot. We decided to try fixing the problem on our own.

Thank you google and all the people who share their experiences and solutions to different problems at various fora! Although we found a lot of useful tips, I decided to write a short post and include pictures - maybe this will make someone's life easier...

Removing the trunk carpet was the first thing to do. After removing 4 screws at the bottom of the trunk, the carpets are just held by several pins (Figure 1), distributed along the carpet edge (Figure 2).

Figure 1

Figure 2

You need to pull the carpet firmly to get the pins out of their place. No worries, they must be pretty robust because we did not break even one :-)

With the carpets removed, the access to the ventilator is much easier (Figure 3).

Figure 3

Once we got to this point I "volunteered" to jump into the trunk and observe where the water was coming from while dr TBBE was pouring water on our car trunk. 

The leak was clearly visible at one side of the ventilator (Figure 4). 

 Figure 4

Sealing the ventilator around solved the problem :-)

.