The train ride departed from Hualaumphong station around sunset. We watched out the window as we cut through the city. We passed through a myriad of tin roofed shanty towns with a few luxury hi-rise condo gated compounds here and there. The train attendant gave us pre-packged fruit and a OJ, which we thought to be a nice touch. A half hour later she came by with the big bill. We're starting to learn the customs, which are quite different from what we're used to, even with our experiences in Africa, Europe, and Mexico. For the most part, people are honest and friendly. There are some that make you question their motives. There is a price for Thais, then there is a price for foreigners.
It only took only half an hour of the steady rocking and clacking of the train to knock Chris out. The attendant converted our booth into an upper and lower berth to sleep. Nothing special, but I'll take it over a plane seat any day! No need for ambien on this 14hr trek, we were exhausted!
We woke up around 6am to rainforest and rice patty fields out our window. From the train station in Chiang Mai, we took a minibus to a guest house (term for small backpacker hotels). We decided today would be a good day to sharpen up on our haggling skills, since Asia is all about haggling. It took 3 miles of wandering the city streets with our 45lb packs and checking with other guest houses to find that the first place we stopped (SK House) was the best price and location (700B with A/C). A/C is a must here in the muggy heat. It's about 85*, but with the humidity it feels like 95-100. Many decent guest houses here all have internet, a pool, laundry service, and a cafe. 
Most all people on the check-in sheet were from Europe. It seems like those goofy Euros just sit around the guesthouse all day reading a book. It must be nice to take a year off at a time to travel and be lazy. They're also lucky becuase they can easily get around on a moped around here ($5/day). UK and Thailand is left-hand drive. If we tried, I'm sure I'd end up driving down the wrong side of the road! There are guidelines, but not really any strict rules they stick by except drunk driving. Think New York taxi drivers with no rules to drive by, except somehow there's no road rage here at all. There's not many tourists at all here right now thanks to it being the low season and swine flu fears. At the airport they were screening everyone with infra red cameras.
Most all people on the check-in sheet were from Europe. It seems like those goofy Euros just sit around the guesthouse all day reading a book. It must be nice to take a year off at a time to travel and be lazy. They're also lucky becuase they can easily get around on a moped around here ($5/day). UK and Thailand is left-hand drive. If we tried, I'm sure I'd end up driving down the wrong side of the road! There are guidelines, but not really any strict rules they stick by except drunk driving. Think New York taxi drivers with no rules to drive by, except somehow there's no road rage here at all. There's not many tourists at all here right now thanks to it being the low season and swine flu fears. At the airport they were screening everyone with infra red cameras. We gave in to the 20th or so tout (offer) for a tuk tuk ride. The guy only charged 
$1.50/hr so we were sold. You can get a tuk tuk all day for 500B, which is $15. We went to an awesome local restaurant serving authentic Chiang Mai Thia cuisine. It was great! Fried papaya salad, rice, noodles, soup, strange ice cream, and of course - Singha beer. Cost: $12
$1.50/hr so we were sold. You can get a tuk tuk all day for 500B, which is $15. We went to an awesome local restaurant serving authentic Chiang Mai Thia cuisine. It was great! Fried papaya salad, rice, noodles, soup, strange ice cream, and of course - Singha beer. Cost: $12 SNAKE FARM
We hopped in our waiting tuk tuk and headed 20min outside the city to the snake farm. It w
as a small outdoor reptile zoo full of poisonous snakes, birds, mongoose, peacock, iguana, etc. It was pretty cool. There were also two concrete bathtub-shaped pens that had no cage....chock full of snakes in a central tree. I'm talking 20 snakes in one tree. The pens with King Cobras were pretty scary. They are 6-8" Diameter and over 6ft long! The mongoose are like ferrets and really fun to watch. We sat down for the snake show, which was a small arena with a circular pen w/concrete walls 8" high surrounding it. There were just us and another couple for the show. On comes the theme to Rocky and I 
swear it was the same announcer from Bloodsport or one of those cheesy old fighting movies based in Asia. Very nice touch! "You bite snake, ohhh-kaayyyy. Snake bite you, you deeaaaad." There were 3 charmers and I can guarantee you they love their jobs. They get paid to scare the crap out of people all day. The oldest one was about 20, so I'd say there are no older charmers still alive. Being just 4 of us for the show, they chose chris and I to pick on. Of course we were dumb enough to sit front row as well. I have no doubt that tourists have been bitten here before. 15seconds after moving up 2 benches hi
gher, a king cobra got away and was on that seat in is split second. A quick grab from the charmer got him back in the ring before he got to us. We took some small sliver of comfort in that this place was an anti-venom farm and there was a hospital 10 min away. That's a window of just 20min to get there in time after a cobra bite. After cobras, they brought out lighting-fast non-venomous rat snakes. The charmer would take his snake tongs and grab them out of a wood box. On the 4th snake out of the box, he yanked one out, sailing through the air 30ft straight for us!!! Chris squealed like a baby and I probably did too as we scrambled out of the way. Just as it hit where 
I was on the bench, we saw that it was a big rope, no snake. This was just one of many laughs at our expense.
as a small outdoor reptile zoo full of poisonous snakes, birds, mongoose, peacock, iguana, etc. It was pretty cool. There were also two concrete bathtub-shaped pens that had no cage....chock full of snakes in a central tree. I'm talking 20 snakes in one tree. The pens with King Cobras were pretty scary. They are 6-8" Diameter and over 6ft long! The mongoose are like ferrets and really fun to watch. We sat down for the snake show, which was a small arena with a circular pen w/concrete walls 8" high surrounding it. There were just us and another couple for the show. On comes the theme to Rocky and I 
swear it was the same announcer from Bloodsport or one of those cheesy old fighting movies based in Asia. Very nice touch! "You bite snake, ohhh-kaayyyy. Snake bite you, you deeaaaad." There were 3 charmers and I can guarantee you they love their jobs. They get paid to scare the crap out of people all day. The oldest one was about 20, so I'd say there are no older charmers still alive. Being just 4 of us for the show, they chose chris and I to pick on. Of course we were dumb enough to sit front row as well. I have no doubt that tourists have been bitten here before. 15seconds after moving up 2 benches hi
gher, a king cobra got away and was on that seat in is split second. A quick grab from the charmer got him back in the ring before he got to us. We took some small sliver of comfort in that this place was an anti-venom farm and there was a hospital 10 min away. That's a window of just 20min to get there in time after a cobra bite. After cobras, they brought out lighting-fast non-venomous rat snakes. The charmer would take his snake tongs and grab them out of a wood box. On the 4th snake out of the box, he yanked one out, sailing through the air 30ft straight for us!!! Chris squealed like a baby and I probably did too as we scrambled out of the way. Just as it hit where 
I was on the bench, we saw that it was a big rope, no snake. This was just one of many laughs at our expense.
The video I was shooting during this photo is pretty large, so I can't upload it right now. This is a really pissed-off Copperhead. The announcer said "you move, you get bite". Nerves of steel, baby.
MONKEY SHOW
MASSAGE & BURRITOS
On the way home, we stopped for a relaxing "traditional" thai massage, which is the alternative to "special massage". They are all 50yr old ladies who have definitely seen better days, so I can't see how there's much of a "special" market. The massage was decent and at $5, who can complain? 
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