If you haven’t seen the 1959 black and white classic “Some Like It Hot”, then it you need to check out this clip that takes place aboard the sleeper car of a train. In the film, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemon dress as women and hop onboard a train full of girls headed for Florida to escape mafia bad guys. Tony Curtis does his best to pick up Marilyn Monroe, but his plans are foiled when an impromptu cocktail party breaks out in their berth.
Fast forward to the colorized version in 2019, as Bonnie and George make their way from Bangkok to Chiang Mai on the famous Number 9 overnight train, 13 hours in total leaving at 6:10 in the evening.
We booked our tickets (USD $41 each) via 12GoAsia and could not have been happier with the service. Fluent in English, they were very helpful, even when we had to change our dates. We picked up our tickets (they ask that you pick them up 1 hour before your train boards), at their offices across the street from Hua Lamphong station. From the station, go down into the subway via exit number 2 and walk back out on the other side of the busy road via exit number 1. Walk straight out of the exit and down two buildings and you will see the clearly marked office.
The waiting area at the train station was huge. People from all over the world were seated, mostly on the clean floor, in groups waiting to board trains. Once your train shows up on the big board, you drag your bags down the platform until you find your car number as indicated on your ticket. From there it is up and into the train to look for your assigned seats. Couples traveling together should try and book upper and lower berths. In our case it was car 5 seats 13 (lower) and 14 (upper). Every berth is equipped with a power outlet to let you charge your phones, tablets etc. The plugs are the same in Thailand as they are in the USA, and also have European slots built in.
Once you get onto the train and stow your bags, you sit on comfortable facing seats on the lower berth. Almost as soon as you sit down a lady will approach you to try and sell you meals (dinner and breakfast) to be served on the train. The food is good, but relatively expensive. We paid a total of USD $18 for dinner and breakfast. They sell food on commission but are not overly pushy about it. Many people brought their own food. No alcohol is allowed on the train, so unlike the movie, George had to leave his cocktail shaker in his bag.
Dinner is served a half hour into the ride and after about 1 hour a steward comes around to open up the berths and and make up the beds. By 9:30 most everyone is snuggled down with drapes drawn and the train takes on a completely different appearance. Just be warned, for security reasons they never turn the bright lights in the corridors off. If you need dark to sleep, bring along an eye shade.
So many songs, such as “City of New Orleans” and “Wagon Wheel” talk about being rocked to sleep by a train, and that is exactly what happens. Before you know it, they are turning the beds back into seats and bringing around coffee and fresh fruit as you get ready to pull into Chaing Mai promptly at 7:10 am.
Rock me momma like the wind and the rain, rock me like a south bound train, oh momma rock me….
Around 6pm we hopped on the subway to Bangkok’s famous Chinatown. It was a bustling swirl of color, and smells and crowds. We wandered the streets for about an hour and decided it was finally time to eat…
no we did not try the bugs!
The next morning we headed out to see the Grand Palace. We hopped onto the Skytrain, connected to the subway and finally boarded a riverboat ferry to the Old City. As we started across the street towards the palace we we stopped by the inevitable tuk tuk driver offering to take us to all the sights and sit and wait while we wandered around and took photos for a mere 500 baht. We decided it seemed worth it, so we climbed in.
First stop was the sitting Buddha followed by the Grand Bhudda followed by a “short stop” at a jeweler in 
between…it seems that shop owners offer the tuk tuk drivers fuel vouchers to bring potential customers to them. Since we were just touring the city with no real schedule, we decided to go along for the ride. After the Grand Bhudda we stopped at the tailor to have some clothes made – cause that’s what you do in Thailand, right?? All the while James, our driver, sat and waited…
stall selling every tchotchke and food you could ever imagine (an
About 40 minutes drive from the house is the Burleigh Heads National Park. There are many walking tracks within the park itself including the Ocean View Walk around the the rocky headland; the Rainforest Circuit which takes you through the park where you can view beautiful plant and bird life. Along the way there are many places that allow access to the beach. We went on a Saturday, so the beaches and trails were busy, but everyone was friendly and we had a great hike of about 3 miles or so. The views were amazing!
George’s birthday dinner was a special evening. We sat at the edge of the lagoon, at the 
In 1970 Steve started working with reptiles at his parents nature preserve in Northern Queensland, at 10 he wrestled his first crocodile while his father looked on. Later Steve married an American from Oregon (Teri) and together tho two launched a film series aimed at raising consciousness about wildlife conservation and raising money to expand the preserve his parents had started.
We generally wake up pretty early (the sun rises a round 4:45AM here). The very first thing we do when we actually get up is take the dogs for a walk. Cuddles generally leads and Honey straggles along behind. We walk into the “village” and back – about a mile and a half round trip. 
Some days I go for a swim in the pool and George works out on the exercise equipment at the house, yesterday we started canoeing on the canals behind the house. Afterward we shower and get ready for the rest of the day. 
We settled in quickly, although it did take a while for us to get used to having the sun come up at 4:45am. After all, ‘if the sun is up, you should be too”.
The house sits on one of the canals that criss cross this area. We will be exploring them, first by canoe and then later via jet ski. But first we have to get licensed to ride the jet ski. If we get caught riding without the certificate, our house (the owner of the jet ski) will get fined.