Hi,
If you are looking to travel to the north of Thailand you can easily catch a sleeper train, 2nd class up to Chiang Mai. From here all the hostels run jungle trek tours which are great fun. You stay with hill tribes, ride elephants and bamboo raft down the river. Cooking courses are also really good in Chiang Mai.
You can travel to Mae Song Si from Chiang Mai to visit the long neck tribes, take a tour around the golden triangle and take a bus out to the Stunning and remote area of Pai for a few days (which I loved). This journey really is spectacular.
On your way back down there is the ancient temples of Ayutthaya, the former capital of Thailand and Thailand version of Angkor Wat. Only worth one night here though. From here you can either go east to the waterfalls in the jungle of Ko Yai where you'll see the water fall they jumped off in the film the beach, or head west to Kanchanuburi and the river Kwai. In this area are the Erawan waterfalls which are made up of 7 tiers of crystal clear waters which you can swim in! It’s a bit of a walk but worth going all the way to the top.
From here head back to Bangkok by local bus and catch another sleeper train down to Surat thani where you can catch a boat to one of the islands off the east coast.
Travelling by sleeper train is a great way to see the country and meet some locals and is cheap too. Travelling on a budget is easy in Thailand. As long as you don’t need all the luxuries then you will be able to live really cheap and still east out every night!
Enjoy!
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