(Okay, okay.. the 'chronicling' is more for myself than for you, but I do hope you enjoy it!)
So, let's take a trip to Chiang Mai!
First step, acquire a train ticket. The whole reason to take the train over the bus is because you can actually sleep on the train. And because it is fun to pretend that you are on the Hogwart's express... but maybe that's just me. However, by the time I arrived at the train station in downtown Bangkok (which is a 'trip' in and of itself), all of the sleeper tickets were gone, and only seating tickets on the later train were left.
Sitting (overnight, mind you) for 15 hours next to someone I do not know in a non-air-conditioned train car??? I don't think so.... not this girl. I might as well take the bus. I might get terribly motion sick, but at least it is air-conditioned.
Just as I was about to leave the train station to head for the bus station with my new Spanish lady friend named Olga (we met while waiting in line), we were approached by a
But alas! Thanks to the German guy, within 5 minutes, Olga and I were offered tickets on the sleeper train that we had just been told was sold out. And the price was not even marked up! So we took them.
Risky? Eh... maybe.
Okay, I'm not gonna lie. I was kind of paranoid the whole time that the German "trader" was going to abduct me. I was a little comforted, though, by the fact that Olga looked like she could take him. Unless Olga worked for German guy... So I devised a back up plan to call my co-worker Beth and leave my phone in my pocket so that she could find me after the abduction. (Beth is related to Chuck Norris.) Yep. Fool proof.
So I was off!
Here is what a sleeper train car looks like....
S-KETCH-yyyy. I know. It totally looks like something out of a horror film. But that is probably only because it was night time... and because Olga and I were the ONLY two people in this train car. Us and the German trader, of course. (I dont know, but something tells me that the train people were not supposed to sell us those tickets...)
But once the train started moving and I climbed into my little bunk and closed the curtain, this odd situation did not seem so scary anymore.
The beds on the sleeper train are actually pretty comfy-- softer than the bed in my apartment! And the loud drone of the train moving along the tracks coupled with a good book put me right to sleep. Next (conscious) stop for Gracie-Grace, Chiang Mai.
And whaddaya know... I did not get abducted, and I woke up with all of my organs and belongings.
So, I met with my lawyer. Signed a bajillion papers. Went with her assistant to Immigration. Enjoyed a latte during my stress-free wait. And then we were done! I still had a few hours left before I needed to be at the train station to catch the night train back to Bangkok, so I headed to the mall in search of this....
Obviously, I found it. And ate it. Thank you, supporters, for this delicious cheese pizza. It is not something I splurge on often, but I figured after my near-abduction experience, it was well warranted. ;)
After pizza, it was back to the train station. When I left the mall, I got into a song thaew headed to the train station with this Australian man (who only had one arm) and his wife. It turned out that we were on the same train to Bangkok. The mall was less than 5 miles away from the train station. We left the mall more than an hour before the train was supposed to depart. Our song thaew got stuck in traffic.
5 miles + 1 hour of traffic = 3 farang (white people) who missed their train.
Dannnnnng it. The tickets were non-refundable, and the only other train to Bangkok that night was a seating-only, non-air conditioned train. Really?? Will I be reduced to the bus yet again?
Oh! But how convenient... the song thaew driver is willing to drive us to the next train station... for 500 baht (about $16 USD) a piece. That is suspiciously just-barely-cheaper than a bus or train ticket. Well, we have no other option at this point, and if we deliberate too long, catching the train will no longer be an option. So we (very begrudgingly) take the song thaew to the next train station.
It sucked to spend the extra money, but at least we got to enjoy this sunset on the ride...
AND, since I was stuck with this Australian couple in the song thaew for another hour-and-a-half, I got a chance to ask the man why he only had one arm. He said he grew up in the Outback and it got bitten off by crocodile when he was a kid.
I was like NO way!! Beth and I were just talking about how we wished we had some awesome injury like that so that we could tell other people about it!
But he was just kidding. His dad ran him over with a lawn mower. By accident, of course. But he was too young to remember it anyway. They were a lovely couple.
Well, we did indeed arrive at the next train station with plenty of time to catch the train headed to Bangkok. And it turned out there was a night market just around the corner from the station. I love market food (chicken kebabs and mango with sticky rice), so it was a win-win situation... except for the extra 500 baht, that is.
Nestled in a sleeper train top bunk for the second night in a row, I fell asleep to the end of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, and the loud but comforting rattle of the train down the tracks towards home.
Nine hours later, morning is ushered in on the train with not-so-delicious instant coffee, and the bunk beds being folded down into seats. I spent the last hour of my trip staring out the window at the beautiful green rice fields of central Thailand, watching as the dense fog, thick as clouds, curled upwards into the balmy sky.
Then home again. Then shower. Then sleep.
Thanks for coming along for the ride. :)
I really enjoyed this!
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