The Night Train

I took the last train out of Bangkok at 10 pm to for an afternoon arrival, allowing the sights of the land passed through to be seen in the morning light. 2nd class, air con. The lower berth for access to the window. The bed was big enough, comfortable, and had clean sheets. There was no door, but a curtain to draw for privacy. The schedule says 14 hours but everyone knows it will take longer. A 20 minute delay to the start served as a first reminder of this. 

We rode out of the city and into the night of the suburbs and industrial parks. We passed the night with eyes closed but sleepless for the constant, erratic shaking and jerking of the train and the occasional feeling of some small insect passing over bare skin. Once sheer exhaustion took over to induce sleep regardless of the perpetual awakening provided by the train, an imbecile with an alarm clock proceeded to hit snooze for two hours straight until 6 am. Breakfast was runny eggs and toast with an alleged piece of ham and slices of cantaloupe. It was overpriced but it did the job. The bitter coffee and excessively sweetened orange juice kept me going briefly to watch the jungle and the rice fields and the plantations and the small towns pass by outside. Ravines and green, jungle-covered hills in the distance were sometimes blacked out by tunnels cut through the earth to make our route more direct. 

Once again sleep overtook me and once again the imbecile's alarm woke me shortly thereafter. 

We passed a half dozen stations and stopped at a half dozen others. Riding high on a ridge, temples could be seen tucked in between grazing cattle on patches of farmland in the valleys below. 

Stopped at a station for a length of time that seemed beyond that scheduled, men wearing coveralls talked into their radios and inspected the underside of the train. Eventually we moved on and about five km out we stopped as smoke billowed from just outside the window. The smell of overworked brakes preceded it. We sat for a half hour until the train workers were satisfied and we moved on. 

Twisted vines and relentless plant growth gave way to overgrown trails marked by potato chip bags fastened to a stick and the relative clearings of banana plantations. A random golf course and an old man on a bike with a sidecar snapped my thoughts away from the jungle and back towards civilization. Cell phone towers and television antennas mingled with free range cattle and rice fields, temples, and the people of the countryside. The destination, Chiang Mai, drew near.

The Night Train

Bright Lights, Big City

Where the magic happens

I’m in the caboose

Leaving the station in Bangkok

This sign says you can go to prison for six months for boozing on the train. Boo.

An old man doing his thing.

On display in Chiang Mai

The golf course in the middle of nowhere.

Visa Run to Kuala Lumpur, Part Three: The Return

I was unable to purchase round trip transport from Koh Tao to Kuala Lumpur and I couldn't get a ticket  all the way from KL to Koh Tao. So I bought tickets as I went, retracing the route I took to get there. On the way down, the whole trip was set up so each leg was scheduled to coincide with the next. Switching from boat to van and van to bus was no problem because they were linked together. For some reason, this wasn't an option going back.

It started off ok. I caught the big red double decker bus that left almost on time that would take me across the border and on to Hatyai.

After eyeing me somewhat suspiciously and studying the stamps in my passport, the Thai immigration officer informed me I would need a visa if I wanted to come back again after reluctantly giving me another 30 days. Hopefully I can take care of this in a couple of weeks when I get to Laos. For now, I'm good until mid-September. The bus continued on, making just as many stops as we made on the way down, but mostly at places where I couldn't buy food. I slept most of the way this time, so I didn't really care. We got there well after sunset and there was no hope of moving on until morning. The most noteworthy event of my time in Hatyai was seeing an elephant walking down the street in the middle of the city. I've now seen both a random elephant and a random lion in an urban setting. Interesting and sad.

The next stop was Surat Thani. It was the same type of minivan I had on this leg going the other way, but this time nothing went as planned. A lesser, or perhaps better, man than I would have used whatever means necessary to ensure this driver did not prevent the timely arrival at the next stop. But alas I am somewhat lazy, have some morals, and am generally averse to prison. So as it happened, the four hour trip I was sold, became a 7 hour trip resulting in missing the boat to Koh Tao. I did, however, get the pleasure of discussing with my militant tour operator friend my dilemma and the error of the bus company that sold me the trip to this point. Upon my mention of the quantitative difference between the numbers 4 and 7, he immediately got defensive by going on the offensive and telling me it was my fault for the minivan arriving late and then that he had nothing to do with the other company, so why was I telling him this. Dude has issues. I'm so thankful I don't have his life. They did have my Kindle, though, which, as you'll recall from part one of this saga was left on the minivan when I got to Hatyai the first time. My new friend here was quick to point out that had I been travelling with any other outfit, I would have never seen my Kindle again. Apparently every other transportation agency in Thailand is run by thieves. (I do consider myself lucky to get it back, but this guy was still a dick)

So I now had three options, pay a taxi a sum of more than the rest of the entire return trip to get me to the fast boat that I was supposed to be on, stay the night in Surat Thani and catch first fast boat the next day, or hang out around town for 6 hours and take the slow night boat back to Koh Tao. After thinking for several moments on the question of what there was to do around there for 6 hours, the woman selling me the ticket said there was pizza near the pier. I figured there'd be beer to go along with said pizza and I opted for the night boat. My entertainment while I enjoyed my pizza and beer was watching these guys across the street try and kick a ball through a net raised up into the sky. I would have gone over there to show them how it was done, but it was kind of windy with the storm moving in and...

Nothing much to say about the boat. Proving me wrong, it turned out to indeed be seaworthy enough to get us to Koh Tao. And I got to watch the stars from the top of the boat while out in open water away from light pollution. So that was nice. It wrapped up a pretty good trip to a city that was definitely a pleasant surprise.

Year of the Kingdoms

2015 is shaping up to be a pretty good travel year. Considering the upcoming plans for SuperTrippin', it looks like this is definitely the year of the Kingdoms. Temporarily stationed in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, SuperTrippin' has also been to the Kingdom of Bhutan in April. Pictures and stories for both of these will be up soon. One of my full-time jobs has ended, giving me more time to support ST. Coming soon will be a trip to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, followed shortly after by a trip to the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Currently working out the logistics of spending some time in the Kingdom of Thailand as well. There is much more in store, too. So check back to keep up to date. The rest of the year's plans are far from definite, but I've got certain information, alright?