Browsing Posts tagged Bangkok
I’m going to try make a trend towards fewer better pictures than tons of good/mediocre pictures. Here’s the better ones from the Chinese New Year batch. I consider the woman looking up at the paper dragons to be my finest work to date. Let me know what you think!
Okay, so I will cut right to the point of this post. It’s not straight commentary on our overnight train trip from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, Thailand.
James rode 1st class while I rode, you guessed it, NOT in 1st class but the lowest class of 2nd class (there seem to be these subsections within each class, determined by the size of your bed and mod-cons available. )
We get to the train station a couple hours before the train we had hoped to take to Chiang Mai was to leave. But due to the fact that it is Chinese New Year, lots of other people are travelling and we were first told there were no trains available. Staying in BKK another night wasn’t an option, so we ditched the lady from the “tourism office” who attached herself to us to “help” us as she tried to convince us to take a plane.
James and I set our bags down in some seats and I took up the protective role while he set off in search of two tickets on this overnight train. My fingers were crossed. I was a bit nervous there was nothing available but James has a way of manifesting the strangest of things so I had hope.
Then he comes back and announces he has both good and bad news. I of course asked for the bad news, but got the good news which was that we had two tickets for the 6pm train to Chiang Mai. The bad news was that they were the last two tickets available and his was in first class while mine was in second class. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. He was so sorry. It was the only option. But that was cool with me because I was ready to get out of Bangkok. As the other bed in his cabin was booked by a man, he had to sleep in that seat.
Finally boarding time comes around. Turns out we are in total opposite ends of the train, 8 cars apart! I took my ticket and trudged off, the length of the train to find my seat with James promising to come visit after he ate (his car was right at the exit from the train station.) My car had two rows of seats on each side of an aisle that was about 15 or so inches in width. The seats, on the same side of the aisle faced the opposing one and were about 2.5 feet in width. They eventually folded down into really comfortable beds, with another bed pulling down from above our heads. Our luggage went onto racks in the aisles. So add some luggage, travelers and a couple train attendants and VERY quickly those aisles became very hard to manage. But manage we did as we had no other option–nothing the people in first class could relate to.
I put my backpack into the rack and settled in, doing some great people watching in between reading. There was a Thai gentleman who was a seat up on the other side of the aisle who made it his job to just turn around every 3 or so minutes and just stare at me. With a big smile on his face. I could see him out of the corner of my eye. He was harmless, but it was, well, just awkward. Then my knight in shining armor, from first class made an appearance, much to the dismay of my Thai traveling companion. He scooped me off to first class. Er, well, we wove our way in and out of the luggage and my fellow second class citizens, tripping over bags, feet and whatever else made it’s way into the aisle. The walk seemed like forever as we went thru cabin after cabin, including the food cabin, pulling ourselves up against the wall to let people pass or trying to squeeze by others.
Finally we made our way into first class and it did not go unnoticed that the attendants stopped to smile at us and ask if we, er James, needed anything. And then he pulled the door back to his “seat”–yes, it had a door as it was a private room, about 5 feet by 6 feet with a long bench for a seat, a private sink, water bottles, blankets, pillows, towels and a table. Wowsers! And the woman assigned to serve his cabin for food and drink requests was quite good at her job, popping her head in every 20 or so minutes, asking if we needed anything. I hung out there for awhile, watching climbing movies on our computer and reading. Oh how spacious and quiet it was!
But soon his cabin partner showed up and I took off, back to second class I went after tasting the good life! It was a long walk back and I noticed that as I moved thru the different cabins, the method of opening the door was different. First and the upper second class cabins has these schwanky buttons you push and the door opens for you. But when I finally got to second class, I had to throw all my body weight against the door to try and pull it open. Then when I was able to get it open enough to wedge a foot in, I put my whole body into the space and pushed the door open enough to squeeze thru.
When I got back to my seat, it had already been made into my bed which was quite comfy. Nice, clean white starched sheets awaited me with a pillow that looked very inviting. I had more than enough space in there and a curtain pulled the length of the bed that cut off most light from the aisle. It was like being in a cocoon. I switched on my light and read for a bit all the while taking in the passing landscape outside in the dark. Train travel is definitely the way to go and I was enjoying my trip, even in second class. It wasn’t the most restful sleep as the conductor would go thru announcing stations during the night and whomever got up early, put their bed away and chatted about everything under the sun. At 5am.
But that’s all part of travel. And maybe next time, I can get an upgrade.
