You know the saying "If you want something done, get a busy person to do it"? Well, the inverse of that is what I'm experiencing right now, namely, with very little to do I'm not getting ANYTHING done.
I know that's not totally true. I mean, I have been to the grocery store several times, even walking there on most occasions, and we've played catchup with Austin friends, and I've been instrumental in putting together a few meals. But, I haven't used this long awaited free time to catch up on blogging.
A Friday, July 13th resolution - I will have the entire trip to Southeast Asia blogged by August 13th.
Phew. Hopefully, this resolution won't go the way of those undertaken at more auspicious times of the year...
We got up on the morning of May 25th knowing it was going to be a long, long day. We were going to take a bus to Bangkok, where we'd need to get across town to change to a train for Chiang Mai, in the northern part of the country.
First things first - how do you get to the bus station in Sangkhlaburi?
Well, by motorcycle taxi, of course! It's the only way to travel there, actually. Unless you have your own car. My driver was able to put my backpack on the floorboards in front of him.
I will admit that every time I got on one of these motorcycle taxis, I wondered if the local hospitals were used to treating Westerners with road rash. I felt like a lumbering hippo, sitting behind this 15 year old Thai kid, and I just prayed I wouldn't throw him off balance.
Things went fine, of course, and we arrived at the bus station with twenty minutes or so to spare. We never would have found this station on our own - it wasn't the one we arrived at. In fact, it was just a storefront.
Most towns apparently have different bus stops for a/c and non a/c buses, so you can't just hop in (or on) a taxi and ask for the bus stop.
Husbear was excited to see that we had been dropped off right next to the market, so I went inside and bought tickets while he went off to explore.
Tropical fruits: rambutan, lychee, rose apple, mangosteen, and so on.
Fish, drying outside in the sun:
Variety meats, inside the market - note the fan, used to keep flies away:
Pig heads! These weren't nearly as scrubbed-looking as the ones we saw in Italy.
And, if you were wondering how to season all of these items:
No problems, once again, getting on the bus. This time, we had a more comfortable experience, with a/c and reclining seats. Two hours into the four-hour trip back to Kanchanaburi, we stopped to stretch our legs and have a bite to eat.
This place was much more farang-friendly than the place the non a/c bus stopped on our way to town. Unsurprisingly, the food wasn't nearly as wonderful - we had a couple of bowls of so-so, bland chicken noodle soup. We did buy some crispy cashew and sesame rings that were tasty and crunchy and begged for beer that we didn't have. Ah, well.
We had thought we'd have to change buses in Kanchanaburi, but it turned out our bus went all the way to Bangkok. Yay! We bought tickets all the way through and stretched out.
When we arrived in Bangkok, it was almost 6. We had until 10:30 for our train, but we had our luggage with us, so we flagged down a taxi to Bangkok's Hualamphong train station. This one, impressively, was metered! What? We almost didn't know what to do... so we overtipped.
We were still three and a half hours early for our train, so we found a nearby Internet place. Really easy to stay connected in Thailand.
I read in my Southeast Asia on a Shoestring that the food court at Hualamphong train station was full of good food for a cheap price. Since it was either that or some weird corn shack, we tried out the food court.
Iced coffees were tasty, but maybe not a good idea before an overnight train ride? It's hard enough to get to sleep on those uncomfortable and oh-so-public beds.
And some noodles. Pad see ew in this case. They looked a lot more enticing on other people's plates but turned out to be overcooked and underseasoned. Not awful, though.
I also ordered some Chinese-style BBQ pork on rice, which turned out to be overwhelmingly sweet. The som tam, or green papaya salad, was probably the best of the things we ordered, but it still had a muddled flavor instead of the true, sharp Thai taste.
Eh. All ths food was pretty reasonably priced - 160 baht, or about 6 dollars. But it seemed to be tilted towards the farang (foreigner) palate - bland and sweet. Oh well.
I knew we shouldn't be trusting guidebooks for food recommendations, but we were stuck at that point.
With an hour to go before our train left, we went out to see what we'd be riding.
Aw, shite.
I really thought we'd paid for an air-conditioned sleeper, so when I saw this train with the windows I got pretty pissed. Going inside confirmed what I feared - we were booked on a non-a/c second class sleeper train. One top bunk and one bottom.
We went inside to talk to the ticket-sellers, but to no avail. All a/c seats were sold out. In an effort to make myself feel better, I walked the length of the train with Husbear. We noticed that there were in fact no a/c sleepers on this train, just one air-conditioned car where we could sit up all night. Yow.
Comforted that we had at least the best options available, we got our bags and loaded up...
Our castle.
A note about these trains. The bottom bunk is more expensive, for several reasons. The bed is wider, each bottom bunk has a window (none of the top bunks do), and because you're further away from the light, it's a lot darker. I took the top bunk.
I don't think I've ever passed a more hellishly hot night in my life. I know I sound like a prima donna here, and I don't really care. Closing the curtain meant cutting off the air being desultorily circulated by the sputtering fans, so I left it open. This meant that the greenish light flooded into my bunk all night long. I had a sleep mask, but kept sweating it off the top of my head.
It was an experience, I suppose. One thing I will say for this train - everything, including the bathrooms (though they were squat toilets, of course) was kept really clean.
We were told we'd be arriving the next morning at 11. (A cursory glance at an online timetable shows that would have been dreaming the impossible dream.) Not even close.
I consoled myself with the remider that our hotel in Chaing Mai would have a pool. A pool never sounded better in my whole life.
Let's leave us there for now, tossing and turning and dreaming occasionally of cool, watery pools.
I forgot to tell you how to pass the time in a Thai overnight train! ...first, find the BAR CAR. It typically has US hits from the 1950s (and in my experience a Black Eyed Peas album) and alcohol. After becoming friendly with the local passengers and employees, return to your car, thoroughly "exhausted" and ready to pass out. Then, pass out. The ride will be over before you know it!!
I guess it's a little late now. Sorry :-)
Posted by: Anna | Monday, 16 July 2007 at 20:34
Oh my gawd, Anna, that would have been a great idea... except there was no bar car on our train! After researching later,it turned out we had bought tickets on the late-night cheapo train. No a/c sleepers at all, no bar car, no restaurant car, plus it was the slowest of all the night trains! We really did a good job.
We did get the steward to bring us a couple of enormous Beer Chiang, which helped somewhat.
Posted by: Girlie | Wednesday, 18 July 2007 at 10:55
Pad See Ew, or Phat Si lo, is an incredibly popular dish that originates from Northern Thailand in the province of Chiang Mai.
Posted by: Click Here | Thursday, 31 January 2013 at 05:48