Trains, Planes and Automobiles
Trip Start
Nov 02, 2007
1
33
Trip End
Dec 02, 2007
Bristol,
United Kingdom
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Was kind of sweet really as they all had food sorted for them but gave me of their fruit :-) I had really not even thought about food and was actually really hungry so it was a life saver.
Anyway things quietened down a bit so I went to sleep. Not a lot of room is those sleeper bunks but I had a window and it was quite nice to be rocked gently to sleep. I did wake up a lot but generally had an ok sleep.
Got up at about 6am and got ready (change of clothes etc) and watched the train pulling into Bangkok
Concourse Sculpture
. Quite a few stops before the end station and I certainly saw some interesting sides of the city. The slums looked particularly grim, a lot worse than anything I saw in Chiang-Mai.Anyway got to the station at about 7.30. Found an airport bus and sat down and waited till 8 when it left. The ride out to the airport took about an hour so by the time I got there I just wanted to have some breakfast and rest a bit.
The prices of course were back onto just about western so I paid 260B for a continental breakfast! This felt like a complete rip-off but I realised it was just getting me used to the western world where 3-4 pounds for a breakfast is acutally ok.
It was nice and I read more of Lord of the Rings. Glad I brought it now as it kept me entertained for the next 24hrs, went I wasn't sleeping.
The plane left on time but my stomach wasn't at all happy with the ascent and I actually felt quite sick. When lunch came I couldn't eat anything. I nibbled a bit of bread but just felt pretty dodgy really. I did some meditation and a little abdominal massage and things eased off a little.
They put some films on which was a blessing, even if there was only 1 screen I could see and people insisted on standing in front of us! I managed to see about 3 films I think, including StarDust, which was great as I had wanted to see that for ages. The film did keep cutting off but actually the first time it did it prompted me to open my window cover and look outside
Departure
. Amazingly for the first time ever there were no clouds and I had an amazinf view of the Afghan Mountains. So beautiful. The people next to me noticed and had a look as well. Such a blessing to see that, and I wouldn't have if the film hadn't cut off :-)Anyway there were a couple of other films, one with Samuel L jackson as an aging homeless boxer, which was quite good and another with Cuba Gooding Junior running a summer camp. It passed the time and I read some more.
The descent into london also made me feel quite sick, I guess the food poisoning unsettled my system and made me a little more prone to nausea than I usually am.
Anyway we finally got to Heathrow at 7.15pm (slightly early) and made the trek to the bus station. Felt kind of nice to be back on English soil. Odd in a way though as coming from a place where I felt like an outsider being white, I arrived in London, where I also felt like an outsider being white! It really hit me how asian and black london is. The bus arrived and left on time and I quickly feel asleep, even though it was uncomfortable.
I got into Bristol at 11.15, again slightly earlier than expected and was picked up by Mike and dropped off at home. After a shower I finally crashed into what felt like the softest, most luxurious bed I had ever slept in and had a great nights sleep.
This month has been such an amazing experience for me. Words can't really do it justice. It's a shame it's over now but I know that a piece of that place will always be with me and I will definitely be back if fate allows.
I hope you've found this blog interesting and enjoyed virtually accompanying me around Chiang Mai. I must admit it's been great to have a place to put down everything otherwise I think I would have missed a lot of memories. This way I can look back and be reminded of all the little joys and blessings that have been bestowed on me.
Love and peace to you all.
Emma
