The North

Trip Start Jun 05, 2007

Trip End Jan 06, 2009

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Where I stayed

Eagle House Chiang Mai

(Chiang Mai hotels)

Flag of Thailand Chiang Mai, Thailand
Friday, July 18, 2008

We got to the train station in Bangkok an hour early, and went to information to see if we could upgrade to nicer seats. She told us to hurry to the ticketing window, because there was some open seats in second class sleepers. We rushed over, and contrary to what she had said, the ticket man told us he only had first class sleepers leaving in 4 hours. We were unsure about what to do, but it was a busy day at the station and the ticket man urged us to decide so we just took the first class seats. 25 instead of 8 dollars, but then again, we got a bed. We were a bit upset with ourselves for taking the easy way out, because we had psyched ourselves up for the ideal. But, in reality, it was a great experience.

We waited around the station for the prescribed time, playing rummy on the floor, reading, had a few things to eat, then boarded the train. We sat next to a South African couple, and chatted the first few hours away with them, before they got their dinner, when we decided to head down to the dining car

Cat and Temple

. There is something I love about dining cars on trains. This one, was something special, not because of what it was, but because of who ended up in it. We had our fried rice, and slowly a large group was filtering in, and eventually, two of them took the seats at our table. We came to learn that they were all from the Netherlands, and that they were on an organized tour. Also, that their travel agent was a complete madman and drunk, and they loved him. They started playing Dutch songs over the terrible sound system, and they all sang along. We kept trying to sneak away, but we somehow continued to drink along with them, and one of them at least was always engaged with us in English conversation. They were a great crew really and we had a really fun time. We were eventually booted from the dining car to go to bed.

We woke in the morning, minutes before pulling into the Chiang Mai station, confused and hungover. A half hour later we were sitting at the cafe at our hotel with a few hours to burn till we could get into our room. They day was pretty well shot to say the least. But, we got a lot of reading done.