Bangkok to Chiang Mai

Hi again! I am now back at the guest house, having had some beer and burgers (shh, it's an authentic travellers' experience) with some other travelly folk I met, three from Jersey (I now know a LOT about the island..more than I perhaps wanted to know) and one from Boston. It's nioe how people just chat to you here, can't particularly imagine it happening back home unless they were drunk maybe.

So I had a whole post written about Bangkok but it's on the laptop and I'm not, so I'll post that up at some point. In the meantime, here's what I wrote on the train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai...

So far loving the train, and it hasn't even left yet! Playing 'spot the Thai bride' is well fun, there's a couple across the aisle from me, sharing KFC- he's a cantankerous old Yank, she's a petite, sweet Thai lady maybe half his age. He should be a LOT cherrier considering how far above his weight he's punching.

(next morning
\
Turns out the lower berth is better. And that I don't sleep at all well with the light on, even if I've only had a total of 8 hours' sleep over the past (time zone stretched) 2 days incorporating 13 hours of flights. However, I still feel quite relaxed and am loving the train even so. It feels like a proper adventure now! I like my berth buddy a lot, she is Chinese and quite maternal even though she's younger than me, and she keeps feeding me awesome foods like Rambutan(?) which is like lychee except no prickles or stone inside. She gave me one to try and then when I liked it, broke off a massive branch and thrust it into my hands. Couple of funnies from the guide book...\
number 1, the Tourism Authority of Thailand is abbreviated to 'TAT'
number 2, one of the Temples in Chiang Mai is called 'WAT U MONG' which looks rather like the graffiti on the inside of the girls' toilets back in high school. This is literally like something out of Mark's fake guidebook, Phaic Tan.


-------end earlier writings.


So I'm off to bed in a bit, then being awoken at 7am to start my 2-day trek, after which I'll be back for a day and then probably fly to Luang Prabang in Laos. I did consider alternative methods of transport but they are either not happening right now because of the rainy season making roads unpassable (Laos roads aren't great at the best of times..) or just unpleasant, ie 2-day boat trip where there's nowhere to sit and it just turns into a giant sweatbox. I think for the extra money and time I'll save, it's worth it. And then I have a couple of days there before flying to Hanoi on my birthday to meet Ricky - so packing quite a lot in. Looking forward to seeing Ricky, everyone is very friendly and I've had some good chats with people, but it's not the same as seeing the friendly face of someone you know. I miss you all.

Lots of love,

Lou xxx