Waiting for the Train

Waiting for the Train, originally uploaded by Robbi Baba.

From Chiang Mai the plan was to head south and visit the ruins of Thailand's ancient capital at Old Sukhothai. I think my friend Susan had recommended Old Sukhothai as an essential stop and I'd certainly seen enough gorgeous photos to put it on our itinerary.

I had also read someone's travelogue about an idyllic train journey through rural Thailand and it was so enticing I booked our tickets with anticipation. She had written of the languid rain soaked air flowing in through the windows and the lush jungle and remote villages rolling past. It sounded great.

But the train system in Thailand is complex. There are a number of types of trains and we ended up on an air con train with dirty windows that didn't open. And it was the dry season anyway, so the jungle wasn't looking that great. And the air con didn't work very well. And the seats weren't very comfortable to boot. Shit. It's an eight hour trip.

I remember feeling so apologetic. I was the tour director. We could've flown for not much more money and had almost a whole extra day. Our time was really feeling so precious by that point that I was experiencing deep regret. Another 'oh well' experience.

Anyway, here we are sitting at the Chiang Mai train staton, innocent of what's ahead, but nervous as hell because trains are rolling in and rolling out and we're not sure if we're on the right platform and how will we know if it's really our train, and how will we cope with our luggage and and and....

Of course every Thai person in that staton was highly aware of us and would have gone out of their way to make sure we were okay. Silly us.

One very good thing about the train trip was getting to borrow a recent Lonely Planet Thailand from a fellow farang and doing careful research about getting to Old Sukhothai and the available guest houses. This really paid off!