Did I say I liked overnight train travel?
by Rachael
It’s a good thing our first train overnighter was a positive experience, because our second is turning out to be a shocker – enough to put you off train travel anywhere!
From my journal:
Rocking back and forth in a second-class sleeper (with fan, not aircon), the moon an orange semicircular bowl suspended in the sky grinning at me, it’s 1:30am and I am unable to sleep. When we booked these tickets we were assured the train was the same as the Butterworth to Bangkok one. With full-metre-wide lower berths, we elected for M6 and T4 to share one berth. Alighting just before 10pm, we discovered the reality. You guessed it – these ones are narrower, and not only that, they are shorter too. Even this would not be so bad, except that the kids were Had It by the time the beds were made up and M6 could not help himself – he just had to keep kicking T4. So he got moved onto my bed, the one I’m sharing with ER2. I squeezed in next to him with the overtired fractious toddler in my lap. I’m guessing it was midnight before she dropped off to sleep and I could move her to the end of the bunk. M6, meanwhile, went to sleep too, but turned feral whenever I tried to move him to his bed. Best to leave him be when you’re sharing carriage with 28 other people. Only problem with that is that I don’t fit next to him. It promises to be a long night perched on the edge of the sleeper! Next time we buy another berth; and this time a third class seat at half the price would have been more comfortable for me!
Twelve hours into the trip, Rob is declaring next time we pay the extra for second class *aircon* seats (not that it was an option this time – they were all sold out).
Second class with fan means we have the windows wide open, making it much much much much much noisier. Actually, you have to shout at each other to be heard. Rob is singularly unimpressed by this after the constant babble of Bangkok – I think the clickety-clacking just makes it all the more authentically trainlike!
We’re wondering if the the aircon carriages come with cleaner toilets. On this trip we are split into two groups – one at each end of the carriage. Both groups are insistent *their* stench is worse than the other’s! Subsequent trips, we’ll be booking centre-of-carriage berths!
OK, so how about some perspective? Here we are living a long-held dream. We can afford the privilege of sleepers. We are not homeless. I was able to appreciate the beauty of the early morning dawning over rice paddies. The thought popped into my head as I watched the light dispel the darkness, that it is the Ultimate Privilege to know the Source of the Light.
We’ll take another train!
(And while we were waiting for our train Grandpa was having his own last adventure – it’s too good not to remember:
I thought I had better fill you in re my last taxi ride to the airport.
You may remember the driver wanted BT500 and we settled on BT350? Well, as soon as we were driving down the road he started giving me hard-luck stories about the busy traffic and having to pay tolls etc, and wanted 450! I told him to stop the cab and I would get out. He immediately reduced the price to 370. I then pointed to the TWO licence pictures on the dashboard and made the observation that neither was a picture of the driver, and told him he was breaking the law and should not be driving. He agreed to 350! That was when I realised that the guy only had one eye……………..I wonder if he even had a driving licence? The motorway had 80kmph signs at about 1/2 km intervals, and most traffic was sticking to about 90. But not our driver! He wove his way in and out, never dropping below 110 and frequently up to 130! Maybe the speedo was on his blind side? Anyway, we arrived in one piece, the journey having taken about 35mins instead of the 1hr I had allowed.
That’s right – I remember now….one of the reasons we take trains in Thailand is that they are the safest way to travel!
Tags: parenting, postcard: Thailand, transport
rayres
sori you cant sleep and are all packed in like sardines this time
We’ll be doing that train journey in May and I’m taking notes!Sounds bad…….but I still can’t wait to get there!I hope you’re all recovering in Chiang Mai. It seems that Chiang Mai is a much slower,leafier place to chill out.
I agree – unwind in Chiang Mai. We have friends there if you need a Kiwi voice. I bet Grandpa was relieved to arrive safely at the airport!! At least after these train rides you know that there is a possibility of it being more comfortable than the 2nd ride. And you are right – when in perspective in the Grand Scheme of things, it is ok … just not at 1:30am!!! Blessings.