It seemed like a swell idea to take the overnight train from Bangkok north to Chiang Mia. Saving the five dollars to sit in third class versus the more touristy oriented first or second class was totally worth it when our daily budget was between four-six dollars. Plus, as we were just beginning our Southeast Asian adventure, we weren’t really sure just how long our current budget would last.
So that’s how we found ourselves on the third-class train with what seemed like most of Thailand’s local population. Our night went something like this.
8:42 p.m. — We are sitting at the Moon Cafe, trying to will time away for the next 3 hours before our night train leaves for Chiang Mia. After failing to make the 4:00 train this afternoon and finding out that we would have to stand on the 9:00 train, we decided to stick it out the extra hours and actually have a seat. This just isn’t any seat though. This is a low budget, hard wood bench, 191 baht, 3rd class seat. We were in for a wild night!! However, we were very hopeful. We had a new deck of UNO cards and a sack full of munchies.
9:15 p.m. — UNO is out of the question. The “new” deck is missing half of the cards. DRAT!!
12:00 a.m. — There are only so many times that you can play I SPY in the train station. Our train is running 60 min. behind schedule and I’m already exhausted.
12:21 a.m. — We found our seats!! Actually they are two hard slabs of plastic with just enough room for us to sit on top of one another and squeeze our knees together. The rest of the train’s guests boarded in Bangkok and were already laying in the aisles sleeping. I tried not to step on any fingers or toes as I shoved my pack into the overhead compartments but was unsuccessful.
3:40 a.m. — This is definitely uncomfortable. The train is pulsing along, gently rocking the people that actually have room to sleep into a sweet slumber. The four of us have exhausted our lists of “fun games our parents taught us to play on really long car rides” and are struggling to get comfy.
4:30 a.m. — My stomach is growling but the dried squid on a stick that the vendors keep passing along looks a bit unappetizing. The cookies that we bought are stale.
4:36 a.m. — Was that a rat that I saw over there? I picked my feet up and plopped them on Liz’s lap just to be safe.
5:15 a.m. — I drifted off to sleep for 2 min. and fell off of the bench. Somehow Cass is lying on the floor and Liz stretched out on her half of the seat. I’m seriously considering sneaking into 2nd class but the guy whose fingers I stepped on earlier seems to be eyeing me suspiciously. Maybe I’ll wait until he falls asleep.
6:30 a.m. — I’ve been playing games with the 4 yr. old sitting across the aisle. I’ll wink at him and then he hides his head and peaks out from between his fingers. This keeps us amused for about 10 minutes. 6 hours down, 6 hours to go!!!
9:55 a.m. — Twenty-six hours with no sleep is catching up to us. My legs were numb three hours ago. I have to admit that the sunrise was very pretty over the jungle though!
12:00 p.m. — Our train has stalled, overheated, and come to a complete stop on the mountain in the middle of no where. Could it get any hotter here?
1:30 p.m. — Arrival in Chiang Mia! I’ve never enjoyed a cold shower and hard bed this much! It is quite amazing how utterly filthy one can get just by sitting on a train for several hours. Our clothes are now soaking in black water in the sink. We made it…the only “westerners” in third-class accommodation!!…and we saved a bundle of money too!
