Chang to Chiang

Lest We Forget on 9/11

Thought I should probably check in again since we are now half way across the country. Internet is a bit slow so this may be painful... it's just after noon here and the girls are dead to the world upstairs in our new home, a nice peaceful and well appointed guesthouse down a sleepy lane in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand.... fair to say they are a bit shattered from the trip... I on the other hand just a had a walk around town and it is the total opposite of what we just left behind.

It's now Tuesday (I think), we left Koh Chang Island with some regret having got a little bit of the sun that was apparently so desperately needed, seems we stayed the three wettest days of their whole season. Eve and I had a good session at the Irish pub over the course of the rugby (Ab's vs Argies and Aus vs Saffas) which cost us more in Guinness (thanks to the Irishman charging western prices) than the last few days of the trip put together. The rickety old ferry got us back across to the mainland where we had nearly two hours to wait until the bus, during which time the girls ate some dodgy breakfast in the 'cafe' (shed) complete with pigs walking past the tables... the bus was another adventure in itself, a typical Asian affair, once a double decker party tour bus of some sort complete with garish interior, squeaky seats and tired shocks. A bumpy and long ride to Bangkok ensued and we were glad to get off, thankfully the one upside was it was one of the few buses that stops anywhere near the infamous Khao San Road backpacker district so we had a short walk to the hotel.

Khao San is much maligned these days as a place for bums and tour group backpackers who don't know better, but on the other hand it has reasonable hotels, night markets, food of your choosing and most things you need... it is packed with all manner of traveller and tout and street vendor and con artist, but then so are many places in Asia these days, and it suited our needs well. After a good sleep and a day trip to MBK Mall (shopping insanity, total overload to the non-shoppers amongst us) we grabbed our gear and headed for the station for a Monday night train north... this prospect was made more interesting as after we booked our tickets via the internet in Koh Chang, we learned via a newspaper that there had been massive rain and flooding in the north, and sure enough the rail lines a couple of hours south of our destination were "unserviceable". Funny how in a journey of hundreds of km of rail travel, a few metres of missing track can mess up your whole day... especially when said missing rail was on a hillside, which is also missing... I am glad our train was not the one that found it though.

So we set off on the train since the tickets were already paid for, happy that the floods had gone down and the torrents had eased, but not entirely knowing how we were going to make it the last 100km... Thai trains are of high quality by Asian standards, at least in terms of comfortable seat/beds and service.... what I had not encountered previously in Thailand was a track so rough or a train so loud. Along with all the normal creaks, rattles and rumbles I quickly noticed a loud, then LOUD banging noise under the train, which proceeded to get worse and louder as we went, until each jolt rattled the carriage and jarred our bones like someone with a large sledgehammer was pounding on the floor from below. At first I pondered that some large and important metal part of the train had come adrift and was bouncing off the tracks and up into the floor, but I soon realised it was the coupling or buffers between the cars and it was not going to go away. The net effect after a couple of hours was like trying to sleep in a wooden box while someone beat on it constantly with a length of 4x2... fun. I got a reasonable sleep (considering) but the girls suffered from the noise, jolts, and (apparently) some random drunk backpackers who insisted on making noise half the night (which is a pretty standard potential hazard on any bus or train).

We got to the next city south of here (Lampang?) around 0800 this morning after a slow trip through the hilly jungle with a train driver no doubt wary of possible missing tracks, and were thankfully greeted by a fleet of large buses to carry us the last 100km to Chiang Mai. First impressions are of a pretty, quiet little city with much for tourists to do... this is the outdoorsy/nature "place to be" in Thailand with plenty of elephant parks, tiger parks, monkey parks, zip lining (ha! South Park... it's Double Dew!!) and various other stuff... the weather is cooler being further north but so far the rain looks to have cleared, so there is already talk of extending our stay beyond three nights if the sun stays with us. Having gone for a wander in my overnight train clothes (who cares, it's Asia, I am only going to sweat in them again!!) I am now long overdue for a shower, so I will go see how the sleeping princesses are getting on... will check in again soon... 

Many thanks to the not-so-obscure music of Beck for drowning out some if not all of the train chaos last night... despite the admirable challenge of the Black Keys he is still reigning Funkiest White Nerd Alive, and he writes some very beautiful quieter tunes as well... for those not into his earlier experimental stuff try and album like 'Sea Change' or 'Modern Guilt' (produced by Danger Mouse no less).

Good luck to Phil for first race session of the season before I forget, do us proud son!!