Thailand #2

What a Country (2/8/24): *PART 1

I believe I left off on the previous Thailand post with us about to leave Bangkok by train for Chiang Mai.

This train journey--430 miles from the south of Thailand to the north--was interesting. Britney had set up the train ride ahead. We caught a taxi from downtown to the train station, which was at the Don Airport. The airport was medium-sized and fairly confusing at first. We boarded the train about 8pm.

It felt like a European frat party in the train car, with early twenties Euro kids laughing and chatting in their respective languages. We each had a little--emphasis on 'little'--claustrophobic compartment perhaps six feet long and three feet high with a stained blue curtain which swiveled back and forth on hooks. No windows in these compartments. I'd had two opposing images in my mind, both of which were wrong: Either my old experiences riding Amtrak across America, or else a sort of ancient rollicking freight train in India with open windows and bare feet hanging off the sides.

Britney and I had back to back compartments. We couldn't see each other but we could talk and clutch hands. I settled down using the red blanket they provided and read the Barthes book I'd bought in Bankcock ('Mythologies'). The lights in the car stayed on. It grew quiet. I fell asleep, but I woke intermittently throughout the night. Sometimes the screech of the wheels woke me, or the rollicking of the train: once I got up to use the bathroom at the other end of the car and I watched through the narrow open window the land passing by at 3am. It reminded me of hopping freight trains and of my days-long Amtrak trips across the country in my wayward misspent youth.

In the morning we were awakened early--6am--and everyone had to gather their things and get out of bed. We did so and stood around awkwardly as the employees folded the top bunks up against the ceiling and the bottom beds into seats. Suddenly it was a real train, with seats and windows.

Britney and I had to share a small one-person seat sitting across from an old, kind Thai lady. She tried to talk to us and did so but it was stilted and difficult. The sun was up now and we were passing thick green jungle. Little areas opened up with dirt and old train tracks; feral dogs ranged around sniffing the ground for food. At one point our train stopped and an employee walked out into the stellar sun and fed the dogs. Lovely.

About two hours later--around 9am--we arrived in Chiang Mai. We caught a little motorcycle taxi with a bolted side car cage thing which we sat in. It was fun. Fifteen minutes later we were downtown. We found a coffee shop. Britney went off to get a massage at 10; I stayed to write and mess around with my debut novel, The Crew, on Amazon, checking stats, etc. Then I read Barthes. I sipped way too much Matcha tea and ate too much bread. I watched the people in the square nearby snap photos of each other and laugh.

Soon Britney was back and we went on the hunt for more food. (Dirt cheap.) We eventually found a restaurant with outdoor seating under shade. Here we sat and took our hats and shades off and glugged cold water and ate delicious Thai food.

And we met Brent. Nice guy. He was sitting at the table next to us, alone. Silver-fox, early-mid-fifties, medium-muscular, stylish in T-shirt and shorts, good head of hair. Like many travelers do, he just started talking to us. Turned out he was retired Air Force. He retired two years ago. Since then he's been traveling. He seems to be a lady's man. He was married once but was divorced in 2004. He's been in Thailand a while. He's meeting his son soon in Hong Kong. After that he's going to Bali.

We've met--as one does--quite a few fellow travelers. Not people vacationing for a week; I'm talking people who are flying from country to country for months, even years at a time. I remembered this experience when I was backpacking around Europe for a few months and walking El Camino de Santiago in Spain in 2016. Meeting fellow travelers, deep lost souls spreading their unconventional wings and soaring far above the humdrum monotony of regular 9-5 life.

After our two hours with Brent it was already after 3pm and we had dinner reservations downtown at 7. Being Britney's 38th birthday, we got reservations at a very expensive (for Thailand), fancy restaurant. And we still hadn't even gone to our air BnB which was 30 minutes away, just outside of the city. We caught a “red truck” (a truck with an open bed with benches) taxi to our place. It was fun sitting back there watching the locals riding behind us on their electric scooters. (Omnipresent, like in Naples and Morocco.)

Our place was fantastic. At the end of a long dirt road. Surrounded by jungle. Exotic bird songs. Mysterious plants. The cabin was sumptuous and small, up some twisting stone and wood steps, next to the main house. The massive windows were open; mosquito mesh protected us from outside. (We've been taking Malaria pills.) We unloaded our gear, took showers, briefly rested, and headed to dinner.

*

Dinner was an extravaganza of theatre performance (aesthetically, not literally), mood, tone, professionalism and culinary art. We ate foi gras, Hokkaido scallop onion dip, Italian truffle, Barramundi and more. The menu is a 'journey across Asia.' Each dish (tiny) was brought to us with new plates, silverware, etc. The finale was Australian tenderloin steak with Paneang curry. Delicious, decadent, decidedly performative and absurd. They sang Britney happy birthday.

(Part 2 in a few days!)