Dear Friends and Family,

The sole problem with my return trip to Bangkok: the sun set at 6:30 pm and my train departed at 3:40 pm – leaving scarcely 3 hours to appreciate the beauty of the Thai countryside. My seat was in the fan compartment (second class but no air conditioning) and as I pulled and pushed and tugged my suitcase onto the metal rack next to my seat, I found that the open windows were already providing breezes throughout the car. I sat down, smiled at the initially reserved seatmate facing me, and immediately turned my head to the almost touchable landscape and to the surprisingly gentle breeze. And I stayed that way (mostly) until the sun went down. The clicking and clattering of wheels meeting rails was constant and rather loud but only became overwhelming with echoes while in a deep tunnel. I took a few breaks from the scenery with to delve into yet another Harry Potter, had a conversation with my seatmate (nice lady traveling with her twin one seat over), had a stilted conversation with the porter who had earlier kept trying to sell me beer or chips or Coke (he asked what I thought of Thailand - the words good, nice & pretty were frequently featured in my response), and I spent time to good avail trying to photograph the countryside. I kept sticking my head out the window – which was great fun even as it completely ruffled my hair and sometimes blew dust in my eyes. I worried about the well-being of my camera (dozens of times I imagined it slipping off my wrist and disappearing amongst the gravel bordering the tracks) but sometimes I had to actually consider it good that my head was still attached as we came pretty close to a few poles. The sunset was made even more picturesque by a silhouetted hang-glider (so picturesque that I forgot my camera!) yet happily my pictures were lovely enough that another passenger asked me to e-mail them to her.

Finally, darkness was upon us and as the train clicked and swayed and clattered and chugged and I made my way to the dining car for an ok dinner of green curry and rice. When I returned, our two black plastic seats had been re-positioned with the additions of cushions + curtains + sheets and another bed had been pulled from the train ceiling. The windows had been covered by slotted metal covers and the fans turned on. We were now in a sleeper car at 8:00 in the evening. I climbed into my snug lower compartment, positioned my book towards the light and read in relative comfort until all the other passengers had pulled their curtains shut. At 11, I did the same and slept moderately well although there was a rather uncomfortable gap between my cushions and I kept waking to check the time – which proved unnecessary as the train announcer awoke us all at 5:00 am with a loud spatter of Thai. I sleepily used some water in the bathroom to arrange my wayward hair and found my bed in the process of reconverting to a seat when I returned. I was a bit stiff and sore from my night’s bed and I stretched myself a bit as I returned to the open window while Norah Jones sang “Sunrise, sunrise…” from my iPod. It was still dark as we passed the International Airport (a ways from downtown) but the sunlight slanted just above the horizon as we passed over the inner canals of Bangkok and pulled up to the train station.

Disembarking was made painful – literally – because I had used my foot to push my unwieldy suitcase. While still on the train, I misjudged my aim + the pressure and as a result, I felt a good portion of my toenail give away. Ouch. By the time I had reached the end of the platform, my toe was bleeding to the point of dribbling a trail on the ground. Lovely. Luckily, it didn’t hurt to the point of impeding my walking but Bangkok is a dirty, dusty place and once it quit bleeding (middle of that day), I was at some trouble to keep it from becoming infected. But my toe made for great sympathy conversation when the taxi dropped me off at Wendy House – just in time for the early riser’s breakfast at 6:30 am. I opened my suitcase for a change into tourist clothing and band aids and then stowed my stuff in their storage room, ate breakfast (the only breakfast that I selected at Wendy House – banana waffles!), and departed at 8 or so for the skytrain, the river and my day’s tourist time…

Don’t go too far… there shall be more…

Love Always,

Laura