I hate the train

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We barely made it to our return train as we were late waking up the next day but again all was ok and we made it with time to spare. We were not looking forward to the return train. We had wanted to go back a day or two earlier as by the end of the trip there was not a lot to do and as we were sort of captive of other people, we did not get to do some of the things we would have liked.
The trip was fantastic but different in so many ways. I wouldn't trade my time in the country or the unique experience that we had spending about a week and a half nearly exclusively with Thai people but there were drawbacks. The result was that we didn't do a single typical tourist thing like elephant camp, trekking, rafting, night bazzar, night safari, and many other things. Next time I guess, I will have to return...
The train ride back would not be as fun. First of all we had seen all the sites on the way up so the novelty had worn off. More importantly this was a day train so we couldn't really sleep at all because of the sun and the heat.

We actually had a bit of a scare at the begining because Rhota had unwisely left his passport with his friends at his school. The train police came by and could tell he was not native Thai, they did not believe him and us that we were with him and took him away for a while and we though they were going to throw him off the train. We all agreed that we would get off with him if they did because that fact would show that he was traveling with us which would make them believe. Secondly we knew they would hold him for 2 days and who knows what could happen, they would not want to put all 4 of us up at a train station and would not want Tom and I with our US passports around. It all worked out in the end with them believing that he was our friend, all is well. The funny thing was that they never even asked Tom and I anything, we didn't have to show our passports. Basically because we are white they don't monitor us, and let us get away with much more. I thought it would be just the opposite.

I still love the fact that we traveled by train but by the time we returned we stank of train, felt of train and generally hated the train and all its nastiness. Still I am very happy we took the train for the experience. We were happy to be off but we were tired, grumpy, and hungry. Instead of returning to Moeklek, we took the train straight to Bangkok where we stayed until Sunday. For the first time in over 2 weeks of me being here, I finally began to do something normal, be in tourist areas, and around foreigners. But that is a whole other story and you will have to wait.

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Photos

Fruit shake stand
getting our favorite fresh fruit shakes at the market just before leaving Chiang Mai