Ariving by train at Bangkok

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It only just occurred to me that it was xmas eave and it does not feel like xmas. I had a great sleep last night and there was defiantly more leg and this time, there was a place to store our packs so we didn’t have to sleep with them again. We were worried about sleeping because the amount of noise, shaking and swaying from the carriage just before bed was crazy. I’m not sure if the track condition had got better or the train slowed down but it improved 100% by the time everyone was in bed.
I just inspected the train toilet and they are very clean and tidy, I only feel sorry for the railway workers who repair the railway lines because everything spills right onto the tracks below. If you take into consideration the velocity your poo’s by the time it hits the track, you could bet that there would also be a very big mess to the under carriage of the train for the mechanics to work around YUK! The other thing to consider if you ever get a choice is to sit as far away from the toilets and sinks as possible. Asian’s have no problems getting that stubbin bit of flem that’s get in the back of your throat in the early morning. With continuous people drawing back and hocking a loogie, they are not shy and seem to let the whole world know they are trying to get it out. You can almost feel it coming up as they reach deep down into their lungs and you feel happy for them to finally get it out just so you can stop feeling sick.
With most of the loogies out before breakfast we waited until the Thai lady that slept on the bottom bunk to wake up before we could raise the top bunks set up the table and have breaky. In the mean time we started talking to a Japanese man named Hide pronounced (Hid-ae) about our travels around the world. He was around sixty years old and taught Japanese in Indonesia and was well travelled. He was going to Bangkok to find an old friend he went to uni with 30 years ago and all he had was a name and old address. He knew we were from Australia and when we exchanged addresses he said “Brisbane are you from Brisbane?” It turns out that he taught Japanese at Griffith University and has a house a Indroorpilly.
The train turned up at Bangkok 21hrs later and we were ready for the noise, traffic, smell and pollution that were in front of us. We managed to get on the correct bus and with constant checks from the locals “not that, THAT means anything” we were going in the right direction and when to get off the right stop. We arrived at our stop 1.5 hrs later and only 10km up the road. The traffic was terrible and by the end our eyes were burning from the fumes. We got off the bus and with no idea what hotel we were staying at, and we had to find the internet and access hotmail. With everything in our hands we started to walk and it turned out it was only 1km up the road. With the map in hand it was time to take a few short cuts through the back alleys. We got lost for a short time as they mazed every which way. It was time to ask directions and an elderly man came to the rescue, he said “follow follow” in a Thai accent. He walked down one alley into another each time the alley got narrower and with small side alleys branching off. We started to get worried about what sort of shit hole it was as we felt like we were in a shanty town with any bit of building material they could find was slapped together to make a home. With every small little house containing around 6-8 people, a dog, cat, bird and unaccompanied vermin it was not what I had in mind. I’m glad he showed us the way because we were right at the hostel entrance door and didn’t even know it.
We opened the hostel door and a sigh of relief came over us as we the hostel backed right on the Bangkok Choa Phraya river wall. We stayed in an 8 bed dorm thatched hut with bamboo floors. We checked out the bathroom and it all seemed very worth the 190 Thai Baht/ person/night. $6.50 AUD. We unloaded our packs and sat on the water’s edge with a house beer each to unwind.
We could not relax to long before organising our trip back down to Ko Phan yang. We organised this at Khao San rd and checked out visa info for Cambodia, Loa and India.
With bus tickets booked it was time grab a pad Thai from the local street carts. I had been waiting 5 years for this Pad Thai and it was just as yummy as I remembered and at only 40THB or $1:20 AUD it was cheap eating. Time to relax back at the river view hostel and catch up with Jacinta’s Mum on Skye. It hardly felt like xmas eave as there were no lights or decorations around to remind us, and being tired from travelling as well.

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Comments

[Maroussia]

Train
It will be great to watch Train, i have bought tickets from http://ticketfront.com/event/Train-tickets looking forward to it.