Karaoke Strikes!

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The last update saw us quietly supping our beers chatting to our fellow passengers, and not too long after it was time for the beds to be made up - a great excuse to see what the buffet car had to offer. Boy were there a wide mix of folk - including all three genders Thailand has to offer! Wasn’t long before the Karaoke was fired up - although luckily all incriminating movie footage taken was accidentally deleted! A memory that will stay forever will be one of the Thai waiters leading the Macarena (sp?) in the aisle ... and the video for that does still exist!!

The bunks were surprisingly cosy, and there was a good atmosphere with a sense of camaraderie which made it really fun - thoughts of the sleeper car in ‘Some Like it Hot’ and the party in Jack Lemmon’s bunk sprang to mind, but we didn’t try it. Actually sleeping proved more of a challenge for some than others - the good news being that most folk had ear plugs to drown the noise of the train so at least our snoring didn’t disturb anyone (either that or the folk near us were kind enough not to say!!). However, we all finally drifted off and we were all a little put out to be woken at 6am, for no apparently good reason, other than to try and sell us some orange juice.

The Thai breakfast of Chicken and Rice Soup proved more appetising than the cold fried eggs and chicken sausage. Our waitress must have studied with Alistair Darling though as the bill for everything magically doubled! Luckily, we were able to negotiate it back down to acceptable levels.

Chang Mai turned out to be a really interesting place with several historic Wats (or temples) in easy walking distance. Not quite so ‘easy’ when its so hot, but we did it anyway, stopping for food and drinks along the way.
We took a mini-van trip up a huge mountain to a temple which is said to hold a piece of Buddha’s collar-bone. The view was absolutely fantastic, and we were there in time to see dark falling and hear the monks begin the evening ceremony, consisting of some really loud gongs and drums, followed by chanting. We had our fortunes given (both good!), and then some of us had a blessing from a monk. I’m sure anyone who attended the Casey wedding will not be surprised to know that John wasn’t one of the blessed!!

Later, we joined up with others and shared a fantastic meal in an open square with live music and dancing, before setting off to see some Thai boxing. Not knowing an awful lot about the sport before we went we we’re not that much wiser afterwards either. The first bout saw two kids of about 8 years old doing battle. Parental instinct made you want to shout out “Will the pair of you stop that right now!” Luckily, as the night went on, the fighter’s ages and skill levels rose as did decibel levels around the ring. Valerie and some of the others decided enough was enough half way through (it was the blood that dunnit!), and probably missed the best part of the evening - the middle bout saw four blindfolded fighters scrapping it out and a particularly comic moment where the ref was almost KO’d by an almost perfect right hook to the chin!

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