Trains in Thailand... ( a review)

This week I took a train to Chaingmai...

My first experience of riding a train in Thailand receives a mixed review. As for comfort, it was quite nice. I was in a first class sleeper car. I had AC and didn't freeze. The noise was minimal, as were the bumps. The toilet was scary. I could see the track below as I squatted on the Thai toliet. Scary.

So now for the complaints. My train was more than an hour late for its arrival in Ayutthaya. So I actually didn't board until Monday at 1 AM! Not a huge deal, I could sleep the night away.

I awoke to a Thai man peering gently uner my curtain to wake me. He let me know that the train had stopped because of an accident north of us. We woul be moving by 11am. I figured he was joking as it was only 8:30. Turns out he was serious. I later learned that two trains collided. 70 people were injured. 500 trains were delayed. It made the Thai news, so I made sure to text to all of my friends in Thailan so they didn't worry. Pom called himself to make sure I was ok. What a sweetie.

So I finally left the stopping point around 2 pm. It was still another 9 hours to Chaing Mai. So my night sleeper turned into a day sleeper. Still very comfortable. So now the question is do I buy a train ticket home, or is the bus a bettter bet???

Loy Krathong

Loy Krathong means to float a banana leaf cup on water.
We do this to ask Mother of Water to forgive us for polluting the water.
(funny to appologize by sticking things onto the water!)
Loy Krathong Day falls in November when there is a full moon in the sky and there is "full water" in the river.
There are beauty pagents like the Miss Nopamas Competition. I was sponsered by the Moon Cafe to be in the Frarang (foreigner) Beauty Contest, but it was canceled due to the flood.

We bought banana leaves, flowers and pieces of banana tree trunk at the market. To make the krathong, we folded the leaves so they would stand, pinned them down, and pinned flowers on top. We later bought candles and incense to make our Krathong glow.

Mine was quite small and cute. I did add more flowers after this picture was taken.

We lit our krathong and set them into the river. There were little boys who made sure the krathongs got out into the current and floated away. We later realized they were also stealing the coins we added for good fortune. (I guess it is industrious of them, otherwise the money would simply sit at the bottom of the river.)

We didn't think to bring a lighter. As we were discussing what to do, this woman offered us hers. She and her daughter are from Canada, so their English was great. The mother was born in Thailand. The girl is wearing a traditional Thai dress.

Testing. Three. Four. Five

A short note to test the new version of blogger and to say hi to every one.
More exciting photos of my day to day life coming soon.

This is from October, the first time I went to Ayutthaya by myself. I took a tuk-tuk because it was too late for the bus. 7 km from Noi's house, the tuk-tuk broke down. (I think I avoided this onen because I didn't want anyone to fear for my safety!) The man couldn't get it fixed, but he did call a friend to pick me up in another tuk-tuk. Poor Roy waited around for me a lot that night. Thanks Roy!

Also in October, Kath, Roy, Chat and I went touring around Ayutthaya. We had a great time at the water park. No lifeguard = no rules for the slide!
(I swear I used this picture before, but I didn't see it anywhere)

Ton Sai

We arrived at Ton Sai expecting to stay for two nights, then moving on to explore other islands in the area. As we pulled up to the shore, I saw a large banner proclaiming a Halloween Party for Tuesday night. I was already hoping to stay for the party (the beginning of our reluctance to leave the beach).

Our boat dropped us near Mambo Bungalows and not wanting to haul my suitcase through the sand any longer, we moved in. Each bungalow was only 200 baht a night, split between two people it was very cheap. ($3 a night!)

I bought a hammock at the market, and we were allowed to hang it on our porch. The mosquitoes were terrible, so it didn’t get as much use as it should have.

A lot of our relaxation time was spent at the No Name Bar. It had a Rasta/ Reggae theme and Thai’s with dredlocks. The other girls were happy because it also had great coffee.

We celebrated Halloween at the No Name Bar (they had the banner I mentioned earlier). Deep in the jungle, we didn’t have much for costumes, so we became jungle Princesses. Noo, the local tattoo artist, painted my back with black light paint and made me a grass skirt. I was beautiful. The bar filled with brightly painted people as the night progressed. People danced into the wee hours of the morning.

The skirt itched, so I didn’t wear it for long.


What better to do after a night of dancing, than snorkel? We rented a boat, a guide and some snorkels and set out for four local islands. The reefs were not brightly colored, but the fish were. The largest fish I saw was the size of my head. Nothing too scary except the black spikey things on the bottom.

We didn’t pay for the top notch tour, but it was only evident when we found our boat beached on the coral after the tide went out. We ate lunch fearing that we would be stuck all day. Thankfully the tide came in and we only missed 15 minutes of adventure.

This sunset was actually our first night on Ton Sai. It rained most days right around sundown, so we didn’t have another good one until the last night. We were out in Kayaks (without cameras) that day and evening, so it was also fabulous.

I have never seen a more sure sign that it was time to be done on a vacation. As we were waiting for a boat to the main land, the Minnesota pulled up to shore. We didn’t take that boat, but it did put a big smile on my face.

Testing. One. Two. Three.

Ok, so mostly I am testing to see if the blogger lets me post myself; save Andy some work and stuff. Also, this picture is so hilarious! This is Gai (Chicken in Thai). He is the singer of a band I like, and he also comes to our Karaoke parties.