Title: Chiang Mai Train
Author: Scott Hadfield
Taken: 26 Sep 2011 - 6:12pm

You can also read my previous two posts on Chiang Mai.

Waking up to cool drops of water hitting my face may have been the nicest part of the trip. The day had been quite hot and the train was extremely humid. It was just past midnight so that meant I'd been sleeping for roughly 30 minutes. When I opened my eyes I noticed that the car was completely swarming with insects, primarily little gnats, mosquitos, dragon flies and crane flies. After being freezing cold in the A/C car on the way up to Chiang Mai I decided to travel 2nd class fan car not particularly thinking through the logistics of the situation. The lights are never turned off in the cars at night and at 30 degrees with 95% humidity all the windows were opened as wide as they go. As the sun began setting at around 6pm the insects started filling up the car. I loaded up with bug repellant but unfortunately that just caused the bugs to stick to the repellant.

It was then that I noticed it wasn't just droplets of water landing on my face, but also a few of the gnats had begun dying and falling onto me as well. I checked the time at it was now 12:10am... scheduled arrival was about 4:30am, but since the train was 4 hours delayed coming out of Chiang Mai I'd be looking at more like 8:30am.

The car I was in looked like it would have been beautiful when it was first built, wooden paneling throughout, upholstered separated seats. But over time the wood had begun to deteriorate, the ceiling fans were mostly rusted out and the grease had started to turn tar-like which didn't help, the upholstering on the seats were mostly warn through and probably about half the seats on the train were broken, either permanently fully reclined or just lopsided. Since the train was only a quarter full at best it was still comfortable enough for everyone.

Title: Chiang Mai to Bangkok 2nd class non-AC car
Author: Scott Hadfield
Taken: 26 Sep 2011 - 9:33pm

(It looks much nicer in the picture than I described it. It really wasn't that bad and I'd gladly take it again if not for the insects :) ).

Of course I could have easily flown back to Bangkok, but I love trains and it's a great time to get some reading and raw thinking done. Kinda like in the bathroom, only longer and surrounded by more people. I've also been trying to travel more like locals travel in recent trips if possible. I was perfectly content with the state of the car, it was even a bit comforting. The Thai's on the train were extremely friendly and helpful too (I couldn't actually figure out how to open the window or rotate the seat when I boarded without their help :) ).

I've been trying to challenge myself to get out of my comfort zone a bit more recently and actually almost opted for the 3rd class car. When I noticed the number of cockroaches scurrying along the floor harvesting the insects that had missed me on their fall to death I had definitely been successful in escaping my comfort zone. All of the rest of the passengers had come prepared with shoes, socks, pants, jackets and towels to cover their face with. With my sandals, shorts and t-shirt, I definitely felt underprepared. I thought to myself I could just put a shirt over my face and try sleeping. Normally insects don't bother me, I'm one of those lucky people who never gets harassed by mosquitos. But, as Sam knows all too well, once the bugs hit a certain threshold I start to freak out. The average external observer would never notice this but my mind goes berserk at the thought of bugs crawling on me, particularly while I'm asleep.

No matter how hard I tried to focus I wasn't going to be sleeping that night. The inside of the train was a full swarm of bugs. I knew the sun would start rising at about 5am at which point the insects would either be mostly dead or have left and I decided I'd sleep then for a few hours before our arrival into Bangkok. I read my book and listened to music for the next few hours, covering up as much of my skin as possible and keeping my entire body and belongings off of the ground. At one point in the night I picked my bag up from the ground and a dozen or two roaches ran from underneath to find new cover.

Title: Dragon fly on the train
Author: Scott Hadfield
Taken: 26 Sep 2011 - 7:49pm

(I kept this guy close)

Around 2:30am a German guy stumbled through the train looking for someone to share his whisky with, as I was the only other white person on board he naturally decided to stop and harass me a bit. The offer was tempting, but adding a mini-hangover to my day didn't seem too appealing at the moment. We chatted for a minute until a Thai guy burst into our car and yelled at him in Thai, the only thing I could understand was "my whisky!" Apparently the German thought the Thai had left the train when he'd only gone to the toilet, dude had taken his whisky to find someone else to continue getting drunk with. Upon returning from the toilet the Thai was obviously upset to see that his booze had been taken, and now mostly finished. Fortunately the German offered to buy him another bottle and the friendship was immediately mended :).

The sun began to rise, and though the flying insects were now mostly dissipated and the cockroaches, mostly about 0.5-1.5cm in size had covered the floor cleaning the remaining insect carcasses. It was no matter though as they left me alone on my chair as long as I didn't lean against the wooden wall. The train had been stopped for about 30 minutes in what appeared to be the middle of a lake. The tracks were barely high enough to make it through the flooding that had been plaguing the country. I thought I remembered this area from the ride up north. I closed my eyes and fell asleep with my music still playing.

Title: Train station
Author: Scott Hadfield
Taken: 27 Sep 2011 - 11:35am

I woke up to people on the train talking far too loudly with each. Few people had been talking the previous evening and now, when I wanted to sleep it seemed like everyone had decided to pipe up.

It was 8am. I looked out the window and the train was still in the same place as when I closed my eyes. It hadn't moved. FUCK! I felt absolutely disgusting. My skin was covered in a layer of sweat, bug repellant, dead gnats, and a thin layer of dirt from the dust of the train tracks. I still had cell signal and decided to send a string of profanities to Sam. I was in a state of complete despair. I couldn't believe it, I was actually trapped. There was water surrounding us for miles, I couldn't have got out to find alternative transport if I'd wanted to. We were actually stopped at a rural train station which itself was now an island. The train wasn't moving and I had no idea when, or if, it would again. I was unable to communicate with anyone on the train enough to have any idea what was going on. But regardless, it was more likely than not that they had no idea either. Were they waiting for something? Could the train drive in reverse all the way back to Chiang Mai? I couldn't bear the thought of having to spend another night on that train. Everything on the train, myself, my bag, my seat, the floor, everything was covered in dead or mostly dead insects. I just wished the train would start moving, in any direction at all.

Title: Railway crossing
Author: Scott Hadfield
Taken: 27 Sep 2011 - 11:25am
The railway crossing was the highest ground, so this is where everyone parked there cars in an attempt to keep them dry.

I looked up walking directions on my phone to Bangkok. We were 270km away, I could walk there in about 48h... seriously considered it. Normally I don't mind delays as I can just pop out my laptop and do some work, but my phone was almost dead and I needed the power to recharge my phone, my last connection to the outside world, which I felt I desperately needed at that moment. I chatted to sam for about an hour which mostly calmed me down. Then I decided to investigate a bit further and stepped off the train.

I couldn't believe my eyes... the train contained only 4 cars!! There were 14 when we left. The engine and 10 of the cars had continued on and just 4 were left behind. Now I was really confused, I could only assume it was due to the flooding and they were moving the cars across the worst part of the line in small sections. Who knows. The engine returned at about 10am and after going forward and backwards for about an hour a cargo train came by and we started moving forward. We were now up to 10h of pure delay on a trip that was only suppose to take 10h. I couldn't care less, we were moving again and it really started to seem like we were going to make it to Bangkok that day.

Title: Some weeds caught up under the train
Author: Scott Hadfield
Taken: 27 Sep 2011 - 11:18am

I was thankful again for the non-AC car as it meant fresh air and better photos since the windows could open. There were 5 fans in the car, 4 of which had seized overnight and 1 that barely spun. The lady who was sitting across from me kept farting and people were casually tossing trash into the newly formed lake outside of the train. The train was inching along, and though I could probably swim faster I was starting to feel in a much better headspace. We pulled into a train station that was like a mini-city on a mini-island. They must have been waiting there for at least 5h for the train.

Title: IMG_2221
Author: Scott Hadfield
Taken: 27 Sep 2011 - 11:15am

The train finally arrived at about 5pm that day. If there's one thing I learned... 27h of train travel on a relatively hard bench is really hard on the ass!

I let out a yell of joy as we swam down the rapids, having just jumped out of the raft on a relatively calmer part of the river. The scenery was unbelievable and we were swimming down a white water river nestled into a steep, lush, green valley in north west Thailand roughly 50 kilometres north of Chiang Mai and our trip was just about over. We'd ridden and bathed elephants, drank Thai whiskey, eaten sticky bamboo rice with the Mahouts (elephant trainers), swam in water falls, and now white water rafting back towards Chiang Mai.

Title: Bathing the elephants
Author: Scott Hadfield
Taken: 24 Sep 2011 - 2:12pm

Duane and I had made it up to Chiang Mai for a quick weekend side-trip, not totally sure what we were going to do when we got there but with some vague ideas. We found out about Baan Chang Elephant Park online after we arrived. We wanted to ensure we would be somewhere that the elephants were treated respectfully. Most places where you see elephant treks offered you can almost guarantee they're being poorly treated. Fortunately in the north of Thailand this is much more rare. Asian elephants live for 60-80 years and the mahouts are basically paired with an elephant for life. If your elephant moves to another park, you move with it. The day prior to our arrival one of the mahouts was ill and the elephant was so distraught she refused to do anything. There really appeared to be a loving relationship between each mahout and elephant. I didn't observe this kind of dynamic between elephants and guides anywhere else in Thailand.

Title: Me and Duane on our elephant
Author: Scott Hadfield
Taken: 24 Sep 2011 - 1:09pm

The first thing we did after arriving at the camp was to feed each elephant a bunch of bananas. Each of us needed to feed each elephant so they could smell us and familiarize themselves with us. Apparently after they smell you once, they will remember you for at least 6 months (or was it 2 years?). Elephants are also one of the most intelligent animals on the planet, right next to dolphins.

Title: Holding on with our lives
Author: Scott Hadfield
Taken: 24 Sep 2011 - 1:13pm

"Bai Bai Bai!!" our mahout yelled repeatedly ("go" in Thai). Our elephant was a bit touchy and had stopped to eat again. As much as the mahouts attempted to get her to move, she wasn't budging. Both Duane and I held on with our lives and wailed with laughter as she grabbed a branch of sugar cane with her trunk and yanked and swung her head. We were in the middle of a jungle, riding bareback on an elephant... two days into the side trip to Chiang Mai and it was turning out to be more amazing than I could have imagined.

Title: Muay Thai Fighter
Author: Scott Hadfield
Taken: 23 Sep 2011 - 9:27pm

The previous night we'd been out to watch a Muay Thai fight, and truth be told I think both our heads felt a bit like we'd actually partaken in the match. The Changover was in full effect. Fortunately it wore off quite quickly as soon as we got into the fresh air at the park. The entire area is lush green, tall grasses, bamboo, sugar cane, banana plantations, and mud everywhere else. The air was as fresh as anywhere I've been in Thailand, in spite of the fact that there was the excrement from a dozen elephants to take care of.

We were spending the night at the camp along with three girls from Paris who were also going rafting the next day. The cabins were partway up the side of the valley and had an amazing view over the mostly undisturbed rain forest. We spent the evening drinking Thai whiskey, releasing wish lanterns, and singing/playing songs around a camp fire. Most of the workers in that area of Thailand are Burmese and can't speak any English but after a few bottles of whiskey communication barriers mostly fall down.

Title: Lighting the wish lanterns
Author: Scott Hadfield
Taken: 24 Sep 2011 - 8:10pm
Title: Nam way playing a song
Author: Scott Hadfield
Taken: 24 Sep 2011 - 10:27pm

The next morning we headed out for a 2h hike to a waterfall and natural pool followed by a river rafting trip down the Mae Tang river. Almost on queue as we climbed out of the water, the skies opened and it poured most of the way back to Chiang Mai.

Title: Heading back home in the rain
Author: Scott Hadfield
Taken: 25 Sep 2011 - 2:49pm

I was heading back to Bangkok the following day on what I thought would be about a 10h train ride. Things didn't go quite as planned though...