Water Runs Downhill

One of the things Gail hoped to do while we were in Bangkok was to take a long-tail boat



ride through the khlongs or canals of Bangkok. These speedy little boats, powered by car engines mounted in the stern,



provide a unique tour of the khlongs and neighborhoods of Bangkok. Unfortunately the combination of the high tide pushing water up from the south and heavy flooding coming from the north meant that the gates between the river and the canals were closed to prevent flooding of the inner city. So we had to leave Bangkok without this experience, at least for this visit.

Since Gail loves trains and wanted an "interesting" experience, she convinced Phil to take the overnight sleeper train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. We left our hotel around 4 pm for the train station thinking it would take longer than the 10 minute taxi ride to get there. Once we arrived, we wished we had hung out a bit longer at our hotel. The train station was "interesting." Gail had read that it had restaurants, a grocery store and some shops. Well, they do but the best restaurant was a KFC, the grocery was a minishop and one of the best shops was a Dunkin' Donut. Everyone was sitting on the floor of the station because all of the seats were taken.



We finally spotted a coffee shop upstairs and hung out there until it was time to board the train.

When we arrived at the station we learned that the water flowing down from the north had created another problem. The train tracks were flooded several hours north of Bangkok. When we reached that point, they took us off the train and loaded us on buses. These weren't just plain old buses. They were painted with wild scenes and had flashing lights inside — party buses! Unfortunately they were lacking in AC, so it was a pretty uncomfortable 1.5 hour detour. At this point the trip was feeling a little too "interesting" for Gail. But once we were loaded on our sleeper trains things improved. We climbed into our bunk beds and rocked our way northward through the night.



We arrived in Chiang Mai about three hours late, but well rested and caught a "taxi" (a pickup with benches in back and a cover over the bed) to our hotel.



A quick shower and we were ready to explore Chiang Mai.