"No power"

I had a choice on how to travel to Chiang Mai... take a flight from Bangkok, about 1 1/2 hours, or take an overnight sleeper train, about 14 hours. Both cost about the same. Naturally, I chose the sleeper train. I love taking the train when I travel. For me, there's just some old-world romanticism to trains, the sound of the train moving, starting and stopping, seeing passengers getting on and off, watching the countryside roll by. But, in all my travels, I have never taken a sleeper train. So I figured it was about time.

Well, the ride didn't exactly live up to my expectations. I boarded the train expecting to see the shiny new sleeper cars promoted on the railway's website. Not quite. Mine must have been an older car, as it had seen it's day. It was clean enough, but just had this sad, grey feel to it. The sleeper bunks were not yet set up, so it was just one long seat. I knew I might have a bunk mate (they will only match passengers of the same sex, which is good), so I took the seat next to the window and claimed that as my own. My luggage took up about 1/3 of the floor space. A buddhist monk had the cabin next to me, and waved a quiet hello as he passed.

About 3 stops later, my bunk mate arrived. Elizabeth, a yoga teacher, is originally from Wooster, Ohio. Small world. She is now living in Colorado, and travelling Thailand and teaching yoga here. At first, I was hoping I wouldn't have to share the cabin. But I was glad to have some company, if for no better reason, to get my mind off my other bunk-mates... some uninvited guests with many legs. eww. I didn't tell Elizabeth about them, but she soon spotted one on her own. We had dinner in the cabin, talked about our travels, and around 10:00, an attendant came in to turn our seats into beds. Surprisingly, the beds were rather comfortable, but I did not sleep well.

I woke up around 6am, and just laid in bed watching the scenery. Rice fields, rolling hills, some cow pastures (Thai cows are very skinny). A short while later, the train stopped - in the middle of nowhere. We stayed put for a short time, then started rolling again, but very slowly. As breakfast was being served, we asked what was happening. "No power." oops. That is not good. We were still at least 3 hours from Chiang Mai. The train varied from stop to slow to normal speed for the next 5 hours, arriving in Chiang Mai just before noon (about 2 hours late). I now know we had it good - other trains have been over 5 hours delayed.

I have decided to take the bus when I go back to Bangkok.