Night Train to Chiang Mai

Argh--still no news about the G&R date. I was sure I would hear something today. Meanwhile my mother and her Vietnamese friend are itching to call the DIA and prompt them to action. Nine months since the referral and now four weeks since the documents were certified. And I'm totally in the dark about what's going on--it is very frustrating.

In the meantime we continue our journey and stay in touch via email. Last night we took a taxi to the train station and caught the night train to Chaing Mai. It's a fourteen hour trip. We had second class sleeper berths--the cost was around $26. They were really comfortable, but they did have the a/c cranked up really high and I was cold all night beneath the thin white blanket they provide. Maybe it was because I was in an upper berth and I think that's closer to the air vents, though I never could tell where the cold air was coming from. Still it was better than not having it--it was sweltering in the non-a/c third class.

Here is the train station. At 6 PM while we waited for the 7 PM boarding time they started playing what I assume is the National Anthem. Everyone stood up and faced the portrait of the king, talking stopped--though westerners were a little slower to get into it. I have heard about people being arrested for disrespecting the king--they take it very seriously here.

As we were about to board the train another passenger offered to take a picture of us.

The car had forty seats, one facing another so people sat in pairs. Not long after we left a worker came along and made up the bunks. They were much nicer than we had expected. It was like having a little room. Luggage was kept in the metal rack, though we both kept our bags in the bed with us. I don't think there would have been a security problem (though I noticed some people locked their bags to the bars) but it was easier to sleep without worrying about my bag everytime somebody walked by.

Here is my upper berth. We also had the noisiest place in the car because we were right by the front door. For the first hour or so workers were going back and forth, taking dinner to people and getting things ready for the night. It calmed down at 10 PM but there was a continuous racket of our car knocking against the car in front.

Mother seems to enjoy riding trains and she got a scenic view the whole night, as her lower berth was right by this window. We ordered the breakfast--Mother for some reason thought it was complimentary but we had to cough up 300 baht the next morning. She also took a cup of juice from an attendant that she thought was free--then he held his hand out and asked for 40 baht.

So now we are in Chiang Mai, figuring out what to do next. We'll stay here two or three days. Then depending on what I hear from the agency we will either go somewhere else in Thailand or go to Laos (Luang Prabang) on our way back to Vietnam.