Bangkok to Chiang Mai

I don't remember when I last posted.  The days are starting to blur together.  We took the overnight train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, actually in a sleeper car.  I haven't ridden in a sleeper car since we used to travel across the country from Tacoma to Philadelphia to visit Uncle Furman's farm.   I actually slept, and woke to see Thailand's countryside slipping by outside the window.  A flat landscape of palm, banana, rice paddies and then into the small towns that line the railroad.  Poverty looks so familiar.  Manifests the same in any country  -- corrugated iron roofed shacks, women cooking meals outside, dirt paths and beat up old bikes.  

Then the landscape changes, hills, bouganvilla and water lilies and more rice paddies.  A woman with a water buffalo headed down the dirt road toward the fileds as the sun gilds the early morning mists.  The haze is shining.  

Finally into the jungle;  vegetation thickens around the cars of the train.  We're gliding through a dusty emerald corridor and then a break in the trees and below is a placid river winding lazily into a valley, flat grey water and then back into the green.

At one of the stops a food vendor climbs on the train selling little packets of pad thai in wrapped in newspaper.  After all night and just a food bar, the smells are so tantalizing that I bought one.  Delicious.  One of the students in the group is doing a pad thai sampler of Thailand, ordering it in every venue.

When we finally rolled into Chiang Mai, Ted was there to meet us and take us to the guest house.   Glad to be landed.

M