#11

Didn't I tell you it was only 7pm when I posted that last blog entry? Still plenty of time for things to go wrong...

At some point during the night, I suddenly realized - like an epiphany - that my train to Bangkok left at 7 at night, not 7 in the morning. It's not like I confused AM and PM. The ticket clearly listed the departure in military time as 19:20. I have no idea how I convinced myself this meant 7am. The heat is getting to me. This meant I wouldn't arrive in Bangkok until after 3am. I had no way to get in touch with Kelly at this point. She'd arrive at the hotel and think I'd been captured by the Red Shirts!

I hoofed it to the train station despite being told all other trains to Bangkok were full. I figured I had nothing to lose. I arrived around 10pm and had to talk to 3 people to effectively communicate that I wanted to change my ticket. A man went to the computer terminal and showed me a screen full of zeros, meaning there were no empty seats. "Nothing," he said. "Nothing?!" I pleaded. He typed something on the keyboard. "3:20 afternoon," he blurted. Where did this new ticket suddenly come from? I don't know and I don't care. It was a 2nd class train with AC and the journey would take 5 hours instead of 8. I'll take it!

My absentmindedness turned out to be an incredible stroke of good luck. While I was waiting for my 2nd class train the next afternoon, I saw one of those 3rd class trains I was meant to be on. Oh, the horror! Three to four people were crammed on wooden benches meant to seat two. People were standing. People were hanging out the windows and loitering on the stairs. It was 96 degrees before accounting for the humidity. I honestly doubt that I could have endured it.

My 2nd class train was no picnic, mind you. It was an hour late. The AC cut in and out. There was a cockroach under my seat. The stairs were covered in lettuce (??). I enjoyed every minute of it. It was the Four Seasons compared to the hell on wheels I had seen earlier. It's all relative!