A Little Cramped

We love trains! We wanted to ride the train in Thailand, but seats were sold out, so we got snagged into riding a tour bus. We climbed up to the top, excited about the space and comfy seats, got all settled with snacks, blankets and pillows, only to be informed that we were supposed to be "downstairs." Gathering all our stuff, we headed down into a dark, hot dungeon of squashed seating. Was this the priveleged seating or for the unpriveleged? I wanted to know. Searching for the lady who had moved us, I found the upstairs practically empty and the lady nowhere to be found. The bus began to move, so I decided I was going to go sit where I wanted! Back up we moved. After resettling, about 15 minutes into the promised 10-hr trekk, the bus stopped, a bunch of people climbed on, and our seats were demanded. Walk of shame #2.

Back to the dungeon. We had been promised a free meal, though.... Never got it. Couldn't get comfortable. Finally I decided to try to sleep on the floor and let C have both seats. A little better, but what a long ride! Around 4:30 am we stopped, and a bunch of people got off. Free seats upstairs! We jumped at the opportunity. Lugged everything back upstairs, resettled, smiling to ourselves and exclaiming, "Third time's the charm!" :) The bus took off a little before 5 am, and in less than 10 minutes stopped again. "Last stop!" What??????? We thought we were still at least an hour away from our city. Seriously??? Yup. Walk of shame #3 back down those stairs, and this time off the bus. Turned out to be a 9-hour ride instead of 10. We piled into a tuk-tuk who dropped us off at our guest house, 5:15 am, dark, rainy, all doors locked, no one around. Our beginnings in Thailand.... :)

The other night after spending some time in a mall, there was no transportation to be found. It had rained earlier that day, and apparently no one felt like working. So, 4 of us piled on the one piece of transportation to be had by our friends who live in the area, laughing hysterically. Only wish we had a video of it or a better picture--especially of the gasps of shock as we passed people on the street. :) 4-5 people on a motorcycle is a common sight in Asia, but 4-5 Asians... NOT big-bodied westerners!!! Note: length of motorcycle is considerably shorter than it appears in this picture. Front and back persons are only very partially on the seat!