To Chiang Mai

I left Kanchanaburi on Friday after deciding to forfeit
the easier option of taking the train back to Bangkok
to get the sleeper train to Chiang Mai, in favour of
taking the local buses to Ayutthaya, and meeting the
sleeper there. Basically, there’s no direct route
from Kanchanaburi to Chiang Mai, so you have to either
double back on yourself to Bangkok, or head north-east
to Ayutthaya. Obviously I chose the most complicated
option.

So I turned up at the bus station with all my bags,
managed to find a bus that was heading to Suphanburi,
a midway point to Ayutthaya, and bagged myself a seat
on the back row with loads of floor space, where
everybody’s luggage got dumped. This was pretty lucky,
because the bus got full to bursting point, and I was
the only person who didn’t have someone virtually
sitting on my lap, thanks to all the luggage at my
feet. I managed to change buses in Suphanburi without
a problem, and despite the fact I was the only white
face for miles around, nobody seemed to be paying me
any attention, other than to helpfully point me
towards the right bus stops.

These buses, by the way, are ridiculous. The first
bus I was on basically didn’t work; it took 6 or 7
attempts for the driver to get it into second gear.
So we’d drive along, build up a little speed, he’d
try to move up a gear, fail, we’d slow back down,
back into first, build speed, try second gear,
fail... etc etc. And this happened EVERY time we
stopped. It was kind of hilarious, only not that
much, because it made us about 2 hours late.

There’s no air-con either, but all the windows
and doors are slung as wide as they go, and there
are a few little fans stuck upside down on the
roof, and I suppose the massive gaps in the wooden
flooring provide a bit of a breeze too! I’m so glad
I chose to take the buses; driving through the Thai
countryside, watching the locals hop on and off and
go about their lives, being thrown around on the back
seat of an almost broken down bus, stopping your bag
from sliding out of the open door, it’s definitely
more fun than doing it the easy way!

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I know I’m not doing
anything that hasn’t been done a million times
before, but I sat on that bus, plugged into my
iPod, feeling like a freakin modern day Magellan
or Drake or Columbus, and I had this big wave of
euphoria, where I thought, you know what, I don’t
care. I’m here, on my own, in the middle of God
knows where, not scared or nervous, but excited,
and for once, JUST ONCE, I’m going to let myself
soak up the feeling of pride, or arrogance, or whatever
the hell it was that swept through me. And I swear,
for just a few minutes, I held my head just that
little big higher, and breathed that little bit
deeper.

Anyway, the whole thing put me in this reflective
mood, and as my iPod battery died, it took the last
of my euphoria along with it. And I know it’s
horribly pretentious, but all I could think of was
that thing Chris McCandles apparently wrote in his
diary; ‘Happiness only real when shared’. And I think
that to truly understand the feeling, you have to
first believe that happiness can be experienced alone,
from within, and then try to seek it out.

I dunno, I’m not making much sense here, but I think
I know what I mean. I’m aware I haven’t spent several
months in total isolation or anything, but for all
intents and purposes I’m on my own, and, dare I say it,
I know exactly what Chris meant when he wrote it.

I think that at some point I’d somehow managed to
convince myself that Thailand felt like home; and
maybe that was what kept bringing me back here.
But I was totally wrong, it wasn’t that at all,
it was just that I’ve gotten used to being here.
Somewhere along the line, Thailand stopped being
new and exciting and became ordinary. I suddenly
missed home more than anything, well, I missed my
family more than anything.

Speaking of feeling at home, I met this wanker
on the train up to Chiang Mai who, when I asked him
where he was from, answered, ‘Vancouver, but I’m
homeless right now, so I guess Asia’. I figure something
bad must’ve happened for him to consider himself
homeless, so I gave him a sympathetic ‘oh nooo,
how come?’, to which he replied, ‘Because I’ve been
travelling South East Asia for the last Five Months.’
Those capitals are there because that’s how he said it.

He rambled on a bit more but I’d already stopped
listening, which is funny because I didn’t think people
really did tune out when they heard people spouting
bullshit (Honestly, the irony isn’t lost on me here, see
chapters 5 and 6).

Actually, the only reason I’m being so anal about this is
because that’s EXACTLY the type of shit someone else
I know used to pull; just because you don’t have a house
doesn’t mean you can claim residency of a country you’re
holidaying in. Am I right? Probably, but I imagine nobody
cares but me.

To be fair, he wasn’t that much of a wanker; we spent
the entirety of the next morning invading each other’s
personal space (and believe me, that’s not a euphemism,
if only my life was that exciting), and I didn’t have much
choice but to talk to the guy. He wasn’t so bad I guess.
In case you weren’t aware, I now consider myself authority
when it comes to deciding who is and isn’t a dick. Are you
picking up a snotty tone here? Because I certainly am, and
I don’t like it one bit.

Anyway, where was I? After arriving in Ayutthaya, I headed
straight for the train station to secure my ticket, and then
dumped my bag there and headed out for a massage and
some food. I bummed around for a while, got some supplies
from 7/11 and finally boarded the train at about 10pm I
guess.

The wanker guy (see above) was on the top bunk, I
got the bottom. I cannot sleep on these trains as they
don’t turn the lights off all night, and the thin curtain
doesn’t help much. So I got to Chiang Mai, about 3
hours late, and got a Songthaew to my guesthouse.
It’s not so bad here, to say how cheap it is. I’m right
across the river from the Night Bazaar, which is
awesome!

Last night I headed out for food and found an all
you can eat sushi restaurant, which cost 250 Baht.
I made sure I got my moneys worth, and soon
discovered that it really is possible to gorge yourself
to nausea on sushi. I used 20 minutes of my 80 minute
slot, and rushed home for a lie down. I think I had the
fish sweats, it was awful!

Today I got to see a Giant Panda! Well, two Giant
Pandas which Chiang Mai Zoo has on loan from China.
There’s also a little baby panda, who I guess is
about 10 months old, but he was in the back
somewhere and I only saw him on the live camera
thing.

But, MY GOSH, aren’t pandas lovely!! Heeeeeee,
I bought some panda ears so I can be a panda too!

Tonight is the Sunday Market, where they close
down an entire street from end to end, and cram it full
of hundreds of stalls. This place is honestly the bee’s
knees, I cannot wait!