Travels in the Land of Hunger

CHIANG MAI, THAILAND

Thursday, May 6, 2004

I arrived to Chiang Mai, Thailand yesterday morning by overnight train from Ayutthaya; the journey was 12 hours.

I bought my train ticket in Ayutthaya for the sleeper car and made sure that I was assigned a lower sleeper because I knew it had a window and was more spacious than the upper one. As soon as I boarded the train I jumped into my bed, which had already been prepared by a train attendant, and sat with my legs crossed staring out into the night as the train began the journey to northern Thailand. The sleeper car was very quiet because most of the passengers had boarded the train in Bangkok and were already fast asleep or keeping to themselves behind the curtains that provided some privacy.

After watching the passing night view beyond my window and listening to a selection of progressive rock songs on my MiniDisc player I decided to lie in bed and try to fall asleep, which was difficult because the train continually rocked my body from side to side; it also didn't help to hear the door at my end of the sleeper car bang repeatedly against its own door frame. Regardless of the train rocking and the door banging I eventually fell asleep.

The light of the rising sun woke me up because there were no window curtains to block it. Lying in bed I looked out seeing the tops of tropical trees pass by. Eventually I sat up and watched my "window vision," which was permanently stuck on The Moving Landscape Channel. I saw villages of thatched homes built on stilts–much like the homes that I had seen in the rural areas of Myanmar–and Thai men working along the tracks clearing land or burning dried grass.

About an hour before arriving to Chiang Mai a Thai train attendant converted my sleeper into formal train seats. When he was done, I sat down and continued to look out the window. And as we arrived into Chiang Mai the same train attendant sat on the arm of my seat and rested his hand on my leg as if it was completely normal to touch a stranger. I'm sure it was normal for him, but I was not comfortable at all with him touching my leg. Luckily, he stood up and began assisting the other passengers unload their belongings.

As expected there were Thai male and female touts running up to all the backpackers (there were quite a few of us) exiting the train to persuade us to go to their particular hotel. I wanted to find a guesthouse on my own, but I finally gave in to a Thai lady who was relentless. She guaranteed a nice hotel room complete with air conditioning and television for 400 baht a night. I agreed and she whisked me away to her driver where I met two other victims, a backpacker from Finland and another from France, and we were then driven to our respective guesthouses.

When I arrived to the Winner Inn Hotel, which was located just outside the southeastern corner of the Old City wall, I first inspected my room before agreeing to stay; I was pleased to discover that the room was clean, and had an air conditioner and television as promised. After signing my check-in documents, I began unpacking a few things from my bag in my room until I received a phone call. Odd? I thought. I picked up the receiver and heard a male Thai voice that said, "Hello, sir. I want to give you a map. Can you come down?"

"Sure," I answered without really thinking whether this was some type of money scheme. After locking up all my important belongings again into my bag I went downstairs to the lobby.

The Thai man asked me to sit down at one of the hotel's restaurant tables. Then began the barrage of sales pitches for trekking tours and elephant rides just outside Chiang Mai. I quickly rejected the tour guides offers and returned to my room.

After taking a shower I left my hotel in search of breakfast and was soon approached by a young, twenty-something, scruffy-looking Mexican traveler named Juan. After speaking a bit with him in Spanish about places we had traveled to in Southeast Asia he decided to join me on my search for a morning meal.