Third world travelling at its finest

So we made it back to the train station in Bangkok with no problem. We got fresh fruit breakfasts and another Thai massage to pass the time. Bought additional bungy cords and did another fitting at the tailor. All of our stuff and bikes were still there too!

The tourist-helper-ladies at the train station were very helpful. They got us in the correct line for tickets and showed us to weigh station for our cargo (bikes), then directed us to the platform we needed to be at. The last lady told us that we needed to be on the platform at least 30min early because that train was free for Thai citizens that day and it would be packed. It's really too bad we missed the early train!

The station policeman carrying a six-pack of beer with him while on patrol was great. We were reluctant to take his picture though. And the Buddhist monk who really wanted to see us ride our bikes on the packed platform was strange. I hope I suffer no karmic penalties for refusing him:)

Although we had to pay for our cargo, there was no cargo area and we had to carry our bikes on board with us. And when the train got there, we were no match for those wily little Thais. They ducked under us and pushed the little kids past us while they held onto our bikes and pulled to get in front of us. Alas, there was nowhere to sit when we got on, which meant that we couldn't see anything out of the windows either. And so our 5-hour train journey began.

We did meet a very nice girl from Brittany, France named Marie and she was a pleasure to talk to. She just finished law school in France and is traveling through Asia and then to New Zealand. We did get places to sit a little over three hours into the ride and that was most spectacular!

When we got off the train, we met another guy from London named Hittesh and we all went to a hotel together. Hittesh went to a wedding in Bahrain about seven months ago and decided not to go back to work. He's been traveling ever since.

We got some beers and ordered the fried snake heads appetizer, but they were all out of the heads! We got regular fried snakes, and they were just okay. The curry and french fries were delicious though.

We broke into the swimming pool after that and that was fun. It's probably better we couldn't see how clean the water was. And then we went to bed in the sweaty heat of the night. Both Andrew and I didn't sleep very well because of how loud the pouring rain was over the multiple fans we had set on high. Nobody in that town spoke much English, and all I could think about was how we were going to get our hands on some ponchos for the bike ride the next day. I decided I would draw a picture.

But everything always works out! It stopped raining around 7am and we were on the road by 10am - later than we had planned, but the weather was only hot and more humid than anything I've ever experienced in my life; it wasn't pouring rain!