6/29 Train to Bangkok

I took the usual 17 hr train ride to Bangkok from Chiang Mai, after packing everything up and saying goodbye to the few friends I had made during my stay. I introduced John, my Thai friend from the hotel I stayed at for the first week, to Mexican food, which seemed to be a hit. I had dinner with Brett, the guy from Pennsylvania who had played for Chiang Mai FC a few years ago and was trying to get back into the league. I had lunch with Micah, a friend of Brett, who also came to Thailand to play soccer but, like Brett, got mired in the networking and dead ends and has decided to take a coaching job back in the US. I didn't get to see Nok, since she had to leave town to see her father, whose health had deteriorated.

After getting a haircut and my flip flop fixed, I hit the road.

On the train I sat across from an older Australian guy who was traveling with his Thai girlfriend who, in his words "was the the real deal unlike the other Thai women you see with foreign men." To be fair she was more homely and closer to his age, but she barely spoke English which made me wonder about the legitimacy of their interest in each other. He used phrases like "you go sleep now number one everything ok," which I would assume only confuses someone trying to learn English. It turns out this guy is pretty much the non-famous and still-living version of Steve Irwin, the croc hunter. He's been catching and keeping snakes and lizards in Australia since he was a kid and is the go-to guy whenever his neighbors encounter a snake. He calls men blokes and women sheilas and was generally interesting to talk to aside from the fact that I had to shout at him in the sleeper car due to his poor hearing. He gave me his girlfriend's Heineken, then shared his last beer with me. After that I headed to the restaurant car to get another beer and stumbled into a rager, where both foreigners and Thais were blasting music and drinking. As soon as I entered, everyone cheered, as I assume they were happy to have another partier. As I was ordering the beer in the restaurant car the partiers started clapping, as if they wanted someone to start dancing. The Thai server accepted their challenge and he did about two awkward hip swirls before his pants fell down to his ankles which sent everyone into laughter. I reluctantly returned to my old Australian buddy so I could continue drinking with him and shouting at him while other people tried to sleep.