Sunday Train

The train is the best way for us to travel to Phitsanulok (that's where church is, where the English movie theater is and where we can buy cheese and tortilla chips).   The train we take on Sundays leaves at 6:50am.  It isn't air conditioned.  Sometimes we get seats and sometimes we stand.  A ticket is 9 baht (about 30 cents).  It takes 45 minutes to an hour. 

Last Sunday there was a crazy drunk guy at the station.  He really wanted to talk to us.  We ended up all moving away and Tanner dealt with him.  The floral wearing drunk got really close to Tanner and even went so far as to rub his arm and lift up his pants to see his socks!  A HUGE thanks to Tanner for putting up with that guy so we didn't have to!

The downsides to taking the train:

1) Crazy people at the station [see above].

2) It doesn't run very often so sometimes you have to leave earlier or later than desired.

3) It's really uncomfortable.

4) It's dirty, hot and not good for long legs

The upsides:

1) The VIEW!  I love looking out the window and just taking everything in.  This particular stretch passes a whole lot of rice fields and I love it!  There are these tiny little huts in the middle of the fields that are charming (and incredibly uncomfortable I am sure).  There are also these fantastic while birds that hang out in the fields.  My students told me that the farmers hate those birds becasue they eat the rice, but I can't help but love them.  I've been here more than a year but I still can't get over how green everything is.  As an Arizona native I just expect things to be dry and brown but that is not the case here at all.  I snapped a few pictures and took a video from last week's ride.  As a side note--it's quite difficult to take pictures on a moving train...

2) The price!  $.30 is a great deal in my book!

3) It's a really authentic Thai experience and provides good people watching opportunities.