I had decided to take the train down to sukothai, our next destination. I guess this is a bit weird as it's not as fast as the bus and probably (in retrospect) more hassle. But I love trains and I wanted to do it and my poor parents were too greng jai and too overwhelmed to do anything about it. I had booked 2nd class tickets but on arriving at the station I learned that there were no 2nd class seats that day and we would have to take 3rd class. Well, there was nothing to be done so I got a refund and we climbed aboard. Anisha and Katie came to see us off, which was extremely nice of them as it was 6:45 in the godforsaken morning. We got settled in the carriage, which was definitely bare bones transport. The seats were hard as a rock, there was no air con and one of the windows seemed to be stuck open. My parents were good sports about it all (as always) although I'm sure they were less than thrilled. I, however, was a happy camper as the train began to build speed, rhythmically rolling along the tracks. Trains have an old-fashioned charm for me and there's nothing like traveling in one. After spending a good portion of my childhood in transit, I have mastered the art of scenery-appreciation, and so I put in my headphones, pulled out my camera and began to watch the world go by. It didn't even matter that I hadn't had breakfast.
It began to matter though as we realized there was no edible food to be had for the entire seven hour journey and while I didn't mind this hardship I felt bad for forcing my parents to endure it. As we continued along, the train car began to fill up, making us realize we were more than a little out of place. I headed to the dining car for a bottle of water and when the man there discovered I could speak Thai, he actually shook my hand. Back in my seat next to the open window, I decided to put on some sunscreen. A Thai guy in a camo jacket saw me do this and almost immediately got up and put down the metal “shades” on my window in order to protect my delicate white skin from the sun. It was very thoughtful of him, but it meant I couldn't see anything anymore. But I didn't want to hurt his feelings so I contented myself with my iPod for a while. I couldn't help noticing though that he kept staring at me and after awhile I got too self-conscious and switched seats. Only a few minutes later a Thai woman moved up in order to take my spot. Before sitting down she thoroughly scrubbed the entire seat with a piece of newspaper, making me wonder if I'd left some sort of farang contamination or something. Yet she was very nice and even took our trash from us when she saw us looking for a garbage can. I didn't really want to make this woman throw away my trash as I was perfectly capable of doing so, but she didn't really give us much choice.
Finally we pulled into Phitsanalok around 2:30 p.m., where we would have to catch a bus to sukothai (like I said, probably more hassle than it was worth but I had to do it). On arrival I thought the most important thing to do was find a place to get some food. I didn't imagine we would have to go too far but nothing immediately outside of the station seemed promising. We had eight pieces of luggage between the three of us. Before you start thinking that we are particularly high-maintenance travelers or complete idiots, let me be clear that most of these were carry-on size and that my parents had brought an extra at my request. But it was not particularly fun to wander down the street with them all while the tuk-tuk drivers hassled us. I managed to ask someone where a restaurant might be and he simply pointed down the street and said the word “hotel.” I left my bags with my parents and ran ahead to see how far it was and when I discovered it was only around the corner we managed to make our way there and squeeze inside.
The hotel/restaurant was less than busy as Phitsanalok is not a very popular destination and it is the low season. There was a flurry of excitement when we came in the door and one employee started grabbing our bags while several people seemed to be speaking in rapid Thai. After some confusion I surprised myself by communicating in Thai that we didn't intend to stay but wanted to eat. They were a little disappointed I think but they gave us a table and we were able to order some decent Thai food. I was thanking the heavens above for my intensive Thai classes at this point as their English was pretty much nonexistant. From there it was pretty straightforward to get a songtaew to the bus station, except that we ended up in a tiny vehicle with barely enough room for ourselves and our luggage. I wasn't sure how long we would have to wait for a bus to sukothai but the answer turned out to be about 0.1 seconds. As soon as we arrived at the bus station an attendant hurried up to us shouting “sukothai!” and practically shoved us on a departing bus. That's what I call good timing.
So we made it! When we arrived at the bus station I was able to call the hotel for a free transfer. While we were waiting for this, we were entertained by a small child playing with a bouncy ball. The child soon decided that we were far more interesting and began playing with our luggage. For a moment, I thought he was going to try to come with us! He seemed to like my mom in particular. But his own mom recovered him and our ride arrived. We got settled in our rooms and so our travels began.
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