(Note: On my first trip to Asia two years ago, I took a hardback journal with me to jot down my thoughts. This time around, I have been writing my thoughts on the net, so there is no need for the journal. But this weekend I knew that I would be visiting someplace with no Internet access, so the journal was brought out again. I am transcribing the notes here, on Tuesday, July 15, 2003)
The more I travel in Thailand, the more I realize that no two trips will ever be the same. When you travel in America, you can at least be assured of some level of consistency. Not here.
Case in point: Last night I took the overnight VIP bus to Chiang Rai. I had such a good experience with the VIP bus on my last trip to Nong Khai that I decided to do it again. Last time, the seats were plush, a box dinner and box breakfast were served and I slept peacefully through the night.
This time, however, the seats were only moderately comfortable, I was given a donut in a box for dinner and I tried to find a comfortable sleeping position with an empty stomach.
At 1:00 AM, the lights and the Isaan music came on and we pulled into a rest area where we were fed a buffet dinner consisting of hard-boiled eggs, fried rice, rice porridge, vegetables in sweet sauce, vegetables in spicy sauce, chinese sausage and (I think) pork.
I actually slept OK after the midnight buffet until the sun rose around 5:30 AM. I had made an attempt to tell the bus hostess bai mae suay (I go to Mae Suay) in hopes that we would be passing through the town on the way and I could get out without going all the way to Chiang Rai city.
Around 6:30, the bus hostess tapped me on the shoulder and said "Mae Suay". I got out on the side of the highway, the bus left, and I realized I was in the middle of nowhere. Judging my the group of Thai people who were also there with their luggage, I figured out that they had dropped me off at the turn-off to Mae Suay, and I had to catch another bus from here.
An hour later the bus had still not come, so one of the Thai ladies who was also waiting made an animated phone call. Ten minutes later a truck pulled up, everyone piled in with their luggage, and to my surprise, the passenger seat in the cab was left empty for me.
Twenty kilometers later we were in the small town of Mae Suay, whose downtown consists of 3 blocks of shops on the main road. I was dropped off at the bus stop where I now sit and wait for my friend, "No". Who knows when he will arrive so in the meantime I will sit here and watch the scene around me.
