Planes, Trains and Automoboats…….?

At 6am with damp shoes on my feet I wave goodbye to Laos and head to the airport bound for the South. I had desperately wanted to go to Chang Mai via the slow boat but unfortunately the slow boat was too slow for me. I had to be in Singapore by the 12^th and didn’t want to manically rush everywhere I went. So I had made an executive decision and decided to fly from Luang Prabang to Bangkok with Laos Airlines. A 15 minute TukTuk ride from town for 40,000kip (makes a massive difference to the hour or so slep to most London Airports) I had read in my itinerary that I should be at the airport 2 hours before departure. I had asked my hostel if they could book me a TukTuk for 5am. He said no. Confused I asked why?

‘You go Bangkok?’

‘Yes’

‘I get you TukTuk for 6am’

‘But it says 2 hours….’ I protested lamely

‘Trust me…..’

‘Ummmmmm’

‘If you miss your flight, I will buy you another one.’

Can’t say fairer than that I suppose, and he was right. At 6.15am I arrived at the airport and it was practically deserted. No queue for check in or security and then I had 50 minutes to wait before my flight even started to board. I’m glad I listened to his advice, not that I had a choice.

Once on the aircraft I was looking forward to some breakfast and a long snooze. The beautiful flight attendants with perfect makeup and frangipani flowers in their hair sashayed to and fro showing every passenger individually to their seat. The safety briefing was hilarious, they showed us how to put on our belts and then said ‘If there is anything else you would like to know please press the button for an attendant’ You can imagine everyone frantically pressing their attendants buttons as the plane crashes towards the ground.

Thankfully that didn’t happen and we landed safely and after an exhausting queuing getting through passport control I made it to the train, switched to the underground at Makkasan station and headed to Hua Lampong on the Thai underground which was exceptionally clean, quiet and cool. Hua Lampong station itself is none of those things. I bought my ticket south on the 1pm train. I opted for an upper bunk again as I was headed for Chumphon which arrived at 9pm so there was no point me splashing out for a luxury I wasn’t going to use. To escape the heat of the main hall I went to see if my train was there and people were already boarding. It was over an hour before we were meant to depart but as I boarded I could see people with mountains of baggage getting themselves set up and mountain bikers with hundreds of pannier bags dismantling and disconnecting. Watching all these people drop their bags and settle into their seats with their friends and family all helping reminded me of black and white films where lovers kissed their final goodbyes as the train was pulling away, waving white cotton handkerchiefs from carriage windows and announcements such as ‘anyone not planning on travelling with us today please prepare to leave as the train is ready to depart’ or something like that. In England now you can’t even get near the train to see anyone off. It’s all ticket barriers and no waiting drop off areas which hardly lends itself to romance and the long kiss goodbye.

Three monks in designer glasses sit on a bench beside the train chatting casually with a local man. The fact that fully fledged monks are not even allowed to acknowledge women irritates my liberal nature. However a few of the younger monks have said things too me, not that I understood but it was definitely cheeky from the looks on their faces as they slyly tucked their smart phones under their robes. 

A small child who has been constantly looking at me for the last half an hour keeps tucking at her father’s shirt sleeve and whispering in his ear. Eventually he comes up to me with the child in tow, she hasn’t averted her eyes from me, he says something to me in Thai and I apologise for not understanding, he smiles and nods, the child steps forward and touches the bottom of my hair for a second then runs away the man slowly following on behind. This happens to me a lot.

The train leaves over an hour late but people are boarding up until the last second. Do people just assume that the train will be late and know they can still catch it even if they arrive an hour late? His seems like madness to me. My 9pm arrival time suddenly seems very far away. However all in all I think I prefer the day train over the night one. Although the quality of the bed making left a lot to be desired, my man from the other day would be appalled to see how far standards have slipped in such or short amount of time. But once we got going watching the scenery rush by was truly wonderful, at every stop people got on to sell their food and drinks to the passengers and then getting off at the next stop. A group of women opposite me splutter and squawk moving their cases from rack to rack and then back again, never quite deciding on the correct order. Their headscarves flutter delicately from side to side as they flail their wing like arms from side to side trying to get their point across. There will be no sleeping in this carriage for some time to come. I close my eyes and try and let all the sounds of this bustling world wash over me.