Tracy Borland Photography

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  2. 2013

Northern Thailand

Our Southeast Asian travels took an unexpected direction - to the airport in Ho Chi Minh City. We touched down in Bangkok shortly thereafter, and started on yet more time in Thailand. We love it here, and this time our prayers for guidance seem to have resulted in a more northern destination... Chang Mai.
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We hopped off the train in a rush, dashing out into the Bangkok streets to find a cab. We crossed the highway on a concrete overpass, passing a delicately placed pair of black shoes. It was as if someone has just taken off their shoes and put them there for future use. It was an odd thing to stumble across past midnight in Bangkok, but I suppose there's stranger things in that city. We got a cab and hopped in, where to my horror, John told our driver to take us to the airport as fast as he could go.<br /> <br /> I don't even want to know how fast a Thai cab driver can go.<br /> <br /> Thankfully the streets were pretty empty, and our driver never did reach mach speed. I mean we went fast, but I didn't hear us break the sound barrier. He was, though, trying very hard to stay awake. I was thankful when we dropped us off at the airport in one piece, where we found the Emerites check in quickly. We were checking in late, and when we slogged our gear up to the counter, they had a proposition for us.<br /> The deal was, they needed 'volunteers' to stay another day in Bangkok, because they'd overbooked their flight. Their incentive was a stay in a hotel, food, and two free round trip tickets from Seattle to Bangkok.<br /> We said yes.<br /> <br /> Feeling exorbitantly blessed, not only to sleep but to have free tickets, we spent the day resting. Our place had two beds - so we did what any kids would do. Built a fort.
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We hopped off the train in a rush, dashing out into the Bangkok streets to find a cab. We crossed the highway on a concrete overpass, passing a delicately placed pair of black shoes. It was as if someone has just taken off their shoes and put them there for future use. It was an odd thing to stumble across past midnight in Bangkok, but I suppose there's stranger things in that city. We got a cab and hopped in, where to my horror, John told our driver to take us to the airport as fast as he could go.

I don't even want to know how fast a Thai cab driver can go.

Thankfully the streets were pretty empty, and our driver never did reach mach speed. I mean we went fast, but I didn't hear us break the sound barrier. He was, though, trying very hard to stay awake. I was thankful when we dropped us off at the airport in one piece, where we found the Emerites check in quickly. We were checking in late, and when we slogged our gear up to the counter, they had a proposition for us.
The deal was, they needed 'volunteers' to stay another day in Bangkok, because they'd overbooked their flight. Their incentive was a stay in a hotel, food, and two free round trip tickets from Seattle to Bangkok.
We said yes.

Feeling exorbitantly blessed, not only to sleep but to have free tickets, we spent the day resting. Our place had two beds - so we did what any kids would do. Built a fort.

thailand2013travelasiatracy borlandhotelfort

  • There's still a moat and bits of an old wall all the way around 'the old city' in Chiang Mai.
  • The moat is huge, and square.
  • This tree had impressively grown flat up against the wall, it's roots crawling all along it.
  • We started our journey home knowing it would be a lot of traveling. I added up the hours in my head before we left, approximating somewhere over 60 until we got home. It started with a tuk tuk and ended in a car on our way to Wasilla. <br /> Our train stopped in the countryside, and people went outside and poked it. Air Con flickered on and off through the trip, and when we'd roll through various ports people would throw water on our car. Between train problems and slow speeds, we got to our destination 4 or 5 hours late. It was curious, and if it wasn't for a flight to catch it would of just been part of the ride. We jumped off the train early at a stop in Bangkok, finally making a mad dash for freedom around midnight. We'd left Chiang Mai at about 9am. <br /> I have a soft spot for Asian trains. Something commonly is weird about the ride. Late, train problems, a dump truck full of bricks parked on the tracks (seriously. That happened.) But people are super nice and they're always ready with big grins. The 'normal' people ride the train, so it's a great time to get a dose of real Asians and real Asian friendliness. It's a great opportunity to meet loveable people and watch families just being families.
  • John gazes out the window of a train on our ride from Chiang Mai to Bangkok.
  • Train car!
  • We hopped off the train in a rush, dashing out into the Bangkok streets to find a cab. We crossed the highway on a concrete overpass, passing a delicately placed pair of black shoes. It was as if someone has just taken off their shoes and put them there for future use. It was an odd thing to stumble across past midnight in Bangkok, but I suppose there's stranger things in that city. We got a cab and hopped in, where to my horror, John told our driver to take us to the airport as fast as he could go.<br /> <br /> I don't even want to know how fast a Thai cab driver can go.<br /> <br /> Thankfully the streets were pretty empty, and our driver never did reach mach speed. I mean we went fast, but I didn't hear us break the sound barrier. He was, though, trying very hard to stay awake. I was thankful when we dropped us off at the airport in one piece, where we found the Emerites check in quickly. We were checking in late, and when we slogged our gear up to the counter, they had a proposition for us.<br /> The deal was, they needed 'volunteers' to stay another day in Bangkok, because they'd overbooked their flight. Their incentive was a stay in a hotel, food, and two free round trip tickets from Seattle to Bangkok.<br /> We said yes.<br /> <br /> Feeling exorbitantly blessed, not only to sleep but to have free tickets, we spent the day resting. Our place had two beds - so we did what any kids would do. Built a fort.
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