July 20—On the Road to Phitsanulok: Cow Splat and Kind Thai Day

Dear Family and Friends,

Friday, July 20, our day started early, up at 6 AM and to Bus 77 by 7:20 AM. We had weekend bags with us, including a plastic bag that Martha carried, full of our plastic two-liter water container, the 'platypus.' We were standing in the aisle of the bus during the early stages of rush hour, and a kind, seated woman offered to hold Martha’s plastic bag, putting it first on her lap before the condensations from the ‘platypus’ started to make wet marks on her pants. She still held the bag on the floor between her legs for many kilometers up Narathiwas, and the kind lady eventually got up and stood for the final minutes of her trip to give Martha somewhere to sit down!

As we rounded the corner onto Sathorn, it was getting late, and the traffic was not getting any lighter. We rode it out until the Central dock area, but since it was so close to 8 AM, we hopped out there to grab a cab to the Hua Lamphong train terminal 1.5 kilometers away. The cabbie rocked it, and we arrived by 8:20 AM to buy our tickets for the 8:30 AM departure to Phitsanoluk, Thailand, set to arrive at 1:09 PM! We must have just made it, as only eight seats remained on the back of the train. They were quickly filled with an entire family of travelers, and the train left just about right on-time.

Just before the train departed, Dani hopped up to throw away the cup that had our breakfast kiwi and persimmon rinds in it. She noticed that the couple in the row ahead of us also had some garbage, and offered the cup to dispose of their refuse on her way. The gentleman went to fill her cup with water! Explaining her intentions, he was happy for her to take care of the wrapping, and she was so tickled that he was without-a-thought ready to give her some refreshment! The kindness between Dani and the gentleman turned out to be a welcome opening to his assisting us later when the trip had an interesting delay.

We paid 449 baht each for second-class seats in the air-conditioning. And man, second-class citizens riding the train in Thailand are treated WAY better than coach flyers on most airlines these days. In airline-style cart delivery up the center aisle of the two-row coach, we were given coffee, breakfast of little pizza and a sweet treat, AND water and lunch later in the day of rice, meat sausages, and a nice lemony-spicy meat salad. Kings! We are all kings here!

10:45 AM, as many passengers lay snoozing (some even snoring), the train came to a crashing halt. Holy cow! People were thrown forward in their seats, startled, but no one was injured. We soon learned the ‘neua’ means ‘cow’ in Thai, and the train had hit one! The kind gentleman in front of us clued us in on the situation as other passengers discussed the event. The train backed up so that the rails could be cleared. One man across the aisle from us videotaped out the window after the train was ready to start moving again, almost an hour later. The helpful gentleman in front of us said, “This is my first time having this happen.”

Under her breath, Dani replied, “The first time for the cow, too."

As we arrived at the next station on the train route, Martha saw a man from the side grinning and with laughing eyes making a 'tooth-brushing' gesture to the conductor with his left hand. Dani started quietly singing a modified hip-hop song, 'Let me see your grill ... your cow covered grill!' We did feel very badly for the cow, however, and hoped that some needy villagers ate well that night.

The train ride as a whole was all-together pleasant, as the scenery quickly changed from city to glorious open countryside. Rice fields, workers turning over the land or weeding their crop space, a large lake, and contrasting simple versus elaborate housing aligning the train’s path. Martha and Dani each took cat-naps along the way, with one of us always awake to keep an eye on our light baggage. On the sides of distant mountains, we could see large Buddha images, and though we tried, we could not get a good photo from the moving train. Unlike the Grand Tetons in America, the mountains that seemed very far off were not so, as five minutes after thinking that the peak was distant, it was practically upon us and past. One expression here is ‘same, same, but different’ (and the expression can be seen on many t-shirts around the country), and we felt that Thailand was similar but different from Spain. There, the vast open spaces were specked with steeples. Here, the vast open spaces are specked with the pointed chedi of temples.

As the time approached and then passed 1:09 PM, Dani started to get nervous that we would miss the Phitsanulok train station because we’d not understand the proper station, and the time-table was surely altered with the cow incident. Martha’s, “Well, if we end up in some other town farther North, that’s okay, too” did not seem to calm her. Again, the gentleman in front of us showed his incredible kindness, telling Dani that the train was a full hour and a half behind, even double-checking the usual time needed between his exit (the next one) and ours. “Yes, it is a full hour from when my wife and I get off the train.” Dani settled back into her seat, much more comfortable and relaxed for the final hour. Thank you, kind Thai man!

Lots of people disembarked at the same stop as ours. We avoided all of the tuk-tuk drivers, opting instead to walk the town a bit with our much-lighter-than-our-usual baggage (thanks to Sheila for letting us leave most of our stuff at the apartment for the weekend!). We headed to a very tall hotel visible from the train station and requested a map of the town, since the Lonely Planet does not include one in its Southeast Asia on a Shoestring text. LP does, however, recommend three different cheap sleeping options, and we wandered a bit by the town’s beautiful river, past two wats and through streets cluttered with nightlife hot spots, in hopes of running into one of those options.

Phitsanulok does not have a huge downtown, and we soon encountered the London Hotel, where we procured room #6 (the bed in room #8 was WAY too hard for Martha’s back) with a powerful overhead fan, for the night for 150 baht (again, about 5 USD). Clothes stowed behind padlocked double-doors, we headed back out into the city to visit the TAT office for information. This experience was so much more pleasant than our previous attempt at TAT assistance. The woman who worked at this TAT headquarters office was awesome. She provided us with detailed information on bus schedules from Phitsanulok to Sukothai to Chiang Mai, as well as lists of places to stay and prices for each town. No attempt to swindle us into staying at a particular place or go a particular way or not go to a particular sight because it was closed. Refreshing compared with some of our experiences in Bangkok!

The streets of Phitsanulok were easier to walk than in Bangkok, with fewer people, more even walkways, more genuine smiles, and fewer tuk-tuks asking if you need a ride or blocking your path across the street. The prevalence of English was also much lesser in this smaller town; we understood little of what the shops offered before passing by the front to peek in the open doorways. Some were wholesale stacks of snacks and other imported foodstuffs; many were gold vendors with bright lights and row after row of chains and rings.

Our destination was Wat Yai (more formally known as Wat Phra Si Ratana Mahatat), the predominant tourist attraction in town, with ‘one of the most beautiful Buddha images in Thailand,’ Phra Buddha Chinnarat. The grounds were cluttered with vendors towards the end of their workdays; few tourists remained except at the entrance and within the main temple itself. A sign outside showed simple instructions on being respectful in Thai culture: take off your shoes before entering someone’s home or a temple, never point your feet at objects or people (use your hands and fingers instead, since the foot is seen as the lowest point of the body), never touch a Thai person on their head (the highest point of the body), wear appropriate clothing in royal and religious places (covered shoulders and knees as a rule), do not be overt about public displays of affection, and do not make fun of their religion or religious icons. Martha missed the part about taking off her hat and was asked to do so as soon as she sat down before the Beautiful Buddha.

Martha and Dani witnessed a new devotee practice in this temple. People would grab one of the three canisters filled with sticks, each stick with an emblem or writing on the end, and shake the canister until one of the sticks flew to the ground. The person would read the stick, thank Lord Buddha for the guidance or answer, and return the canister for the next person. Small children seemed to make a game of this, repeatedly seeing what ‘Lord Buddha had to say.’ Along the river, we walked on the far side from Wat Yai, enjoying the cooler air North of Bangkok and watching the Thai locals on their evening jogs. Before the bridge back towards our hotel, we encountered a group of locals doing synchronized Thai chi; across the bridge, an enormous group of people did aerobics guided by an instructor on stage.

Back at the hotel, we did battle with the Eastern-style toilets in the shared bathrooms of the London Hotel, glad to have picked up our own toilet paper during our afternoon walk. We headed back towards the river to find dinner and explore the night bazaar nearby (recommended by the Japanese woman across the hall from us who was enjoying her last two weeks away in Thailand before returning home after two years of working in Australia). But first, we found ourselves sitting by the river, watching the water flow quickly past and soaking in the serenity. The monsoon showed signs it was ready to come pouring down, so we hiked across to the far side of the river, down to the water’s edge where a houseboat was used as a restaurant. Dinner on the river was lovely. One of Martha’s favorite dishes that her mother makes is sweet and sour pork with a brown sauce, pineapple chunks, onions, green peppers, and carrots cooked in a wok. She has, however, always wondered at how distinct her mother’s style dish is from the sweet and sour pork (breaded pork with a bright orange sauce) that many Americans encounter in Chinese cuisine. But no more! It’s Thai-style sweet and sour pork!! Martha ordered the sweet and sour chicken and it was a little slice of home, very good, but of course not as tasty as her mom’s cooking! Dani ordered steamed veggies in oyster sauce; and we shared the dishes.

As the rain continued to fall on the river, we exited the shelter of our dining option, found most (but not all) of the night bazaar closed down with the rains, and headed back to the hotel by 10 PM (there is a 10:30 PM curfew and we were asked if we knew where the folks were in room #5!). After showers (each of the three bathrooms is equipped with shower facilities, as well, and we encountered no waits at any time), sleep came quickly, until the dogs in the street started barking in the wee hours, disrupting a good night's rest.

In love and light,

Martha and Dani