Taxi, Airplane, Train, Scooter, Car

We left for the airport around 10pm by taxi. It is about a 20 minute drive at that time of night because you don't have to stop at the red lights. It is a bit unnerving to drive through the intersections when you know that cars aren't stopping from either direction. Our taxi driver must have had a reason for not driving with his lights on, but I've searched my brain and can't figure it out. So he only flashed his lights when passing or coming to the intersection. I find my prayer life is the strongest on these rides.

We made it fine to the airport and waited for a good long time at the airport. We were surprised to see the new gates and see the updates they are doing at the airport. We had nice fake wood floors and lounge chairs. They looked nice. Bathrooms are the same with some squatty potties and some sit down toilets, but no toilet paper. And there is always a bathroom attendant who hands you a paper towel after you wash your hands. Sometimes they turn the water on for you too.

We were the unfortunate ones to get the seats in front of the emergency exit rows, so our seats didn't recline. That made for a long flight.

Once we arrived in Bangkok we took a taxi to the train station and waited 2 hours for our train, being dead tired. On the train my seat wouldn't lock into position so I was always in the recline position. We got to see the countryside of Thailand which is very beautiful.

Some of the differences I noticed are that the Thai people are very quite, whereas the Indian trains would be full of loud kids and messy passengers. No one threw their garbage on the floor here. And as we looked outside the windows I saw miles and miles of land with no one to be seen. In India you always see people. Even in the middle of no where. On the train here people are polite to the hostess. In India people are grabbing whatever they want.

Once we got to Chiang Mai we got rented a scooter to get around town with. I love the traffic here. I guess being in a small city helps the traffic not be crazy. People follow rules, stay in their lanes, don't honk all the time.

And our friends have the car. We have all squeezed into their car, all eight of us, and it isn't crowded.

So far our adventures in Thailand have been great. We get on the train again tonight for our 10 hour trip back to Bangkok. We will take a taxi to do some shopping and then head to the airport. Back to the real world.