I'm annoyed when I get to my berth and there are 3 burly Fins sitting on it. But I have now been travelling a month and am not to be messed with. I assert myself by brandishing my ticket and declaring "this is MY bunk."
Actually they turn out to be very pleasant guys and they move aside without complaint. I've armed myself with snacks to combat my erratic bursts of hunger, and my kindle and tablet for erratic bursts of boredom for the thirteen hour overnight train journey to Chiang Mai. As I sit on my bunk I notice a faint pissy bleachy chemical smell reminiscent of festival toilets. Definitely not the best seat in the house.
Although the mattress and pillow are comfy and the yellow bed curtains offer a good degree of privacy, I get a really patchy nights sleep, mostly because of the air conditioning which is turned up to the "bollock freezing" setting, which causes me to raid my bag for a jumper mid-way through the night.
I find that I have morbidly nostalgic dreams. I dream of my dead cats Siddy and Jack. Of my Uncle Frank's wake and when mum and dad phoned me at university to tell me that Granny had died. I remember the bawling group hug my cousins and I had in a pub stairwell that same day. I dream a little of my ex-boyfriend's parents, and a little of him (though mostly with the words "bastard bastard bastard" running through my head). It makes for an unsettling night's sleep, but I awake bleary-eyed to be rewarded with views of jungle-covered mountains.
Am I feeling a little homesick? No time for that- the legendary city of Chiang Mai awaits!
Well, it awaits after a three hour delay anyway.
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