Getting out of Bangkok

After yesterday's evening it wasn't as surprise that I stayed in bed a little longer than usually but check out was at 11. I got ready, checked out and had a coffee but the dough balls were already gone. I wasn't in a rush to leave the hostel and did some research on how easy or hard it would be to visit the floating markets. It turned out that these are quite a bit outside of Bangkok and I probably need a day to get there, see them and get back. Since my train was to leave at 19:30 this evening I couldn't do that today.

What else is there to do in Bangkok? I just took it easy and walked around town, mainly Sukhumvit, for a bit to find something nice to eat. Indeed I found small place with loads of different dishes where I could eat for 50 Baht.

Since it was a weekday and about lunchtime the streets were really busy and people were rushing everywhere. Back at the hostel I did some further planning of Visa and train, planes and auto-mobiles to get to the next couple of places.

The other guys from yesterday also started to recover slowly so we hung out on the hostel's porch and I waited for the right time to catch my train.

Around 6 I left for the station, where I got some water, snacks and a SIM, ate some more food.
When entering the area of the stations where the platforms are, I got a feeling of excitement. A ride on an overnight train through the jungle of southern Thailand was just about to begin.

After boarding the train and finding my seat I quickly got to talk to two other backpackers.
We left right on time but after about only 30 minutes into the journey the train stopped already and we waited for more than an hour to get going again.

The train was more luxurious than I expected it to be. The seats, fully folded down to make a flat bed (two opposite facing seats would fold down and make a bed). I had one with a window and after the steward came along and prepared the beds, I closed my curtains and had my own little cave from where I could watch the lights go by.

While sitting there, with not much to do, I reflected on the last couple of weeks, of what I had seen, of what I experienced and who I met. I also thought of home and was wondering what everyone was doing while I was rolling through the dark jungle.

Life is good I was thinking, good decision to do this trip. I also realized I am not just interested in being in cool places, it is also important and exciting to get there in style. I do like epic train journeys, alright.

After some time it was enough reflecting and I needed to do something useful, so I copied some pictures of my phone and camera onto the laptop and some new music onto the phone.

I also caught up a little bit on the blog and listened to some music but I wasn't able to sleep. Was I too excited to sleep or was the day to lame? I wasn't sure.

Finally, just before 3 I must have faded off to sleep.