Paradise Soup And The Train Home

On the way home we stopped at a food vendor and Momma hopped out to pick up some ingredient for dinner. We finally made it home and took a very cold shower.......I think the warm water machine on the wall was broken........so we squealed like we had jumped in a river in Alaska! Clean and refreshed we went to the kitchen and visited while Momma 1 and Momma 2 cooked dinner. We had Jok, which is Northern Thai Rice Soup with several toppings to choose from including the teeny tiny hot as hell peppers, crushed fried garlic, and fried egg with minced shrimp. Everyone is surprised that Vince puts hot spices and peppers into his dishes. It is so funny watching them look at him as he does this..........”Oh...No No...you no like spicy!! Vince just smiles and adds what he wants.

After dinner I gave gifts of t-shirts from the University of Oregon, post cards, pens, and of course chocolate! They were so excited it really was touching. I found out months ago that Momma 1 has a food cart where she makes soup. I ordered an apron with a large cartoon bowl of soup on the front where a man is floating on an air mattress in a soup bowl. It says Paradise Soup on the front and as soon as she found out what it said and it was an apron she was nearly jumping for joy she was SO excited!

We got up early to catch the train to Chiang Mai. 

And stopped at a market for food and snacks for the ride.

These are quickly flipped over hot coals and they puff out 

and make a delicious addicting giant cracker.

Fresh brewed tea and mine was in a Mickey Mouse Cup!

We met a nice man at the station that was a former Agricultural Inspector for all of Thailand. He is retired and when I motioned to hide my cracker snack he just smiled, looked away and laughed and said .”I am Expire, no on duty” When we left for the train he wished us good luck in our new home in Chiang Mai. It is those little moments that make life a lovely place to be!

Flowers to hang somewhere inside the vehicle for good luck

The train pulled up and stopped for all of 3 minutes. We hurriedly waved our good byes and found a seat. The train was not full, there were people napping, and at each stop there were food vendors that came aboard to sell home made goodies. Fried chicken, sticky rice and grilled pork, fresh pineapple and watermelon and more rice crispy treats made from the recent rice harvest.

The scenery was beautiful even in the dry season. We passed jungle, rice paddies, and farms as we went from station to station. Sometimes we stopped for a couple minutes and at others we would stop for 10 or 15 minutes. The journey was easy and we arrived in 5 ½ hours.

I am very proud of both Vince and I that we are so flexible as we did not have a place to stay once we got off the train. We booked the Eurana Hotel in the walled city near markets and transportation. It is lovely, quiet and the bed is comfy. For those that do not know.....most beds in Thailand are approximately a 6 inch hard mattress....no give whatsoever and it felt like I was sleeping on the floor. This is what we have been sleeping on in 3 different places. One can not FLOP when you roll over...because you might bruise something! :-)

Very near the hotel is a street full of food vendors, market and clothes. As we sat with our Khao Soy / Curry type soup with noodles, we listened, watched, smelled and marveled at the movement of life around us. At the same time we feel awe that we are in Thailand, yet so comfortable......as if we have just been away for a vacation and we are finally back home.