It's a small world.
I hadn't realised how small until this journey as I had no idea about the size of the planet. I had nothing to compare it with, but I do now. Now the Earth is finite. To give you an idea you can walk three miles in an hour which is a few roads of a major city. In London that would be nearly the width of a page on the London A-Z. London is about 15 such pages accross, so you could walk it in two days or cycle there and back in a day if you don't hit too many hills. From 10000 feet a major city looks about the size of a saucer on a table top with towns being the size of tomatoes. We were flying over Iran at night and the orange highways and white building lights were clearly visible. Iran doesn't have so many small towns, but has very regular oil refineries instead. On this scale you get one major city every two table tops. Iran only has about four of these, but it is a big country. We crossed about five Iran sized countries and oceans to go a quarter of the way around the world. Nearly fifty table tops of which you can walk a little bit of a saucer in an hour. I am taken aback by how little space holds so much history, so many stories, so many inventions and so many nuclear weapons.
Thailand is a small country on a globe, but last night we crossed half of it by sleeper train. As you leave Bankok you pass from Bladerunner landscapes to offices and factories to the shanty towns on the outskirts. Even the poorest houses have "spirit houses" which are small model houses on plinths. They are always highly decorated and highly ornamental. Office towers have them, factories have them and half flooded corrugated iron shacks by the railway line have them. These last are often the most elaborate, almost minuture temples in a sea of poverty.
The train was air conditioned and mercifully cooler; cold even. unfortunately Aviva nominated me for the top bunk. Quite an exercise in athleticism and when you get there the curtain fails to cover the light. It's also a little too narrow for my peace of mind. Being tossed around a wafer thing bed next to a striplight with constant vertigo attacks does not make for a good night's sleep. Aviva didn't sleep either, but she could look out of the window at the paddy fields and the upcoming mountains. It is the mountains we are heading for as Bangkok travel agent persuaded us to take on a three day trek to the hill tribes. It will involve five hours walking, then an elephant ride (self drive) and finally rafting back home. It is a little preplanned and touristy rather than a real trek, but it is extremely hot and humid and we will finally need the mosquito repellant for sure. We get met at Chang Mai station at seven AM.
After a sleepless train ride and a jeep to the prebooked hostel we just slept the morning away, realised it was Saturday and the post offices were closed and we didn't have any money. An ATM solved our problems and we have been mulling about ever since. We need to move around a bit today and rest tomorrow. We both have doubts about our fitness, especially Aviva. Our last mountain trek was in Liechtenstein and although it was hot that day it was dryer. Things did not go well with Aviva overheating for a while. We are going to pack plenty of water (we get fed when we arrive) and the guides wil look after us. We are part of a party of eight to twelve though and it will be embarrassing to be stuck at the back. I think it will be a long journey.
yours, Marcus.