Market Friday: a train journey to the north-east of Thailand.

The old train to the north-east of Thailand towards the border town at the border with Laos took about ten hours. In the past I would be taking the night train as the train were relative new and very comfortable. I could also have a good sleep till early next morning when the train would be pulling into the station. But, now I am so used to traveling by day-train: the night trains were cancelled after the lockdown. The day train is much older but quite comfortable. The tickets are half the price and I could enjoy the scenery along the railway track.

If I was very tired, I could take a nap on the reclining seat. The scenery along the way made up for the discomfort of the old train. In the old days, I could recall many vendors, hawking their snacks, sweets, fruits, roast chickens on bamboo sticks, sugar cane juice, spicy salad and so on, at every railway stop. But these days, hawkers are no longer allow to sell their food on the platform. Luckily, they allow some vendors to sell their snack abs food on the train at two railway stations.

These vendors are local people who would normally make their living selling food on the platform. Now they could sell cold drink, fruits and snacks on the train for about thirty minutes. They have to buy tickets for one stop and get on the other retuning train to get back home. These vendors are mostly old and poorly educated people but they are experienced cook and vendors. Their service saved many passengers from hunger and thirst as there is no food or drink available on the train; the food-car had been cancelled since the lockdown.

I often look forwards to meeting these vendors so I could try out some local snacks and get some nice cold drink. Some passengers tell me which snacks are more delicious than others. I was quite impressed by the politeness and good manner of the vendors. They actually treat their customers much better than vendors in big shopping mall who often scolded at customers. I have my favourite vendors who offer freshly cooked spicy fish snack with sticky rice. It’s quite a homely scene seeing passengers having their lunch on the train. Otherwise, they would all seem like robots in human costumes sitting quietly in their seats. There’s something very earthly seeing people having their food with satisfaction.

These old trains have not been maintained properly and the windows are rarely washed which make it impossible to take clear photos from inside the train. I wish we had the Japanese mentality of always cleaning and keeping things in good shape. New trains would look good and perform well during the first few years. Then things would start to break down and dirt would be spotted on panels and interior design such as curtains and washrooms.

There’s too much corruption over many years, so workers no longer care about their organisation’s reputation. High ranking officers just suck all the commissions they could while holding their authority. So, no one bothered about maintaining high standard of quality and work. Our railway used to be the best during the reign of Monarchy; after the coup under military rules things just drifted back to the dark age; civil servants are no longer civil nor servants!

Several of the old railway stations built during the reign of King Rama V could still be spotted along the way. These are quite charming small wooden buildings with small gardens. Some buildings have been renovated and preserved with some brick works. I had to quickly take these photos while the door of the train were openly briefly at the station. Behind these old station, I would notice old wooden houses built over a hundred years ago for railway staff to live while working at these old stations.

Many old railway stations along the track had disappeared; bigger and modern railway stations with shopping arcades and car park could be seen at big cities like Khonkaen and Udon. It’s quite sad people in authority often neglect cultural heritage and go for big and modern architectural projects which could render high commissions.

The corruption has become endemic in the public sector since the eighties when our country seemed to be booming like crazy; money was top priority then. The corruption spreaded like coronavirus and they all caught the disease to the demise of our social and political fabric. It’s like an old house on shaky foundation waiting to collapse under an unexpected earthquake.

I have told my friends to prepare for the possibility of a world war since last year. Now they wonder how I could be so accurate; I warned them long before the recent conflicts. There’s some vibes floating in the air telling me of bad news in the future. I also had the warning about some natural disaster. My old friend is now building a safe house in the mountainous area three hours’ drive from Bangkok. I did ask her last year whether her family had a safe house in case of a big regional war or world war 3. She had a laughed; but after the Russian actions, she’s decided to build a safe house.

Traveling long distance on the train gives me some idle time to be still and go with the flow; back to the past and sometimes venturing into the future. The vibes of the earth, lakes and mountains are still very healing and nourishing. I just hope local people would treasure what they have and look after these precious heritage. Life is going to change drastically by the end of this year and I am too slow at sorting out my belongings before a big move. I really have to put my mind and focus on the right priorities!

Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.

Stay strong and cheerful.

#marketfriday by @dswigle