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DAY 01 ( 20th October 2014 )

With one suitcase and my daily backpack, I started walking from my apartment to the Phara Ram 9 MRT station at 7 in the morning. The suitcase was quite heavy because I had my laptop inside it to avoid the weight on my backpack but I totally forgot that I had to carry the suitcase all the way to the station too. Anyhow, after about 35 minutes of walking, I arrived at the station. It was very tiring as I was not used to heavy walking in the hot sun. I usually take the motorbike taxis. But since this was the beginning of a sustainable life I had to make sure that I don’t do anything that would increase my carbon footprint.

As soon as I reached the station, I tried taking the suitcase up the stairs to avoid the lift. I was having difficulty to take it up the stairs but luckily a very helpful man came and helped me out. So nice of him!

When I reached to the train area, I had to wait for 2 trains to pass by because it was very packed and there was no way for me to get in with my heavy suitcase. Now that the weight has become such a burden, let’s take a look of what I had packed. 

Here it is;

06 regular clothes

01 thin fabric towel ( easy to dry )

Cables for my gadgets ( laptop and mobile phone )

Snacks ( things I already had in the house; fish cans and some mama packets )

Laptop (of course, I had work )

Note Books

Stationaries

Nikon Digital Camera ( the whole camera bag with accessories )

Toiletries

In my backpack, I only had some oranges and a note book.

However, after about another 30 minutes, I had already reached at Hua Lamphong station. My classmates, Mind, Johnny, Lyming and her mother were already waiting at the station. When I went and met them, I came to an understanding that the train was a bit delayed. So, I was not late! Phew. As we were waiting for Ice to come, we took some photos around the station. Lyming had already brought some snacks from her home which was more than enough for all of us for the journey.

As soon as Ice reached, we gathered our stuff and started walking towards the train platform. We got on the train, got our bags inside the overhead compartments and made ourselves all set for the 12hrs journey ahead of us. I was sitting near Ice in an aisle seat. The seats were comfortable than I thought it would be. Once the train started its engine, I called my parents and informed about the departure.  (Otherwise, they will be worried).

The atmosphere inside the train was very nice. The train had fans installed but they used AC so it was a bit chilled. They even offered us lunch and snacks during the journey. After 3 hours or so, the excitement I had was slowly fading away. It was getting too tiresome and boring to sit on the same chair for so long. It wasn’t like I was not talking to my friends but the pain for sitting too long was reaching to a point that it was unbearable. So, I decided to walk around. I stood and walked to the toilet area. I wasn’t really going to use it but I thought, well I am here, so I might as well use it. Surprisingly!! It was not bad. 

Oh and did I mention, that this was my very first time using the train (choo choo) and also going to Chiang Mai. So I was very much delighted about the trip but at the same time worried about leading a green life. Yes, for the very common reason, we are all so accustomed to the very materialistic earth we live in. But I had already de-activated my face book, so that was going nice for me. And also I did not have a lot of friends to chat with, so I was not using my DATA on my mobile that much either. (Not as much as I used to). 

During the 12hrs on the train, I also observed different kinds of people. And most importantly, there was this kid who was being playful and entertaining us all for the last few hours of the trip. He was very cute. He would talk to my Thai friends, and come and tap me on the shoulders. I don’t know why. Would it be because I was brown? Oh well. It was fun either way.

In between a lot of chit chatting, photo snapping and eating,  the time had arrived. The time I have been waiting for. We reached Chiang Mai at around 8:30pm. As soon as we got there, we took the public transport and went to Lyming’s grand parents’ house. Oh yeah, by then Lana also had reached from Cambodia and joined us. So now it’s a total of 6 members starting the journey of the sustainable life.

As soon as we reached the house, we had our dinner that Lyming’s grandparents had already cooked for us. Mind, Ice, Lana and I were sharing the room. The room had an air conditioner, but of course we used the fan. We also opened the windows to let more air in the room. We all tried to do our work, writing our blogs but we were too tired for it so we went to sleep.