Hua Hin, and home

Monday morning on my final week in Thailand, we brave Bangkok’s notorious hell-traffic to reach Hualamphong train station. There, we'll catch a train down to the coastal town of Hua Hin to visit Lian’s 20-year-old niece, Eve. Or at least I think she's a niece --  Lian keeps going back and forth between calling her "my niece" and “my daughter.” I ask why.

“I raise Eve from baby when my sister die,” Lian explains. “To age 9 when she go live my cousin.” I learn something new about this girl every day.

At the train station Lian and I have a George-and-Gracie moment. She is vexed that I’ve purchased a third-class ticket on the local line that leaves in an hour and puts us in Hua Hin around 1:15. Lian hates the local, which stops in every village, and wants to exchange our tickets for the express.

“But the local gets us there by early afternoon,” I try to explain. “The express doesn’t leave here for another three hours and won’t arrive in Hua Hin until after 4.”

Her counter-argument: “Express train goes faster!”

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The local rail line is the only way to travel through Thailand, especially in the dry and hot seasons with the windows down and the breeze keeping everyone cool. Food vendors from the villages work the train both inside and out – a highlight of the ride is this delicious, noodle-like something wrapped in newspaper, which we buy through the window for 20 baht while stopped at a hamlet.

Early afternoon we jump off the train and grab a tuk-tuk to our odd hotel choice, the Hua Hin Golf Villa. Neither of us plays, but the price is reasonable (for pricey Hua Hin), so what the hey.

That evening at the Night Bazaar we finally meet up with the daughter-niece, who turns out to be the very picture of sweet Asian innocence. And now I have two Thai women who are doting over me: refilling my water glass, slipping fresh portions of som tam and fried chicken onto my dinner plate, generally being of service to The Man. That's the way Lian was raised, and it's the way she raised Eve. God, I love this country!

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Another journey ends with the usual all-nighter at Suvarnabhumi Airport, waiting to catch my 5:50 a.m. return flight to the place where I’m from. By now, Lian is somewhere up the tracks on a sleeper train north to Chiang Mai. In America the workday is cranking up as clients lob urgent emails in my direction, as if there were such a thing as “emergency copywriting.” Sorry, guys, I’ll just have to take care of it when I get back.

To be continued …