With the dramatic escape from the flooded dirt road and flooded house to the local resort, I was able to catch the early train for Bangkok on the following day. The manager of the resort gave me a lift to the train station. The sky was very grey and cloudy which told me there would be more rain later on. But I was on dry land and free to walk around the railway station.
I was rather early so there were a few passengers waiting for the train. I noticed a new coffee shop on the platform. So, I had to try one hot cappuccino, the staff gave me a choice of having my coffee served in porcelain cup and saucer instead of paper cup. The coffee tasted much better in porcelains cup. Drinking coffee this old fashion way was like a ritual to me which made life much more enjoyable. I didn’t want to drink the chemical and micro plastic from the ‘paper’ coffee cup. So, I always tried to have my coffee in shops where they served their drinks the old fashioned way. I forgot to take photos of this coffee shop, perhaps next time.
The modern and much faster train which was fully air conditioned train with only sleepers was still on the track. This was the express train from Bangkok to Nongkhai with very few stops along the journey. It reached Nongkhai around 6 am so passengers could take a connecting train to Laos quite easily. Many expats depended on this train connection for their visa runs to Vientiane in Laos. They had to spend one day at the Thai Embassy there to get a new visitor’s visa, then they would take the train back to Thailand via Nongkhai.
This slower train I travelled on became my favourite train as I could see diverse views of the countryside. In the past, I used to travel on the express night train as it’s very comfortable and I could have a good night sleep. But I could save a lot of money by using the day train. In this train, only one car had AC though it wasn’t very efficient and often failed to work properly. But it’s still better than being in compartments with fans; the windows would be opened and pollens would get inside along the journey. The train journey took about ten hours to reach Bangkok.
Since I traveled about once a month, I have gotten to know some railway staff quite well. I knew the numbers of seats so I often helped other passengers to find their seats. Some frequent passengers began to recognise me and started chatting with me. Most people on this train were elderly people and people with low income. The ‘richer’ passengers would pay extra cost to be seated in AC compartment. On the whole, I was much happier traveling in this train as ‘underprivileged’ people tended to behave more politely and have more considerations for other passengers.
The train passed through patches of rain and cloudy atmosphere. I couldn’t take nice photos as the train was speeding and the glass window was in need of proper cleaning. I would take a short nap for two hours and woke up just before the train traveled along the reservoir which located between three provinces. This was the source of fresh water that would serve surrounding provinces. But I was quite concerning that the water level in the reservoir was only 30% of total capacity. If the rain continued to avoid the reservoir, people would have severe drought problems in dry season.
The reservoir was so dried up that villagers could let their cows and buffaloes roaming on the dry areas. This meant that local fishermen would have a hard time earning their livings. It’s crazy to learn that bad floodings were rampant in four provinces in the north. Several local dams were bursted and more villages were inundated with flash floods. The excessive rainwater has gathered from several smaller rivers to converge on the big Chao Phraya River which started in Nakorn Sawan and would gradually travel to Bangkok. That’s why many people in Bangkok were worried about the possibility of a huge flood in a few weeks’ time.
On the other hand, there were still areas where drought was a real problems as hundreds of fruit trees died off for lack of rain. I was surprised that there was no way of diverting the floes of flood water to those needing areas. Perhaps, some scientists should find out a way to collect flood water and shrink their molecular structures so that they could become very small and light. These bags of tiny cubes of water could be sent to those whose ponds and reservoirs were dry up. The structures of water cubes could be easily restored with hot water so people would be able to save their rice crops and fruit trees. Doing Chemtrails would involve too much heavy metals, aluminum and other toxic chemicals which would harm all living creatures.
It seemed that the floodings downstream and in the northern provinces were much worst than that in Nongkhai. Similar disasterous floodings were hitting people in Florida and other areas in America this week. It seemed heavy rainstorms have affect several countries around the world this September. In the past, I would seek Lord Shiva’s help, thd famous Hindu god who could control storms and rain. He had a black Naga around his neck. This Naga would sprout torrents of rain down onto earth. So, it’s better not to offend any local Naga along old rivers.
In the past years, my pleading for some rain would be fulfilled in about three days. So, I have tried something new this time. I meditated on local Nagas to find ways of letting the flood water to flow into the underground tunnels to be kept as water reserve in underground reservoirs, so the water could be released during severe drought. I knew there were several local Nagas who had watched me cycling along the rivers. Once my young friend thanked me for taking her on a tour of the hidden world of Nagas. She told me I took her on a journey to see the Nagas’ secret pond where all kinds of Nagas came to swim and play.
She told me that the scenery was quite amazing with all sizes and colours of Nagas swimming together in the large pond. She said the colours of these Nagas were very vibrant and strong. She liked those Nagas with rainbow sheens on their bodies. I thought it was rather unfair to me, as I was the tour guide but I couldn’t recall any of my dream journey. I could understand why it happened this way; they just didn’t want me to become attached to my experience or to become obsessed with repeating the journey.
I had an old friend who could achieve the first stage of high level meditation. She became so attached to her sublime experience that she tried very hard to get back to the same spot. But she failed miserably and became distraught with meditation. So, I tried to be mindful of the present and letting go of my grasping of past gratifications. Life is a full time challenge and new tests are often around the corner.
Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.
Stay strong and cheerful.
