“I think we’re finally here,” Rae says in his British accent.
Sure enough the train chugs and then lurches to a stop. Matt recalls the past fifteen hours spent traveling.
* * *
The ride starts off pleasantly enough. Matt boards one of the popular sleeper trains in Bangkok, sharing a berth with two British travelers, Rae and Sarah. Over the course of the first half of the fifteen-hour trip, Rae shares stories from their own island-hopping. His passion is reading. Oddly enough, he’s traveling with physical books (after two consecutive kindles died on him) and has to trade/barter for new ones at every stop. The boys bond over discussing science fiction and the future of human consciousness.
During the ride, Rae and Sarah are gracious company and they ooh-and-aah Matt’s origami. He’s busted out a koi fish this time owing to the fact that the group has nothing but time to kill until they hit the northern province of Chiang Mai. During the conversation, Sarah is a bit more reserved, but Rae picks up the slack.
He’s asking about how the American got into the hobby, what else he can make, and is genuinely interested in the topic. “I had no idea there was this much to origami! I just had no idea!”