It felt like a coffin, especially as there were two of us in there, not just one—and one of us, not including me, was carrying a few too extra pounds. It was so claustrophobic in there that I wanted to hyperventilate and then I
was
hyperventilating in a good way—dancing on the clouds—and it had nothing to do with how close it was in the bunk on the train, wedged into a confined space designed for the standard Thai body—only one standard Thai body—not a German businessman and American embassy wife together.
The sleeping car—the premium-class sleeping car—configuration on the night train from Bangkok to the ancient cultural capital of Siam in the north, Chiang Mai, consisted of double-layer bunks running down both sides of the corridor of the coach, with drapes you could pull across the length of them to shield you from the walkway. The bunks were maybe six feet long, which accommodated me, but not him all that well, and three feet wide, which didn't handle the German's bulk well at all. But we managed—he managed, no doubt surprised it had been so easy.