From the archives: end of January 1993
Fourth class rail travel in Thailand was pretty rough, but I was lucky enough to travel with this delightful baby and his parents from Ontario. The Ackermans were around 30, hippyish in their style and naming convention… how could I ever forget the name Alek Atom?
“He even has his own passport!” — they said proudly, showing it to me. There was baby Alek, in a wee bow tie, beaming from behind the lamination.
Fourth class meant there was no reserved seating, and we were squished together — standing and seated — with the locals and their menagerie of domestic animals (mostly chickens). The train trip seemed to take forever because it stopped frequently around the clock for hawkers to sell their wares. But even in the middle of the night, my bleary eyes could make out the male transvestites (“ladyboys”) with their little trays of sliced mangoes. I had to watch out for them to not step on Mr. Ackerman, who slept on the floor of the train on newspapers so Mrs. Ackerman and baby Alek and I could sleep on the bench.
The Ackermans were the first native English speakers I’d encountered in a while, and it was comforting to be with fellow Canadians for once in my Asia travels. I’d been outside of Canada for 13 months by then. This was their third trip to Thailand, and they were quite familiar with Thai culture — comfortable enough to travel with their baby. They were of enormous help to me in Bangkok, where we shared accommodation and travel info.
It struck me, looking at this photo, that Alek — who was 18 months old at the time — would now be FOURTEEN YEARS OLD. If I saw this kid in a class of 9th grade students, would I recognise him??
Aside: I can’t believe that much time has passed since this photo. Why does time seem so compressed when things go well, then expand — nay, drag on for all of eternity — when things go awry???*
* rhetorical question, in case that wasn’t obvious
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Cute little boy.
Is there any way for you to find them? I think it would be cool to know what happened in their lives and what Alek is up to now.
Part of me would like to actively seek them out, and part of me would rather them find me if they so desire.
When I left Bangkok, the husband gave me his business card (he’s a freelance artist; at the time he was working with recycled/found materials and making a name for himself). So if I looked them up, I would probably get a positive response.
I suppose our current circumstances makes me hesitant to look people up, since I usually do so when things are at an even keel — there’s the inevitable question back to me of “So how are things going with you?”
Have you tried Googling his name to see if this blog shows up in the search?
I haven’t yet, but it takes a little while to show up in Google cache.
I can’t remember the father’s name, but I did a search on the boy’s first and last names… if one result is correct, his favourite show is “Pimp My Ride” — haha!
Talk about fast forwarding time.
[...] Journey that took the longest: it probably was not the longest single trip, but fourth-class rail in Thailand from the Malaysian border to Bangkok was overnight and took FOREVER. There is no guaranteed seating, and the toilet is literally a hole [...]