Day 11 - Heading South for Christmas

Dragged ourselves out of bed at 9.00am & I popped next door for 2 Americano Frappes. There is no such thing, so I ordered a hot & an iced Americano. We sat on our balcony & had some dry doughnuts with our coffee.

It was boiling hot already so we returned to our air conditioned room to stay cool whilst we packed. At 11.50am we checked out of our Homestay & laden down with our rucksacks we ventured out into the midday sun.

Luckily we only had to walk 400 metres to our van pick-up point & we had an hour and a half to get there. Halfway we stopped for a beer. At 1.10pm we arrived at the van pick-up point & got mobbed by Tuk Tuk 🛺 drivers. After explaining we had a pre-booked van, they herded us to a waiting van. It turned out to be a 9 seater luxury van & we were the only 2 passengers scheduled to travel on it, so we departed immediately. Not bad for just 300 Baht each, particularly when the driver had to pay 140 Baht at a toll!

We were soon heading south towards Makkasan Station in Bangkok on the Super Highway. During the journey we explained to our driver that we were heading for Hua Lampthong Railway Station. He told us that he couldn’t take us, but we could get a taxi. Thank you, we hadn’t thought of that!

As we made our through the outskirts of Bangkok, our driver suddenly pulled over at the side of the road outside a petrol station & said you pay 50 Baht toll. We didn’t really know what was going on, but a taxi pulled up behind & we jumped in.

Ten minutes later we were delivered right outside Hua Lampthong Station for just 100 Baht & the 50 Baht toll. After Jackie had picked up our tickets from an office across the road, we set up camp in a Black Canyon Coffee cafe, where we treated ourselves to a sandwich, a croissant & a coffee.

At 4.35pm we boarded our night train for the 15 hour journey down to Trang in the south of Thailand. We had a First Class sleeper cabin that resembled a prison cell, a grey metal box that contained a seat that doubled up as 2 bunk beds, a sink with a bar of soap & a floppy table. The toilet was a hole in the ground at the end of the carriage.

We sorted all our bits & pieces out, then with less than 15 minutes to departure, Jackie shouted “Oh shit, they didn’t give me my passport back in the ticket office”. With a volley of expletives, to the effect she had better run back to get it & Jackie saying she didn’t have time, she frantically rummaged through her document folder & found it.

Our hearts were still racing at ten to the dozen as our train pulled out of the station at 5.06pm. We settled back for the long haul, but at 7.20pm, the steward insisted on making up our beds. We finished our bottle of Hong Thong, ate our crisps & lay down on our beds.
It was a jerky old train ride & at gone 2.00am, I was still awake.

Song of the Day - Night Train by The Kills.Read more