Train travel within Thailand
 

Anyone got any experience of it?

Assume time not an issue and a willingness to
pay for 1st class tickets, would you recommend it?

Good way of getting to and seeing parts of Thailand or not.

Hardly ever see it mentioned on forums.

:cheers:

i looked at it last xmas bkk-chiang mai overnight train for a change but couldn't see the point of being stuck on a train for 10 hours when i was only there 3 week , but i would re-consider if i was on a longer jaunt and wasn't bothered about missing a night out

I did some research on train travel but hell if I can find the sites I found helpful... it's hell getting old(right Winnie??) I will search some more and find them for you. In the mean time I did find this site that allows you to input departure and arrivals citys, date of travel. It will give you seat availability........ only downside you have to be able to read thai,

http://www.railway.co.th/seatcheck2/aseat.asp


All the best,

Magoo

It's a great way of getting around (and is as cheap as chips - even for 1st Class) if you have a bit of time or using the overnight services to save a bit of cash on travel/accommodation costs.

Kanchanaburi Bridge (River Kwai) to Nam Tok is only a couple of hours and gives you time to see the cemeteries and take in the sort of conditions the POWs (and local labour) had to work in. As has been mentioned, Chiang Mai is worth the overnight trip and the southern line takes in Hua Hin, Chumphon (for Koh Tao) and Surathani (for Koh Samui).

The best site by far to start reading up is seat61 ..... it also covers the other countries in the region.


Seat61 - Thailand

Thanks Tom - Thats a great link mate

I've only been on a Thai train the once.

Never again. I'd rather hammer nails in my feet.

Pikey Tony and my good self got stuck in Surin. No buses for days and we'd had enough. We went to the train station on the off chance and asked about a ticket to Bangkok. The bloke behind the desk told us they only had 1st class left and showed us a photo of the carriage. While it didn't look 5* it did look decent enough.

300 baht?????????

We thought it was too good to be true.

Well it was.

When the train pulled up we got the guard to show us our carriage.
My god. When we got on it was rammed and I mean rammed with people. We were squashed in the gangway standing up with our cases between our legs. The toilet cubicle was overflowing and running down the floor and Thai's were laying in it fast asleep. There were people under all the seats as well as squashed together on top of them.

We looked at each other and knew we'd made a massive mistake. 10 hours to Bangkok as well and it was a night train so you couldn't even look out the window.
After about an hour the guard pushed his way through checking tickets. When he saw we were '1st class' he shoved 3 Thai's off one of the seats and sat us down. It was only slightly better. I wish I had some pictures now but at the time I was in shock. It was roasting on there as well.

We agreed as soon as we got to a station we'd heard of we were bailing out and paying a private taxi to drive us to Pattaya even if it cost 10,000 baht.

The train just went on and on.
We were busted to the max. Some bloke came round selling bottles of Mekon and we decided to down one each and hope we woke up in Bangkok. The bastard selling them tried to kick us up the nuts for 300 a small bottle so we blanked him.

We'd left Surin at around 10pm and it was something like 4pm before we got to Korat. By then we had tombstones in our eyes and decided to sit it out to Bangkok.

The final kick in the teeth was being turfed out at Bangkok only to find it wasn't in Central. It looked like somewhere on the road to Pattaya from old airport.

We just hailed a meter and paid whatever. 2000 I think.

Apart from that it was great.

Mirky,

I used to think that you were just unlucky ............. :whistling:

Only time I went on a train ride was from Kanchanaburi to Nam Tok - The Death Railway. Cost me about 4 times as much for my ticket as my Bird even though it was my people who was forced to build the fucking thing and died in droves doing so. When we went back to the station at Nam Tok for the return journey a train had derailed leaving the station and I ended up having to get a bus back to Kanchanaburi. Load of old bollocks all in all, still nice ride through the jungle while it lasted.

Sounds a lot like Leeds to Kings Cross. Except the fare.

As Mirks, has shown, traveling cattle class on Thai trains is just that, expect the bloke next to you have his prized fighting cocks or ducks in a bag on his lap!

First class ain't outrageous (ST, LT options included! :dointhebizz::grinnod:) and second class is more than adequate.
Did the overnighter to Chang Mai years ago in second class. If you're by yourself try to get the bottom bunk. You want to select your departure times carefully so you can actually see some of the scenery.

The train to Hua Hin is a good introduction to train travel in Thailand. There's one that leaves at 1300 and gets you there at 1710 (if it's on time!). Some good scenery once you crawl out of BKK. Waiter comes by with a bucket full of Singha, told him to come back every 20-30 mins and to get more ice! Food from the dining car (they'll deliver to your seat) is generally crap. Better off buying from the vendors that jump aboard every time it stops.

For some reason going back to BKK from HH the schedule is shit, either leaves at 7-8 in the morning or 5 in the arvo.

:cheers: