So Bangkok bound I am. First though I have to get to Phitsanulok again to get the train. I’m kinda hoping there might be more trains going than what the website says, but I don’t think there will be.
So I left the very pretty guesthouse to find some kind of ride to the bus station. I’ve got that return journey to do again, tuk tuk to the bus station, bus to Phitsanulok and then tuk tuk to the train station. As we’re on the way to the bus station my driver asks where I’m going and I tell him Bangkok but by train and he seems amazed and a little concerned that I might be expecting him to drive me all the way to the train station. I dread to think how long that might take.
My tuk tuk driver from old Sukhothai to the bus station
But him asking me about my mode of transport did make me think, briefly, about the possibility of going by bus from here straight to Bangkok. The train I know doesn’t leave until 3pm and it would save me the hassle of getting to Phitsanulok . So when we got to the bus station I had a look around to see what was on offer. Two companies had 1st class buses, which aren’t as great as they sound! One was leaving at 11.30 and claimed to take around 7 hours and the other was leaving at 10.15 and said it would take 9 hours or more! Apart from the fact the lady behind the counter really wasn’t interested in serving me there was just no way I could spend that long stuck on a bus. So went with my original plan of the train.
The bus I took the other day from Phitsanulok to Sukhothai was 45 Bht and the air conditioning consisted of open doors and windows, this morning the bus back is costing less and is like a 1st class bus! I wonder if they saw me coming the other day.
Anyway in Phitsanulok I purchased my ticket only to be told that the train was going to take 9 hours instead of the 5 hours scheduled!!! And of course wasn’t leaving till 3pm! Aaaargh! That’s a long time on a train in just a seat but it’s too late now I guess. So I deposited my big bag at left luggage and headed into town for a bite to eat and to try and pick up some snacks for the journey.
Phitsanulok is a funny city and I was after somewhere that I could just sit down and chill for a couple of hours but I found nowhere. That’s not to say somewhere like that didn’t exist I just never found it.
Oh and of course once again I had no accommodation planned at the other end. See the thing is the train was originally getting in around 8pm so I thought plenty of time to just head to the accommodation areas and find somewhere to stay. Now though, getting in at midnight I wasn’t sure many places would even be manned then. So I now had the task of trying to locate some kind of internet café and see what I could find out. Finding an internet café in Phitsanulok was just as easy as finding somewhere to chill and as my last resort I headed to the Golden Grand Hotel (!) and used theirs.
In the middle of Bangkok accommodation isn’t that cheap but I think I’ve found somewhere nice and it was recommended on a couple of websites so we’ll see, I gave them a call and they seem quite happy I’ll be coming in late. As to how late now though is anyone’s guess.
Back at the train station I collect my bag and some snacks and sit and wait as 3 o’clock passes by! I knew it would. The other day I came in an hour late and true to form today it was an hour late as well.
When you buy a train ticket here you’re given a carriage and a seat number, save the potential of not enough seats I suppose, perhaps they should do that at home. I’ve read recently somewhere about statistically where the most fatalities occur in a train crash and its apparently the first and last carriages, so when I saw I was in carriage one I wasn’t filled with overwhelming joy but as I got on I was directed to what appears to be carriage 2, well that’s a relief, so I found my seat number and found a place for my bag and settled down. I ended up with the bulk head seat but by no means in a good way. I had a quarter of the leg room that everyone else had and no table or seat pocket. No great shakes though I mean it’s only for the next 9 hours right?!!!!!
So seconds before we’re about to start off the guard comes to check my ticket just to tell me I’m in the wrong carriage and darts off wanting me to follow him into the 1st carriage! That’s the front one not 1st class. Once again I have a bulk head seat but with marginally more leg room, yay! But now statistically I’m in the wrong carriage to survive a train crash! Fingers crossed huh?
I have another 9 hours to go and no book to read as I haven’t had a chance to trade mine in yet. I do have though an old copy of Hello given out from the flight over and the National Geographic from dad.
Each carriage has a hostess who mostly sits with her feet up reading magazines or talking on her phone until it’s time to serve us with a drink – coke, tea or coffee and give out a meal – vegetarian not an option! The meals I think they picked up pre-ordered from a market stall at a station as the meals were almost hot and came in polystyrene boxes multipacked in big sacks. The food was actually ok once I picked out the meat.
A little later our hostess even came round with a blanket for each of us and the toilets, despite the fact the contents go straight down onto the track actually have toilet roll! That was the biggest surprise and better than most British Rail experiences.
Time ticked by slowly to be honest, I think I read everything there was to possibly read in both Hello magazine and the National Geographic, I then even managed the Bangkok post.
When our hostess came around to collect the blankets literally 3 hours after she had given them out I was hopeful that perhaps we were almost there……..but no! We still had another hour to go. I got into Bangkok main station 4 and a half hours after I was supposed to.
Now to find my way to the accommodation. I managed to get a tuk tuk for not too much of an extortionate price amazingly and managed to wake up the night staff for the key to my room.
The location is not great at all, it’s right in the middle of the touristy night market area with loads and loads and loads of bars, at least the market side of it was just packing up as I arrived. I’m not sure about the bars though, I hope it’s not too noisy.
The room is nice enough but very very hot even with the fan full blast. But by this time I was beyond caring.
Hopefully this is a video of some of the flooding seen from the train trip - uploading video has never worked before though!
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