63. Chiang Mai Station

A Tiresome Little Person ~ Beware The "Friendly" Taxi Driver
Chiang Mai station is very pretty and I took lots of photos. I went outside for a smoke - this annoying little git asked did I want a taxi? "No", says I - I'd bought a cappuccino (or what passes for cappuccino in Thailand) and said I wanted to take photos, book a ticket etc.

Next time I'll know to keep my big, fat mouth shut and say, "No thank you" and turn away. He said he'd wait for me. I was wishing he'd go away, I couldn't relax and just take my time soaking up the atmosphere - I'd love to have gone across to the little shop just outside and sat there a while.
I guess I must have had "I'm a first timer here and a bit of a dill - take my money!" stamped on my forehead!

Anyway ... back to my impression of Chiang Mai station -

Elephants and Flowers
As I said, the station was very pretty and as we exited from the platform, there's a huge elephant with white tusks set amid a display of flowers, shrubbery and palms. As you walk a little further on, there are two elephants with a gong in the centre. I was quite taken with a large, wide sign advertising the Chiang Mai Nightsafari. Sadly, I didn't get to see it. But - there's always next time.

Above: Chiang Mai railway platform


The Concourse
There were many people milling around, a vibrant, cornucopia of humanity. There are fruits for sale, cafe foods, souvenirs, even sunglasses for sale. It's a well-appointed station with a tourist information counter, dining facilities, a ticket & information booking office and of course, a large photograph on the King. Lovely decoration hung from the ceiling. As you can see in the photo lower right-hand side, the time is almost 12 noon.

Above: Tickets and Information
I booked my ticket Nong Khai to Bangkok - a second class sleeper, lower berth with air-con. Cost was 758 baht - $24.61. I would advise those wishing to take the train to opt for the lower berth, not only do you not have to climb up and down, (very hard on arthritic knees!), but when you wake in the morning, you can see the pretty mountain scenery as the train enters the highlands and traverses Doi Khun Tan National Park and mountains between Lampang and Lamphun Provinces. A bit of trivia - the old name for Lampang was Khelang Nakhon.


The Gardens

Above: Gardens
This area was visually pleasing and lent an air of charm. There were little ponds water lilies, beautiful flowering potted plants, Victorian-style lamplights, ferns, waterfalls and water features, garden statues in the shape of animals which all added up to a "cottage" effect.

Above: Exterior
The row of shops in the lower left photo consists of a coffee shop, a blind massage place, gifts & souvenir and a food/restaurant shop - to the right of this is an outdoor beer type garden.

Tiresome Little Person ~ Part 2
Remember that annoying little person who I couldn't shake off? You know, the taxi driver person? Well I felt extremely uncomfortable with him hanging around me like a spider waiting to catch a fly, and although one or two other chaps approached, I didn't really get the chance to speak with them, this self-appointed one shooed them off! Anyway, I indicated I was ready to go, he took my suitcase, walked to his vehicle which turned out to be a decrepit looking thing which had no suspension and was none too clean looking. I remembered to ask him how much. He wanted (can't remember just at the mo) but what I thought an outrageous price. He said it's a long way - at least 20 minutes. He lied - it was less than 10!

He dumped a big, heavy folder in my lap and said he could take me around CM and wherever I wanted to go. I leafed though it out of courtesy and there were scores of letters extolling the goodness and wonder of him. Some even dated back to 2003!

I just said I had friends in Chiang Mai and I'd see them first - he kept pressuring me till I finally told him point blank my friends had organised to take me around and they were going with me. This shut him up. He didn't bother to remove the folder either. I put it on the dashboard.
Note: There wasn't anybody who had organised trips - it was a white lie but had the desired effect.
All in all, it was a good learning experience - we live and learn. Next time, I won't be so green!

62. Train 13

Above: Train ticket
I picked up my pre-paid ticket in front of the information window. As you can see, it shows the departure and destination points, in this case, Bangkok to Chiang Mai. In the row beneath reading from the left - the train number, date, departure time and arrival time followed by the class, car and seat number and price:
Train 13, for the 10 February 2011 departing 19.35 arriving 9.45, 2nd class, lower berth, car 5, seat 22 @ 881 baht.
On the lower left hand side is Your Name, while on the lower right-hand side is the date and time of purchase.

Above: Railway staff
It was just after 6.00pm, the national anthem had finished playing and these two gents were very happy to have their photo taken. They check tickets, help with information and see that everything is running smoothly

Above: Train 13 - Bangkok to Chiang Mai
It was just as well I happened to check the board near the entrance on the concourse for the train was departing from a different platform to what was showing elsewhere - platform 3. Lucky for me eh? Otherwise I'd have been still waiting in Bangkok while my train sped off into the night.
The blue carriage was the one I was in and the purple one was first class.

Above: 2nd class air-con sleepers - modern type
Train 13 Bangkok to Chiang Mai have very comfortable air-conditioned sleepers. They are arranged in door-less compartments and each berth has its own curtains for privacy. The other three occupants all wanted to lie down and sleep - how come I always get the ones who want to go to bed early?
The train had comfy velour seating, the other ladies said this train was "new" but they liked the older trains better. I can see why - there's nowhere to put your luggage and the beds are so narrow even Twiggy would have had a hard time trying to sleep and not fall out! Try lying on a narrow space with a girth that is on the large side. Fun and games. It was fun though and I'd gladly do it again.

The lady in the berth above me wanted to lie down and read, the other two were on the way to a gentle snore and me - I made my way down to the dining car.

Above: The restaurant car
The dining car was fun - I was expected to buy something for the privilege of sitting there and smoking. (I asked the lady in charge at Hualumphong station about smoking, she told me "You can smoke in the dining car and in the toilets!")

The more popular trains have a restaurant car, some are air-conditioned but ours wasn't. I was glad it was not air-conditioned - you could open the windows and look out.

Above: Sláinte
Cheers! Over the teeth, past the gums, look out stomach, here it comes.

The food was relatively cheap. The "menu" is a leaflet with pictures of food and Thai & English writing. They also sell beer, wine, tea and coffee.

Above: Wine - it's SPY
This is the wine sold onboard, well....what pretends to be wine. Lolly water, not unpleasant by a long shot, just very...lolly waterish - you could down ten bottles and still feel no alcoholic effect.

A young French chap came and joined me and we chatted about this and that and talked travel. He was with his girlfriend he said, but she didn't want to join him in the dining car, she just wanted to lie down. Every now and then he went back to check on her but preferred to sit, drink and talk.

Above: Um...what is it?
The French bloke had come back while I was eating this and asked me what it was. I wasn't sure, the menu said it was chicken, it was supposed to be chicken. We both agreed it didn't look like any chicken we'd ever seen. Those white glutinous blobs had the texture of rubber and were un-biteable. We had great fun dissecting technically what this flubber could be!

Above: American rice
Dinner was forgettable. Don't ever order American Rice, it's nothing like Chinese fried rice which is what I had been expecting, instead you get this rice, flavoured with tomato sauce with bits of carrot in it topped with seven raisins (I counted them), a greasy fried egg, a triangle of sandwich ham and some sort of mini hot dog. I felt like I'd eaten a tub of lard. Needless to say, most of it was left on the plate.

Above: The Rookie and the Teacher
The young fellow in the yellow shirt sat down opposite me - he's a police cadet. I was joined by five coppers (transit police) and one girlfriend. They had removed the top half of their uniforms and had on white singlets, plus their trews and police paraphernalia around their waists. They were great fun.
One was a trainee, and one was from Laos - his name was Ray and he kept showing off and flexing his muscles. The beer flowed (I stuck to the lolly water) and a good time was had by all.

Above: Transit Police
A group photo. We had a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed the train, the atmosphere and people. Much more fun than train travel back home - here nobody worries about what they look like, or making noise. It's raucous and loud and noisy and really a whole lot of fun.

Above: Railway stations
It really is better having a dining car without air-con - you an stick your head out the window when it stops and you get a great view of the stations. Here is
Ayutthaya and Don Muang station.

The next day
I woke up the next morning and it was bloody freezing!

Above: Early morning to Chiang Mai
Everyone else had thick tops and jumpers on. It was 10°C. As the darkness gave way to daylight, I saw wonderful scenery and was very glad the 18.10 train had been sold out. Getting the later one enabled me to really see the beauty of the country side. Those majestic mountains with mist swirling around like a mysterious phantasmagoria.
These photos were all taken from the dining car and let me tell you sticking half your body out the window for a snap going through the mountains at 10° took a bit of doing. The pics might be a little blurry but they are the memories I carry with me of that early morning ride.

Above: Dining Car on Train 13 - Breakfast
Breakfast was a very busy time. Firstly, there were all the hot drinks - so many wanted hot coffee, hot tea, I drank several cups of hot stuff (helps to warm you up), for food, I stuck with two pieces of toast, orange juice and tea. Food was a long time coming I remember - the staff were run off their feet. It can't be easy providing meals to a few hundred people, and don't forget, most of the passengers were in their carriages, so there's lots of meals to be taken to them. They really did do a magnificent job.

Above: Countryside
Daylight had broken, the temperature had risen and there were lots of interesting things to see. I love photos of train carriages going around a bend - if you look at the photo top right-hand side you can see six cars plus the engine. The water on the left side - is it a river, a trickle of a lake or what?
The wee doggie was standing on the tracks quite unconcerned at the train whizzing past.

The train arrived at Chiang Mai on time - 2 hours late as usual but no-one minds, after all, TiT This is Thailand where the trains depart on time (usually) and arrive late (always)!☺

61. Hua Lumphong Station

Above: My tuk-tuk driver
I just realised I should've put this photo in my previous post - he was my tuk-tuk driver in Kanchanaburi on the morning of my last day, but .... ah well, he's here now and so here he'll stay!

The road back to Bangkok
After being driven back to my guesthouse, I waited around a bit near reception for the driver of the mini-bus that was to take me back to Bangkok. For some reason, I didn't take a photo on that journey. I'm not sure why, but I do remember we stopped along the way while the driver filled the tank up with petrol, and we had a bit of time (not much) to go to the loo, grab a coffee, have a smoke or get a bite to eat.
Only I spoke with the driver, apart from three Thai passengers (the driver was Thai) and I remember thinking why don't any of the other passengers (read farfangs) speak with him too. They were a miserable lot - I've seen more life in a corpse compared to that lot of passengers!

Hua Lamphong Station
The driver dropped me off in Bangkok and said I'd need to get a taxi to the station as he didn't go there. Caught a taxi - 65 baht - and arrived at Hua Lamphong Station. It was pretty hot but not unpleasant. Spent the time taking photos and learning my way around the station.

Left Luggage
After asking a few people, I found the place where you can store your luggage - as you go through the entrance, turn right, walk along and it's right down the end. There's a staffed luggage office which is open from around 4am until 11pm daily. Price was 100 baht for the suitcase and 50 baht for the small hold-all. You get given a ticket with a number - hang on to your ticket, you won't be able to collect your luggage without it.

Above: Hua Lumphong Station
The concourse inside Bangkok Hua Lamphong Station is massive and when I say massive, I mean m.a.s.s.i.v.e - it's huuuuge. So many people, here, there and everywhere. People sitting on seats, people in groups, people talking, laughing, waiting. There was so much life and movement here.

Above: Wall murals
Up high on the walls above the sides are these fantastic murals - a kaleidoscope of colours and pictures. Some very talented artists indeed. And so beautifully executed. A mish-mash, a meandering mixture of marvellous, melodramatic images.

Above: King Rama V
The King's picture hangs above the entrance to the platforms and every day at 8.00am and 6.00pm, the national anthem is played and everyone stands to attention. I knew of this before I went to Thailand and so I, too, stood still at 6pm.

A bit of trivia
King Rama V (reigned 1868-1910) - layed the foundation of the modern Thai state, and is known as the father of Thai railways because he expanded the rail network nationwide.

Above: Leafy garden and greenery
There are plants and lots of greenery near each of the platforms - what a brilliant idea. They look quite charming amid the modern steel of technology and give the place a relaxing air.

Above: Platform 9¾
As soon as I stood here, I felt the urge to walk up to a railway staffer and ask (in an English accent), "Excuse me, can you tell me where Platform 9 and 3 quarters is please?" !
Yes, I saw Harry Potter and that scene always sticks in my memory when he asks that same question and the railway porter answers, "Platform 9 and 3 quarters? Think you're being funny do yer?"

Above: Pink Taxis
I bought Chinese noodles for 25 baht - noticed the bowl was half full yet Thai people got a full bowl. Met a lady called Carol and we struck up a conversation. It was the accent you see - you can tell an Aussie a mile away. She was from Sydney and we had coffee. I had iced coffee (65 baht) and very welcome it was too.

Outside, there are many taxis in all colours of the rainbow - ever seen a pink taxi? No? Well neither had I until I came to Bangkok. What the blokes would say back home I've no idea, but I get a smile on my face thinking of your true Aussie bloke getting into a pink taxi!

Above: Entrance to Hua Lamphong Station
Finding my way outside and navigating the ever present traffic, I stood across the road and admired the station building. Hua Lamphong Station built in the Italian Neo-Renaissance style, was designed by Italian architect Mario Tamagno and opened on 25th June, 1916.

Hua Lamphong has fourteen platforms, twenty-six ticket windows, two electric display boards. More than 130 trains and over 60,000 passengers use this station each day.

Above: Water fountain
This water fountain stands in front of the station and I'm sure it's most impressive when the water is going at full blast.

Above: Traffic Jam
If you thought Melbourne or Sydney had traffic jams - think again. Bangkok is filled with vehicle of all descriptions and the roads were packed.

Above: Staghorn Fern
Many of the trees have ferns growing on them which makes for a pleasing picture.

Above: Weird Hairdos
On my way back to the station, I noticed these hair styles.

Above: Goody Num-Nums
There are many food shops at the station - this is one of them. Don't they look scrumdiddlyumptios? I put on half a kilo just looking at them!

55. Death Railway

Namtok Railway Station to Kanchanaburi

The famous, or rather infamous Death Railway which ran for 415 kms was constructed by POW's and forced Asian labourers in WWII. The working and living conditions of those prisoners was horrific and the brutality of their captors was unmatched. At the end of the war, most of the railway was pulled up and it exists today only from Kanchanaburi to Namtok, a distance of around 50 kms.

Above: Harvesting

The views from the train are breath-taking and beautifully scenic. It is an unforgettablbe journey along the river and mountains.

Above: Tall steeple
About 25 minutes into the journey, I saw this pretty little building (a temple?) on the left-hand side.

Above: Wang Pho station
There were many passengers who alighted at this station, many of them school students.

Above: Thamkra Sae Station
The train goes past Thamkra Sae Station just before crossing the Wampo Viaduct.

Above: Wampo Viaduct
Crossing over the shaky bridge, alongside the River Kwai, or more correctly Khwae Noi, sleepers and pillars creaking, is a thrilling experience. The train slows right down and the views are spectacular. The best way to see the Viaduct is by train.

Wampo Viaduct was built in March/April 1943 and completed in "speedo" time (non-stop work). It was rebuilt and strengthened in the original design during the post war years of WWII.

Here is a real life account of building the viaduct by Leo Rawlings.

Above: The viaduct hugs the cliff
Much of the journey was spent with heads hanging out the window, hands madly trying to catch that perfect photo. At certain times however, you had to quickly pull your head back in - unless you wanted to arrive at the end of the trip headless!

Above: Man sitting on sleeper
It was quite astonishing seeing this chap sitting casually on one of the sleepers. I do hope he managed to get some good photos.

Above: Lookout Tower
This is one of the lookout towers which offer wonderful views across the river.

Above: Gardens
A little further along is this pretty garden or park.

Above: Tha Kilen Station
Although the station is small, it seems to be a popular one for people to hop on and off the train.
From Nam Tok station it is eight stops to Kanchanaburi - Koe Mahamongkol, Wang Pho, Tham Krasae, Thakilen, Baan Kao, Wang Yen, River Kwai Bridge then Kanchanaburi.

Above: Temple
I haven't been able to find out the name of this temple, but it is about 20 minutes before the train crosses over the River Kwai Bridge.

Above: Over the river

Above: Topiary
The topiary seems to have been done by a very clever artist.

Above: Kanchanaburi township
As the train approached the River Kwai Bridge, you could see lots and lots of people all out to see the train come in.

Above: Kanchanaburi Station
The journey over, I walked out through the station where the chap from my guesthouse picked me up.

Above: Death Railway map
This map shows where the train line for the Death Railway (Burma-Thailand Railway) ran.



DEATH RAILWAY, NAMTOK TO KANCHANABURI
I rode the train along the Death Railway from Namtok to Kanchanaburi Station over the Bridge on the River Kwai on 9th February, 2011. The scenery is so wonderful, it is easy to forget the horror and suffering endured by the POW's and enforced Asian labourers who built it, but the beauty of the surroundings is their legacy.