Today was going to be a lot of waiting around and we had a long couple of days ahead of us. We had booked tickets in advance on a night train from Chumphon to take us to Sala Ya, where we would then change to an ordinary train to get to Kanchanaburi. This just meant we didn’t have to go into Bangkok to come straight out again.
Of course the day we checked out of our nice hotel and had to wait around for a night train it was blissfully sunny, after the last few days of rain whilst at the beach! We had another array of breakfast items at Nana beach resort and tried to sort our washing out in the morning. Due to previous days being rainy none of it had dried so we were finding any and all spaces where there was sun on the balcony for things as well as having to hair dryer clothes so we could actually pack! Thankfully we didn’t have to check out until 12 so we made full use of this time!!
Once checked out we left our bags at reception and went for a wander in the sunshine along Thung Wua Laen main street. This time we headed straight to the other end (towards the diving center) as we wanted to check out a temple we had seen when we first came in on the songthaew. The site was surprisingly impressive. We were expecting a small temple in such a small place. Instead it was quite a large site and very peaceful. There were various different buddha statues some happy fat buddhas surrounded by different animals, other images of buddhas lining the driveway and a huge golden temple. It was not what we had been expecting and a nice surprise.
From here we wandered back along the street but stopped at a local restaurant actually overlooking the beach which had surprisingly reasonable rates. We ordered Pad Thai (70B) and sprites (20B) from White Sand Beach restaurant and sat under a fan enjoying the view of the beach and sea. It was lovely and serene with the beach being very quiet this end. As we didn’t need to get our train until a lot later we relaxed in the hotel communal area for a few hours.
Our plan for getting back to Chumphon had initially been either get a songthaew back or get a grab. We hadn’t seen a songthaew pass by all day and it was too hot for us to try and wait for one for hours. Instead we attempted to get a grab. Unfortunately when we wanted to go there were no drivers available! In the end we ended up getting our hotel to transfer us which was expensive but they took us straight to the cafe/ restaurant (400B) that we wanted to hang out in until it was closer to our train time.
We had seen the Old Time Cafe on explorations around Chumphon and thought it looked like our sort of place, plus the menu online looked reasonable and diverse. We ordered coffees initially so that we could stretch out the time we were going to be in there. After dashing out for cash quickly as we were running shockingly low, I was grateful for my iced latte whereas Dave went for a hot cappuccino (50 B each). We nursed these for as long as we could and sat chatting for a while until we thought we should probably order some dinner. It was Friday and it had gone from chilled out music, waiters in polos and trousers to club tunes and waitresses in mini dresses. Still the place had a good atmosphere- busy but there was loads of space still. I ordered a burger (89B) and Dave had a Donburi bowl (95B)- good prices for this type of food. It was all tasty too.
As our train was supposed to be due at 20.16 we left the restaurant at just before 7pm as we still had a 15 minute walk and wanted to stop at 7/11 for snacks. When we got there the board informed us our train was delayed until just before 9pm, which was a lot less of a delay than we were expecting. A few minutes before the train was due to arrive everyone started moving, ready for boarding. We checked with one of the train guards where our carriage would be and he ushered us all the way to the end of the platform in the dark. But he was right on the money and as the train pulled up we watched the numbers on the carriages pass and ended up with ours right in front of us. Our beds were also just as we boarded the train so we didn’t have to search hard (the car and bed numbers are on your ticket and then also on the outside of the carriage and then the bunks are numbered inside…easy!).
We had booked a lower and an upper bunk on the Thai state railways website (much cheaper than booking through 12go asia and you can choose your seats). We wanted lower bunks as these have more room but we got the last one left and this meant we could stay together. This was a good thing as when we boarded the rest of the carriage was full and there was nowhere to put our luggage. I ended up shoving my bag in front of the ladder crammed under the bed and as the lower bunk was bigger I ended up laying with Dave’s bag. It's a good job we only have small bags! It was already late by the time we got on, and if the train was on time we were due into Sala Ya at 4.30am (there was no way it was ever going to be on time though!), so we went to bed straight away and tried to sleep. You need an eye mask/ear plugs if you want to try as the lights are kept on, the train is loud on the tracks and there are announcements at every station throughout the night. The beds are surprisingly comfortable though. Both of us managed to get a little bit of sleep on and off throughout the night but not loads. I kept an eye on the stations around the 4.30am mark and worked out we were about 1 ½ hours delayed which meant I could try to sleep more. When the train was closer to approaching our stop the train attendant started to come around and change the beds back to seats and he did tell us when it was our stop at Sala Ya too.
We arrived into Sala Ya at 6am, with a gorgeous sunrise golden in the sky. Sala Ya is a small station so we found the ticket counter and bought our tickets for the ordinary train 257 to Kanchanaburi due to leave at 8.15am for 100 B each (standard for tourists on this line). There is only this train and an afternoon one that head to Kanchanaburi which was why we went for the night train we did- any later night train would have had delayed times coming into Sala Ya and we would have missed the train. As we still had a couple of hours we walked with our bags to the nearest 7/11 in search of breakfast. The city was alive at this time of the morning and we walked passed a local fresh market and then through food stalls selling people thier breakfast. At 7/11 we ended up getting some cold drinks but on our way back saw a lovely coffee stall. We grabbed flat whites at Toni’s coffee stall (50B) each and sat on the stalls outside watching the market. It was one of the best coffees we had had on the trip. As we headed back through the food stalls we grabbed some BBQ pork bao buns (15B each)- perfect for breakfast that we ate on the platform waiting for the train.
The train itself was on time and very busy, full with locals and tourists heading to Kanchanaburi for the weekend. You can actually ride this train over the bridge of the river kwai and out to the furthest point on the track- Namtok. We enjoyed the beautiful scenery and the fresh air from the windows being open, although Dave baked in the sun coming in through our side. After a while our bums were numb again from the wooden seats but we arrived in Kanchanaburi around 10.30am. It had been a long couple of days, so after the 15 minute walk to our hostel we were glad to be able to check in straight away and shower.
Exploring Kanchanburi in the next blog!
Thanks
Alex
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