Special Tourist Train to KANCHANABURI

After Ayuthaya, I went to Kanchanaburi on the Special Tourist Train operated by the State Railway of Thailand, an information I got from my travel guide. I thought it was meant for foreign tourists like me but apparently, it’s actually meant for Thai tourists! Anyway, anyone can go on this special trip. But I would advise that you buy your tickets as early as possible. I bought my train ticket only a few days before the departure and could only get a third class seat. Try to get a first or second class ticket which costs 100 baht (around $4) more and gives you cushioned seats and aircon. The seats for the third class can kill your back! Ya, I learn it the hard way, and I mean hard! My third class ticket cost only 450 baht which is equivalent to around $20 and it includes a slow river-rafting experience down the Mekong river (i think). It's definitely value for money, considering it's a whole-day affair. Oh, ya, it also included a lunch on board the raft! But I was a vegetarian that day so I couldn’t really eat what they served but it was nice traditional Thai food.

You can get the ticket from Bangkok’s Hualumphong Station which is near Yawalat (Chinatown). There are many buses to this train station and now the subway also gets you there. I remember another incident which touched me when I went to buy my train ticket. I met a young Thai lady at the station who was also getting one of those special trips’ ticket. She couldn’t speak English but understood me and directed me to the ticketing office. After we both got our tickets, we bumped into each other again at the bus-stop. I checked with her if that’s the place to board my bus and she was most helpful. Coincidentally, she was taking the same bus as me. When the bus was approaching, she actually grabbed my hand and made sure I board the bus before her and the moment a seat was available, she made me sit down. How nice right? When the bus neared my destination, she reminded me and made sure the bus stopped for me to alight. Hmm…so nice a lady! Must be my good karma!

One thing you have to get used to with the buses in Bangkok is they may not come to a complete stop for you to board or alight, you just need to time yourself to hop on or off! But taking buses there is so cheap, most non-aircon trips cost about thirty cents, if I recall correctly. Try not to take the aircon buses. From my experience, they are expensive and the bus conductors although are much younger and prettier but are also less friendly, haha! 在有冷氣巴士上班就比較了不起嗎？奇怪了！

The Special Tourist Train operates only on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. It departs at 6.30 a.m. and returns to Bangkok only around 8 p.m.. On the day of my departure, I got up around 5 a.m. and left my hotel around 5.30 a.m. to catch a bus to Hualumphong Station. I was actually a little worried that it may be unsafe for me to be on the streets at such an early hour but boy was I wrong! I could see a little daylight and the streets were bustling with activities as early as 5 a.m.. I suppose the Thais start work much earlier than us. What a relief! And since it was early, the roads were not congested and I got to the train station safely in no time.

I got a big surprise when I got to Hualumphong’s boarding platforms…there were so many railway tracks and deisel trains in there! Easily more than ten of them. I was totally wowed by it! 從來沒見過那麼多火車！A bit of a suaku (country bumpkin) I was!

I went to the platform for my train, checked, double checked it’s the correct one before boarding it, didn’t want to end up in some other parts of Thailand, not on my first attempt in taking trains there. Luckily I was careful, the train actually departed without anyone checking my ticket. I found my seat and settled down. Before long, some staff came on board and rambled on in Thai through his loudhailer as he walked down the aisle. After going to another carriage, he came back to mine and stopped at my seat. He tried to speak to me but I didn’t understand Thai at all. Then he got another staff to come explain to me in English. I really, really felt so grateful. Now you people understand why I like the Thais so much? The train was full of Thais and yet the staff managed to spot this insignificant foreigner and made an effort to ensure I was taken care off by someone who spoke my language. I didn’t need to worry anymore from then onwards. At every stop, this English-speaking staff will come running to me to explain what had been announced by his colleague in Thai. He actually told me he was a student doing some hotel management course and this was just a part-time holiday exposure for him to help him in his future job.

After the staff spoke to me, this young girl who sat opposite me realising I was a foreigner, also started talking to me. She too could speak a little English. She's a law student and was on the trip with her mother. Her mother was quite fair, looked like Chinese or Korean. We strike up a conversation and my this trip was destined to be a happy and easy one! What luck right? To meet so many 貴人 on my first solo trip to Thailand.

The girl was quite astonished I travelled on my own. She raised her thumb and told me “You good ah!” I told her, I’ve been to Thailand many times and felt that the country was generally quite safe and Thais very friendly so there wasn’t much for me to worry about.

Ok, below are some of the pictures I took on that trip. Do have a look.

This is what it looked like in the third class carriage…notice the 90° seats…really can kill the back!

This was our first stop – Nakhon Pathon. In the background is supposedly the biggest chedi in the world. You must try the glutinous rice (or sticky rice) the locals sold there. It has got red beans inside…very nice!

The River Kwai…this bridge wasn’t the real thing…it was reconstructed.



This was taken on the raft, that’s how we sat and ate our lunch…quite relaxing.

Like on the floating market in Bangkok, the locals sold some snacks and ice cream to us on the raft from their little boats.


Another raft with Thais…the young people will rent the raft for their holidays (like our chalets) and will dance to blaring music on it…I thought the noise kind of spoiled the nice, peaceful ambience I was enjoying on the ‘cruise’.

There seem to be hundreds and thousands of these carps in the rivers of Thailand. Some of you may have fed them if you've cruised on the longtail boats along Chao Phraya River in Bangkok. They're abundant in this part of Thailand too.



The law student insisted on taking this picture for me…compare then and now, I think I lost weight hor?

Another family that was very friendly to me on the trip.

The kids wanted to play with my camera so I let them take a picture for me. I agree with you people…I really lost weight.