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From Ao Nang we got a bus to Surathani train station then we got on the night train to Bangkok. We was shown to a very small "first class cabin" and was excited about the journey ahead of us. We had been given a little bit of advice about not ordering food from your cabin but to go to the resturant cart and there you can socialise with other passengers, so we took that advice and wondered down to the resturant cart. On the way we was surprised that most people were tucked up in bed bearing in mind it was only 10pm but when we reached the cart we understood why. It was really for the staff and locals and looked like they were ready to have there own party they cleared a table for us and instead of giving us a menu just asked what we wanted - we asked for sprite - no have was reply, ok we will have a coffee - no have again, what about beer you have beer, ok we will 2 tigers, no have we only have Singha, ok we will have 2 small Singha, no have small Singha only have large, ok then we will have 1 large Singha and 2 glasses, so that was how it went so we sat and watched the locals and staff happily drinking their whiskey and soda and getting a feast ready. They put a bucket on the table full of coal and set it alight and there they prepared their own BB. By now we knew it was time to leave as so we paid for our Singha, and as we got ready to go we walked if we would like to join we polity said no it was time for bed as we knew this was going to get messy for sure. So we went back to our cabin in the safe knowledge that the security, and train staff were happily getting drunk in the resturant cart.
We had a very noisy bumpy ride to Bangkok and enjoyed the slow train ride into Bangkok and watching Bangkok come alive in the morning, seeing people washing outside their homes with just simple buckets of water, people eating on the local street stalls, and the buzz of seeing all the bikes waiting at the lights ready to tear away the seconds the lights changed. We arrived at Mo Chit station and decided to book tickets to Chang mai as we knew wanted to visit there in the next few days and we was pleased that we did as the cabins were full for the next 10 days, so happy we managed to get our tickets we then got a taxi Thonburi station where we was to catch our train to Kanchanaburi. This was a small station in Bangkok and we was catching a 3rd class local train which want due to leave for about 2 hours so we found a lovely little cafe and sat there and filled our selves up with fresh waffles from a street stall and the next cheap iced coffee we had tasted so far.
We just sat and watched as locals came in and out off the station, watched in fascination as they bought food and drinks off the many stalls around the station. When it was time we said goodbye to the lovely cafe owner whom we chatted to for the last 2 hours and got on our train to Kanchanaburi. This looked fun we thought as we sat on wooden seats and pulled the window down as far as we could to let is as much as possible. We sat and read and chatted, nodded off and chatted some more, had a drink then nibbled on bits of food we had brought and it seemed like the journey was taken for ever although we though it was only a 3 hour journey by this time we had been in the train for about 5 hours and then started to notice about home times the train had actually stopped and the driver had to get off and do something under the train, it was almost like the old cars when he put a metal rod into something and then had to crank it up to get it going again. This went on for quite sometime when the train then did actually breakdown. We all sat very patiently on the train when the locals then popped on the train selling lovely fresh food and cold drinks and very cheap so we took this opportunity and bought some lovely fresh rice and minced pork wrapped in a banana leaf for only 10bht. It turned out they had to change the front carriage so we sat on the track for about an hour until it was all sorted and finally on our way to Kanchanaburi. We arrived at our hotel
Sabai @ Khan and at first glance was not pleased but we had only checked in for 1 night. We was then shown to our room which was the door next to reception and was even less pleased about that. But that all changed the minute we walked into a lovely big bright clean room which overlooked beatutiful kept gardens and a small pool. We freshened up and decided to go for a walk and find something to eat, we did not walk too far as we was tired and found something to eat then walked and retired for the night looking forward to the next day and seeing what Kanchanaburi had for us.
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