Train from Hua Hin to Bangkok

Exterior of the train from Hua Hin to Bangkok

Though it is possible to ride the train straight from Butterworth to Bangkok, we broke up the journey with a stop in Hua Hin, just 4 hours south of Bangkok. Heh. 4 hours...more like 7. 

The sky was bright blue when we left Hua Hin but the heat was sweltering. Our train to Bangkok was scheduled to leave at 4:01, but was delayed for an hour (no surprises there), and pulled onto the tracks at 5:21. It was completely full, every seat taken but the two that belonged to us. An old man in glasses glared at us disapprovingly when we moved his luggage on the top shelf to make room for ours. Within minutes we were given custard-filled buns and pineapple juice from the train attendant. The seats are old and cramped, with plastic tables that folded out from the seat in front. It was a bit like riding an airplane...from the 60s. 

Everyone on this train seemed agitated. They had been sitting here longer than we had and they seemed nervous about running late. To pass time as we waited, unmoving, at Hua Hin station, I looked out the window and watched a  couple who had been taking photos in front of the Hua Hin train station sign longer than we bad been waiting...which was close to an hour.  I imagined that they would to spend hours and hours editing the photos that they spent hours and hours taking.

About an hour sitting motionless in Hua Hin station, the trained pulled out and headed toward Bangkok. We arrived just after 10:00 pm, in one of the longest and most obnoxious train rides of my life. 

Passengers looking nervous at our 4-hour delay

My desperate train meal, noodles and sausage