Take the Train in Thailand

By Conrad H. Bergo

The best way to see Thailand and meet the people is by rail. Looking out the window of the train you see rice fields, mountains, scenic rivers, quiet villages, and bustling towns. Inside, crews are polite and helpful. Friendly passengers share fruits and snacks.

Hualampong Station in Bangkok, the hub of the State Railways of Thailand, is the best place to begin a trip. Arrange for overnight express trains at the Advance Booking Office, located in the back right-hand corner of the station. Trains for Haat Yai to the south, Chieng Mai to the north, and Nong Khai in the northeast leave in the afternoon and arrive the next morning. You can arrange a specific seat or sleeping berth on any train up to 10 days in advance.

A second class sleeper to Chieng Mai on the Express train costs 651 baht per person one way for a lower berth ($1 = 38.1 baht). If you expect to make several trips within three weeks, the Red Pass, available only to tourists from abroad, may be worthwhile. It allows unlimited second and third class travel throughout the country for 20 days for 2,000 baht. Supplemental charges for "Rapid" and "Express" trains and sleeping berths are included.

Express trains offer first and second class seats in coaches, sleeping cars, and bedrooms. On the platforms family and friends give passengers a sendoff with gifts of fruit and garlands of flowers. The Thais consider train travel more fun (sanuk) than almost any other method of travel.

Second class sleeping cars are arranged so that two passengers face each other on each side of the aisle. Each sleeping car has a porter who makes up the beds and hands out half-liter bottles of drinking water. A waitress in a red uniform takes food orders and brings food from the dining car. Most passengers eat dinner at a table set up between the seats. Soon after dinner the porter rearranges the seats for sleeping.

At first light on the train called Nakorn Ping (an old name for Chieng Mai) passengers can see how much the countryside has changed from the Central Plain. North of Den Chai the train follows the fast-moving Yom River up a teak-forested valley through some of the most beautiful scenery in all of Southeast Asia. Houses of bamboo with thatched roofs dot the hillsides. The view is accompanied by a full breakfast of eggs, Vienna sausages, toast, tangerine juice, and coffee.

At the end of the line in Chieng Mai taxi drivers wait in the station to take passengers into town. But it's economical, and more colorful, to go by way of Song Thao, a small, red pickup truck with two rows of seats installed behind the cab.

CONRAD BERGO is a Professor of Chemistry at East Stroudsburg Univ. of Pennsylvania.