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He was just chilling, taking still photos when I walked by him a few minutes later. When the place was busier, and the seats were mostly taken, a lot of us just put our packs down on the station floor and napped there when we were waiting for a train. Which makes me laugh at myself because I was...

Yep, the water closet symbols work just like on an airliner. And the one was a stand up loo. Rather civilized, I thought. And clean, too. But the food was only fairly good and the sun went down too soon. I do not want to get too positive. LOL! Seriously though, it was a pretty nice trip. The...

The trip ended in Hua Lamphong, which was kind of bittersweet. I have been using this station for 29 years. The ground level cafeteria is closed but the upper level coffee shop was open so I did a panorama video from up there.

Smooth sailing! The new'ish trainset seems a lot like the older sets. Though they have TV screens inside and out for car ID and route info. We left a minute and a half late, though! It was a 6pm scheduled departure and they waited until the National Anthem ended. 😁

I finally got tickets on the new'ish #10 trainset! Woohoo! Just got my 12 Go Asia ticket at the Bossotel across the street from the station. New routine but it works well. The only hard copy ticket is a tiny nondescript thing, hope the conductor let's me board! I am more than an hour early so...

Chiang Mai scene. When did dry ice and koi become a thing?

Thank you, v v. That sounds good. The Atlanta has not responded to my email and I can not get my phone to work as a phone so I am just going to show up at the Atlanta's desk Tuesday and see if they have a room. There are other hotels nearby if they do not. My phone is a rather good camera and a...

Cat? Did someone mention a cat? LOL! I just had a Grey cat adopt me at my old hotel as I was traveling through. Perhaps "tolerate me" is a more accurate way to describe our friendship.

So much going on in this thread! John, thank you for the info on the planned shift on the 19th. Hopefully my arrival on the 17th means I get one more trip through Hua Lamphong. And Shanson, thanks for the link to the Seat 61 video. That moment at 1:10 when the train starts moving down the track...

Hi v v, I am leaving Chiang Mai for Bangkok on the 16th of this week, so I will post info on which station I end up arriving at on the morning of the 17th. I kind of hope it is Hua Lamphong, just one more time! LOL! I will be kind of bumming if it is the station by Don Mueang. I imagine they...

Hi v v! I just got 12Go's word that I do have a ticket on train #10 (the newer train sets) from Chiang Mai to Bangkok on the 16th! Yea! Unfortunately, my 1st Class reservation got downgraded to 2nd Class, but I am going to be taking a train I have read about for years from Chiang Mai to...

I took that route way back in 2004. The train was old, slow and packed full of people but it was clean and well cared for. I can not remember the view from the train. I ended up hanging out with a dozen police officers and we drank about 30 of those green 500 ml vodka bottles. Not recommended...

Animals respond to music in surprising ways. The more intelligent the animal, the more interesting the response. Sharing music with an elephant would be interesting indeed. My dog did not care for rock, country or jazz but would come over and sit in front of the speakers for a string quartet or...

I hear you devil's, and if that were the case, I would agree with you. But the evidence of the "breaking" of elephants over the past 10 or 15 years is really spotty. The elephant owners claim, and it appears they are honest about it, to have changed to a "gentling" process more akin to how we...

Serendipity played a role in that! I guess I subconsciously wanted to hit the 1,000 mark with a fun post!

I arrived in Perth the other day and have been walking all over the Central Business District from the Eastern Train Station to Elizabeth Quay to Kings Road and down through the Kings Park amd Botanic Garden. Another great city. The Indian Pacific was a bucket list trip for me and the experience...

Riding an elephant is increasingly frowned upon in SE Asia, though I am unfamiliar w the situation in India. 10 or 15 years ago I was told that riding an elephant caused the elephant a great deal of stress and that the howdah (wooden chair) was bad for the elephants back. The first part seemed...

How much you see depends on what time of year you go, December is the worst month for light. You leave Hualamphong between 6pm and 10pm (though the trains may be moving to the new train station in January, maybe) and the first hours ride through Bangkok and its near neighborhoods is worth the...

One more note as I think of stuff. Most of the sleepers in Thailand have bunks on either side of the aisle at night that fold into individual seats that face each other during the day so half the passengers have to sit facing backwards which I do not like. But at night the bunks are surprisingly...

V v, I have taken the night train to Chiang Mai from BKK three times. I did fan the first time in 1998 (3rd class, maybe? Maybe second tier back then but close to third tier.) and it was open bunks with curtains for privacy. Not sure if they still have these cars. It was fun but very basic. I...