Train ticket ready – breakfast in my hand – picture-taking complete – spirit and mind all set, and I was ready for my adventure…
Back again inside Hua Lamphong Railway Station, I made my way to the entrance of the platform at the farthest end of the hall next to the ticketing area. On the way, I passed rows of seat, food shops, convenience stores, coffee shops, a Muslim Prayer Room, some government agency booths to render services, as well as an information center where you can make travel enquiries. After a glance around, I went to the platform and looked for my train.
Train No. 283 going to Pattaya stood at Platform 6. I got on and settled down on a suitable seat and waited for it to move out. (This train does not have any seat number on the ticket, and passengers are free to sit wherever they wish. However, trains running long distance will have the seat number printed on the ticket.)
Shortly after 7 o’clock, the train started out from Hua Lamphong Railway Station. From what I could gather, this train regularly runs from the center of the city and passes various communities, inner-city areas, high-rise office buildings and universities. Therefore, in the morning passengers who are office workers, students and travelers like me crowd around to use it. Moreover, as the train runs through Bangkok on a workday morning when there are traffic jams, it must sometimes stop for a long while so that the cars which are stopping across the railway tracks can move on. After leaving the city, however, it travels with good and steady speed.
After enjoying the sceneries out the train window for some time, the large number of passengers on the train started getting off at their destinations. Towards 11 o’clock when the train was due to arrive at Pattaya Station, I started to worry in case the train had passed my station without my knowing it (although I was fairly confident that it had not passed Pattaya because I was keeping my eyes on the names of the stations along the way and had not been asleep). Anyway, it was my own fault for forgetting to bring along the train timetable which I already printed out but left at home. Luckily, I was able to access the internet via my mobile phone so I started to contact people I knew in case help was needed. But finally while I was engrossed in the mission of discovering my whereabouts a lot of passengers remaining on the train started to walk around, and as the ticket collector came over I discovered that the train was just about to stop at Pattaya Station. ^^
*For those of you who do not read Thai, I recommend that when the ticket collector goes pass the first time, you tell him that you would be getting down at Pattaya and ask for his help, so that he can come and remind you when the train reaches the station.
For your information, Pattaya has two train stations: Pattaya Station and Pattaya Tai Station. I would suggest that you get down at Pattaya Station there is a two-row seat minibus, locally called Songtaew, waiting for passengers right at the train station and you can tell the driver where you want to go so he can drop you there. You then will be told of the cost according to the distance to be traveled. The fare is usually 30 Baht to Pattaya Klang (Central Pattaya), and 40 Baht to Pattaya Tai (South Pattaya) around the walking street. And in case you want to use the service of the Songtaew but want to take some photos of the Railway Station first, you should first ask the Songtaew driver to wait while you take some photographs. This has to be done because, as there is only one train to Pattaya, only one Songtaew will be waiting to take passengers into Pattaya city or further away, and if you should miss it, you may have to walk out to the main road to find transportation yourself. Anyway, don’t be too long with the photo taking, thinking that the Songtaew would wait for you, because other passengers on the Songtaew are also waiting for you to finish taking the photos. :)
So, finally, with the help of a fellow traveler on the Songtaew, I got to my accommodation safety and must wholeheartedly say that people in Pattaya are very friendly to visitors. An example is when I got down from the train and saw a traveler who, I think, had gathered only some rough information about Pattaya and was looking for some place to stay the night. A passenger on the Songtaew sitting next to me very cordially gave him advice, and although the lady did not communicate in very skillful English I could see that she was happy to answer questions which the tourist put to her. (A word of caution, however. You should always be on alert and do not believe all the advices you get because even though sometimes you will get good services you may be paying more than the ongoing rates. So, better be prepared and get advance information about the places and the rates before you decide to go anywhere.)
Back again inside Hua Lamphong Railway Station, I made my way to the entrance of the platform at the farthest end of the hall next to the ticketing area. On the way, I passed rows of seat, food shops, convenience stores, coffee shops, a Muslim Prayer Room, some government agency booths to render services, as well as an information center where you can make travel enquiries. After a glance around, I went to the platform and looked for my train.
Train No. 283 going to Pattaya stood at Platform 6. I got on and settled down on a suitable seat and waited for it to move out. (This train does not have any seat number on the ticket, and passengers are free to sit wherever they wish. However, trains running long distance will have the seat number printed on the ticket.)
Shortly after 7 o’clock, the train started out from Hua Lamphong Railway Station. From what I could gather, this train regularly runs from the center of the city and passes various communities, inner-city areas, high-rise office buildings and universities. Therefore, in the morning passengers who are office workers, students and travelers like me crowd around to use it. Moreover, as the train runs through Bangkok on a workday morning when there are traffic jams, it must sometimes stop for a long while so that the cars which are stopping across the railway tracks can move on. After leaving the city, however, it travels with good and steady speed.
After enjoying the sceneries out the train window for some time, the large number of passengers on the train started getting off at their destinations. Towards 11 o’clock when the train was due to arrive at Pattaya Station, I started to worry in case the train had passed my station without my knowing it (although I was fairly confident that it had not passed Pattaya because I was keeping my eyes on the names of the stations along the way and had not been asleep). Anyway, it was my own fault for forgetting to bring along the train timetable which I already printed out but left at home. Luckily, I was able to access the internet via my mobile phone so I started to contact people I knew in case help was needed. But finally while I was engrossed in the mission of discovering my whereabouts a lot of passengers remaining on the train started to walk around, and as the ticket collector came over I discovered that the train was just about to stop at Pattaya Station. ^^
*For those of you who do not read Thai, I recommend that when the ticket collector goes pass the first time, you tell him that you would be getting down at Pattaya and ask for his help, so that he can come and remind you when the train reaches the station.
For your information, Pattaya has two train stations: Pattaya Station and Pattaya Tai Station. I would suggest that you get down at Pattaya Station there is a two-row seat minibus, locally called Songtaew, waiting for passengers right at the train station and you can tell the driver where you want to go so he can drop you there. You then will be told of the cost according to the distance to be traveled. The fare is usually 30 Baht to Pattaya Klang (Central Pattaya), and 40 Baht to Pattaya Tai (South Pattaya) around the walking street. And in case you want to use the service of the Songtaew but want to take some photos of the Railway Station first, you should first ask the Songtaew driver to wait while you take some photographs. This has to be done because, as there is only one train to Pattaya, only one Songtaew will be waiting to take passengers into Pattaya city or further away, and if you should miss it, you may have to walk out to the main road to find transportation yourself. Anyway, don’t be too long with the photo taking, thinking that the Songtaew would wait for you, because other passengers on the Songtaew are also waiting for you to finish taking the photos. :)
So, finally, with the help of a fellow traveler on the Songtaew, I got to my accommodation safety and must wholeheartedly say that people in Pattaya are very friendly to visitors. An example is when I got down from the train and saw a traveler who, I think, had gathered only some rough information about Pattaya and was looking for some place to stay the night. A passenger on the Songtaew sitting next to me very cordially gave him advice, and although the lady did not communicate in very skillful English I could see that she was happy to answer questions which the tourist put to her. (A word of caution, however. You should always be on alert and do not believe all the advices you get because even though sometimes you will get good services you may be paying more than the ongoing rates. So, better be prepared and get advance information about the places and the rates before you decide to go anywhere.)
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