Its my place: Thailand: The Introduction of Death Railway

Friday, February 27, 2015

Thailand: The Introduction of Death Railway

The reason of taking the southern line train from Bangkok to Nam Tok was the old train itself.

Although Thailand is the only country in SEA that was never colonized, but during WWII, Thailand was the state that every countries wanted to occupy because of its strategic location.

And that's one of the reason why Japan decided to construct a railway which 415km long, through jungle and mountain from Thailand to Burma.

The railway now named Death Railway, because 310,000 of prisoners of war (POW) were scarified in building of the railway in very short period, like in one year.

And I never knew such a place existing in the country of smile, Thailand.

So i gave up other faster transportation options, and took the old historical train and the well-known Death Railway.

Train from Bangkok to Nam Tok takes 6 hours, condition is old and simple, if you love train trip you will appreciate old train like this, i believe this is very rare around the world.

Alright this post will be focusing on how to take the train and some introduction of the train, just give you a brief idea before the post of floating hotel on River Kwai.

So how to take old train to Death Railway?

1. Take cab to Thon Buri Train Sation (not Thon Buri MRT!!), Bangkok
2. Buy ticket (no pre-booking, but plenty of tix so no worry) and hop on the train, enjoy!

Thon Buri Railway Station is not Hua Lamphong Railway Station.

This is the train schedule

We took 7.50am and est reaching by 12.35nn (but we reached after 1pm)

This is the train tix, dirt cheap, 100bath for 6 hours ride.

short clip on the station.

Train in Thailand is never on time but we enjoyed the scenery of the station very much.

old piece in the station

train is here but wasn't ours

we were asking around to confirm if we were on the right train.

train condition is old but clean.

greenery all the way.

yea no air-con, not even fan nor window, so you can enjoy the natural breeze.

love this the most

Short clip so you have better idea.

I love train trip because you have more time being alone, and riding a train make you feel more like travelling compare to bus or mini van.

I enjoyed the train trip very much, seeing environment around you changing from concrete building to paddy field and blue sky made me smiled along the trip.

Oh did i tell you we had our brunch on the train too? This is an interesting experience for me, i only had (and knew) Taiwan is famous with train bento (台铁便当) but never knew Thailand railway has bento too (泰铁便当).

not much choice but every single of it are the best local taste!

some hawker hopping on the train and get off in next station, some stay on the station and wait for next train.

and i got the yummiest Mocha milk tea :D

The highlight of the railway the mountain edge part, imagine how POWs hanging themselves on the edge just to construct the railway for the convenience of Japanese military.

I will post more photos in another post, now scroll down for some peak shot first.