Night train to Hue

It's 700 kilometers to Hue and the only half comfortable way of traveling there is the night train. The alternative a night bus is only for when you are really desperate.
We left exactly on time at 3.45 in the afternoon and arrived spot on at 6.15 the next morning. As you can see from the photos there are four berths per cabin and I shared mine with a Chinese couple. The big benefit of travel by train is that you can get up and walk around to stretch your legs and on a sleeper train like this you can stretch out and try to catch a rest. I still didn't sleep much but that has probably more to do with me then the train.

The Train to Phitsanulok

I spend most of the day on or near the train the ride from Lopburi to Phitsnulok is scheduled for just over four hours but when I got to the station it was already delayed by 45 minutes.

Never mind we got our luggage stowed,

waved goodbye to Lopburi,

and settled down enjoying the scenery.

The trip got longer as we frequently stopped on passing loops waiting for other trains to pass. It is one of those things that once your train gets delayed for more then a few minutes it makes more sense for the railway to keep on delaying the one train and keep the others running on time rather then delay every one else so you can make up time.
I do enjoy train travel there is always plenty to see and new and interesting things to eat.

This lady sells egg noodles and pork slices,

that in spite of the look on the child's face were actually rather nice.

Eventually we arrived in Phitsanulok around two hour behind schedule. I didn't see a single other tourist all day and doubt I'll see any here either.

On the move

Today I have started my approach to China in the best possible way. On foot! That is I walked from my hotel to the ferry, went about twenty minutes upriver then changed to the sky-train after three stops changed again this time to the subway which dropped me off at the railway station.
At the railway station they have some English speaking staff and it only took me a minute or so to get a ticket on the third class local to Ayuthaya. The train took two hours stopped at fifteen different stations and was a pleasant ride indeed.