Guest GaySacGuy Posted December 6, 2008 Posted December 6, 2008 Earlier this week, I needed to visit the US Embassy in Bangkok to obtain income verification letter to renew Retirement Visa. With the airports closed, I choose the train over the bus. I only started trying to obtain tickets on Nov 30 for a trip on Dec 1 to Bangkok, and a Dec 3 return to Ubon. Becasue of this late time, I was able to get only a "Class 2 Sleeper with fan" for the trip to Bangkok. There were no Class 1 sleepers or Class 2 sleeper with air conditioning available. I boarded the sleeper in Ubon at 1900, and we departed on time at 1930. The ride was ok, and the sleeper is adequate. If anyone is really sensitive to noise, then this isn't the way to travel, as it was quite noisy for the entire trip. Even with this, I got a pretty good nights sleep. I will try to add some pictures a little later, but your seat converts with another seat to become a bed. The other negative was the bathroom/toilet. They were extremely small, and were the typical slot hole in the floor with side cleats. However there was toilet paper provided. We arrived on time at 0730 at the train station on Rama IV withing a couple of kilotmeters of Silom. I would take this trip again, but would try for the 1st Class sleeper by planning ahead. The return trip was on a "Diesel Railcar", and was an express. It was three railcars, and we left Bangkok about 20 minutes late at 0605. It was a fun trip seeing all the country between Bangkok and Ubon. They served a snack (banana bread and drink) soon after departing, and at noon provided a small lunch with water. It wasn't great, but was sufficent. The bathroom was the same as the sleeper, with toilet paper. We arrived at Ubon a few minutes late at 1435. I think they would have made up the entire time, but were stalled and then very slow through a construction zone which cost several minutes delay. I would say that train travel will be on my agenda in the future. It isn't as fast as plane of course, but was very inexpensive. The total cost of the round trip was 1017 baht or about $30 US. The sleeper was cheaper (about 460 baht) than the express diesel car. Quote
Guest MonkeySee Posted December 6, 2008 Posted December 6, 2008 Thanks for the report and good information. I have always wanted to check out Ubon Ratchathani because I have met some very nice boys from that Korat area. The train sounds like a very easy option. Quote
Guest GaySacGuy Posted December 26, 2008 Posted December 26, 2008 OK...I promised somemore info, and since I have finally sort of figj=ured out Photobucket, I am going to try to post some pictures. This is the seat in a 2nd Class Sleeper Fan. This seat is very comfortable and folds out along with the facing seat to make the lower bunk. The upper bunk folds down, and looked comfortable if you don't mind the climb up and down. This is a facing seat, and the ladder to the upper bunk. This is the toilet...the whole toilet. But, if you look way to the right, you will see toilet paper...and it was there on both trains. On my return trip, the diesel railcar looks like this...pretty standard. I tried taking pictures of the passing sights...but the glass on the windows isn't too photogenic. There are also big "birds" in the middle of the window. This is of a large lake about half-way between BKK and Ubon. These last two pictures are in the train station at Ubon, and show pretty much what a diesel railcar looks like. Quote
