Bed for One

Not all who wander want to be found 🍂

Sleeper Train from Vientiane to Bangkok 🇱🇦→🇹🇭

July 10, 2015

Booked the sleeper train ‘package’ through another hostel which costed me 1,000baht (250,000kip). The hostel I was at was selling a 2nd class lower bunk ticket for 260,000kip (prices are around that range). I chose the former cause, once again I emphasize, SGD is shit in Laos so I actually saved around 9SGD by paying in Baht.

12 June 2015, Friday

3pm: A big tuktuk came to pick me up and I saw a familiar face – Coco, Belgium girl from Luang Prabang!

The driver took us to Thanaleng Train Station where we had our passports chopped and waited for the 5.00pm train. This wasn’t the sleeper train we were boarding. It was to bring us to Nong Khai, Thailand, where we would begin the ~12 hour train journey.

The ride from Laos, across the Friendship Bridge, into Thailand was 15 minutes. Ticket costs 20baht.

Going across the Friendship Bridge.

Pricing for trains from Thailand to Laos.

Parted ways with Coco cause she was taking a 15-hour minivan ride up to Chiang Mai. I was so lucky I had a bit of Thai baht left with me. I thought there’d be a money changer at the borders but I didn’t see one! Bought chips and water to last me. After all, I still had my granola and sunflower seeds to eat.

Train station at Nong Khai.

Ate my chips, freaked out after realising I was still hungry, but glad that the staff came round the ask if anyone wanted to order dinner!

Chose the curry chicken + sweet and sour pork dish. Came with soup and juice. The juice was too sweet for my liking. I threw it out.

Bloody hell. 240baht = 80,000kip = 15SGD

Paid in Kip cause I had no more Baht. SO MAD AT THE KIP CURRENCY.

Around 8+pm, one of the staff came around to make the ‘beds’. It was pretty cool! First for me, experiencing this sort of train. I was really glad I paid for the lower bunk cause it didn’t seem to have much space on the top. Plus it’d be really inconvenient to have to climb up and down to either use the loo or get your stuff.

This was what greeted me when I boarded the train. I freaked out a li’l and thought “where are the beds?! I didn’t pay 1000+baht to sit 12 hours on a train!”

View from the corridor: beds all set-up, cirtains drawn, people ready for bed.

I was really surprised we arrived at Bangkok on the dot the next day, as stated – 6.00am. I caught a decent amount of sleep despite the bumpy ride. Maybe you wouldn’t feel the bumpiness so bad if you took the top bunk.

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This update has been long overdue. So much has happened in between and I’m sadly out of Thailand. Will catch up on my other posts soon!