Night Trains Thai Style

My favorite way to travel in Thailand is by night train, especially on the air-conditioned sleeper car. If you're heading out from Bangkok, north, south, or east, trains invariably depart regularly from three p.m., giving you a chance to see the countryside from cushioned, booth-like seats. Around five or six, the waiters come in to take your order from the menu, and that's when I always decline in order to head for my second favorite car on the train- the dining car. The kitchen and the staff are all right there cooking and serving you directly, and it seems to attract the more adventurous crowd of people on the train.

The dining car also affords great full window views of the encroaching dusk on the countryside, and it is quite romantic to eat your big tom yung prawns while watching the glistening rice paddies and the occasional farmer with water buffalo lazily roll by as the sun sinks behind the distant palms. Although, being a teetotaler, I usually head back to my bed just after some sticky dessert or another, this is the time that good cheer takes over the dining car. Beers, bottles of Mekong Whiskey, ice, and soda water all makes their appearance and those inclined may continue the party well into the night. Those sleeping tend to be a conservative bunch though, and I can hear them snoring lightly as I read my travel guide and imagine the day ahead.

Morning brings a new world, and I usually stare at the scenery, different depending on the direction we took when leaving Bangkok, until the main station's name is called, which never fails to bring excitement. You have to sleep somewhere anyway right? And it is more romantic than flying every time.

This article was written by Dinah Jackson who is a nutritionist in Japan. To find the rarest Japanese Pokemon cards, check out the store that has every kind of Japanese Pokemon cards that you can imagine. Also an incredible selection of Japanese Pokemon plush toys, figures, binders, deck boxes, sleeves, and just about anything you can imagine. Delivered right to your front door from Japan.