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| Hua Lumphong Railway Station, Thailand |
If you wish to travel from Bangkok to Malaysia via train, you will have to take the same route we took.
The entire route is divided into 2 leagues as below:
Bangkok, Thailand to Butterworth, Malaysia - via Thai International Express (owned by Thai Government)
Butterworth, Malaysia to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - via KTMB Railway (owned by Malaysian Government)
The routes above would suggest changing of trains in Butterworth. The trip would most likely take 22 hours in the first league and another 8 hours for the second league with a 9 hour interval at Butterworth station.
There's only one scheduled trip daily for Thai express and 2 trips for KTMB routes. The Train from Bangkok leaves at 02:45PM BKK Time (Train number 35) on track/platform 5 and would ideally arrive at 12:00 nn the following day at Butterworth.
With much details i got online, i decided to take advantage of the online booking capability KTM Railway offers. I was set to travel with my friends Cha and Regie. We purchased our tickets online just 6 days prior to our travel date (btw, you may pre-book your ticket up to 60 days before your travel date to 4 hours before your trip).
Booking Train ticket online via KTMB.
When making an online reservation of coach, i still had to create an online account for KTM at www.ktmb.com
I need to supply my email address and created a username and password for my account. Once set up, i immediately logged on and start booking for coach and paid through credit card.
On the other hand, Thai railways didn't have online booking capability so we need to purchase the ticket right then and there at Bangkok Station.
The price for a second class coach (with berth sleepers) are as follows:
Thai International Express: THB 1,120.00 (Upper) THB 1,020.00 (lower)
KTM Railway: RM 48 (Upper) RM 38 (Lower)
We went to Hualumphong station the previous day to purchase our train ticket to Butterworth. As mentioned, Thai express railways didn't offer online booking so we didn't have a choice but to purchase the ticket at the Hualumphong station. We were there at the ticketing counter around 09:00AM the other day (July 19, 2013) but we were dismayed when the teller advised us that all seats were already fully booked. Good thing we met Puma (from the information booth) who accompanied us going to a travel agency (located at the 2nd floor of the station) to get spare tickets from them. We were charged THB1,770.00 each for the tickets. Well, it was still cheaper compared to getting into the plane. We couldn't afford to go in the bus either as we couldn't imagine sitting on a bus chair for 20 hours.
Yes! you heard it right. Don't lose hope when the ticketing counter would advise you on fully booked seats. It's already been a practice of Travel Agencies in Thailand to buy a number of seats and then re-sell it to awe-full passengers at a higher price. This might be the reason why seats were fully booked :(
Train tickets do not contain passenger information. It only has seat number and destination.
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| Our Thai Express tickets. |
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| Thank you Puma for your assistance. (L-R) Puma, Regie and Cha |
The painstaking research had turned into reality....
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| Welcome to Hualumphong Station |
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| At the Hualumpong Station, Passenger's waiting area |
July 20, 2013. Saturday. After wandering around Bangkok for 2 days, we were already set to conquer Malaysia. We arrived at the Hualumphong station at 11:00 right after we did some shopping at MBK Mall. It was too early from our scheduled trip at 02:45PM. We wanted to be there early so as we could still settle down. We couldn't afford to miss this trip so better early than later. Besides, we already had a fair share of difficulty getting our train ticket to Butterworth the other day :)
We were already sitting at the Hualumphong station passenger's area, waiting for our train to arrive. We were told to catch the train at track 5, twenty minutes before the scheduled departure. As what most of the bloggers say online, we bought some biscuits and bottles of water first. We wanted to ensure we had enough for the whole duration of the trip. The station had no air-condition so the temperature inside is somewhat hot and humid. We saw people arriving and leaving the train. Well, just to note that Bangkok was not so strict when it comes to security. No one even check the passenger's luggage. Whatever you want to bring inside the train, as long as you can carry it then you can definitely bring it.
I was even able to get into the track 2 hours before departure. That suggest that security officers there did not care much of the people entering the platform. Nevertheless, i felt safe in the place. There was this kind of feeling that the place is safe though no one is doing security check on bags.
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| Entrance to Train Track/Platform |
02:00PM. We decided to go to track 5 as we did not want to wait until our trip would be called. Anyway, we had difficulty understanding their announcements :) Upon arriving on track 5, we saw a purple train. We asked a steward which car do we need to jumped into and he pointed us the direction. We were assigned to car number 2 - right going to the far most cars. There were 8 cars but the first 6 would be detached right at the border of Thailand leaving only 2 cars to proceed to Butterworth.
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| At Track 5. Behind me is Train number 35 to Butterworth |
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| Purple Train: Train 35 to Butterworth |
Traveling by train was so good. It was the most convenient trip i had in my entire life.
Train Steward, giving pillow cases...
Cha, comfortably sleeping.....
Bangkok Sub-urb
The country side.....
Temple .... people along the intersection of railway and highway ......
Bought this rice toppings at THB40.00 was delicious.
We asked the steward to set up the table for our dinner....
Bought this at THB20.00 tastes good...
Cha, enjoying the sceneries...
Their own version of kakanin.....
Night came.....
Steward starting to set up beds at around 7PM BKK.....
Lower sleeping berth
Upper sleeping berth
everyone was sleeping except me and that other lady ......
woke up at around 08:00AM. We were closed to the borders.
Towards the border of Thailand and Malaysia, there was a Thai - chinese who ofefered money exchange. His rate was based on the newspaper he brough...
Few miles before arriving the border, they already detached the 6 cars leaving only 2 cars which carried us to Butterworth... bye to our fellow passengers!!!!
Staring at my passport
near the borders of Thailand and Malaysia.....
One of the station stops.... some people jumped off while some get in.....
Arrived at the border at around 10:00. Bye Thailand and hello Malaysia.....
Went to Thai immigration first, then just a booth away is the Malaysian Immigration.... stamped there. stamped here.
Went back inside the train only to find out that we lost our original seats. oh Uh! no permanent seast rule. so we had to look for another seats. It was great alkong to these Malay locals traveling to one state in Malaysia.....
At 1:00PM Malaysia Time, we arrived in Butterworth!!!! bye to the train....
Local Venodr, selling food....
We did not ask him until 9:00PM. Ours was set up late.....
It was cold..... good thing i brought my knee socks
Getting ready for immigration. filling out the Thai departure card
Everyone was asked to step out from the train, carry all luggage as we need to have these be checked by Malaysian Customs.
Malaysia compared to Thailand has more good infrastructure...
We're off to Penang Malaysia...... follow my next blog....
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