Day 3: Railway Memories from Butterworth to Hua Hin (Oct 2014)

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Monday, 20th October 2014

One of the major highlights of my trip was the 19-hour railway journey that I took from Butterworth (Penang) to Hua Hin (Thailand) covering the distance of 940 km. My journey started on the afternoon of 20th October 2014 where I caught a free ferry ride from Georgetown to Butterworth Railway Station.

I had always enjoyed train travel and doing a railway trip across the Malaysian border to Thailand was some sort of a bucket list fulfilled. I wasn't daunted by the long hours spent on the road since the train cabin was relatively comfortable onboard the International Sleeper Express Antarabangsa Train # 36. This service is operated by the State Railway of Thailand.

One month prior to the start of my journey, I went over to Johor Bahru Railway Station and reserved a lower berth sleeper at RM 105.90. At 2pm that afternoon, my train departed on time from Butterworth where it passed through the beautiful rice fields of Kedah and the state capital of Alor Star. In the evening, the train made a long pause at Padang Besar where the Malaysian Customs met the Thai border.

I was happily chit-chatting away with fellow passengers onboard. There were a few passengers who regularly made railway trips to Thailand for business. There was also a Malaysian family that I met and they were sharing some of their travel adventures with us. It seemed that train travel made passengers less restrictive and the atmosphere was more homely compared to coach and plane journeys. People were friendlier and more willing to open up to strangers.

In the evening, the train made another major stop at Hat Yai Junction where more cars were added. It was during this time when the steward went around the cabin to convert the day seats into our sleeper beds for the night. The long journey made me sleepy and I retired for an early rest that evening.

7.30am the next morning - my train reached the town of Hua Hin about 40 minutes behind the intended schedule. After saying goodbye to the rest of the passengers who were bounded for Bangkok Hualamphong Station, the few of us were greeted by the beautiful Hua Hin Station. I had heard great things about the town and I was quite sure that I was going to enjoy my 2-night stay in Hua Hin.

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Comments

[lee yvonne]

How to buy ticket from butterworth to hua hin
Hi~ we wanna go hua hin...but we dunno where to buy train ticket from bukit mertajam to hua hin...

[Budokan]

Re: How to buy ticket from butterworth to hua hin
Hi, You can buy your train tickets 30 days in advance from any KTMB ticketing office in Malaysia. I remembered bought mine in Johor Bahru actually. Regards