Khon Kaen to Nakhon Ratchasima.

Today's plan was to get up and be at the Khon Kaen train station to catch the 8am train to Nakhon Ratchasima. We decided to catch the train and get ahead of ourselves on the road and give us more free time to see some of the attractions in this part of the world

We arrived at the train station around 7.15 and Len went and got our tickets for 20 baht each.  Our bikes cost 90 Baht each.  Now the problem.  The train was terminating at Bua Yai about 80 short of our desired destination.  We had no option, we had to catch the train and see what we would find at the other end.

To our surprise the train was late, just like back home in Australia.  The train was a small 2 carriage motor rail as we cal them back home.  No air con and windows that are constantly open.  As I pulled my bike with panniers into the main carriage with people everywhere, the conductor came up and indicated NO to the bike.  I showed him the tickets for our bikes and on they came.  I think we politely forced the issue.  We had paid for the bikes and they were coming with us.

 At this stage we're just waiting for our 2 car train to pull in.  I know this is going to be fun with the bikes on the train. 

The bikes waiting at Khon Kaen train station.

Once on board it was a very tight fit and people had to get around our bikes throughout the 2 hour ordeal.  The train guards were the most tolerant of the situation.  Where Len was sitting the people were quite rude when trying to force their way around or over him and his bike.  The landscape was dead pan flat for the 100km trip.  Fields of baron lands, waiting for the rains to come and for the next crop of rice to be sewn.  This is a harsh environment to earn a living.

 You see from the photo above at the start of the journey Len had to stand to look after his bike.  Not much room on the train for the bikes, but, we paid for a ticket and they were entitled to come along for the ride.

The train bounced up and down, side to side all the way to Bua Yai.  I was surprised the train didn't come off the tracks at times.  As the train rolled into Bua Yai, our next hurdle was how do we get our bikes and ourselves to Nakhon Ratchasima.

I spoke to the train guard and tried to tell him we needed to get to Nakhon Ratchasima today.  He said he would help us.  As we got our gear off the train which was a real pain in the arse, the guard told us to buy a ticket quickly as the bus was leaving.  The problem was the bikes could not go on the bus.  We were then directed to put the bikes and our pannier bags in the bag of the railway ute that was going to meet us at the end. 

Now this was rather strange that they were going to give our bags and bikes 1st class service on a 80km journey down the track.

Len and I hopped on the bus and off we went.  50% was now done and all we needed to do was get to our final destination and pick up our bikes.

This bus trip took 3 hours to travel roughly 80kms.  We drove through narrow lanes, villages, towns, dirt roads, cement roads, road under repair roads to come to our final destination.  As we got off the bus, we went to the station master's office and asked, 'where the bikes dude?'  Well his English was as good as my Thai.  I gave the master our bike ticket and he got on the radio and the shortly the ute pulled into the train station and there were our beloved bikes and bags.  All in one piece.

We quickly attached the bags to the bikes and rode off in search of a hotel.  Len had spotted a hotel as we were coming into town in the bus.  He took us directly to the hotel and soon we were booked into our rooms for 2 nights and get ready to relax for the rest of the day.

The hotel is hosting the Songkram festival which is also known as the water festival.  Now we decided to stay an extra day to attend the festival and hopefully see if I can drown a couple of people with me high powered water canon blaster.  I intend to do some damage.

We had a great journey today in getting to our intended destination in one piece with all our gear.  Tomorrow is party time and then Sunday we must be on the bus to the Cambodian border.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.