One of the items on my life to-do list was to ride a train from Thailand to Singapore. I found out about this train route a few years ago and immediately added it to my list. We rode 3 different overnight trains to make the journey. There is so much beautiful countryside that you miss in an airplane. By no means was it the most relaxing vacation we have ever been on, but we got to see a lot of really amazing things and it was definitely an adventure for the books.
Sunday morning we got up and headed to church. We had looked up the church previously and had chosen this hostel because it was within walking distance of the church and was next to the line we needed to take to the train station where we would be taking our first train the following day. The ward we attended was an international ward so they did speak English. There were people there from all over the world. It's always fun to attend in different countries and see the diversity.
We ventured out to the train station Sunday afternoon to buy our tickets for the following day, then hit some markets and got cheap massages ($7-10/hr) in the evening. Monday morning we found some breakfast, got more cheap massages, had some noodles from a street vendor for lunch, and then headed to the train station. (I bought some fruit from the below street vendor. Chose some pineapple, which was delicious. Also chose some unknown fruit, with some sort of spices on it the local said we had to try. It smelled like spicy dirty feet and according to Brett tasted like it too. I wasn't very brave. I didn't try it.)
Our first train was an overnight sleeper train from Bangkok, Thailand, to Hat Yai, Thailand. The seats on the train fold down into beds. There is an attendant that comes around and makes all the beds for you once it gets dark. They were surprisingly comfortable. There is also a restaurant car that serves full meals. You can go to the restaurant car to eat, or they will bring it to your seat if you like. We played a few games of backgammon, enjoyed the scenery out the window, explored the entire train front to back, ate dinner in the restaurant car, then headed to bed in our sleepers once it was dark.
We woke up in Hat Yai, Thailand. Hat Yai is a small town not too far from the ocean. We had the whole day to explore here until our next overnight train left from the station. We found a local temple, took our shoes off and were allowed to go up and explore it a little.
Their markets were full of all sorts of fish and seafood since they are close to the coast and the pungent smell was super overpowering. I was a few months pregnant at this point and I almost lost it several times walking through all the fish and meats. Even Brett was having a hard time at some points during the meat and fish sections of the market. They had all sorts of beautiful fruits and veges, some we had never seen before. My very favorite stands were the peppers. They were so colorful and bright. I loved just looking!
We wandered the markets some more after lunch, got cheap massages again, then headed back to the train station. We took another overnight train to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This was by far the worst night of the entire trip. The sleeper cars were sold out, so we got stuck in a car with seats just like you are on a coach bus. They didn't lean back and weren't comfy. On top of that, we froze to death. It was a warm summer night outside the train, but they were pumping the A/C like you would not believe. My whole body was numb with cold and so was Brett's so he couldn't warm me up at all. We were totally miserable all night and couldn't wait to arrive at Kuala Lumpur the next morning. During this segment of the journey we also crossed the border, so we had to unload everything at one point, go sit in another train station, go through customs, and load back up.
We arrived in Kuala Lumpur cold and tired, but we decided to have a great day regardless. We stashed our backpacks into lockers at the train station and headed out for the day. We took the first public transit train out of Kuala Lumpur to Batu Caves. We found some indian food for breakfast at the foot of the caves and then began exploring. Such a cool place! We hiked up the stairs into the caves and spent some time watching them perform their rituals at the shrines inside the caves.
Next stop on the list was the famous Petronas Towers. They didn't disappoint. We wandered around the parks below the towers, then went and saw the movie "Ant Man" at the mall in the base of the towers. They had caramel popcorn and regular. We got a mix and it was delicious! We wish they had that here in the States.
After the movie, we ventured to the food court and had all sorts of good food. We couldn't believe the mix of cultures in this place. It is such a huge melting pot! You could have gotten any type of food you wanted in this food court - American, Asian, Italian, Indian, Greek, etc... You name it. They had it.
Clearly we always love going to the markets so naturally that was the next stop. We then went to the Kuala Lumpur art gallery and wandered around some of the historic buildings.
Back to the train station that evening. We paid a few bucks for hot showers in the train station. Best purchase ever! However, good thing we have been exposed to our fair share of cockroaches in the last few years living in the desert. There were some in the shower!
Next stop Singapore. We were able to secure 2nd class sleepers for this train. They weren't as luxurious as the first night, but we were happy to have anything that laid down flat after the night we had on the last train. The sleepers we got were also right next to the door of the train. People were constantly going in and out to smoke and would leave the train door open during the process. The cling clang of the tracks was super loud when the door was left open. This train was also much older and seemed to rock back and forth a lot more. Brett loved the rocking and said it was the best sleep he ever had. I was able to put ear plugs in to dull the sound, but didn't love rocking which constantly pushed me back and forth between the window and the bar on the other side.
We woke up in Singapore. Well, technically that's not true. We woke up just across the border from Singapore. We finally found our way to a bus terminal and purchased a ticket to take us on a bus across the border. The whole process of crossing over took about 2.5 hours. It was a long morning. The bus we got on took us right to the border. Then we unloaded, went through customs, then found our bus on the other side of the border, got back on it, then sat in traffic for 1.5 hours to go about 2 miles. We were wishing we would have just walked. Locals were walking. They knew better.
Once we got to the local train system we took a train to the main downtown area in Singapore. This was by far the most expensive place yet of the trip and also the cleanest. The whole trip was interesting in that we started where it was very cheap and very dirty. As we progressed southward to Singapore, everything got cleaner and more expensive. There is a lot of money in Singapore and nothing was cheap. No more $1 noodle bowls and $10 massages to be had here. But, it was so nice to get back to a place that had regular toilets (not just the ones that are holes in the ground).
We went to the Marina Bay Sands hotel and talked them into holding our bags for the day even though we weren't guests at the hotel. Once our bags were stored, we headed out for our adventures for the day. Singapore has very beautiful architecture around the bay. We thoroughly enjoyed strolling around the bay and the various parks surrounding it all day long. Then we got to enjoy it all over again in a whole new light once it got dark. If I had to describe Singapore in one word, it would be extravagant.
We took a flight out of Singapore to Tokyo (Narita) super early Friday morning. We arrived in Narita early afternoon. We attempted to get on a couple flights that afternoon back to the States, but no such luck. All were full. We considered taking the train to the Haneda airport to try some flights out there, but in the end decided to stick it out and try more flights out from Narita the following afternoon. We ate dinner at a rotating sushi restaurant in the airport and scouted out a good spot to sleep. Thankfully no one made us move sleeping spots this night.
We headed to downtown Narita first thing in the morning by taking a train from the airport. What a quaint, beautiful, little town. It was very quiet early in the morning and strolling the small winding streets was very enjoyable. Most of the shops were not yet open and it was nice to get away from all the hustle and bustle for a bit. We walked to the Naritasan temple which was surrounded by gardens with wandering paths and ponds. Just lovely. After exploring the temple, we walked back downtown to explore the shops and find some lunch (or breakfast, who knows really, we get so mixed up in time on these trips that we just eat whenever we are hungry). We watched them prepare eels, ate freshly made rice crackers, bought lots of rice crackers, and ended up at the Ramen Bayashi noodle shop for food. We ordered pork noodle bowls. They were giant and so delicious! Brett has been craving one of those giant noodle bowls ever since.
We were able to catch a flight out of Narita to Denver on United that Friday afternoon and then took a flight from Denver to St. George that same Friday evening (you gain a day back when crossing the international dateline). Home sweet home. Totally exhausting trip, but also totally memorable. Another item checked off my life to do list.
We
flew into Bangkok, Thailand late on Saturday night, July 18th. We rushed
out of the airport to catch the final tram leaving the airport for the night.
We got to the tram just in the nick of time and rode it downtown to a
hostel called the "COW Hostel". I don't know why it was named
the COW Hostel, but our room was painted like a cow. Funny stuff.
We had emailed this hostel a couple of days before and they had said they
had rooms available so we were hoping they still did. The cheapest rooms
in hostels are usually in the mixed dorm rooms. Which means there will be
girls and guys in the room with several bunk beds. We always try to save
money so that is what we usually stay in if possible, rather than getting a
private room. Upon arrival, they informed us they didn't have any room in
the mixed dorms and only had a private room available. We were a little
disappointed until we found out there was no price difference either way. $18/night
total vs. $18/night total (650 baht). Ummm.... yes, please. Ha. Score!
Sunday morning we got up and headed to church. We had looked up the church previously and had chosen this hostel because it was within walking distance of the church and was next to the line we needed to take to the train station where we would be taking our first train the following day. The ward we attended was an international ward so they did speak English. There were people there from all over the world. It's always fun to attend in different countries and see the diversity.
Church signs - English and Thai
We ventured out to the train station Sunday afternoon to buy our tickets for the following day, then hit some markets and got cheap massages ($7-10/hr) in the evening. Monday morning we found some breakfast, got more cheap massages, had some noodles from a street vendor for lunch, and then headed to the train station. (I bought some fruit from the below street vendor. Chose some pineapple, which was delicious. Also chose some unknown fruit, with some sort of spices on it the local said we had to try. It smelled like spicy dirty feet and according to Brett tasted like it too. I wasn't very brave. I didn't try it.)
Our first train was an overnight sleeper train from Bangkok, Thailand, to Hat Yai, Thailand. The seats on the train fold down into beds. There is an attendant that comes around and makes all the beds for you once it gets dark. They were surprisingly comfortable. There is also a restaurant car that serves full meals. You can go to the restaurant car to eat, or they will bring it to your seat if you like. We played a few games of backgammon, enjoyed the scenery out the window, explored the entire train front to back, ate dinner in the restaurant car, then headed to bed in our sleepers once it was dark.
The attendant making up some of the beds
Their markets were full of all sorts of fish and seafood since they are close to the coast and the pungent smell was super overpowering. I was a few months pregnant at this point and I almost lost it several times walking through all the fish and meats. Even Brett was having a hard time at some points during the meat and fish sections of the market. They had all sorts of beautiful fruits and veges, some we had never seen before. My very favorite stands were the peppers. They were so colorful and bright. I loved just looking!
This picture is one of my favorite moments of the trip. Brett purchased a glass coke bottle because he wanted the bottle to bring home since it was written in Thai. Right after he bought it the lady popped it open, poured the Coke into a plastic bag, handed him a straw, took the bottle into the back, and shooed us on our way. LOL! We were both so shocked and couldn't comprehend what had just happened. We stared at the bag as we walked down the street and were laughing hysterically. Once we finally stopped laughing, Brett proceeded to drink the Coke out of the bag. Funny stuff.
For
lunch, we went to the Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel and ate at the buffet in the top
of the building. This was on Brett's to-do list because he loves buffets and
especially cheap ones, just 169 baht or $4.67/person even though it was the nicest place to eat in town. The cost was actually super expensive
by Thailand standards, but we decided to splurge. ;) Ha.
The eating area is surrounded by glass windows and the view was really
beautiful. The buffet had all sorts of foods we had never seen; we got to try
lots of interesting things. Most of which we never found out what exactly they
really were. Gotta live on the wild side sometimes I guess. One of the
most memorable items was the little pure black cube you see on that plate in
the below photo. It had the texture of jello, kind of, and looked just
like oil from your car. It tasted just like oil from your car too, at
least how I would imagine it to taste based on the smell. We couldn't
even stomach one whole cube of it between the both of us.
We saw these fruits in the market and were wanting to try them. They had them at the buffet and once we figured out how to finally crack them open, we discovered a white clear ball on the inside with a seed inside that ball. Didn't really taste like much, just a mild sugar flavor. Everyone else at the buffet was eating platefuls of them.
We wandered the markets some more after lunch, got cheap massages again, then headed back to the train station. We took another overnight train to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This was by far the worst night of the entire trip. The sleeper cars were sold out, so we got stuck in a car with seats just like you are on a coach bus. They didn't lean back and weren't comfy. On top of that, we froze to death. It was a warm summer night outside the train, but they were pumping the A/C like you would not believe. My whole body was numb with cold and so was Brett's so he couldn't warm me up at all. We were totally miserable all night and couldn't wait to arrive at Kuala Lumpur the next morning. During this segment of the journey we also crossed the border, so we had to unload everything at one point, go sit in another train station, go through customs, and load back up.
We arrived in Kuala Lumpur cold and tired, but we decided to have a great day regardless. We stashed our backpacks into lockers at the train station and headed out for the day. We took the first public transit train out of Kuala Lumpur to Batu Caves. We found some indian food for breakfast at the foot of the caves and then began exploring. Such a cool place! We hiked up the stairs into the caves and spent some time watching them perform their rituals at the shrines inside the caves.
The worlds tallest statue of Murugan, a Hindu Deity stands at the base of the long staircase leading into Batu Caves.
One of the shrines inside the cave
After the movie, we ventured to the food court and had all sorts of good food. We couldn't believe the mix of cultures in this place. It is such a huge melting pot! You could have gotten any type of food you wanted in this food court - American, Asian, Italian, Indian, Greek, etc... You name it. They had it.
Clearly we always love going to the markets so naturally that was the next stop. We then went to the Kuala Lumpur art gallery and wandered around some of the historic buildings.
Street food. We love it!
Back to the train station that evening. We paid a few bucks for hot showers in the train station. Best purchase ever! However, good thing we have been exposed to our fair share of cockroaches in the last few years living in the desert. There were some in the shower!
Next stop Singapore. We were able to secure 2nd class sleepers for this train. They weren't as luxurious as the first night, but we were happy to have anything that laid down flat after the night we had on the last train. The sleepers we got were also right next to the door of the train. People were constantly going in and out to smoke and would leave the train door open during the process. The cling clang of the tracks was super loud when the door was left open. This train was also much older and seemed to rock back and forth a lot more. Brett loved the rocking and said it was the best sleep he ever had. I was able to put ear plugs in to dull the sound, but didn't love rocking which constantly pushed me back and forth between the window and the bar on the other side.
We woke up in Singapore. Well, technically that's not true. We woke up just across the border from Singapore. We finally found our way to a bus terminal and purchased a ticket to take us on a bus across the border. The whole process of crossing over took about 2.5 hours. It was a long morning. The bus we got on took us right to the border. Then we unloaded, went through customs, then found our bus on the other side of the border, got back on it, then sat in traffic for 1.5 hours to go about 2 miles. We were wishing we would have just walked. Locals were walking. They knew better.
Once we got to the local train system we took a train to the main downtown area in Singapore. This was by far the most expensive place yet of the trip and also the cleanest. The whole trip was interesting in that we started where it was very cheap and very dirty. As we progressed southward to Singapore, everything got cleaner and more expensive. There is a lot of money in Singapore and nothing was cheap. No more $1 noodle bowls and $10 massages to be had here. But, it was so nice to get back to a place that had regular toilets (not just the ones that are holes in the ground).
We went to the Marina Bay Sands hotel and talked them into holding our bags for the day even though we weren't guests at the hotel. Once our bags were stored, we headed out for our adventures for the day. Singapore has very beautiful architecture around the bay. We thoroughly enjoyed strolling around the bay and the various parks surrounding it all day long. Then we got to enjoy it all over again in a whole new light once it got dark. If I had to describe Singapore in one word, it would be extravagant.
The Marina Bay Sands Hotel is the tall building on the left with the three pillars. The flower looking one in the middle is an art gallery.
Banana Chocolate Shaved Ice
Water and light show in the bay. They projected images onto the water. Very cool!
The Helix Bridge
Solar Powered SuperTrees. There are several sets of these in the parks surrounding the bay. Each set is a different color and was SO beautiful!
We took a flight out of Singapore to Tokyo (Narita) super early Friday morning. We arrived in Narita early afternoon. We attempted to get on a couple flights that afternoon back to the States, but no such luck. All were full. We considered taking the train to the Haneda airport to try some flights out there, but in the end decided to stick it out and try more flights out from Narita the following afternoon. We ate dinner at a rotating sushi restaurant in the airport and scouted out a good spot to sleep. Thankfully no one made us move sleeping spots this night.
We headed to downtown Narita first thing in the morning by taking a train from the airport. What a quaint, beautiful, little town. It was very quiet early in the morning and strolling the small winding streets was very enjoyable. Most of the shops were not yet open and it was nice to get away from all the hustle and bustle for a bit. We walked to the Naritasan temple which was surrounded by gardens with wandering paths and ponds. Just lovely. After exploring the temple, we walked back downtown to explore the shops and find some lunch (or breakfast, who knows really, we get so mixed up in time on these trips that we just eat whenever we are hungry). We watched them prepare eels, ate freshly made rice crackers, bought lots of rice crackers, and ended up at the Ramen Bayashi noodle shop for food. We ordered pork noodle bowls. They were giant and so delicious! Brett has been craving one of those giant noodle bowls ever since.
We were able to catch a flight out of Narita to Denver on United that Friday afternoon and then took a flight from Denver to St. George that same Friday evening (you gain a day back when crossing the international dateline). Home sweet home. Totally exhausting trip, but also totally memorable. Another item checked off my life to do list.
