Southern Thailand into Malaysia

We left Ban Grood after spending a couple of really nice relaxing days there. Chumphon is a couple of hours south. The town is pretty scrapy but the countryside around it is nice and lush and there is some good beaches nearby (although the signs proclaiming it to be 'Thailand's Riviera' is stretching it a bit). Most of the original forest around here has been cleared for palm oil and rubber plantations. I talked Annie into hiring a scooter and we spent an afternoon riding along the coast nearby. Had lunch at a restaurant on the beach and had a swim in the very warm water. Our train didn't leave until 10.30pm so we had to while a way a few hours waiting for it. This was our longest leg - a sleeper train from Chumphon to Butterworth including a border crossing into Malaysia. All went smoothly and we both slept reasonably well. We rolled into Butterworth at lunchtime before catching the ferry over to Georgetown, Penang. Thailand is in the process of upgrading it's rail network on a massive scale. Just about every station we passed through has new concrete platforms, new waiting rooms and huge concrete overpasses for local traffic. The tracks are being upgraded in 2 stages, firstly to double track and then the gauge will be increased and track improved to accommodate fast trains. This is being done along the entire length of the country, from the border with Laos in the north, to Malaysia in the south, a distance of about 1500km. Although the Thai government downplay it, it is part of China's massive Belts and Roads Project. The plan is, by 2038, you will be able to catch fast trains from Singapore to China.

Train set for sleeping

Same carriage set up for sitting