Wongwian Yai Station

The idea was to try and get to Maeklong railway market, about 80 odd km southwest of Bangkok.

While I’m sure everyone knows what it’s famous for, what nobody tells you is that there’s just one train from Wongwian Yai station that takes you directly to this station – the Maeklong Railway Line at an unearthly hour of 6:45 am. Of course, we never made it on time. This is Bangkok, after all.

Instead, like good travelers who expected things to fall into place, we reached the station late that morning, and on enquiring, figured some trains take us to Maha Chai station. From there, it would be a boat ride across the Tha Chin River, and then another train journey to what we hoped would be our final destination.

I don’t think luck was on our side that day. When we finally reached Mah Chai station, we checked to see if any trains were heading to Maeklong station. The ticket seller, through Google translate, finally made us understand that while there were none from this station, our best bet would be to go back to where we started. Only that we make it on time the next morning.

Sigh, so much for our grand plans. The only positive in all of this was an enjoyable ride back and forth on the train, passing through towns and countryside I’ve never experienced, and mingling with folks who are not from the city. And yes, a boat ride on the river.