Day 4 - Train journey to Phitsanulok

And off we went again quite early. But everything worked out perfectly. You just have to be careful not to get ripped off here. Of course, everyone wants to benefit as much as possible from the tourists, but sometimes it goes too far. We were shopping and I was supposed to get 835 baht in change from 1,000 baht. But I only got 535 baht. You have to count right away. And the way the guy reacted, you could tell he knew exactly that he had given us too little. Then the taxis always like to negotiate a fixed price with you instead of using the taximeter. But at some point, you also know approximately how much each distance costs, and one of them wanted to charge us 300 baht to the train station. I laughed out loud at him and made it clear to him that it shouldn't cost much more than 50 baht. He laughed knowingly, knowing that he couldn't rip us off, and sent us on to reputable taxis that use the taximeter. The ride then only cost 61 baht, that's not even 2€ instead of 7.50€.

And there we were again at our eventful Hua Lamphong train station from the first day. I had to run again and take pictures of the coffee stand, the woman with the head wrap, and the station from the outside. As soon as we entered the station with the ticket in hand, the railway security came up to us, looked at our ticket, and sent us to the right platform. The people here are just so friendly and helpful. It's really amazing. Then we got on the train for 4 hours. Lots of scenery, many other backpackers on the train, and good care with coffee, cookies, rice and fried chicken, and fish soup. Everything was in plastic, but you don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

In Phitsanulok, we checked into our cheap hotel. That was also an adventure. You get what you pay for. And we only paid a measly 11€. So, it was old, musty, broken, but it had its charm. Somehow. In any case, tolerable for one night. In Phitsanulok, we also visited the three most important temples. Singing prayers were being held there at the time. It had something really meditative. We sat there for a while and two school children interviewed us for a project, asking who we were, where we came from, how we liked Thailand, etc. They were really cute. Then we walked along the river towards the Night Bazaar, but of course we reached the first one after treating ourselves to a foot massage at the roadside. In a bar, we had hot pot, which is similar to fondue. You get vegetables in a basket and seafood and chicken. A charcoal stove is placed in the middle of the table, and on it, a clay pot with a broth with herbs. Then you throw whatever you want into the pot, wait a bit, and scoop it out with a ladle. Very tasty. In another bar right on the water, we had a beer that was more expensive than our dinner, and then we went back to the hotel. Beer is really expensive here, even the local ones for some reason. Cola costs less than a euro here, even in restaurants, but beer is 3€, and wine is not available for less than 4€. So really expensive. You get used to giving up alcohol when you compare it to the other prices.