Saturday 18 February 2023

Bangkok Holiday Trip (February 2023) - Day 3 of 4

Today was apparently the best day of my trip. Here's why. The rest of the crew left the Airbnb at 10am to go visit some dog cafe. I didn't join them because I wanted to check out Bang Sue Grand Station, the largest railway station in South East Asia at the moment.

I was the last to leave the Airbnb, taking my own sweet time after watching Season 9 Episode 2 of The Flash. Couldn't miss that show for anything, really. Finally it was time for me to try out the BTS system of Bangkok. Took BTS from Ratchathewi station to Mo Chit station. I'd say the BTS is pretty cooling and the fare was damn cheap. Easily comparable to Singapore's MRT.


I considered switching from the light green line to blue line but saw that Chatuchak market was in between, so I decided to go on foot from Mo Chit station. Went back to the same moo ping stall and bought many moo pings for lunch. Shiok!!! Moo ping is the best shit ever!

Then I walked towards Bang Sue Grand Station. Chanced upon a side road leading me closer to the tracks so I took it. Ended up at this big ass railway crossing and wow, it looks like heaven to me. I crossed the tracks and ended up in a rather restricted-looking zone. 


Spotted a lot of locomotives and different kinds of trains. The old tracks and new tracks were all in the same area. Pretty damn cool!


Spotted this dog just chilling here, with the sights of the train depot behind it. Beside this photo, some old man was shouting at me so I decided not to stay too long.


This is a nice photo of the Grand Station in the background with the newer tracks at the side of the picture. The newer tracks are branched off from the main line leading into the current at-grade Bang Sue railway station.


And then it happened. I saw an opening leading into Bangkok's only train cemetery. From the google maps, the place looked big. But it was merely just 7 tracks, with each track containing less than 10 carriages or locomotives. They are all abandoned so it was pretty damn cool.


I had a lot of fun climbing into different cabins (while wearing slippers). It was the most YOLO time of my life. The internal of the engines all looked so destroyed. It was like walking into ancient history. Because of this one experience, I shall make it my own tradition to visit as many railways in the world as I can.



Photo proof that I was here at this point in time. Contrary to what most reviewers say, that train cemetery is actually open to public. I just needed to stay out of sight of the general public. Pretty damn cool!!!



And then I made the trek back to Bang Sue Grand Station. This was the most peaceful walk of my trip. Totally no human in sight, only pure mesmerising feats of engineering. I wonder how long it took for a country like Thailand to build a railway like this. Simply in awe.


Did a lot of countdown selfies in New Zealand, while only did one in Bangkok. This was the only one.



Saw a few super old locomotives leaving Bang Sue Grand Station on the elevated tracks. To someone who loves the rails like me, this was one-of-a-kind. You don't just put old trains on new tracks, you just don't. Wow. And then one level above those old trains, lay tracks of the future. 


Bang Sue Grand Station was built to integrate old lines with new ones. Level 1 is the concourse level. Level 2 contains platforms for normal commuter and passenger trains. Level 3 are platforms for future high speed rail linking China to Thailand, and down to our very own Singapore.


The station was so damn big it was insane. I found a spot with strong aircon blowing and just sat there for a good 30 minutes. I had no idea I walked well over 10km in the last few hours, geeking out at all those railway tracks and trains.



After resting for a while, I decided to head back to the Airbnb to offload some weight. Took the blue line back to Mo Chit instead of walking. The blue line is actually a different system compared to the light green line. Blue line belongs to this company called MRT while light green line is BTS. Both are separate entities.


The ride was again dirt cheap. I took train all the way to Siam interchange. Alighted and walked to Centroworld mall to check out some guitars. Abandoned the 5L bottle of water at a random spot cause it was too heavy for me to carry already. Can't believe I carried all that weight to explore the train cemetery in slippers.

Meh, the mall was disappointing. The guitars are all priced around the same as Singapore. So unless I'm looking for a specific model, those aren't worth it at all. Suddenly, Wei Liang called me to tell me to meet him at the Lumpinee stadium at 6pm. Realising I might be late, I left the area instantly. Took train from Siam to Wat Phra Sri Mahathat station. Damn what a mouthful!



Alighted at that long ass name station and realised the stadium is a good half an hour walk from the station. And so I began my walk, despite feeling damn shag already. The walk seemed like an endless one. But I eventually made it to the stadium. I bought a few hotdogs at the lobby and then entered with Wei Liang and Jaaron.


Muay Thai isn't my kind of thing but since we are in Thailand, might as well check it out. Hmmm, to be honest, if I weren't so shagged out from my own adventure in the day, I could have enjoyed the show more. Sadly I couldn't keep myself awake and I'm just super duper hungry.

The fight ended at 9pm and 3 of us took Grab to Pratunam market. We were all looking forward to some mango smoothie and good food. But sadly, Pratunam was again a shopping market. We had to walk to some really isolated alleyway to find some food.

Chanced upon this coffeeshop-like place and settled dinner there. Finally tasted mango smoothie again. My life is complete. Walked back to Airbnb after that because our Airbnb is right behind Pratunam only. Shag but fun day 3.

Click here for Day 4!

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