Bangkok to Korat to Phimai

Wednesday 27th March

The train journey was four and a half hours, and we spent the first two catching up on sleep, having got up at 5.30am to get to the station (if only we'd known the train would be late!). Several times when we stopped at stations, hot food was loaded onto the train. We shared a delicious 'tray' of rice, pork and yet another fried egg.
The train began to climb, the scenery became greener, interspersed with acres of cement works and quarries. Hin Lap station looked sleepy, with a vegetable plot alongside the tracks, and we saw golden statues of Buddah placed on hillsides.

At Nakhon Ratchasima, 'Korat', we were met by Peter Simmonds, a friend of John's since school-days. Peter's brother needed to use the car for his annual cricket tour to Chang Mai, so Peter hired one to drive us around in. Not knowing us well, he thought we'd have a lot of luggage, and hired a pickup! Very comfy though.  He drove us to Phimai and we found a hotel near the river and checked in. We were greeted in the Amatara hotel room by a pair of kissing swans …                      We drank Leo beers with giant prawn appetisers on the hotel balcony. Peter had thoughts of finding a restaurant, but after a brief foray into Phimai centre, we realised that 7.30pm was rather late for a rural non-tourist town. As it turned out, the hotel was keen to cook for us, and we shared three excellent dishes, including whole seabass.