Yesterday, New Year's Eve, we caught the overnight sleeper train to Penang. The train was freezing (arctic) as usual. Jim wore his nylon jacket and Laura wore her fleece jacket. Around 7am, the train arrived in Hat Yai, Thailand. The train sat, the train moved a hundred yards then sat, the train moved back 100 yards, then sat. After about two hours of the train moving from one track to another in the station, the conductor announced that the train was not going any further. The tracks were flooded. So, all of us in the two cars for Penang, were given a refund on the unused portion of our ticket and set loose. We wondered, in mass, to the nearest travel agent, who explained that not only were the train tracks flooded to Penang, but so were the roads. So, no buses either. At that point we decided to go stay at our Chinese cheapie hotel in Hat Yai, The King's Inn. That is where we are now. This is the hotel where we met Steve the one year we traveled together. He had flown into Bangkok from the U.S., and we had a month earlier flown into Singapore. So, we agreed to meet here because this hotel is central, easy to find, being both on a main road, and close to the train station. The flooding in Thailand has caught up with us.
This is a view of our sleeper car on the train.
This is Jim at the Hat Yai Railway Station checking out our delay and eventual boot.
The train conductor made a hanger for his street clothes with a straight stick and plastic twine. I we should remember how to do this for future trips.
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