SRT - Thailands State Railway in distress

© Frank P. Schneidewind

Thailand's over a century old rail system is narrow gauge and mostly single track. This doesn't allow for 21st century speeds, but it's still being operated and hauls quite a number of passengers in 3 different classes of service. Tourists, which have to catch planes at any nationwide airport should refrain from rail services, their useage of timetables and schedules does not operate on western standards!

Equipment is being called "time-bombs" by leading local media and recent fatalities through derailments did cast a further bad shadow on the tracks. We have, however used long distance rail services in the past frequently and have just returned from Hat Yai in the far South. Other main lines lead North to Chiang Mai or East to Aranyaprathet, a Northeastern spur to Nong Khai has the lousiest waggons involved (wooden benches without any upholstery!) and was boycotted by us for orthopedic reasons in the past. Spurs to Trang, Sungai Kolok or Padang Bezar in the South and Kanchanaburi in the West do cater for residents there or tourists heading for destinations in those vicinities. A once daily service to and from Pattaya and Suphanburi is badly timed and often half empty. Efficiency doesn't seem to play any factor on the rails.

The engines have a bad reputation with barely enough on hand for the daily service. Strikes hemmed efficiency and reliability bad in the recent past. It is said, that a large percentage of Thailand's 212 engines is seriously damaged ("fubar", in new English) and currently being cannibalized for spare parts to keep enough rolling stock on the rails. Copied parts are a major cause for failures and accidents, nobody gets his wrist slapped in Thailand for operating equipment with faulty brakes or security relevant parts made cheaply off-standard locally or in China. A person's life doesn't count for much here and the self-applauding governments from all the different parties, that ruled this country during the past decades, nobody dared to pay any attention!


Read this article from the Bangkok Post:

WOULD YOU LIKE TO DRIVE THIS? Why our trains are falling apart

The sleepers have outlasted their lifespan often 30 years ago, and rail securing technology from the 40's is still being visible in many sections. Concrete sleepers with real gravel between them, a standard anywhere else, is being implied at a typical snail pace and may last a few more decades. SRT is not spending enough money to keep their train's security switches and brakes active (reason for the recent deadly derailment), what do they worry about something so low as a sleeper for the rails.

The loud horns always work fine, no engineer would take on a journey without them! Countless unsecured railway crossings in the nation rack up a number of traffic fatalities per year, headline for a day only.

Engines are painted in a gright yellow, but paint is cheap and rust is plenty! Rusty parts overpainted last a little while longer, so their philosopy. So don't get taken away by the colorful paintjobs on engines, that's just a disguise for people believing in postcards and their motives!

Check the waggons and couplings for structural damages, oil leaks and hissing pressure hose connections - but well, people use these rolling pieces of trash daily, because a bus would cost them triple the fare. There is no alternative to SRT's best-selling 3rd class fare, nowhere in the country!

Attacks with semi auto fire from muslim insurgents and bombings of railtargets have halted the services south of Hat Yai quite often. Armed patrols accompany every train now and they are army rangers, well trained!

But we will concentrate on the service provided, not on the technical rapping the SRT is permanently getting from it's own workers, engineers and the print media.

Train travel does have indeed positive sides, those will be featured in the follow-ons here for you on SIAMPEDIA.ORG


Stay tuned for our essences from 15.000+ KM of train travel over the last couple of years here, we used all available classes of service - some of those never ever again :). We start with the 1st class sleepercabin tomorrow, cozy and not too bad - but pricier than a budget airline ticket!

Khmertrip Stage 5: Sihanoukville

© Frank P. Schneidewind





The arrival at the Parade Plaza bus station is characterized by countless touts and commission hunters, now camouflaged in old Thai motorcycle taxi outfits, but still with their trademark hats and caps. Avoid these at any cost! We continued in the bus although this is their scheduled final stop. We stay on until the G.S.T.Garage on Ekkareach Road, much to the dismay of the touts.

On Ekkareach road is also our proposed hotel or better Guesthouse, Alex from Italy runs a Pizzeria here with a few guestrooms, across from "Holy cow", a neat bar down Ekkareach.
Aircon accommodation for the two of us plus a vintage moped for each for 10 $, we quickly agreed with Alex, who also picked us up from the Garage with his minivan.

Sihanoukville, the seaport city with Cambodias oldest blacktop road to Phnom Penh and the only worthy container freightterminal also boosts a large market. Stefan needed to have his BDU pants attended to and the market has a craft-section with tailors, sewing machines and all sorts of goodies. The heat and bad air in here was horrific, rats zoomed around and everything looked a bit sorry.

The air to breathe here was hot, heavy and humid. Ventilation at this old market was surely it's biggest weakness before some arsonist burnt the whole market down shortly after our visit to Sihanoukville, killing many rats but also a few marketenders and their offspring :(

On partly rotten plywood in between heaps of other trash, my brave comrade stripped quick much to the enjoyment of the females here and had his pants altered. The Krama (headscarf) served him as a cover for those few minutes. He eagerly scanned the floor to avoid any rat climbing up on his naked legs. The Rats were really an annoyance here!

The following days we didn't do much except beachbiking, we must hace covered every square meter of beach drivable between here and Ream Navy base, we had much fun just doing that.

The Occaheuteal and Otres beaches provided the most fun, here we found a few fruitstands and refreshment stops on the otherwise vacated beaches. We swam a great deal too, the little surf was perfect and the water ultraclean.!

Occasional creeks crossing our path were no real obstacle for us, we covered large distances.

On one of these trips, we run into a group of deminers in the morning, but that part of the story was made into a seperate partof SIAMPEDIA, so I will just mention it here.

The Coffee served at Alex's at breakfast in the mornings, was one of the most tasty coffees we both ever had. A dripping device was placed over a glass and the freshest coffee dripped in there. Condensed milk and sugar complemented it for those who liked.

The lovely daughter of Alex and his charming Cambodian wife entertained us and we gladly excanged chewing gum or candy for some wonderful smiles.

Alex sold his business and moved with his entire family within a short timeframe after our stay there. Rumor has it, that he offers his tasty cousine and boarding now in Siem Reap, if anyone has information about his whereabouts there or an email address, the author would be happy to rekindle contact with Alex!

Happy Herb's Pizza was diagonally across whe road, their clientel enjoy Magic Mushrooms on their dish or amounts of Marihuana per slice, that would trigger a gang-war in Los Angeles. Here in liberal Cambodia, you may have that also delivered to your hammock on the beach or home. All it would take is a cellphone call.

Khmertrip Stage 4: The Capital Phnom Penh and the bar shooting

© Frank P. Schneidewind

The old flyers on the hotel's door and in the lobby were replaced by laminated ones over the last years, but they still carried the same message :) To avoid shootings and police intervention, all guns or knives, narcotics and IV drugs were illegal. The smoking of happy herbs (marihuana, cannabis) equals cigarette or cigar smoking and is not being punished by law in Cambodia (this changes eventually or has changed by the time this is published)

Us two had a wonderfully safe sleep as I always had when staying here. Even back then, when full auto garbs of gunshots woke you up at night. Fired from various trigger happy dudes battling something out in front of the hotel on the streets. Occasional grenade sounds at night or explosions from mortar shells did indeed sound eerie in the years prior to the millennium, it's much more peaceful nowadays there. guns and machineguns in private hands still outnumber academically educated citizens by far in Cambodia, but a case of Coke is no longer costlier than a 24-case of hand grenades like back then. Cambodia appears peacefull now, but the scars and relics of the 30 years of war are visible clearly in Phnom Phen.

The Monivong Boulevard, the Norodom Blvd. and the Sisowath Quay mark the touristic area's North-South main traffic arteries. All major shops, hotels, restaurants are located along these roads and any tourist does well if he can use these as orientation lines within this City. On Monivong, we witnessed a cinema being decorated with a new ad, those are still handpainted here and cinemas are plenty across town. A lot of manual labor is involved, when they take those giant posters up or down.

We were communicating in an Internet cafe with friends back home or were taking turns guarding our special bike outside. Blue and red colors are reserved for military here and this bike 's plates signalled anybody, that we had close ties with the local Command Center or the Military Police, it repels highly corrupt regular Police very effectively and gets you a bit more respect from traffic rowdies in SUV's or Limos.

Police in Phnom Penh love foreigners for their usual quick payments of many US-$ bills for marginal violations of totally senseless traffic rules. They just love to charge for example, when you steer a bike on these often dusty roads with the headlights on in daylight. To operate one with 5 people on it at night with no lights at all doesn't see to get noticed by the coppers. With Military Police plates, you are well protected anyhow! Cops hate, but not stop or mess with you :) The armed forces are the ultimate power here!

All day we spend running around with our borrowed VIP-bike, this dude guarded it personally with his impressive AK 47 Kalashnikov assault rifle for half a $ or 2.000 riels on the sidewalk around the central market, only slightly more then the mass-parking in a moped corral elsewhere.

The Psar Thmei or Central Market is a landmark in northern Phnom Penh, crossroads for many travelers as buses and taxis operate from here almost nationwide. It's a 1930's colonially inspired structure with countless dealers flocking the hallways inside and out. Slightly raised prices for tourists, but excellent selection in sizes! They have everything under the sun in merchandise here, well worth a visit for anyone.

The Russian Market is even less organized, smellier, cheaper and hotter. The foodstalls here are highly recommended to avoid for all friends, send people you hate here for the infections, that may mess up anyone's trip badly (just joking :)). It's not prejudism, but experience - and not one foodstall in particular, but all of them here :)

The famous Wat Phnom flanks the northern inner city with his park and large roundabout. It also sits on a hilltop and marks the highest elevation here. Here at the roundabout is also the bar located, where we will meet the sweet Miss Sophea later.

The timing was perfect and our short wait at the pool table there was not boring. Our Sophea was introduced by some hidden DJ and the tunes were cranked up. We dropped the queues in a flash and grabbed our drink, whilst rushing to an empty table right by the stage to get a good close-up view.

We were lucky and got a table between the dance pedestal and the toilet and dressing rooms, so the girls always waited next to our table to time their turn when the acting dance team was done, our eyes flew back and forth and their hot bikini dances were neat and decent.

The bar wasn't full, but Khmer (Cambodian) dudes filled the stools in front of the bar and some tables, they were talking with each other or watching the dancers.

The blue dancers heated their performance extatic up and yellow dressed chicks lined up for their turn at our spot.

The glittering butts came really close to us when suddenly a series of gunshots from the bar area made us jump up and take cover. We couldn't spot the shooter and felt pretty uncomfy, the DJ in his cage didn't react much and continued his job. His coolness and his overwiewing position was a good sign. Without a detachment of my namesake PFC Schneidewind his USMarine friends or similar units, I was just checking alternate escape routes :) Stefan herded quickly all dancers into the toilet room and I tried to assess the situation hidden from behind a large concrete post.

The situation deescalated quick, when every second guest was pulling a gun from the waist or holster and aimed at the shooter, who stopped firing when he looked down the double shotgunbarrel of the bartender, aimed at his face! He was then disarmed and taken outside by other armed guests, but Stefan was celebrated by the girs as if he would be the hero.

Mercyfully, the lined up for another pose with me. We discovered that the had wettet themself during the incident much later, when we looked again at these pictures on a monitor :)

We decided to call it a day here, paid and rushed down Norodom Blvd. before all gunsmoke settled. Back to the hotel to change T-Shirts and spent the rest of the night much more peacefully at the Foreign Correspondents Club, upper floor from where one can overlook the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers merging and the traffic on Sisowath Quay. Here my favorite journalist, Mr. Peter Scholl-Latour sat often, when in town during the really wild years. I revisit here every time, when in Cambodias Capital Phnom Phen.

Next morning, we returned the borrowed bike to my old buddy and head out to Sihanoukville with the G.S.T. Bus from Phrar Thmei. 14.000 Riel or 3 $ and a half for the 3 hour ride on blacktop all the way, one stop in the hills halfway. Other buses operate too, but I have reasons to use the G.S.T. one. They even claim to have insurance as per the sticker in the windshield!

The trip was smoothly and without any incidents, the driver must have tapped his airhorns about 10 times every Kilometer, but we arrived safe and sound, one stop was being made at a refreshment post.

Khmertrip Stage 3: Battambang to Pailin to Phnom Penh

© Frank P. Schneidewind





Stefan and I made a side-trip to the secretive Pailin district (no officials or military allowed) on rented 250cc dirtbikes. I dropped my digicam later in a half dry creekbed, that we were negotiating there in order to find the old ruby-community, I happened to know from previous trips here.
The batteries flew out their compartment because of the impact in the flat water at the spot, it was totally dysfunctional until hours later (discharged quick). So no pics of us for hours, sorry!


Emerads and Rubies originate in the hills of Pailin, the former Khmer Rouge controlled and lawless zone. The people here still use ancient and hand-driven tools to cut raw gems and polish them nowadays. Electricity is fed from 12 Volt car or truck batteries, which power some flouorescent bulbs or other light sources. Refridgeration is unheard of here, but ice in huge blocks are being delivered from Pursat or Battambang on occasion, and sold in chunks. Cold refreshments are a real rarity, we must have gulped down 3 to 4 Cokes each to avoid dehydrating in this hot weather then, because we did find one dealer. He kept the Coke, Fanta and Sprite in a barrel with ice, so the bottles were cold and uncontaminated.
It is not advisable to drink anything here, unless sold to you in the original container.
Trust me, a full blown "Montezuma's revenge" compares to a real regular Cambodian diarrhea like a weak fart in the wind!

































The gem stones were all neatly prepared on tools to hold them for further polishing. If you look at Melona's engagement ring, I gave her that ring earlier this year :) - it proudly displays a nice ruby from right here! This trip itself was for "men only" for a lot of reasons, security was an essential one, but there were other issues too.

This Pailin area holds special memories for me. I was born again here, so to speak, when a landmine blew up years ago on a geographical surveillance trip, and injured my right leg badly. It injured a few more of us, but killed the unlucky dude, which stepped on the mine. A young Cambodian man with a good sized family at home :(

The gem cutter's huts were well protected by others outside, wielding AK 47's and with pretty grim looks on their faces, they brightened up, when we gave them a dollarbill each to protect our bikes during our exploration of the huts. Unbelievable, but in the poorest and most war-torn area of Cambodia, the finest gems were handled.

Needless to say, we bought a few. A man never knews, if he needs one someday :)

The price was very right and the digicam's batteries were neglecting any more pictures again! But we were happy, that they gave us a handful of snapshots after the dive in the creek. Rechargeables don't take a beating like quality Energizers or Panasonic Hi-power conventional AA's. In Cambodia's back country, you may search very long for a plug to stick the recharger in.

This bus was supposed to haul us to the Capital of Phnom Phen, it really looked like a decent vehicle until we got closer to inspect details. 3 $ was the fare, which equals 12.000 Riels. Gunshot holes are nothing to worry about, we wondered how the brakes were doing. You always hope, any shooter aims high enough :)

The tires had indeed some rubber left, but a German TÜV or American DOT would have pulled the operating license for this piece of equipment in a heartbeat. Exhaust was noise-tuned, so potential passengers along the roads it traveled, could hear him coming for at least half a mile. Seats were old ones, newly upholstered with a vinyl (chickenpoop and vomit resistant), but we weren't in the market for sweaty butts and sat on our towels.

That was really a comfy transport, considering other options like rooftops of pick-up trucks or clinging to the outside of vans in the back with no foothold for humans. All these folks headed for the big city on the Tonle Sap River, where it meets the Mekhong. Quite a distance, but standards in Cambodia are even lower than in Thailand. Things improve gradually as I can testify, having traveled on anything here from worn out, unserviced military aircraft to oxcarts before.
Military is a lot less present or visible nowadays. In older days, that was quite a difference.

Any transport here is maxed out, the tailgates are always used in the down position to extend the bed, sometimes stretched even further with a couple of wooden doors or something suitable. Dangling kids legs in the windshield signal little hold for them, don't think any further - be happy you're in a bus with wheels and seats. $ 3 is their monthly income, so traveling "rich people style" aboard a bus is not a valid option for them. Kids usually go free with paying parents, but no right to a spot on the wooden boards crossing the beds of the pickups for more cargo, human cargo in that case.
Suddenly we whizzed by other funny vehicles. Roofless buses? No - mopeds of a mere 100 cc engine pulling busloads of passengers on open makeshift trailers. This spot of road was not dusty and blacktopped, so I tried to take a snapshot backwards out of the little ventilation windows:

The mopedbuses were more popular, the closer we got to Phnom Phen, their capacity must have been several dozend of passengers. Gas tank was a plastic canister attached to the side! Snail paced, some rolled in front of our bus, but the loud horns of the bus and his very aggressive driving style forced them one after the other into the dust of the roadside, brutal methods here, but "business as usual" :)

They were really common in the outskirts of Phnom Phen, as you can see:

We arrived a short time later in Phnom, checked a 1 $ motorcycle taxi ride later into my beloved Angkor Hotel and took an extended shower to cool down and get rid of the fine dust, that had clogged every pore of exposed skin. Soap alone doesn't do a proper job, you need to rub eyebrows, mustache and your skin fairly hard!

Later we ate at the famed "Sharky's", a bar and restaurant only 3 blocks from the hotel. My friend quickly was beflirted by this attractive lady, but we were here not on a dating trip. A posed snapshot made this waitress happy indeed, emails were exchanged to send her the photo.

Later Stefan's eyes focesed on something very dark. This lady with black hair, a black dress and pitch black eyes was having dinner at the neighboring table. Stefan couldn't keep his eyes straight and he asked kindly to trade chairs with me (I didn't appear staring and was naturally facing her).
Her name was Sophea, as we found out after her dinner in another establishment near the Central Market (Psar Thmei). Once done with her dish, she accepted Stefan's invite for a drink and told us about her job as Apsara-dancer in a famous hotel on the Sisowath Quay. I love Apsara Dancing and am quite familiar with the grace and beauty on dislplay during those classical performances. Apsaras were the handpicked dancers of the Angkorian godkings a 1000 years ago! Later, she came across with the information that she also has a second dance job near Wat Phnom. Not so Apsara style, but better paid.
I knew Wat Phnom well and we had planned to visit anyhow, so we promised to look her up at the place near the important temple on the following day. That night's sleep was long and good after the long trip here. Stefan nailed me with questions about Apsaras that night :)
He proved to be one of the most compatible people I ever traveled with! Quick witted and with a sunnyboy smile But a task oriented energy, if things don't run so smooth!