My Google Map App showed the Prescott Hotel was only a 10 minute walk from KL Sentral Station, after the palaver we'd had regarding the train plus the weight of the bags combined with the incessant heat in the city, we took a taxi.
The hotel was a stone throw away from the station, we could see trains flying past down below our window, over in the distance I made out one of the towers, hardlyvisible through the heat haze. The day finally caught up with us both and after eight hours trying to get comfy on a train we crashed out on the bed for a couple of hours.
Refreshed by the cat nap we decided to recce the route to the station for the morning as there was an express train link from there to the airport. It did only take minutes to reach, that was however without rucksacks, plus it would be hotter in the morning. The station is surrounded by a huge shopping centre, that has to be negotiated before finding the platforms. Eventually we found the airport link terminal, so now we'd know where to come in the morning, we also knew the cost of the journey.
It was a short hop on the metro to the towers. Last time we were here Lynn didn't have her camera, this time she busily snapped away, the sky an odd hazy colour this time but stunning nonetheless. We blew any ideas out of the water regarding finding the night spots of KL, it was getting late and we were tired. A quick drink and bar snacks in an Irish Pub nearby sufficed, taxi back to the hotel - bed!
I enquired at reception in the morning as to how much a taxi would cost to the airport. It was the same price as the train, a no brainier then! What better than door to door service?
Our taxi driver (an Indian gentleman) gave us an interesting commentary about our journey, he also explained about the Malay holiday weekend that had scuppered our original plans. In under an hour we reached our terminal for the Air Asia flight to Bangkok, the baggage drop and departure hall were heaving, it seem that all of Malaysia was on the move.
It was a short hop into Don Mueang airport where we took a taxi directly to the mainline station in the city centre. I was going to ensure we had a ticket in our hands the day before travel. In fact, it had been prudent to do so, the 8am train was filling up fast. We took a cab to my sisters and sorted out our gear for the following day, we downsized considerably, you don't need too much for twelve days at the beach.
There were lots of people waiting for trains out of Bangkok in the morning, we managed to find a seat and went in search of breakfast. The only place open was Dunkin Doughnuts - it sufficed. There was also a convenience store nearby,, we stocked up on a few snacks for the journey?
Our train pulled into platform 7, a three car deisel multiple unit (for the benefit of the enthusiasts), it was clean, cool and had reclining seats, journey time, a little under four hours.
A stern faced ticket inspector checked our documents, yes, even railway staff are dressed like they'd be happy giving you an internal inspection for drugs. The girl pushing the trolley seemed nice enough though. Even nicer was the free coffee, bun and bottle of water you received from Thailand State Railways.
We neared our destination, Hua Hin and from inside our air cooled carriage with tinted windows it seemed rather dull outside. The weather forecast had been for storms all week - not boding well for a beach break then! We alighted onto a busy platform, immediately some of the Asian passengers began to take selfies next to the train, a wedding couple were also having pictures taken and our guard with the porn star moustache was waving his flags to get the train moving - it was also roasting hot.
After shunning an overpriced offer for a taxi we decided to walk to our guesthouse. It was only about 10 minutes walk, we'd visited here before and I'd downloaded the map from their website.
Now dripping with sweat we found our hotel on Soi Salakem in the nightlife area of town known as The Bintabaht.
Jings is situated in a small courtyard, our room wasn't quite ready so we had a beer, very welcome after the walk in those temperatures. My sister had actually explained the night before that there was a heatwave affecting most of SE Asia so us landing to blistering heat after the coolness of Australia now made sense.
Our room was perfect for our twelve day stay and once again immaculently clean. We could use the communal kitchen area in the courtyard for brews and more importantly we were only a five minute walk to the public beach area - now then, where did I pack those trunks?
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