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November Rain · 14-12-2007, 10:06 AM

On 12th December 2007, the first ever 'Jazz Train' left Hua Hin's historic train station (above), on it's way to Baan Krut, about an hour and a half's drive (and 3 hours by train) south of Hua Hin.

68 (and a half) passengers and many musicians were headed for an overnighter filled with music, food, sand, sea & sun in beautiful and unspoilt Baan Krut.

More to follow (and I'll try to figure out how on earth to get more than one pic into each post)

Lily · 14-12-2007, 10:14 AM

Hurry, I cant wait.

November Rain · 14-12-2007, 10:22 AM

Entertainment was provided at the station as we all signed in and got our name badges and settled down for the hot wait for the train, which was, of course, slightly late.

When the train arrived, at last, we all boarded - squashed into one 3rd class carriage that had been reserved for us. This is the way to make friends, quickly. At first I was squashed onto the edge of a seat, with my little boy on my knee. By the end of the journey, I had made friends with my Finnish seat companions, they had fallen in love with my little boy & I had bought them all a beer, while they twisted my arm to 'force' me to drink Sangsom & Johnnie Walker Black out of makeshift cups.

The musicians were directly behind us, so we got the best seats in the 'house' without realising it.

Renditions of classics such as Ain't Misbehavin, Sentimental Journey, Fly Me to the Moon, and Bye, Bye, Blackbird played fantastically on bass guitar, saxophone, accordion, ukulele (& others) entertained us throughout the 3 hour journey. (Apologies for the blurred quality of next pic)

Lily · 14-12-2007, 10:23 AM

Yea!!!! Great NR.

November Rain · 14-12-2007, 10:33 AM

The view on this line, isn't really that interesting, though it kept my little boy enthralled. It was his first time ever on a train. Altogether now, "Aaaahhh!". Here's a pretty standard view

And here's a little tiny station that we stopped at. I believe 1 monk got off here.

And, here's where I stop until this afternoon/evening. After 2 days away, I've got to go check on the dogs at the center. Uploading the pics etc has taken longer than I thought. When I return, we shall arrive at Baan Krut, be greeted and travel in style to our resort...

November Rain · 14-12-2007, 04:59 PM

After a 3 (and a bit) hour journey, some great music and a fair amount of alcohol, in many cases, the train drew up at Baan Krut station. There was the inevitable scramble to get all of us, our luggage, the musicians and instruments and all other bits and pieces off of the train, before it carried on with its southernly journey.

We were greeted with flower garlands and a charming little performance by some local schoolkids, doing some traditional Thai dancing.

Of course, some of the musicians got involved with an impromptu jam with the traditional musicians, at this point, to the great amusement of the kids. They then sang a little ditty in English which basically consisted of the words "Hello, hello, How are you today? I'm fine, I'm fine.." (I can't remember the rest) and gravely, with their teacher's prompting, recited "Welcome to Thailand".

Then it was time to get the transport to our hotel for the night. We went through to the car park, & instead of a coach, saw...

....a long queue of mosai salengs. Our hosts really had gone out of their way to provide us with some very unusual experiences. How often do you see over 60 farangs (most over 60) on a convoy of salengs?

It was organised that there would be 3 of us to each vehicle. Once we were all settled, there was a flurry of colour and movement. The kiddies ran to the salengs & took up every available space!

November Rain · 14-12-2007, 05:05 PM

So, probably the strangest convoy that the locals of Baan Krut had ever seen, set slowly off through the streets.

The journey took about 10 minutes, during which we were stared at in amazement and waved at by every child (and most adults) that we passed. We swung onto the beach road & after a short while, arrived in due style at our resort - The Sala Thai Resort, directly opposite the beach. This was our base for our short stay in Baan Krut.

Norton · 14-12-2007, 05:14 PM

Excellent post. Much Thanks.

dirtydog · 14-12-2007, 05:43 PM

Not sure how the OAPs must have felt being stuck in a sidecar on a moped

November Rain · 14-12-2007, 09:37 PM

More tomorrow. My server's been down all night. I've just got back online. Still to come is food, the room, more music, the beach and one of the most beautiful temples in Thailand...

Loombucket · 14-12-2007, 09:44 PM

That looks like great fun. I like a bit of jazz and i like a bit of jammin, not that I can actually play anything you understand. Good work, I'm sorry I missed it.

November Rain · 15-12-2007, 07:12 AM

Next stop was check-in. We were each given a coconut drink and we sat down in the dining room. The children performed another few dances and the staff tried to sort us out. Due to the extremely cheap price of the tickets - 2,500bt each, inclusive of transport, music, food and room - the idea was to share. There were larger villas which could hold two couples, each couple had their own double room & bathroom and double rooms. Single people were supposed to share a double room. That proved a bit of a problem for me, as at least one lady refused point blank to share with me & my 6 year old son. It worked out to our advantage, though, as we got a single room to ourselves.

The rooms/villas were all done out to look like little cabins and were in nice gardens.

They had little porch area at the front, where you could sit out. Inside our cabin was a bedroom with 2 single beds pushed together & made up as a double bed and a spotless bathroom, with washbasin, Western toilet and coldwater shower. The room was decorated with lots of seashell things and pictures. A bit overdone, but not a problem. There was a TV (Thai channels only) and drinking water. There was also hanging space for clothes and a few coathangers.

The beds were a bit hard (I suspect coconut fibre mattresses), but I've slept on far worse & my sleep wasn't affected at all, though I did hear some complain next morning.

Oh, and the rooms had air-con. Forgot to mention that. Very clean and very good value, IMO.

November Rain · 15-12-2007, 07:33 AM

Sorry, the next couple of photos are awful. It seems my camera is scared of the dark

These are actually the best of the bunch - I had to ditch most of them.

Dinner that night was held on the beach, just over the road from the resort. A big stage was set up for the music and the area was cordoned off by fairy lights and flame (gas) torches. This was taken just as people were starting to arrive.

The buffet dinner was really good, but I don't have any pics (sorry). It was Thai, with a large variety of dishes & absolutely tons of food. There was spaghetti, beef green curry, shrimp skewers, squid skewers, 2 types of fried rice (seafood & pork), bbq pork, fried chicken, fruit, stir fried vegetables & probably more that I don't remember. Everyone went back for more helpings.

As far as drinks were concerned, there was Chang, Singha & Heineken, Spy, bottles of whiskey etc for sale fairly reasonably. They also had a cocktail bar, which of course I thought I'd try out (apologies for the pic, but you can see how well stocked they were)

Not being a fan of sweet drinks, I thought I'd try a margarita. I expected one of those titchy martini or champagne glasses you get - oh, no! Not only were they not stingy on the tequila (no measures, just sloshed into the shaker), by the time the drink was ready, there was so much, it only fit into a long glass. Not bad for 100bt! I ended up having two, before I went on the beer.

Of course, being the Jazz Train, dinner was accompanied by a performance by several bands and artists. The standard was extremely good, and the music ranged between jazz classics, compositions by HM the King, and covers of artists such as Norah Jones; some purely instrumental and some sung. Another abysmal photo, but you can just make out the girl singer in the white t-shirt. She really had a fantastic voice for jazzy, bluesy music.

The night was hugely enjoyed by all. It had started early (about 6pm) so people started to drift away at about 10pm, but there were still quite a few partiers around when littl'un and I turned in at 11:30pm.

Later, I'll get onto day 2.

Jet Gorgon · 15-12-2007, 08:20 AM

Nice, NR. Good story. Little boy is a cutie pie.

November Rain · 15-12-2007, 06:29 PM

^ Thanks, Jettie.

OK, the penultimate instalments on the trip, coming up:

Breakfast next morning started at 8am. As I said, before, I slept well, although there were some complaints about how hard the beds were. The breakfast buffet was perhaps the strangest meal we were served at the Sala Thai. I think they were trying very hard to cater to farang tastes, but weren't quite sure what those tastes were. On the buffet table were a selection of muffins and sweet cakes & small croissants. Fruit was available, but didn't arrive until halfway through the service. The main draw seemed to be fried egg & toast. One guy was toasting the bread to just above anaemic white & another more clued up guy was taking it back & toasting it again. In the end, they left the toast to the clued up guy.

The other thing they were making was a Thai rice soup with pork & shrimps. I've never eaten Thai food for breakfast, preferring it for other meals. However, I'm not hugely into sweet things & hate fried eggs, so I decided to try it. Loaded it up with chilli from the condiments section and I was surprised how tasty it was. Another first for me! Yum!

As with all the meals, breakfast was accompanied by music, this time we were serenaded by unobtrusive 'morning' music on an acoustic guitar.

November Rain · 15-12-2007, 06:46 PM

The morning was free to do what we pleased. If I'd been on my own, I'd have probably gone exploring. However, I was with my little 6 year old, so the beach it was

The beach was virtually deserted, apart from those on the Jazz Train trip. Being used to Hua Hin, it was nice not to have touts or chattering masses, just birdsong, the sound of the waves & littl'un squealing with excitement every time a wave hit him ("Mummy, a big one!") or when he came across the local fauna ("Mummy, I saw a crab!!")

If you look at the top of the hill in the distance, you will just see the temple that will be the last place we will visit in Baan Krut, before we head home.

Must admit, I made a few canine friends in Baan Krut. The beach dogs I came across all looked pretty decent and were all friendly. Here's one resting in the shade, after I had fed her a can of mackerel from a nearby shop.

Lunch was an early affair. Again it was very tasty, but I've got no photos (littl'un started playing up, as he didn't want to leave, so I was preoccupied). Fried noodles with veg, stir fried asparagus & pork, rice, omelettes stuffed with shrimp & veg in tomato sauce, fruit etc. Very more-ish.
After lunch, we boarded two aircon buses for our last stop (coming tomorrow) and the journey home.

Silent Orchestra · 15-12-2007, 06:48 PM

Excellent thread.

astasinim · 16-12-2007, 04:47 AM

Great thread NR, very interesting.

November Rain · 16-12-2007, 10:11 AM

Well, we're nearly at end of our little trip, but first we have to visit Wat Thang Sai, which has to be the most beautiful building I have visited in Thailand (bear in mind I've never visited Ayutthaya, Sukhotai or Wat Arun, so I may not be in a position to compare). I'm going to indulge myself with quite a few photos of this place, as I really do think it's beautiful.

As I said before, we had seen this fairytale place with gold turrets and a gold Buddha up on the hill at the end of the beach. I was really looking forward to seeing it, so was really glad the visit was included.

Nearest the parking lot was the seated Buddha

Even from here, the views were spectacular, but I really wanted to see the Wat itself. So, off littl'un & I went, up a series of steps which wound through pleasant gardens.

This is the first view we got of the Wat

Pretty impressive, huh? The white things lining the staircase on either side are dragons. My son asked me why they were there & I told him if bad people tried to approach the Wat, they turned into real dragons and ate them. (

) He said there must have been a lot of bad people to eat, for the dragons to get so big (clever kid, huh?)

This is a closer view of the Wat; if you look closely you can see Buddha statues against stained glass windows on the second floor and even the turrets (chedi's??) housed little statues.

14-12-2007, 10:06 AM	#1 (permalink)
November Rain Praying for time Last Online: Today 06:53 AM Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Paradise City Posts: 4,691	Inaugural journey of the Jazz Train - Hua Hin to Baan Krut On 12th December 2007, the first ever 'Jazz Train' left Hua Hin's historic train station (above), on it's way to Baan Krut, about an hour and a half's drive (and 3 hours by train) south of Hua Hin. 68 (and a half) passengers and many musicians were headed for an overnighter filled with music, food, sand, sea & sun in beautiful and unspoilt Baan Krut. More to follow (and I'll try to figure out how on earth to get more than one pic into each post) __________________ And its hard to love, Theres so much to hate Hanging on to hope When there is no hope to speak of And the wounded skies above Say its much too late

14-12-2007, 04:59 PM	#6 (permalink)
November Rain Praying for time Last Online: Today 06:53 AM Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Paradise City Posts: 4,691	After a 3 (and a bit) hour journey, some great music and a fair amount of alcohol, in many cases, the train drew up at Baan Krut station. There was the inevitable scramble to get all of us, our luggage, the musicians and instruments and all other bits and pieces off of the train, before it carried on with its southernly journey. We were greeted with flower garlands and a charming little performance by some local schoolkids, doing some traditional Thai dancing. Of course, some of the musicians got involved with an impromptu jam with the traditional musicians, at this point, to the great amusement of the kids. They then sang a little ditty in English which basically consisted of the words "Hello, hello, How are you today? I'm fine, I'm fine.." (I can't remember the rest) and gravely, with their teacher's prompting, recited "Welcome to Thailand". Then it was time to get the transport to our hotel for the night. We went through to the car park, & instead of a coach, saw... ....a long queue of mosai salengs. Our hosts really had gone out of their way to provide us with some very unusual experiences. How often do you see over 60 farangs (most over 60) on a convoy of salengs? It was organised that there would be 3 of us to each vehicle. Once we were all settled, there was a flurry of colour and movement. The kiddies ran to the salengs & took up every available space! Last edited by November Rain : 14-12-2007 at 05:06 PM.

14-12-2007, 10:14 AM	#2 (permalink)
Lily Elite Member Last Online: 30-12-2007 05:20 PM Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 6,184	Hurry, I cant wait.

14-12-2007, 10:22 AM	#3 (permalink)
November Rain Praying for time Last Online: Today 06:53 AM Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Paradise City Posts: 4,691	Entertainment was provided at the station as we all signed in and got our name badges and settled down for the hot wait for the train, which was, of course, slightly late. When the train arrived, at last, we all boarded - squashed into one 3rd class carriage that had been reserved for us. This is the way to make friends, quickly. At first I was squashed onto the edge of a seat, with my little boy on my knee. By the end of the journey, I had made friends with my Finnish seat companions, they had fallen in love with my little boy & I had bought them all a beer, while they twisted my arm to 'force' me to drink Sangsom & Johnnie Walker Black out of makeshift cups. The musicians were directly behind us, so we got the best seats in the 'house' without realising it. Renditions of classics such as Ain't Misbehavin, Sentimental Journey, Fly Me to the Moon, and Bye, Bye, Blackbird played fantastically on bass guitar, saxophone, accordion, ukulele (& others) entertained us throughout the 3 hour journey. (Apologies for the blurred quality of next pic)

14-12-2007, 10:23 AM	#4 (permalink)
Lily Elite Member Last Online: 30-12-2007 05:20 PM Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 6,184	Yea!!!! Great NR.

14-12-2007, 10:33 AM	#5 (permalink)
November Rain Praying for time Last Online: Today 06:53 AM Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Paradise City Posts: 4,691	The view on this line, isn't really that interesting, though it kept my little boy enthralled. It was his first time ever on a train. Altogether now, "Aaaahhh!". Here's a pretty standard view And here's a little tiny station that we stopped at. I believe 1 monk got off here. And, here's where I stop until this afternoon/evening. After 2 days away, I've got to go check on the dogs at the center. Uploading the pics etc has taken longer than I thought. When I return, we shall arrive at Baan Krut, be greeted and travel in style to our resort...

14-12-2007, 05:05 PM	#7 (permalink)
November Rain Praying for time Last Online: Today 06:53 AM Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Paradise City Posts: 4,691	So, probably the strangest convoy that the locals of Baan Krut had ever seen, set slowly off through the streets. The journey took about 10 minutes, during which we were stared at in amazement and waved at by every child (and most adults) that we passed. We swung onto the beach road & after a short while, arrived in due style at our resort - The Sala Thai Resort, directly opposite the beach. This was our base for our short stay in Baan Krut.

14-12-2007, 05:14 PM	#8 (permalink)
Norton Born Again Pagan Last Online: Today 08:02 AM Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Roiet Posts: 4,800	Excellent post. Much Thanks.

14-12-2007, 05:43 PM	#9 (permalink)
dirtydog The Dog Last Online: Today 03:10 PM Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Pattaya Posts: 30,673	Not sure how the OAPs must have felt being stuck in a sidecar on a moped

14-12-2007, 09:37 PM	#10 (permalink)
November Rain Praying for time Last Online: Today 06:53 AM Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Paradise City Posts: 4,691	More tomorrow. My server's been down all night. I've just got back online. Still to come is food, the room, more music, the beach and one of the most beautiful temples in Thailand...

14-12-2007, 09:44 PM	#11 (permalink)
Loombucket Ira furor brevis est Last Online: Yesterday 09:48 PM Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Khorat Posts: 1,387	That looks like great fun. I like a bit of jazz and i like a bit of jammin, not that I can actually play anything you understand. Good work, I'm sorry I missed it.

15-12-2007, 07:12 AM	#12 (permalink)
November Rain Praying for time Last Online: Today 06:53 AM Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Paradise City Posts: 4,691	Next stop was check-in. We were each given a coconut drink and we sat down in the dining room. The children performed another few dances and the staff tried to sort us out. Due to the extremely cheap price of the tickets - 2,500bt each, inclusive of transport, music, food and room - the idea was to share. There were larger villas which could hold two couples, each couple had their own double room & bathroom and double rooms. Single people were supposed to share a double room. That proved a bit of a problem for me, as at least one lady refused point blank to share with me & my 6 year old son. It worked out to our advantage, though, as we got a single room to ourselves. The rooms/villas were all done out to look like little cabins and were in nice gardens. They had little porch area at the front, where you could sit out. Inside our cabin was a bedroom with 2 single beds pushed together & made up as a double bed and a spotless bathroom, with washbasin, Western toilet and coldwater shower. The room was decorated with lots of seashell things and pictures. A bit overdone, but not a problem. There was a TV (Thai channels only) and drinking water. There was also hanging space for clothes and a few coathangers. The beds were a bit hard (I suspect coconut fibre mattresses), but I've slept on far worse & my sleep wasn't affected at all, though I did hear some complain next morning. Oh, and the rooms had air-con. Forgot to mention that. Very clean and very good value, IMO.

15-12-2007, 07:33 AM	#13 (permalink)
November Rain Praying for time Last Online: Today 06:53 AM Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Paradise City Posts: 4,691	Sorry, the next couple of photos are awful. It seems my camera is scared of the dark These are actually the best of the bunch - I had to ditch most of them. Dinner that night was held on the beach, just over the road from the resort. A big stage was set up for the music and the area was cordoned off by fairy lights and flame (gas) torches. This was taken just as people were starting to arrive. The buffet dinner was really good, but I don't have any pics (sorry). It was Thai, with a large variety of dishes & absolutely tons of food. There was spaghetti, beef green curry, shrimp skewers, squid skewers, 2 types of fried rice (seafood & pork), bbq pork, fried chicken, fruit, stir fried vegetables & probably more that I don't remember. Everyone went back for more helpings. As far as drinks were concerned, there was Chang, Singha & Heineken, Spy, bottles of whiskey etc for sale fairly reasonably. They also had a cocktail bar, which of course I thought I'd try out (apologies for the pic, but you can see how well stocked they were) Not being a fan of sweet drinks, I thought I'd try a margarita. I expected one of those titchy martini or champagne glasses you get - oh, no! Not only were they not stingy on the tequila (no measures, just sloshed into the shaker), by the time the drink was ready, there was so much, it only fit into a long glass. Not bad for 100bt! I ended up having two, before I went on the beer. Of course, being the Jazz Train, dinner was accompanied by a performance by several bands and artists. The standard was extremely good, and the music ranged between jazz classics, compositions by HM the King, and covers of artists such as Norah Jones; some purely instrumental and some sung. Another abysmal photo, but you can just make out the girl singer in the white t-shirt. She really had a fantastic voice for jazzy, bluesy music. The night was hugely enjoyed by all. It had started early (about 6pm) so people started to drift away at about 10pm, but there were still quite a few partiers around when littl'un and I turned in at 11:30pm. Later, I'll get onto day 2.

15-12-2007, 08:20 AM	#14 (permalink)
Jet Gorgon Let's Get Even Last Online: Today 02:30 PM Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Cemetery Lane Posts: 5,271	Nice, NR. Good story. Little boy is a cutie pie.

15-12-2007, 06:29 PM	#15 (permalink)
November Rain Praying for time Last Online: Today 06:53 AM Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Paradise City Posts: 4,691	^ Thanks, Jettie. OK, the penultimate instalments on the trip, coming up: Breakfast next morning started at 8am. As I said, before, I slept well, although there were some complaints about how hard the beds were. The breakfast buffet was perhaps the strangest meal we were served at the Sala Thai. I think they were trying very hard to cater to farang tastes, but weren't quite sure what those tastes were. On the buffet table were a selection of muffins and sweet cakes & small croissants. Fruit was available, but didn't arrive until halfway through the service. The main draw seemed to be fried egg & toast. One guy was toasting the bread to just above anaemic white & another more clued up guy was taking it back & toasting it again. In the end, they left the toast to the clued up guy. The other thing they were making was a Thai rice soup with pork & shrimps. I've never eaten Thai food for breakfast, preferring it for other meals. However, I'm not hugely into sweet things & hate fried eggs, so I decided to try it. Loaded it up with chilli from the condiments section and I was surprised how tasty it was. Another first for me! Yum! As with all the meals, breakfast was accompanied by music, this time we were serenaded by unobtrusive 'morning' music on an acoustic guitar.

15-12-2007, 06:46 PM	#16 (permalink)
November Rain Praying for time Last Online: Today 06:53 AM Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Paradise City Posts: 4,691	The morning was free to do what we pleased. If I'd been on my own, I'd have probably gone exploring. However, I was with my little 6 year old, so the beach it was The beach was virtually deserted, apart from those on the Jazz Train trip. Being used to Hua Hin, it was nice not to have touts or chattering masses, just birdsong, the sound of the waves & littl'un squealing with excitement every time a wave hit him ("Mummy, a big one!") or when he came across the local fauna ("Mummy, I saw a crab!!") If you look at the top of the hill in the distance, you will just see the temple that will be the last place we will visit in Baan Krut, before we head home. Must admit, I made a few canine friends in Baan Krut. The beach dogs I came across all looked pretty decent and were all friendly. Here's one resting in the shade, after I had fed her a can of mackerel from a nearby shop. Lunch was an early affair. Again it was very tasty, but I've got no photos (littl'un started playing up, as he didn't want to leave, so I was preoccupied). Fried noodles with veg, stir fried asparagus & pork, rice, omelettes stuffed with shrimp & veg in tomato sauce, fruit etc. Very more-ish. After lunch, we boarded two aircon buses for our last stop (coming tomorrow) and the journey home.

15-12-2007, 06:48 PM	#17 (permalink)
Silent Orchestra Erawan Shrine Last Online: 08-01-2008 07:16 PM Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: The End Posts: 999	Excellent thread.

16-12-2007, 04:47 AM	#18 (permalink)
astasinim Wat Pho Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Yorkshire Posts: 889	Great thread NR, very interesting.

16-12-2007, 10:11 AM	#19 (permalink)
November Rain Praying for time Last Online: Today 06:53 AM Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Paradise City Posts: 4,691	Well, we're nearly at end of our little trip, but first we have to visit Wat Thang Sai, which has to be the most beautiful building I have visited in Thailand (bear in mind I've never visited Ayutthaya, Sukhotai or Wat Arun, so I may not be in a position to compare). I'm going to indulge myself with quite a few photos of this place, as I really do think it's beautiful. As I said before, we had seen this fairytale place with gold turrets and a gold Buddha up on the hill at the end of the beach. I was really looking forward to seeing it, so was really glad the visit was included. Nearest the parking lot was the seated Buddha Even from here, the views were spectacular, but I really wanted to see the Wat itself. So, off littl'un & I went, up a series of steps which wound through pleasant gardens. This is the first view we got of the Wat Pretty impressive, huh? The white things lining the staircase on either side are dragons. My son asked me why they were there & I told him if bad people tried to approach the Wat, they turned into real dragons and ate them. ( ) He said there must have been a lot of bad people to eat, for the dragons to get so big (clever kid, huh?) This is a closer view of the Wat; if you look closely you can see Buddha statues against stained glass windows on the second floor and even the turrets (chedi's??) housed little statues.