Jim has met many great people while hitching through Southeast Asia. Here are Jim's photos of another family who picked him up last month in southern Thailand. 
Simon from England and Barbara, originally from Poland, were Jim's rail mates on the train from Hat Yai to Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand on Dec. 17, 2008. Jim said, "Simon is quite a train fanatic. During the ride, he constantly took photos and made notes of everything he saw. They were going several hours away from their intended destination that day, because 'track bashers' must go to the end of the rail line. He certainly is an expert and was happy to answer all my questions. They were on a three week vacation from UK.""You meet all kinds of people when traveling. Some have unusual reasons to take a trip.These folks were really into trains. They had tough luck the previous day. They boarded a train in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, headed for Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand. Simon has a UK passport and his wife, Barbara, has one from Poland. Before leaving England, they checked with the Thai embassy about the visa situation and were told they would each receive a visa-on-arrival(VOA) at the border. Well. they got off the train at the Malaysia/Thai border and ran into a major snag because the officials would not issue Barbara a VOA with her Polish passport. They were sent off to another immigration office, a 45 minute drive by taxi. They ended up having to pay a lot of extra money, plus had to buy tickets for a later train and only got as far as Hat Yai later that evening. In spite of the setback, they were happy to be in Thailand...and on a train.
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