It occurs to me that I've done nearly every leg on this route at some point. Except of course taking a different route through china and Vietnam since that high speed link through laos didn't exist 20 years ago.

I did that Thailand night train back and forth to Surat Thani at least a half dozen times back when I'd spend my winters there. It's probably my favorite of the bunch for sheer atmosphere.

It's a shame that night trains in general are vanishing these days. You used to be able to do Europe without ever staying in hostels, hopping the longest train you could find each night and waking in a new city.

Now you can go back and forth between Paris and Venice, and that's about it.