The 2nd class train journey from Lop buri cost 423 baht (approx £8/US$13). Which compared to around 50 baht for 3rd class was a bit extreme, but it was an experiment of sorts as I wanted to compare what it was like.
 
Well, the seats were individual plastic covered ones that reclined, but the leg room was worse than you get on a plane, especially when the seat in front was positioned on your lap. Marginally better than the wooden benches in 3rd class but this was a slightly longer journey to endure. We were also presented with a pre-packed lunch of what almost looked like cat food. Mackeral should not be served in tubs to humans! I don't normally turn my nose up at inclusive food... But this was purely retchable!
 
Phitsanulok was a lovely surprise. We watched numerous other travellers disembark from the train and jump straight onto a tuk tuk or into a van to Sukothai. So we had the place to ourselves almost.
 
It's a fairly sizeable city. Nice to walk (or geocache) down by the river and there are a few temples. My favourite was Wat Ratburana which has King Rama V's boat where you can crawl the length of the carpet underneath, for luck, as well as a lucky tree and fortune sticks. I preferred the tranquility of this temple compared to the much larger and more visited Wat Phra Si Ratana Mahathat, which was just suffocated with tourists.
 
Other than temples the city centre has a number of markets including the night bazaar which is worth a visit for clothes as well as some good riverfront restaurants.
 
To be honest we only went to Phitsanulok due to the lure of geocaches. Read more about it in my other post here: http://tiggerbird.blogspot.com/2013/11/geocaching-puts-phitsanulok-thailand-on.html