Youth's pursuit of childhood dream spotlights Sino-Thai rail ties

BANGKOK - Anupat Tiprat, 21, has been dreaming of becoming a train driver in his home country Thailand. In coming weeks, he will travel to northern Chinese city of Tianjin to learn train maintenance and driving for three years.

"I love trains, my grandma took me to travel by train when I was a kid," Anupat said outside a shabby yet colorful house in Hua Hin district of Prachuap Khiri Khan province, where he lives with his parents.

Anupat was born in 1998 in Si Nakhon district of northern province Sukhothai, where his grandmother, Somneuk Srikeud, has been living. Not long after his birth, his parents left him with his grandmother and headed south for work.