I have checked in at the Eastern & Oriental Hotel. Founded by the Sarkies Brothers in 1885, and once described as “the finest hotel East of Suez”, it is a past home to many famous people, including two of my heroes, Kipling and Conrad. Don’t forget of course that “Apocalypse Now” was based on Conrad’s novel “Heart of Darkness”..! It’s all very old school, and I’m sure if I spent very long here I would begin to think Great Britain still had an Empire. If you are travelling on my route and you have a big bag (or better still […]
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Total distance so far: 17 340 km at Butterworth. Weather: 28 degrees C, part sunny. 06.52 I wake early, as before we hit the border the Thai restaurant carriage will turn back for Bangkok. Mr Grumpy converts all the sleepers back to seats and refits bedding ready for the next use. My purser sets up a table in front of me and advises me that my “full Thai” breakfast is inbound. No problems to report in the night other than using the toilet, which is so wet that it might have a leech problem. I wish I had bothered to […]
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Distance so far: 16 504 km (at Bangkok). Weather: 31 degrees, part sunny. 13.30 Bangkok Central Station is “old school” and pretty small, so despite a resident army of a few thousand protestors waiting to mobilise in the concourse, it was easy to get through. I was expecting to see an Army presence here but it’s clearly not a target, as the protestors have vowed not to close the railways. No security, no ticket checks and straight onto the platforms. Then behold, there at Platform 5 – the “International Express” (aka “Special Express”) was already there and waiting, more than […]
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Having arrived at Hua Lamphong railway station on Sunday night it began to dawn on me that I had got into the centre of town in the “eye of the storm”. Less than 12 hours later Bangkok was due to be totally shut down as the opposition party do their best to oust the care taking Prime Minister. This is politics Thai style, and I only hope it remains peaceful, both for the people and for my own personal well being. There is talk of further action if Suthep does not resign by Wednesday and the General in charge of […]
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Well, I finally got my wish today – I am sat in a seat next to an open window with the breeze blowing freely in my face watching the sunset very slowly. No windows have been hurt in the making of this blog, and my secret key is not required on this train! I’m on the twice daily “Cambodian Express” that travels between Bangkok and Aranyapathet, which as you might have read in my recent post, is very close to the Cambodian border. It’s also a train first for me – as I’m travelling in third class – here is […]
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Okay, just to bring you up to speed, I have been travelling through Cambodia by bus to connect from the rail head at Saigon to the one on the Thai border at Aranyaprathet. This has meant a day on the bus from Saigon to Phnom Pehn, another day on the bus from Phnom Pehn to Siem Reap, and then a taxi today to the border at Poipet. That is about 600km by roads, that to be fair, are not quite finished in places. This morning I took a fast taxi (a Lexus no less, “the Japanese Mercedes”) to the Cambodian […]
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Good evening from the Foreign Correspondent’s Club, Phnom Penh. My first time here for nearly 25 years. The draught Anchor beer is on happy hour and I’m in poll position – my “usual” seat by the window at the end of the bar. Sadly though its a dull, limp and cloudy evening looking out over the Mekong. All in all, a reasonable day’s progress on the travel front though. Good to be feeling well and on the move again! My first day “on the buses”. Like a new kid at school I didn’t want to be late for the bus, […]
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Temperature: 31 degrees, cloudy, humid. Captain Willard: [voiceover] “Saigon.. shit; I’m still only in Saigon.. Every time I think I’m gonna wake up back in the jungle. When I was home after my first tour, it was worse. I’d wake up and there’d be nothing. I hardly said a word to my wife, until I said “yes” to a divorce. When I was here, I wanted to be there; when I was there, all I could think of was getting back into the jungle. I’m here a week now… waiting for a mission… getting softer. Every minute I stay in this […]
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Distance so far: 15 543 km. Weather 27 degrees C, sunny. This is the second rail leg of my Vietnam journey – this time on a train called the “SE3” – which like the SE1 also travels from Hanoi to Saigon, but setting off later in the day – so a lunchtime departure from Da Nang on day two. This hasn’t been a particularly fun trip, so apologies that there not many photos here, but you will soon understand why I was otherwise engaged. 11.20 Da Nang station waiting room is getting busier by the minute, as my train is delayed […]
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I’m not a beach person, and just like the line in Alex Garland’s novel of the same name, I have found a beach for people who don’t actually like beaches. It’s called An Bang beach, and it’s not far up the road towards Da Nang from my base in Hoi An. The purpose of my visit is to seek out another personal recommendation from Neville of a great place to eat – his restaurant tips are sometimes not easy to spot or discriminate from the other places around them. On this occasion its a place called “Tuyet” which is a […]
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