Currently riding the rails from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok about 1,500 km (930 or so miles) through Malaysia and Thailand. This is about the same distance from Boston to Atlanta or almost as far as Melbourne to Brisbane in Australia or Paris to Warsaw in Europe.
A few years ago, I travelled from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur by train. Sadly, the line into the heart of Singapore is no more. The Singaporean government closed it it 2011 after almost 80 years of operation. It has been one of my dreams to do the next stage from Kuala Lumpur all the way to Bangkok. Now I am getting to do it making several stops along the way:
There are two ways to do it. One is on The Eastern & Oriental Express luxury five star train which is operated by the same people who operate the legendary Venice Simplon-Orient-Express. It costs a mere $US3400 one way. Much as I was tempted, I need to try and keep to my travel budget!
So, the other was to use the local trains provided by KTM in Malaysia and State Railways of Thailand. Much cheaper. Not as luxurious and much more real!
Of course, nothing is simple. I will ride on five trains. One in Standard class, two in First, one in second and one in Third Class. The trip involves booking on two different booking systems as there is no through booking service. And one of my tickets is only available to purchase at the station! Thankfully lots of information, particularly over at Seat 61, the most authoritative rail information service on the planet.
Trip report in a couple of weeks!
Aboard a KTMB train in Malaysia
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Hi Martin
Hope you had a nice trip