Last month, I travelled by train, the 1,500 km (900 miles) km from Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia to Bangkok, the Capital of Thailand. Stopping off along the way, the six train trips took 25 hours 35 minutes and it cost me $US72. The longest section (by time) was from Surat Thani, the jumping off place for beautiful Koh Samui up to the lovely resort town of Hua Hin. I chose to ride this section in a brand new Chinese-built First Class sleeping car. Scheduled Departure: 23:57 Arrival: 06:26 – 6 hour 29 min ride Total distance: 300 miles / 1,671…
Rail Travel
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Asia Rail Experience: Journey #1 – Kuala Lumpur to the Malay/Thai Border
KUL: Kuala Lumpur to Padang Besar (border of Thailand) KTMB ETS Class 93 Platinum Scheduled Departure: 10:42 Scheduled Arrival: 15:57 5 hour 15 min Total distance: 260 miles / 417 km The first part of my 1,500km 900 mile journey from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok was on Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (Malaysian Railway system) ETS “Electric Train Service“. The journey took me from the heart of the Malaysian capital to Padang Besar, on the border with Thailand. There are now only two rail services that originate in Malaysia that cross the Thai border. One is the ultra-luxury Eastern and Oriental Service and the other starts at…
Now riding 900+ miles on rail through Asia
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…
The Man in Seat 61
As someone who is wild about travel, I love the opportunity I get to ride trains. I have now ridden the rails in four continents from the high speed TGVs to the outback trains of Queensland, Australia! For me, the Bible of train travel is a website called the Man in Seat 61. The site is run by Englishman: Mark Smith and is named after his favourite seat in the first class carriage of the Eurostar. Mark and his seat are pictured below. Mark has three ams for the site and the site performs…
Slow Train in Hungary
Two weeks ago, I blogged about my High Speed ICE experience. Today’s Trip Report is a little of a contrast. A much more slower trip from Budapest, the capital of Hungary to Baja, a small city south of Budapest. Booking: 3 out of 10 MAV Start has the most complex train booking system I have ever experienced. The site also froze a few times. It does provide all of the fare and train options on the one screen so you can see which train has the cheapest seats and make up your mind easily about tickets. Eventually,…
Amtrak goes Electronic
Amtrak, the US Rail system has some of the most archaic ticketing systems of any rail system in the world. One element of their system is that you have needed a paper ticket to ride. Not anymore. As of last Monday, Amtrak passengers may print out their own tickets at home or download them to their smartphone or tablet. Yes, E tickets have arrived on trains, only years after airlines abolished paper tickets. The system was trialled in California and had a massive uptake. I have been generally using the electronic ticketing machines at stations which…
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