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…
Trip Reports
Category Archives for Trip Reports.
A 2nd Class Thai Train ride is almost 1st Class! Surat Thani from Hat Yai
Last month, I had five train journeys which took me on an epic rail voyage from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok. As part of this week-long ride, I had two Second Class train trips with State Railways of Thailand. The first was from one of the southern most cities in Thailand: Hat Yai (E on the map below) 292 kilometres (181 miles) up to Surat Thani (jumping off point for Koh Samui). Scheduled for a 16:23 departure this four-hour eight-minute train journey in Second Class comes with a meal for nine US Dollars! The other Second Class train…
Challenges on the Malaysia/Thai Border- A Rail Journey through Asia Part #2
Padang Besar to Hat Yai, State Railway Thailand (SRT) Third Class Scheduled Departure: 18:00 Scheduled Arrival: 18:10 1 hour 10 min (time change at border) Total distance: 35 miles / 60 km There is now just one State Railways of Thailand train that crosses the Thai/Malay border. All previous trains no longer operate. This may change again, of course. In an ideal world, the Malaysian Railways electrified line that goes to Padang Besar should be extended all the way to Hat Yai, allowing the Express Train Service to run between Kuala Lumpur and Hat Yai. Immigration and border procedures should be conducted on…
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…
Bucket List Check: 900mi By Train from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok
Bucket list… check! A journey I have been wanting to do for over a decade! Over the last week, I travelled by rail from Kuala Lumpur (KUL) in Malaysia to Bangkok (BKK) in Thailand. I have previously ridden a sleeper train from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur (before Singapore closed its main train station). Six trains took me over 1,500 km (900 miles). Travel time was 25 hours 35 minutes (including delays and wait times). It cost me $US72 for a mix of travel in First, Second and Third class. If you went for the cheapest option (which…
Sampling Singapore’s New Capital Express -from Canberra to the heart of Asia
CBR: Canberra, Australia to SIN, Singapore SQ292 Boeing 777-200 Scheduled Departure: 12:35 Arrival: 05:40 8 hour 5 min flight Total distance: 6,205 km/ 3,856 miles /3,351 nautical miles Canberra, the capital of Australia must be one of the few national capitals in the world to not have an network of international routes connecting it to the outside world. This means that every flight overseas from Canberra necessitates a change in Sydney (awful place to transit) or Melbourne (better) Last September, Singapore airlines added service to Wellington and Singapore four times a week dubbing it the “Capital Express”. Qatar will start service to Doha…
Small plane, Big Service to Amman: Royal Jordanian’s Economy
DOH: Dohar, Qatar to AMM: Amman, Jordan RJ647 Embraer 175 Scheduled Departure: 12:30 Arrival: 14:25 2 hour 55 min flight Total distance: 1,047 miles / 1,671 km / 902 nautical miles Booking: 8/10 On this sector, it was a toss up between Qatar Airways and Royal Jordanian. I figured it was time for a revisit with RJ as I have had more Qatar flights in recent days. While I believe, QR are the superior airline, RJ have a very solid, pleasant product. RJ’s website has been updated since I last used it. The improvements look visually good. The initial booking page…
The world’s best airline: Qatar Airways Economy Dubai to Doha
DXB, Dubai International, UAE to DOH Doha Hamad International Airport Qatar: Qatar Airways QR1025 Scheduled Departure: 09:30 Arrival: 09:40 1hour 10 (In reality, a 40 min flight) Total distance: 235 miles /383 kilometres/ 207 nautical miles Since I first started flying Qatar Airways five years ago, they have never let me down. Consistently high service with leading edge on everything. I often wonder if on my next trip with them, I will be disappointed. Has not happened yet! Today, a review on my shortest flight ever with them! Was curious to see if they keep their standards up!…
All of My 2016 Trip Reports
As mentioned earlier this month, I flew 119 times for business and pleasure last year with 20 airlines in 2016. Big highlights of the year were my first five flights on the 787 Dreamliner, my first flights with Sri Lankan, my 380th flight with Qantas, my 350th flight on a Boeing 737 and flying into the Maldives. Here are the year’s ten Trip Reports (oops I need to post more Trip Reports!): 2016’s Best flight: My 380th Qantas flight in A380 FIRST – My Flight Rating: 96% (4.8 out of 5) My 2nd 787: Thai Business Brisbane…
2016’s Best flight: My 380th Qantas flight in A380 FIRST
MEL, Melbourne, Australia to DXB, Dubai, UAE QF9 Scheduled Departure: 23:25 Arrival: 06:35 14hrs 10 mins Total distance: 7252 miles / 11671 km / 6302 nautical miles For my 380th flight with Qantas, I wanted to do something special. It had to be on a Qantas Airbus 380. That narrowed routes to: Sydney or Melbourne to Dubai and /or London Sydney or Melbourne to Los Angeles Sydney to Dallas-Fort Worth As I was going on to Bangkok and Cebu for New Year’s Eve, the US bound flights were the least logical. So I ended up doing a…
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