千里之行 始于足下

For your convenience, please refer to The Journey for the itinerary and the latest updates.

Weather: Hot

Distance covered today: 1,161km
Distance traveled from Guangzhou: 4,417km
Distance remaining to Singapore: 687km

Fact of the day: Penang is the only state in Malaysia where ethnic Chinese has the plurality of the population (41.8% in 2008).

The International Express which I took was a through service to Butterworth in Malaysia and consisted of only three carriages; the other carriages would be detached at their destination Hat Yai (KM 4201). The train reached Hat Yai at 6.45 am, about an hour behind schedule.

Hat Yai Junction

It took sometime for the carriages to be attached to another locomotive before it moved ever slowly towards Padang Besar (KM 4246) on the Thai-Malaysian border.

Thai customs at Padang Besar - Malaysian one's next door

This is only the third place where I cross a border by rail; I’ve traveled on trains between Singapore and Malaysia many times when I was younger as well as the one between Turkey and Bulgaria. In both cases, the train would make two stops; one at the customs of each country before proceeding to the next. More uniquely (at least to me), Bulgarian officers would come up to the compartments to collect the passports and return them after they were stamped; this arrangement certainly beats queuing up with all your bags at the counters.

The arrangement at Padang Besar is kinda weird for me; the customs facilities of both countries are housed in the same building. I went through the Thai one and walked barely 50m to the Malaysian side. Very convenient indeed. The customs officers on the Malaysian side asked me to open up my backpack for check; it was kinda ironic because that was the first time on the whole trip. Being in Malaysia, I had to adjust to local time which is an hour ahead of Thailand.

KTM Padang Besar - Letters felt like Flintstones

At the border, I could tell most of the passengers were tourists like me. Although we were cleared pretty fast, we had to wait for almost 30 minutes before a locomotive arrived to bring us to our destination. At the town of Arau (KM 4278), my carriage was suddenly flooded with Malay teenagers on a short haul segment. I suspected that they were going to some event as most of them alighted at Alor Setar (KM 4321).

The train rolled into Butterworth (KM 4417) at 2.30pm (Malaysian time); almost a day after leaving Bangkok and only half an hour behind schedule. I changed my remaining THB to MYR and walked to the Butterworth Bus Station (5 min away) to sort out my onward transportation.

One of the touts approached me as I entered the bus station and asked what was my destination. I found out from him that there would be a bus to Singapore departing at 10pm. He quoted 65 Malaysia Ringgit (MYR), a fair price according to my research. I changed some USD to MYR for the ticket and my expenses in Penang. I also got the guy to look after my backpack while I took the ferry across to visit Georgetown for the afternoon.

Ferry waiting area

The ferry ride between them is only 15 minutes and cost 1.20 MYR.

Co-passengers on the ferry

Georgetown beckoning

I only had a few hours in Penang and I couldn’t really decide how to kill time. A movie in an air-conditioned theater would be nice but I didn’t want to leave it too late for my bus back to Singapore. In the end, I decided to go to Gurney Plaza to satisfy my craving for A&W.

Rapid Penang Bus (Notice the ad?)

Rapid Penang‘s Bus 103 goes from Weld Quay bus terminal (next to ferry terminal to Butterworth) to Gurney Plaza for 2 MYR in roughly 30 minutes.

Sights from the bus

Penang was an ex-British colony like Singapore

I alighted one stop too early and had to make a long trek to Plaza Gurney. Having satisfied my A&W craving, I would just hang around at the shopping mall as none of the movie timings suited me. I could tap on some unsecured WiFi at the place and surf a bit of web to while the time.

Although I didn’t feel particularly hungry, I walked over to Gurney Place food center located outside Plaza Gurney at dinner time.

What's a trip to Penang without hawker food?

Hawker at work

My char kway teow cost 3.80 MYR, not that cheap by Malaysian standard. I waited quite long for the bus back to Weld Quay as the frequency was something like every 45 minutes.

The ferry ride leaving Georgetown was free and I was back in Butterworth in no time. I was in for a bad surprise when I took out my toiletries’ bag from my backpack. Apparently I didn’t cap my shampoo properly before packing and thus they were spilled all over the toiletries’ bag. I spent most of the time while waiting for the bus cleaning up the mess; the consolation was that the bag smelt really nice as a result.

Butterworth bus station

The bus would leave at 10.30pm, half an hour past the scheduled time.

For your convenience, please refer to The Journey for the itinerary and the latest updates.

Weather: Fine

Distance covered today: 0km
Distance traveled from Guangzhou: 3,256km
Distance remaining to Singapore: 1,848km

Fact of the day: State Railways of Thailand (SRT) operates trains on 4,070 km of railway tracks.

The lads were up and going early due to their noon flight to Singapore. Despite being drunk from the previous night’s party, Qinyao managed to pull himself up in time for buffet breakfast with us.

I went off to the nearby Carrefour to grab enough food for the loooooooooooong train ride to Butterworth. After showering, I retraced my way back to Hua Lamphong Train Station on metro.

Established 1910

Waiting area

Departing BKK

My Train

Special Express 35 to Butterworth

Train name/number: International Express Train 35
Dep: Bangkok 14:45 (GMT +7)
Arr: Butterworth 12:55 (GMT +8)
Distance covered: 1,161 km
Time taken: 22h10m
Cost: 1,120 THB (2nd Class Air con sleeper upper berth)

An approximate map

The train carriage was newer and nicer than the non-aircon carriage which I took from Nong Khai. I would spend most of the time reading Malcolm Gladwell‘s Outliers. The train caterer went around to take orders for the meal service but I decided to give it a miss because I didn’t have enough Baht (150 THB for dinner) and I had enough food to last me the journey.

After dinner, the attendant came and made the beds. I was lulled to sleep by the rickety sounds made by the rails and tracks.

For your convenience, please refer to The Journey for the itinerary and the latest updates.

Weather: Fine

Distance covered today: 624km
Distance traveled from Guangzhou: 3,256km
Distance remaining to Singapore: 1,848km

Fact of the day: King Rama IX of Thailand is currently the longest-serving head of state in the world (since 9 June 1946).

The night on the train wasn’t the best; as usual there were snorers to disrupt the other passengers’ sleep. Nevertheless I could still get some decent sleep in my berth.

Having a lower berth meant that I could see the scenery changing through the window. As I was waking up, the setting outside was changing from suburban to urbane and the roads were starting to be filled with morning traffic into Bangkok. After Don Muang Airport’s train station, the attendant came to unmake the bed and it would be almost another hour before reaching Bangkok’s main station, Hualamphong.

This would be my fourth time in Bangkok (KM 3256) and the second time arriving by land. The other time coming by land was from Siem Reap (where Angkor Wat is located) back in July 2007 when the road on the Cambodian side wasn’t sealed yet. I would be reunited with Ho Teck and Kok Wai, my travel companions from that trip. Completing the trio was Feijie, my buddy during the Langkawi trip.

The beast which pulled me from Nong Khai to Bangkok

Early morning's Hualamphong

I think this is Chulalongkorn (Grandfather of the current King)

Arriving in Bangkok at 7.00am wasn’t the most ideal timing as it meant that I had to wake up those guys in order to get the directions to their hotel. They weren’t too pleased being distrubed by me considering they returned to their room only at 3am.

The route between Hualamphong Station to Palazzo Hotel.

The metro ride cost a cool 36 THB, rather expensive for Thailand in my opinion. While vague, I could somehow understand Kok Wai’s instructions and reached the hotel before 8am. The hotel was easily the poshest place that I had stayed for the whole trip although that wasn’t saying much. The guys weren’t too glad about waking up so early but I definitely needed my shower after my last almost 24 hours ago.

Apparently the trio had a good time in Bangkok before I arrived. To be honest I was impressed with Ho Teck’s ability to organize the trip at such a short notice. Another friend Qinyao was staying at the same hotel with his group of friends from university and I would bunk in his room for my Bangkok pit stop.

This was the first time that I was staying in this part of Bangkok and it was kinda outta way from either the tourist attractions (Grand Palace, Khao San Rd, etc) or the shopping areas (Siam Paragon, MBK). We were stuck in Bangkok’s legendary traffic jam on a cab to CentralWorld. The barely 10km journey would take us nearly an hour.

As all of us were running out of Thai bahts, finding a moneychanger became a priority. The one in CentralWorld was located in some obscure location which took us some effort to find. I also bought the book Outliers at Kinokuniya. Book prices in Bangkok are slightly cheaper than Singapore’s (I only paid 270 THB) and it would keep me company for the long train ride south.

We window-shopped a little at CentralWorld before venturing out.

The famous Erawan Shrine

And of course what’s a trip to Bangkok without high tea at Erawan Tea Room?

High Tea @ 220 THB nett

My tea pot

Feijie showing off his kungfu

We went back to the hotel by public transport after high tea. We had to take skytrain followed by metro and the total fare ended up to be more expensive than the cab ride there. It was kinda ironic that taking trains in central Bangkok is more expensive and faster than taxis while the reverse is generally true for Singapore.

I decided to rest at their hotel room while the trio ventured out in the neighborhood. I didn’t sleep but watched the satisfying repeat telecast of the FA Cup match between Manchester United and Leeds instead. Dinner was at a seafood restaurant on the opposite side of the main road when they returned.

Our feast

The BKK gang

We had a good time chatting together during the dinner.

The next stationary bed that I would sleep on after Palazzo’s would be my own in two nights’ time. I could sense that the end was near for this epic journey. Any suggestions for my next one?

For your convenience, please refer to The Journey for the itinerary and the latest updates.

Weather: Rainy:)

Distance covered today: 20km
Distance traveled from Guangzhou: 2,632km
Distance remaining to Singapore: 2,472km

Fact of the day: Driving is on the left side on the Friendship Bridge because the project was sponsored by Japan.

While I was checking out, Song (the Mandarin-speaking receptionist) was outside the guesthouse waiting for his neighbors. Apparently his neighbor accidentally knocked over his motorcycle while reversing a vehicle (one of the many Toyota Hilux-es in Laos) and the neighbor wanted to take some photos of the damage (for payment of damages). Song asked me where I was heading and told me that I could go with him (he was heading the same way) if I didn’t mind waiting a bit.

Song and I began to chat. He is from southern Laos and is currently studying while helping out at his relative’s guesthouse. His girlfriend is studying in Kunming now and he hopes to join her in studying there. As his mother is originally from Guangdong, he is able to speak Cantonese and Mandarin in addition to Lao, Thai and Vietnamese. An effectively bilingual me felt so inadequate talking to these multilingual people.

He would take me on his motorcycle to the main road where we would get a bus to the Friendship Bridge. He even paid for my bus fare but I insisted that he shouldn’t. He showed me around the duty free shops and wanted to introduce his friend to me. His friend, a Chinese businesswoman, wasn’t around then and I bidded farewell to him amid the light rain that started falling.

Lao customs

The duty-free shops

The immigration was painless; I didn’t need to pay any departure tax but the locals and some of the foreigners are required to. Then I changed all my remaining kip to baht at the currency exchange booth after the immigration counters and caught the shuttle cross the bridge for 4,000 LAK.

Bon Voyage

Across the Mekong

Passing Thailand’s immigration was equally painless but I lost my way walking to the train station. It was about 15 minutes’ walk but I missed the turn and was even chased by a pair of dogs. After much trial and tribulations, I managed to get to Nong Khai (KM 2632) train station.

Nong Khai Train Station

I checked with the station officer about prices of the train tickets and went to the ATM outside the station. After finding out that I would be charged a service fee of 150 THB, I decided that it would make more sense to go downtown and exchange money instead.

The tuktuk ride cost me 40 THB; I didn’t have any small change and I had to exchange some with a shop-owner. The kind lady told me that a more reasonable price would be 30 THB and I would get a fair price on my way back. After changing some money and lunch, I made my way back to the train station and got my train tickets.

Street of Nong Khai

State Railways of Thailand has a central reservation system which means that one can buy tickets for any trains within the next 60 days from any stations. I bought the tickets which would bring me from the Lao border at Nong Khai all the way to the Malaysian border at Padang Besar.

[Details of the day's train]
SRT Train 70
Dep: Nong Khai 6.20pm
Arr: Bangkok 6:25am
Distance traveled: 624km
Time taken: 12h05m
Cost: 538 THB (2nd Class fan sleeper lower berth)

The map shows the approximate route.

It was only early afternoon when I finished all the necessary stuff and I had hours to kill. I could have gone to Sala Kaew Koo, sister park to Buddha Park in Vientiane but the rain killed the mood. Remember the book that I bought in Hanoi? I lost it and I don’t know where I did.

Platform

Local train

Doggie kept me company

Somehow the time didn’t pass as slow as I had imagined and it was time to board the train.

My train

Inside the train

Luggage rack - better than M'sian trains

My berth was on the front end of the compartment and it was kinda irritating hearing the doors slamming at times. If the door wasn’t closed properly, I could have a whiff of the wonderful fragrance emitting from the toilets.:(

Shortly after leaving the station, the train attendant started making the beds. There was something hard protruding from one of the cushions and the padding was too thin for me not to feel it. Somehow I managed to get the attendant to give me another cushion; the problem wasn’t solved completely though. I would lie in early, in anticipation of an early arrival to Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Yuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Phiman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit.