One rather unusual train ride has been growing in popularity with travellers here in Bangkok for a few years now. It is not actually one train, but two and with a river crossing thrown in too. Departing from the little known and quite hard to find Wong Wian Yai station, it travels to Mahachai and then over the river and a second train to Maeklong, which is about 50 kilometres outside the city. There are plenty of trains on the first section, but currently only four per day on the final leg, making it hard to do without devoting a […]

Bangkok Railway Station – known to most people as Hua Lamphong – is cool and calm in the early evening after a sweltering day in Bangkok. There is no queuing, red tape or any of the common problems to be found at modern airports here. Walking into the huge central waiting area, there is a single departures board and an open entrance to the platforms underneath a portrait of the King. I walk straight through, and exactly one hour before departure, spot my train – number 25 – being shunted back onto platform 3. It’s a modern train made up […]

I’m going to be writing shorter blog posts whilst on this journey. I’m sorry about that, but as I’m discovering it’s hard to take notes for the book at the same time as blogging, photographing and posting on social media. It would be possible, but I like a little time to unwind at the end of the day with a couple of cold beers. I’m also going to save the stories of my ‘adventures’ for the book – the blogs will be more of a log book of my trips. I’m writing these on an iPad in a bit of […]