Distance so far: 16 504 km (at Bangkok). Weather: 31 degrees, part sunny. 13.30 Bangkok Central Station is “old school” and pretty small, so despite a resident army of a few thousand protestors waiting to mobilise in the concourse, it was easy to get through. I was expecting to see an Army presence here but it’s clearly not a target, as the protestors have vowed not to close the railways. No security, no ticket checks and straight onto the platforms. Then behold, there at Platform 5 – the “International Express” (aka “Special Express”) was already there and waiting, more than […]
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Having arrived at Hua Lamphong railway station on Sunday night it began to dawn on me that I had got into the centre of town in the “eye of the storm”. Less than 12 hours later Bangkok was due to be totally shut down as the opposition party do their best to oust the care taking Prime Minister. This is politics Thai style, and I only hope it remains peaceful, both for the people and for my own personal well being. There is talk of further action if Suthep does not resign by Wednesday and the General in charge of […]
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Well, I finally got my wish today – I am sat in a seat next to an open window with the breeze blowing freely in my face watching the sunset very slowly. No windows have been hurt in the making of this blog, and my secret key is not required on this train! I’m on the twice daily “Cambodian Express” that travels between Bangkok and Aranyapathet, which as you might have read in my recent post, is very close to the Cambodian border. It’s also a train first for me – as I’m travelling in third class – here is […]
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Okay, just to bring you up to speed, I have been travelling through Cambodia by bus to connect from the rail head at Saigon to the one on the Thai border at Aranyaprathet. This has meant a day on the bus from Saigon to Phnom Pehn, another day on the bus from Phnom Pehn to Siem Reap, and then a taxi today to the border at Poipet. That is about 600km by roads, that to be fair, are not quite finished in places. This morning I took a fast taxi (a Lexus no less, “the Japanese Mercedes”) to the Cambodian […]
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