Category Archives: Musings

Adjusting to life back in the UK…

22 Saturday Feb 2025

Posted by in Food and drink, Musings, Photography, Pubs, West Yorkshire

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My first full day back in the UK has been rather busy, although this morning was the opposite through catching up on my sleep whilst adjusting to a very different time zone. Thankfully, the day produced some sunshine which lifted the spirits after yesterday’s wall to wall gloom.

I did manage to some of the morning editing pictures from my travels. Right now I’ve been concentrating on railway images from Jakarta, which you can find here. Once those are finished I’ll be moving on to other images from Indonesia then gradually retracing my footsteps through Malaysia and Thailand – although that may take a while as there’s more travels in the offing.

This afternoon we had an appointment with Dawn’s parents in order to celebrate Norah’s 84th birthday. Dawn drove over to Huddersfield to pick them up and take the four of us to a pub restaurant I’ve not visited before in its new incarnation, the Dunkirk in Denby Dale.

We had a lovely afternoon with some excellent food off a menu that offered far more than standard pub grub. Oh, they also have 8 different real ales in the bar, which was a bonus! The food was both delicious and well presented. John and I had Ox cheek whilst the ladies had the fish and chips.

None of us had much room for dessert but we did see one thing on the menu which intrigued us which was the rice pudding brulé served with home-made jam.

We ended up ordering one to share between us all. As it was a generous portion that was more than enough to give us a taste of an original dessert which was both unusual and very tasty. Whilst the others stuck to ginger beer my meal was washed down with some well kept pints of Abbeydale Deception, a NZ pale of 4.1% strength.

Now the pair of us are back at Bigland Towers having an evening to ourselves. I’ve managed to get a few more pictures edited, so all in all, it’s been a very good day. Tomorrow’s going to be more home-based as we’ve both got things to sort out, although hopefully we’ll get out for a walk although the weather forecast isn’t looking optimistic. If it’s as wet as is threatened I may just end up editing more pictures and pack ready for my return to Manchester Airport on Monday…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Back in Blighty…

21 Friday Feb 2025

Posted by in Musings, Travel, West Yorkshire

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This won’t be a long blog from me as I’m slowly adjusting to life back here in the UK generally and West Yorkshire specifically. Right now, it’s just past 21:00 but my body clock is still working on Jakarta time, so it’s set way past 04:00. Awkward.

After catching the train back to Halifax Dawn very kindly offered to pick me up from the station so I was home not long after 09:00 UK time. My first task was to unpack and get lots of clothes in the wash, then have a shower. Thus the smell of Asia (and me) has quickly faded into memory! I’d hoped to try and stay awake for as long as possible in order to reset the body-clock but I retired to bed just in case. As I’ve a huge backlog of pictures to edit I managed to keep busy and stay awake until 14:30, by which time my eyes were on fire and my eyelids felt like they were made out of lead, so I gave in and had a couple of hours peaceful sleep – where nothing was moving, there was no engine noise nor anyone sounding their horns. Bliss!

I woke up in time to venture out this evening It’s Friday, so the quiz in our local pub (The Big 6) was on the agenda – along with the chance to catch up with old friends. Dawn joined me and the pair of us spent a couple of hours answering questions and laughing, as the banter always flows between the quiz participants. It was almost like we’d never been away, leaving the past month feeling like a blur.

Now we’re back at Bigland Towers. Dee’s cooking some spicy prawns whilst I’ve retreated to bed to write this blog before curling up for the night. We have a social day planned for tomorrow and I need to be bright-eyed and bushy tailed!

In the meantime, here’s a few pictures from today.

I’ve not travelled on one of these for a while. In fact, it’s only the 2nd time this year! CAF built 195023 waits to lead a sister unit from Manchester Victoria as the 07:57 to Leeds.
After drinking nothing but fizzy beer (aka lager) for the past month and a bit it was lovely to return to the ‘Big 6’ and have a range of beer styles to choose from. Then there’s the free pork pie…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Asia day 30. Border crossing….

13 Thursday Feb 2025

Posted by in Food and drink, Malaysia, Musings, Photography, Thailand, Travel

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Surprisingly, I had a really good night’s sleep on the train last night. It wasn’t that it was undisturbed as the track quality can make it a bit of a rocky ride sometimes. Plus, early in the morning, a large Chinese family got on somewhere to occupy the berths around me – but when I slept, it was deep. This is a very familiar journey to me in both directions, stretching back to 1998, so I feel very comfortable with it. It’s familiar.

Not long after 6 am, the train reaches Hat Yai, where it’s shunted and split. Our two sleeping cars plus a day coach are chopped off and parked in a platform awaiting a new SRT loco to take us forward (pics later). Meanwhile, morning ablutions take place in the toilets and washroom aboard, and the process of packing away beds begins.

10:50 (Malaysian time).

Well, that was painless! We arrived at the border crossing of Padang Besar on time and detrained straight into the queue for immigration. Both getting out of Thailand and into Malaysia was easy as you go through one set of controls after the other. There’s around 90 minutes to wait for the connection to Butterworth. Plenty of time to sort out an onward ticket. The KTMB office accepts Thai baht and there’s two ticket machines which take foreign credit cards to pay for the 11 ringgitt 40 sen ticket (around £2).

The 10:35 is worked by a 6-car, Chinese built SCS Electric unit so there’s normally no problem getting a seat – especially as most people crowd together at the entrance to the platform. Head to the rear of the incoming train and you’ll probably find it looks like this!

Don’t assume it’ll stay that way though, this is a local stopping train, and at Arau (the 2nd stop out of Padang Besar), it quickly fills up with people.

14:30.

By the time the train had got to Butterworth it was packed – but fine. People are well-behaved here. Well, unless you count mobile phone etiquette but the UK’s just as bad nowadays only with added  levels of stroppy entitlement.

The new passenger ferries have started running since I was last here (2023). I’ll post pictures and an initial verdict later. The bizarre thing is they no longer take cash, but the kiosk at Butterworth accepts Mastercard or Visa. All for a fare of 2 Ringgit (less than 40p).

Thankfully, the buses do still take cash, so my RM1:40 trip to Lebuh Chulia was paid for in ‘slummy’ from my last trip here!

I’m now having a breather before it’s time to check into my hotel in Jalan Muntri. Cheers!

17:20.

Having had a break at the room to download the camera I’m adding a few more pictures from the trip before venturing out now the day is cooling down. It ‘only’ got up to 32 degrees today with Humidity of 64%. I’ll add captions later…

Our train from Bangkok was split at Hat Yai where the last 3 coaches were taken forward to Padang Besar in Malaysia. 5226 backs onto the train to do the honours.
Checking tickets in the 3rd class coach from Hat Yai to Padang Besar.
One of the new ferries that ply between Butterworth on the mainland and Georgetown on Penang. Call me a nostalgic if you will, but I prefer the old ones.

23:20.

Time to wrap things up. Georgetown is one of my happy places in the world, and I can’t believe I’ve been mad enough to only give myself less than 24 hours here. Plus, I was gutted to find that the really good travellers bar is closed for a holiday. When I say bar, it’s really a shop that spills out every evening, taking over the backstreet outside with tables and chairs. I’ve met some really interesting people there in the past.

Instead, today I stopped to buy a beer from a local shop on Lebuh Chulia (and that shop has a history!) where I met a local who was missing the same place. We ended up chatting for ages.

Meet Eric. A local chap born and bred here but with an international interest. One of those really nice people whom you bump into by chance and one of the reasons that I love travelling.
Here’s where we should have been sat outside

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Goodbye UK (for a while)…

13 Monday Jan 2025

Posted by in Indonesia, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day

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This will be a a short blog as the pair of us have got to be up at silly o’ clock to get a taxi to Manchester in order to catch our early morning flight to Jakarta. Thankfully, the snow which has blanketed West Yorkshire for the past week is finally melting so we shouldn’t have any problems getting to the airport. We’ve had a busy day packing and arranging all sorts of last minute stuff before we leave (in my case, that involved filing a tax return!).

Now we’re packed, everything’s ticked off the list and we can relax for a few hours before beginning the trip. I’ll do as much of a rolling blog as I can, but that will be reliant on airport, hotel and other wifi as international roaming charges cost an arm and a leg out in that neck of the woods nowadays. Still, I’m sure I’ll find time to post pictures and other stuff of interest over the next few weeks. We’ll be on the move a lot for the first week but when we get settled in Bali there’ll be more time to write. In the meantime, here’s a taster of life in Jakarta.

Indonesians are a friendly bunch, including those in uniform. In 2017, a couple of railway level crossing keepers at Tanah Abang in Jakarta were very happy to have their picture taken as a train they were protecting crossed the road behind them. You can find more of my pictures from Jakarta here.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

11th January picture of the day…

11 Saturday Jan 2025

Posted by in Bali, Indonesia, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Travel

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It’s a short report from Bigland Towers today as I’m in ‘getting away from it all’ mode – although that means life is rather frenetic as I clear the decks before travelling on Tuesday. There’s not a huge amount to report from this part of the world. The snow’s still here. It’s far too easy to break your neck (or extremities) on pavements that have become skating rinks, but the landscape from afar does look lovely, buried as it is under inches of snow (metric measurements are available).

Today was the first day I ventured out of the Calder valley this year as Dawn and I joined her parents for lunch over in Huddersfield. I’d have got some pictures but we were pressed for time and when we returned the the glorious sunshine had been snuffed out by low cloud. Ah well…

Now we’re back at home and I’ve begun the process of packing. I’m determined to travel as light as possible (says a man carrying a weighty camera bag) as I want room in my suitcase for bringing back some shopping from various destinations. Besides, textiles are cheap in the neck of the woods we’re heading to and I’ll be putting money into the local economy.

One of the things I’ve managed to do is clear the hard-drive on my laptop and add a lot more pictures to my Zenfolio website. You can find pictures in these galleries.

High Speed 2

UK travel

Northern trains

Railway stations

Expect something rather different soon. They’ll be added to these galleries (which will give you a taster of what to expect.

Indonesian Travel

Indonesian railways

Here’s a quick taster.

Legong dancers in Ubud. 1994.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

10th January picture of the day…

10 Friday Jan 2025

Posted by in Calder Valley, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Travel, Weather, West Yorkshire

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Bugger. Another day when things didn’t quite go to plan so I ended up trapped at home. The moral of the story? When you get a new phone, don’t forget the new password you entered for getting into the bloody thing! I did, which set me back as I ended up having to do a factory reset after wasting several hours trying a combination of passwords, all to no avail. These new phones drag out the agony too. Every time to enter a wrong ‘un they extend the time you’ve go to wait before you can try again. My wife, on hearing what I’d done, summed it up thus – “you dipstick!”. Who am I to argue?

Now everything’s sorted and my time wasn’t entirely wasted as I’ve cleared the decks of more old photos which have now appeared on my Zenfolio website. You can find the latest gallery update by following this link.

I did manage to get out for a little while in the evening whilst Dawn was working late in order to wrap up her work before going away. I popped up to our local pub (The Big 6) to join friends for the Friday quiz. It’s an informal gathering where Mel reads out the two quizzes published every week in our local ‘Pub paper’. It’s neither serious, nor competitive – just fun. Oh, and there’s plenty of beer – and free pork pie.

Now I’m back at home, compiling a list of more stuff to sort out before going away. I’m looking forward to being back in the sun and balmy weather rather than the barmy weather we’ve still got here. The snow’s never gone away in many places. Instead, it’s turned to sheet ice thanks to the sub-zero temperature of the past few days. Minor roads and pavements resemble skating rinks. I’ve never known the snow stick around for so long in the 15 years I’ve lived up here so I’ll be more than happy to see the back of it on Tuesday. Today’s picture shows how the Calder valley looks today. This is a view taken with my new Nikon Z series 100-400mm lens, looking out across the Calder valley to Sowerby. As you can see, the snow’s certainly sticking around.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

9th January picture of the day…

09 Thursday Jan 2025

Posted by in Manchester, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Railways

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Today’s been another one of those days that’s not quite gone to plan due to a combination of weather, technology and impending travel plans. I’ve spent a large chunk of time waiting in for a number of parcels to arrive as I’ve been shopping for various new bits of kit in readiness for heading back to Asia next week. Most have been pretty straightforward. There’s not much you can learn about a new camera bag after all – although my new 100-400mm Nikon Z lens is proving to be rather tasty, I’m looking forward to having some fun with that documenting street life in places like Jakarta. The frustrating thing has been getting a new phone and getting the damned thing to sync with my laptop and with all my different websites, apps and general electronic clutter of 21st century life. I *think* I’m pretty much there. To be fair to Samsung, their phones copy over data and apps very well. The issue is me trying to sync them with a myriad of forgotten passwords! I may have sworn a little tonight…

On the bright side (with fingers crossed) everything seems to be working OK now. Well, all the important stuff anyway. Other bits I can discover later. At least I know have a fully functional smartphone to travel with as my old one was on its last legs. We’ve only a few days left before we travel and there’s still plenty of stuff to sort out in order that we can breeze into a holiday (did I mention a tax return to fill in?). But, come Monday everything in the UK takes a backseat.

One of the other little jobs I’ve been doing is adding more pictures to my Zenfolio website in order to clear space on my laptop. So, today’s picture is one of them.

Here’s the inside of St Mary’s shed at Newton Heath depot in Manchester with 195128 undergoing a bogie and wheel swap. You’ll be able to read more about the past, present and future of the depot in a future edition of RAIL magazine.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

8th January picture of the day…

08 Wednesday Jan 2025

Posted by in Calder Valley, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, West Yorkshire

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It’s a short blog from me tonight. Today was another one that didn’t quite go to plan – but in a good way! I’d intended to get out with the camera, despite the sub-zero temperatures but an email and a phone-call soon put paid to that. The email was from an old client, a railway magazine which was after a selection of archive pictures. Whilst I was sorting and sifting through those I received a phone call from a company in the rail industry whom I’ve never worked for before. They were anxious to source pictures – and more. So, I ended up dealing with a long-term work proposal and yet more urgent picture requests. On top of which I’ve been busy sorting out more of the logistics for next week’s trip which has involved a fair bit of research and purchases which will (snow permitting) arrive before we leave.

Next thing I knew it was nearly dusk. The quality of the light at the back of the house made me look out of the bedroom window, which is when I saw this rather amazing and colourful sky as the sun set over the Calder valley.

I have to go out tomorrow to pick up some of the stuff we’ve ordered so maybe there will be the chance to get a final few snow pictures…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

7th January picture of the day…

07 Tuesday Jan 2025

Posted by in Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Weather, West Yorkshire

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We’ve still plenty of snowy scenes here in the Pennines. Much of it hasn’t really shifted, especially away from human habitation and major roads. Today the pair of us spent quite some time digging Dawn’s car out of the drifts – something I don’t recollect doing for donkey’s years as normally the stuff doesn’t hand around that long. On the bright side, the exercise was useful. Plus, helping to clear the road was a bonus as the pair of us are expecting various parcels to arrive over the next few days as we’ve been busy preparing for our Asian odyssey. Admittedly, most of mine will contain things like photographic kit (my old camera bag is on its last legs) whilst Dee’s orders are rather more wide-ranging.

Like most days since the snow’s arrived and we know we’re off to Asia, my day’s been spent working from home, ticking off various things on my work ‘to do’ list before we bugger off. This included editing the last of 2024s pictures that I’d not uploaded to my Zenfolio website. There’s still a few more to do, but the job’s back’s broken, so I’m hoping (weather permitting) to venture out with the camera tomorrow whilst there’s still enough snow on the ground to make it worthwhile.

What is remaining has certainly cramped people’s style. Having spent the day getting square eyes I did venture out to our local pub (the Big 6) for a pint earlier this evening. I was one of a handful. The place was deserted due to the difficulty in getting there. Most pavements are still under several inches of snow and driving to the pub isn’t recommended in these conditions.

A welcoming sight after a trek uphill through the snow. The Big 6…

Still, I did get to try a very tasty beer (thanks, Lee) which will be on in a couple of days time. I’m savoring my last chance for real ales right now as decent ales are as rare as rocking-horse droppings out in Indonesia.

It looks like a cider, but don’t let looks (or the innocuous fruity taste) fool you. This 5.2% beer is anything but a session ale…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

6th January picture of the day…

06 Monday Jan 2025

Posted by in Indonesia, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Travel

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Despite yesterday’s rain, the snow has proved to be tenacious. When I woke up this morning we’d had a fresh dusting of the stuff which had added to the several inches which has survived. It’s melting, slowly, but I suspect it’s going to hang around for several days yet.

Due to the treacherous conditions underfoot and with other plans in mind I haven’t ventured out at all today. Instead, I’ve been busy scanning through airline and other travel websites. Now – finally – we have a winter break arranged as I’ve just booked the pair of us on a flight from Manchester to Jakarta (Indonesia). We fly on the 14th January. This will be Dawn’s first visit to Indonesia, although it’s certainly not mine. The last time I was in Java was in 2017. The plan is slowly taking shape but the outline is that we’ll have a couple of days in Jakarta to get used to the new climate and time zone as we’re going to be swapping sub-zero temperatures for a wet and humid 29-31 degrees! After Jakarta we’ll be travelling overland by rail to Yogyakarta for a couple of days in order to visit some of the superb ancient temples in the area as well as enjoy the city itself. Continuing by rail we’ll be popping into Surabaya before continuing by rail all the way East to Ketapang, where we’ll be catching a ferry across the narrow strait to…Bali. January’s not the optimal time of year to visit this neck of the woods but I’ve done it several before and really enjoyed it as it’s quieter and the rain doesn’t last all day by any means.

Whatever the weather, It’s going to be lovely to be back in South-East Asia. I’m looking at extending my trip beyond the few weeks Dawn has in order to maximise our holiday time together before I go off to travel solo and visit some of the region’s rail projects. But first, we’ll be enjoying some amazing sights, scenery and fabulous food – as well as some lovely accommodation. The value quality of places to stay in Bali is hard to beat. So, expect a real range of pictures and blogs later this month, and into February (and maybe March). Here’s a taster. This is the incredible Buddhist temple at Borobudur, just outside Yogyakarta.

This was the view the last time I visited Borobudur (November 1998). If we get weather like this again I’ll be more than happy…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312