I’d fully intended to write a long blog about this fascinating trip but I’m currently holed up in my hotel in Kuala Lumpur after another busy day and I’ve realised I’m really not going to be able to do the trip justice is such a short time. I need a full morning to write about the trip, not just half an hour, so the trip report will come tomorrow.
After 6 days constantly on the move I’m having a day off tomorrow. I’m staying in a hotel with all the facilities I need like a desk, plenty of power sockets and wifi and if I get lonely there’s a big mirror over the desk so I can always talk to myself. I even have a TV with Netflix, so this is a cut above where I normally stay. I’s in the old Chinatown district where I’ve been staying for years – although it’s changed as Covid sounded the death-knell for many businesses. There’s a lot of vacant shops but life is slowly returning to the place. I’ll explore more tomorrow and explain as I’m having an admin and rest day, rather than gallivanting around the city’s public transport network. I’ve got plenty of time for that in the next few days. So, my apologies if you were expecting a magnum opus today. Still, here’s a couple of taster pictures for you.
My train heads North on the early part of the trip. As you can see, it’s not just a case of laying another track next to the old one. In many places there’s a completely new formation and all flat crossings have been replaced with overbridges. The lineside also has much improved drainage and many gradients have been flattened. An increasingly rare sight on Malaysian Railways, once there were a network of sleeper trains carrying you around the network. Now there’s just on on the ‘jungle’ line from Kuala Lipis. Here’s the Southbound working passing us at the huge new station and yards at Menkibol. The old Victorian colonial railway has well and truly vanished. A single track line with station that often just had a single platform and a loop or two have been swept away with four platform places like this which have level access to all areas.The old station at Gemas, the junction for the jungle railway with the new station in the background. This is currently the Southern limit of double tracking and electrification. The old stations’ been preserved but plans to turn it into a museum have fallen by the wayside. Even a few years ago it still maintained an excellent cafe/restaurant but this has fallen on hard times. Now it’s just teas, soft-drinks and boiled eggs. Still, it’s cool for cats (many occupy the station as someone feeds them). As for the rest of the place, Gemas isn’t exactly a thriving town, it’s not even one-horse…I made a friend…An all to common sight around KL’s Chinatown at the moment.
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/
I’m writing this from the comfort of my hotel room in Johor Baru, Malaysia where I’ve retreated to after crossing the border from Singapore earlier. I’m only staying here one night, it’s little more than a pitstop that allows me to catch the early morning train to Kuala Lumpur without any hassles.
Despite the fact I had a really god nights sleep last night my body clock is still all over the place. I was wide awake at 5am Singapore time so I cut my losses and spent a couple of hours picture editing, which means a fuller selection of shots are starting to appear on my Zenfolio website in this gallery. There’s plenty more to do. I’m hoping to get a few more done this evening as Johor isn’t exactly the most exciting place. As I still had several hours to kill as I was in no hurry to leave I went and had a coffe in a place in Little India and watched the world go by for an hour before showering and packing
Getting here was easy enough. I wasn’t bothered about faffing around with the KTMB shuttle train from Woodlands as I travelled the whole line to the former Singapore station many times in the past. Here’s how it used to look like when it was still the terminus. of the line all the way from Bangkok. The station’s been preserved and it’s being incorporated into one of the new metro route stations, so not all’s lost. Instead, I got the MRT from Rochor, on the downtown line which was around the corner from my hotel as far as Stevens, which is the interchange station on the new Thompson line that takes you to Woodlands, where buses run across the causeway to Johor Baru. The metro cost me a couple of dollars (less than £1.50) and the shuttle bus $1.90 (just over £1).
Woodlands itself is a fascinating place as it’s packed with food stalls with all manner of tasty treats. I treated myself to a takeaway of a mix of different noodles and breaded chicken for all of $2.60 (£1.63). Part of the the huge Woodlands bus station has been taken over to be used as a drop-in Covid vaccination centre, but it doesn’t affect the single-deck buses to Malaysia which run roughly every 10 minutes. You join a queue then get on the first one that turns up. They’re all pack of course. I was fascinated to see that the vast majority using them were young people/students, as you can see from this picture of the queue I was the head of. Talk about feeling like Grandad!
The bus takes you to the monolithic Woodlands checkpoint. It’s a modern building across multiple levels with an imposing tower which has a touch of 1984 about it. That said, once off the bus I breezed through the biometric passport check and was back on another packed bus within 10 minutes. Arriving in Johor Baru was much the same process, except no biometric checks. Instead I got my passport stamped than had to undergo baggage customs check from some very nice but impossibly young women customs officers.
And that was it. I’m now in Malaysia. I popped into the railway station to book an onward ticket from Gemas to Kuala Lumpur tomorrow, which was no problem. That cost me all of 32 ringgit (a few pence over £6 for a three hour journey). After that I wandered over to my hotel but the pleasent girls behind the counter (I’m starting to see a theme here) were adamant check-in wasn’t until 14:00. At least they agreed to look after my suitcase, so I went for a wander to try and rediscover places I remember from when I was last here in January 2017.
Sadly, the place hasn’t fared well. The town centre anyway. There’s vast amounts of Chinese money here that’s been invested in massive housing complexes, but the place has never really taken off as a destination. It’s tatty and dirty and the artisan coffee shops that were meant to be the brave new world are either struggling or closed.
Sandbrewed coffee? It’s a bit niche and this place faces onto a bypass along the Johor Straits, which is hardly scenic
One good thing about crossing the border is my smartphone’s restored to full functionality I’ve had this problem in Singapore in the past, they don’t seem to get on with O2 for whatever reason. I’d just got used to not having it although the lack of maps was sometimes interesting as I hadn’t any paper ones either so I was reliant on memory, which only caused one lengthy detour…
Whilst waiting for my room to be ready I discovered Jalan Meldrum and old guys like this. More of which later…
Beer, fags and the Malaysian version of the Racing Times, plus watching the gee gees live on smartphones…
Having relaxed for a little while, had a shower and composed this blog, I went out for a wander and headed over to the old Johor Baru station which nestles in the shadow of the modern station. The building’s still intact but it’s looking rough. There were plans to open it as a rail museum, and to that end a number of locomotives and other rolling stock were moved onto the site, but nothing ever happened and now they’re derelict and rusting away. The building seems to be used as a staff messroom at best, a car-park at worst. Such a shame.
Then again, the area around the station’s undergone huge changes as opposite there’s now a massive shopping mall that looks like so many of these beasts. Bizarrely, despite the huge sums spent on building the new, multi platform JB station, it’s criminally under-utilised. Apart from the Woodlands – JB shuttles, there’s just four trains a day in and out Northwards. Tomorrow, I’ll be on one of them, the 08:30 departure to Gemas (the junction for the ‘jungle railway’. I’ve fond memories of travelling between KL-Singapore on sleeper trains back in the 1990s. Now there’s nothing like that. Electrification should have spread South from Gemas in 2020, but there’s no sign of it yet. I’ll be interested to see hoe the line’s changed since my last trip in 2017.
As the weather was crap due to leaden skies and lousy light I gave up and came back to the room to resume blogging. I’ll nip out later when it’s dark and more photogenic as by that time I’ll be starving!
So, first impressions having crossed the border again? Obesity and smoking. Now, admittedly, Singapore has banned vaping so there’s more smokers because there’s no alternatives, but I was surprised to see a number of young Muslim women in JB smoking Admittedly, their religion doesn’t cut them much slack when it comes to vices and that one was never mentioned in the Koran, but even so…
Whilst JB will never be in the top 10 tourist hotspots it is an interesting place to people-watch as its a real collision of cultures, economies and social attitudes. I’ll write more about this later.
Happy consumerism! Inside the shopping centre across the road from the railway staion and entry port from Singapore. I’m assuming Malaysian prices are meant to attract Singaporean day-trippers.
It’s half past 8 Malaysian time and I’m putting my feet up back at the hotel as the weather’s been very wet these past few hours, which has put a damper on much of the evening. I’d intended to nip out, get something to eat, then have a mooch around and get some pictures, but unless pics of empty streets are your bag…
Anyways, here’s a few from this afternoon/evening – and this morning in Singapore..
Several buildings where I was staying had these classic old spiral staircases at the rear, but the shapes and colours of this one really stood outLittle India’s normally deathly at 10:00, but this one entrepreneurial shopkeeper was ahead of the crowd. The former clocktower and centre-piece of the former Johor Baru station,Thanks to the weather it was a quiet night for the food hawkers in the alley behind my hotel. Here’s where I ate, stuffing myself with curried fish and rice.
I’m literally going to call it a day now. Tomorrow’s another day and no doubt I’ll be awake early…
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It’s lunchtime here in Singapore and I’ve retreated to my room for a couple of hours to rest avoid the heat stickiness of midday and download the pictures I’ve taken this morning. I was up early as my body-clock is still all over the place. I had about 5 hours sleep then decided I might as well start rejigging my trip in light of what I learned about Chinese New Year. This meant cancelling a few hotels and rebooking some others as well as extending my time in Kuala Lumpur where I’ll be for New Year – which should be fun!
Afterwards I headed out on the metro to explore and have a look at some of the new extensions plus ongoing work. I ended up walking miles which is another reason for coming home – I need a shower as I’ve already got 14,000 steps and 6.5 miles under my belt!
Here’s a few pictures from this morning’s trip out to Expo station (Designed by Sir Norman Forster) and the construction of new flying junctions out at Bukit Timah where the existing line is going to be incorporated into the new Thompson line. This will leave some of the old viaducts redundant. There’s talk of turning them into Singapore’s version of New York’s ‘high line’ which could be quite a sight.
Bridging the gap. The massive Changi metro depot is out of shot to the left. Big boys Lego!I hope all the sections are numbered as there’s bits lying everywhere.
I’m off out again in a minute once I’ve had a shower, so I’ll update this blog later. I was lucky with the weather this morning as I managed to get some sunshine. Whilst I’ve been sitting in my room writing this we’ve had clouds roll in and claps of thunder. Time to dig out the umbrella methinks!
I’m now back from my afternoon amble out to Jurong East. Sadly, the weather did produce heavy rain and grim skies, so there wasn’t much wandering going on. Here’s the platforms at my ‘local’ station – Jalan Besar. As you can see, the quality of fitting out is rather good.
The trains were busy, but not rammed, and everyone was wearing a mask.
En-route I stopped off at Dover station, which is unusual. Most metro stations are island platforms, but not here. This was a later addition to the line with the station opening in 2001 whilst the line opened in 1988.
Piling work adjacent to the existing station at Jurong East. Covers have been placed over the tracks to the West of the station due to the closeness of heavy plant to the running lines.
Rather than doubling back I continued on along the North-South line to the interchange with the Thomson East coast line at Woodlands. Last time I was here this was nothing more than a very large hole in the ground. The line opened in stages between 2020 and 2022. This was my first trip on it and I’m impressed. The trains were very busy and the stations are excellent.
New escalators from the existing Woodlands station take you down to ground level before more sets take to down to the Thomson line. The system is confusing for ex-Londoners like myself because here you stand on the left of the escalators, not the right. I’ve just learned that lesson, and now it’s time to move on!Woodlands station on the Thomson lineInterior of one of the new Thomson line trains, which are automated.
I leave Singapore tomorrow but I’m not going far – merely nipping over the Causeway to Johor Baru in Malaysia, where I’ll be staying the night before catching a morning train Northwards to Kuala Lumpur. Watch this space…
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/
Despite the jet-lag and not getting to bed until after midnight local time I was up at 7am this morning in order to catch up with the world back home and get some work done. Duties done I went for a wander around ‘little India’, as the area where I’m staying is known as. No prizes for guessing that it’s the old centre of Singapore’s Indian community! It’s a fascinating place to wander around although it’s quiet in the mornings as the place doesn’t really spring to life until later. Singaporeans are night owls!
Despite not being here since 2017 I immediately felt at home. Everything was so familiar. The sights, sounds and smells reminded me of so many parts of Asia that I’ve seen. I spent some time browsing local shops just to get an idea of how much prices have changed. The answer is some – but seemingly not as much as the UK. The one thing that has increased is the price of alcohol but then Singapore is a bit of a ‘nanny state’, which is what amuses me about the Tories ambitions to turn the UK into ‘Singapore on Thames’ – they don’t actually know much about the place. Year ago you used to be able to buy T-shirts that said ‘Singapore is a fine place – there’s a fine for everything’! It’s true to an extent. You name it, from fishing to rubbish dumping, chewing gum or smoking – there’s so many things that are not allowed. On the positive side, it means the country’s actually very safe and there’s certainly not the obesity epidemic that we see in the UK. I’ve been out all day and I haven’t seen a single person who would be classed as morbidly obese. In the UK I’d see several. It was one of the things that really struck me. The other was the fact that so many people are still wearing masks, not just on public transport, but in the streets – and that applies to all the Singaporean communities.
After wandering around little India I caught the metro to do some exploring. Mask-wearing was almost 100% on public transport, which was such a contrast to the UK – even at the height of Covid. But then, society is much more cohesive here. There’s far less the cult of the individual. It’s not that you can’t express your own individuality though fashion or style but you still show consideration for others when it comes to stuff that really matters.
I could blog for ages about my day, but it’s getting late and I’ll have to be up early as a Singaporean friend has just reminded me of something I’d forgotten about that’s going to affect my travel plans. I’d been intending to be on the move during Chinese New Year – and that’s a really big deal where I’d be travelling, so I’m going to be spending a few hours in the morning rebooking a few things and adjusting the amount of time I’m spending in Kuala Lumpur where I’ll be for New Year.
In the meantime, here’s a few pictures from today.
On the metro. One car has a central area devoid of seats for the disabled and people with lots of luggage. Strap-hanging is alive and well in Singapore!Masks are mandatory on the metro, but smart phones are de rigueur! The modern metro lines are built underground, but the North-South line onwards from Bishan was one of the earlier extensions to the original 3 lines. it opened in 1996. Here’s a train heading South from Khatib station. The next picture was taken a bit further down the road. It shows a North-South line train skirting the edge of the lower Selator reservoir. Unlike the more modern lines, these trains (built by either Kawasaki or Rotem) still have drivers. Here’s another later extension to the original network. This is Tuas Link. Its the new Western terminus of the East-West line. This 7.5 kilometre extension from Gul Circle opened in June 2017. Inside Tuas link station looking along the island platform to the exits.
Right, lots more tomorrow! But for now – goodnight…
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/
I’m here in Doha airport in between flights. It’s changed a bit since I was last here. I take that back – it’s changed hugely! I’m currently sat in the indoor forest, listening to birdsong whilst a waterfall provides background sounds behind me. It really is quite a place, which is just as well as I’m here for the next five hours!
My flight from the UK was fine. I shared the row with a friendly and easy-going young Indian couple. The stewardesses were excellent and the food was fine. The only problem was when we hit some turbulence and I ended up wearing part of a glass of red wine! As it was 18:15 UK time when we took off there was no point trying to sleep so I watched a couple of films instead, including ones I’d missed at the cinema like ‘Dune’. Based on the Frank Herbert book I read as a teenager it was certainly a visual spectacular and very enjoyable. After that I dipped in and out of a couple of films based on the Marvel comic books but none of them were much cop.
Now tiredness is catching up with me so I’ll head off to a quiet part of the airport where I might be able to get my head down for a couple of hours, ready for the next leg to Singapore. Well, once the call to prayer has finished, it’s just shattered the peace of the airport as it’s piped across the PA system. In the meantime, here’s a couple of shots taken in the airport. I got told off for getting my SLR out, so these are camera phone pictures.
There’s acres of seating here but very few places you can lay down and stretch out without being chided by staff, so I’ve found the Male ‘quiet room’ which is equipped with a couple of dozen loungers and carpeted floor space where such activity is permitted.
04:00 (UK time, 7am Doha time).
I managed to get an hours kip in the (not very) quiet room, then went for another wander. By this time the sun was up and a lot of flights had arrived as the airport was far busier. I have to admit, it’s an impressive place. I couldn’t resist having a trip on the cable operated railway which runs the length of one of the buildings. It’s very swish. I’ll post pics later as I managed to get some SLR shots without being told off! Meanwhile, here’s the sun rising behind my Boeing 777 as it waits for us to board.
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/
This is my penultimate blog from the UK for a while as I head off to Heathrow tomorrow morning before catching an evening flight to Singapore. Today’s been spent preparing, getting (nearly) all those last minute chores ticked off the list before completing my packing and picking up a few last minute odds and sods. Anything I’m missing now will be acquired in Asia – but not Singapore as that’s ‘chingy’ (not Changi, that’s the airport). Much as I enjoy Singapore it’s economy means prices are steep for that part of the world. Even so, I’m looking forward to getting back there, although from what I’m seeing of the weather I’d better keep hold of my brolly! I’m going to be swapping a cold, windy and wet climate for a humid and wet one – so a brolly is ideal – and it can double as a sun-shade.
I’m flying with Qatar Airways whom I’ve used before but not for some time. This morning was spent reserving my seats as well as securing my Singaporean e-pass. It’s great that so many of these formalities can be done online nowadays as it removes the need for a stamp in your passport – which is just as well in post-Brexit Britain as mine’s now filling up with EU stamps (*mutter, mutter – brexitshambles*)…
Qatar Airlines gave me a 25kg baggage allowance but I’m not expecting to use it. Compared to most people I travel light. Well, if you ignore the camera bag! I’ve filled out my case with plenty of clothes, many of which I’ll probably never wear much – if at all, but they’ll provide padding, especially on the return trip for the exotic prezzies I’ve promised to bring back for Dawn!
Packing’s certainly changed from my old backpacking days when your rucksack would be weighed down and bulked out with books, batteries, film canisters and tape cassettes. Now there’s far more room for other stuff but what a plethora of cables and chargers I carry instead! A Kindle’s replaced all the acreage of books and I wouldn’t really need that if it wasn’t for the fact I can’t edit pictures on a tablet, so I carry different devices for reading and working. Plus, I wouldn’t really want to risk taking an expensive laptop to a beach just so that I can read the latest potboiler.
Now it’s time to finish off the final bits and settle down for final night with Dee before the adventure begins tomorrow. I’ll be blogging en-route and have a several hour stopover in Doha which should allow me time to write. In the meantime, here’s today’s picture which is from a previous visit to Singapore. I’ll be staying in ‘little India’ which – as the name implies is the centre of the city’s Indian community. Here’s a typical Hindu celebration outside the Sri Mariamman temple on the 5th October 2009.
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/
*for some reason my internal clock seems to be stuck in December – so apologies for those confused on seeing the titles of these blogs before I realise my mistake and correct them!*
Apologies for absence these past couple of days but I’ve been both a busy bee and social butterfly – if such things are possible at the same time! I’ve been trying to get various things in order before I head out to S-E Asia on Tuesday. Mostly stuff around the house, plus finishing off a few work pieces whilst prepping stuff to take with me to keep me occupied on quiet evenings or days when I’m relaxing by a beach – if I find the time, and a beach!
Plus Friday was a social evening as it was the last chance I had to meet up with friends in our local before I leave. Dawn joined me and the pair of us had a very convivial evening doing our regular quiz whilst quaffing a few ales (or in Dawn’s case, San Pellegrino) then chatting and joking with the rest of the pub. Saturday was in similar vein as Dee and I had brunch with her parents at Hinchliffes (billed as Britain’s oldest farm shop) where I enjoyed something I won’t be eating out in Asia – a full English breakfast!
Heading back to the Calder valley we said another farewell, this time to the fabulous Moorcock Inn at Norland Moor. We popped in for one last drink in order to say goodbye as Aimee and Alasdair are closing the place on January 20th as they’re giving up the lease. It’s a crying shame as in the five years they leased the pub for they’ve turned the place into a ‘must visit’ culinary experience with superb food and a great choice of drinks. They’ll be sorely missed by both locals and people who’ve travelled for miles to enjoy what they offered. We’ll certainly miss popping in after a bracing walk around the moor for a well-earned drink and a bowl of their sublime smoked roasted potatoes.
We continued our culinary these in the evening only this time it was just the two of us. Dawn took me out for a bon-voyage meal to a place neither of us had visited before, the Manor House at Lindley, on the Western edge of Huddersfield. It’s an old Victorian mill owners mansion which has been brought back from dereliction to become a hotel, restaurant and bar. The new owners have done an excellent job with the restoration. We had a drink in the bar before being shown to our table, which allowed us time to see what a mixed-age clientele frequented the place. The restaurant itself is stylish yet cosy and the food is excellent. As both Dee and I both enjoy cooking we’re not easily impressed and often find dining out a bit of a disappointment, but last night both of us were enthused by the inventiveness of the menu and the quality of the food. The place isn’t cheap but for once we felt we certainly had value for money. It’s not somewhere we’d go every month, but we’d have no hesitation in going back.
Today’s been more of a lazy Sunday, with a focus on more household chores and (in my case) packing whilst Dawn’s busying herself in the kitchen before we have a penultimate cosy night in – hence me blogging earlier than usual. So, all that remains now is for me to leave you with the picture of the day – but what to choose? I deliberately left my cameras at home these past few days as the time was about Dawn and I – not pictures – there’ll be plenty of time for those over the next few months! That means digging into the archives. One of the little projects I’m taking with me to Asia is another batch of old slide scans that need editing. There’s a real mixture (all from the late 1990s) but most were taken in India – including this one – which is of the delightfully battered and archaic Calcutta trams.
Sadly, the network has been cut back even more since those days. I’d love to go back and have a look at what’s left as I’ve not returned for a decade. Here’s how they looked in February 1998 when a queue of trams were stuck behind a common event – a derailment on the life-expired and rickety track.
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/
Another quiet day here in Bigland Towers – made all the quieter by the fact our four-legged lodger has now gone back to her owners after they arrived back in the UK this morning. It’s been fun, but the two of us agreed that whilst we’re happy to dog-sit on occasion we wouldn’t want the task of having a mutt of our own. An independent creature like a cat is our limit but now our old boy ‘Jet’ has passed on we rather like the freedom of not having the responsibility – or the vets bills!
Once ‘Bernie’ was collected the two of us knuckled down to another day working from home. I’ve been occupied weeding out a lot more old paperwork as well as cleaning up digital files and booking parts of my trip to Asia. Much of what I’ll be doing I’ll make up as I go along, but the first couple of weeks need planning, including my transition from Singapore into Malaysia and train from Johor Baru up to Kuala Lumpur. I’d be amazed if I couldn’t get a ticket on the day to get me from JB to Gemas (junction for the ‘Jungle’ railway and limit of electrification South from KL) – but I’m taking no chances. Instead I’ve taken the recommendation of Mark, the ‘Man in seat 61‘ and booked through one of his recommended agents. The first site claimed there was nothing available but as they said that for the next 2 months I’m assuming it’s a glitch. Instead, I’ve booked with ‘baolau’ which was easy as their website’s user friendly. All I’m waiting for now is my ticket confirmation. Let’s see how that goes.
The rest of my ticketing I can book when I’m in Malaysia. Their trains are good but I’ve never known long-distance ETS services to be full, although they do get very busy at holiday times. I’ll be stopping in Kuala Lumpur for several days so I can easily book onward travel there when my plans are firmed up for the first month’s travel.
I’m starting to get that frisson now that I’ve only a few days left in the UK. However, there’s still lots to do before I go which means the last few days will seem like a blur so I suspect it’s only when I’m on the plane on the runway that I’ll relax. What I’m really looking forward to is seeing how much things have changed in the countries I’m visiting. All have been busy investing in their rail networks so I’m expecting lots of interesting sights. Today’s picture is from my last visit to Singapore in February 2017.
This is a view of the North-South metro line with a train leaving Woodlands station. It’s a fine example of integrated transport. I took the shot from the roof of a nearby multi-storey car park whilst underneath the elevated tracks is a bus/coach station. Looking at all those construction cranes on the horizon makes me wonder what the skyline will look like now…
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/
Welcome to my first (but very definitely not the last) blog of 2023. New Years day was a quiet one here at Bigland Towers, although we popped out for drinks with friends ‘early doors’ on New Years eve we were back at home well before the year rolled on and had a quiet night counting down to midnight. Just the two of us, plus ‘Bernie’, a miniature cockapoo dog that we’re looking after for friends whilst they’re away on holiday.
New year’s day was in very much the same vein although Dawn couldn’t keep herself out of the kitchen despite having spent much of Christmas down in Surrey cooking for her family. I can’t complain as Dee prepared a fantastic Flemish beef stew and roast vegetables which made a fantastically tasty start to the year. In the meantime, I’ve begun to plan my Far-Eastern adventure in earnest which has involved a lot of research into seeing what’s changed since I was last out there in 2017. Well, Covid’s had a huge impact obviously and some places still have restrictions that we (perhaps foolishly) gave up on in 2021, but it’s the logistics of travel that have changed too as (for example) Malaysia’s redeveloped a lot of its rail network and Thailand is following suit. A few days before I arrive in Bangkok their massive new multi-level station at Bang Sue (now renamed Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal) will start receiving long-distance rail services instead of the old Hualamphong station. The full changeover isn’t expected to happen for several years but first services will run on the 19th February after a delay of several years.
Researching the changes meant I spent a lot of time digging through archive photos on my Zenfolio website only to realise that some pictures are missing. This is due to the fact I’d originally used the free hosting site ‘Photopic’. Sadly, the people who bought photopic off its creator were financial and business incompetents who pulled the plug on it in 2010. These idiots had no idea what a rich historical resource that contained millions of pictures from 10s of 1000s of worldwide contributors they were trashing. Many people lost entire collections. I didn’t as I only used it as a shop window. I’d kept the originals on hard-drives, but it took me several years to migrate my old pictures to my new Zenfolio website. Unfortunately, when I first went digital in 2004 I made a cardinal error. Rather than keeping one archive I divided it up into different folders (railways, travel etc.) which made it much harder to keep track of individual pictures. Some folders got filed away and never saw the light of day for years. In 2010 I learned from my mistake and kept a yearly folder containing everything I’d taken that year – no matter what the subject.
I found one ‘lost’ folder today which contains some of those missing pictures. They’re from Malaysia in 2009 and one of them is today’s picture as it reflects the changes I’ll be seeing in that country’s rail transport. The only thing in this picture that I believe still exists today are the two coaches.
Here’s the ‘international train’ that ran between Butterworth in Malaysia and Bangkok in Thailand. This view was taken at Butterworth (the station for Penang Island) on the 9th February 2009. The two sleeper coaches belong to the State Railways of Thailand whilst the engine is Malaysian. Well – sort of! It was one of 39 ex-Indian Railways Class YDM4s that were leased to KTMB for many years to cover a motive power shortage. Surplus to requirements in their home country due to the conversion of the meter-gauge network to broad gauge some pitched up here.
The coaches would be hauled by the KTMB loco from Butterworth to the border station of Padang Besar where there would be a customs check)and a loco change. An SRT loco would then take the coaches and passengers forward to Hat Yai where they’d be attached to the rear of an overnight sleeper train to Bangkok which would arrive in the Thai Capital the next morning. It was a fantastic (and cheap) way to travel between the two countries as well as a superb way to enjoy the scenery.
Nowadays you get an electric train from Butterworth to Padange Besar. After a wait you catch an SRT day train to Hat Yai where you join a sleeper service to the capital. I’ll be doing this trip in February so I’ll key you know what it’s like now.
If you want to see more of my old pictures of Malaysian railways check out these galleries.
One thing I’ve promised myself is that whilst I’m away these next few months I’ll rationalise these galleries by country and separate out the railways, travel and other transport images. It’s one of those classic ‘when I get around to it’ jobs that never seem to happen! In the meantime, expect a lot of new pictures and blogs from that neck of the woods over the next couple of months – starting very soon…
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/
I’m sitting here at the keyboard trying to work out how to make sense of such a tumultuous year without disappearing into repetitious rambling so I’m going to use a few headings to help – although there’s bound to be a few crossovers in the subjects. Let’s face it, it’s been one hell of a year, both in the UK and wider world, so it’s no surprise the the Collins dictionary word of the year 2022 is “permacrisis” – it sums up the situation perfectly. Having seen the back of Donald Trump and with Covid looking like it was burning itself out with no more nasty mutations the year started with some hope, but that was soon dashed.
Politics
On 24th February Russia invaded the Ukraine. ‘Special military operation’ (as the Russians called it) my arse, this was a full scale attempt to annex to country. It’s led to the largest refugee situation in Europe since world war two (both Ukrainian, and Russians who’ve fled their own country), along with the most destructive and devastating war since 1939. It’s also looking likely to lead to the collapse of Russia as it’s clear the war was a disastrous miscalculation of the part of Vladimir Putin. The pressures on the Russian economy due to sanctions plus the increasing lawlessness within the country as conscripts return from the war, disillusioned (and often with smuggled weapons) and the increasing isolation of the country are threads that are unwinding the fabric of the nation. It’s hardly surprising. Ordinary Russians are being kept tin the dark by their Government, but the scale of the Russian losses in men and equipment estimated by the Ukrainians (and others like the Oryx website) are staggering.
The knock-on effects across Europe and the UK have been huge. The British economy, already reeling from Covid, Brexit and 12 years of increasingly chaotic mismanagement by the Tories was then hit by massive increases in energy costs. In short. It’s a shit-storm and sadly, there’s no sign of it getting better in 2023. The Tories have run out of ideas (other than feathering their own nests) but they seem to have an endless supply of hopeless and hapless Prime Ministers. You may have thought serial liar Boris Johnson and his ‘oven ready’ Brexit deal was bad but after a painfully long election process Liz Truss said ‘hold my beer’ and managed to crash the UK economy and make the UK an international laughing-stock in just 49 days – the shortest tenure any British Prime Minister. Then there was the death of the Queen, which paralyzed the UK at the same time. Cards on the table (to quote right-wing Twitter trolls) – I’m not a monarchist, although having met many (including the late Queen and her husband) of them I have no problem with the people, just the institution. Most Brits have no idea how that institution has an impact on their daily lives as all they see is the pomp and circumstance – or read about the bitching that goes on in the UK press about them as a useful diversion from the real world. The Romans had ‘bread and circuses’, we have the spectator sport of Harry and Meghan vs the Palace as part of the extension of the right-wingers ‘war on woke’. It fills the news media to keep you distracted and stops you looking at the bigger picture.
Unabashed after their ousting of Boris Johnson – then Liz Truss, the Tory party then turned to an also ran – Rishi Sunak, a multi-millionaire who’s so out of touch his PR stunt serving food to homeless people went so spectacularly wrong a team of comedy writers would have dismissed it as too far-fetched. ‘Do you work in business’? Oh, FFS! With this bunch unashamedly clinging onto power for as long as they possibly can (2024) the new year looks to hold little cheer. It’s clear Rishi Sunak is a weak leader, but then his party is ungovernable. It’s riven by factions and dominated by swivel-eyed loons inside and outside the cabinet. Privately (and not so privately) many of them realise that they next election is lost, the question now is how much damage they’ll do before they’re turfed out when the votes are cast. There’s a lot of nest-feathering going on at the expense of ordinary people and I doubt the extent of the corruption will be revealed until (and unless) the next government hold some enquiries. The current situation goes to prove the old adage that oppositions don’t win elections, Governments lose them. Labour under Keir Starmer have vanquished the ghost of Jeremy Corbyn, the man who gifted the Tories such a huge majority in 2019 (cue howls of outrage, bluster and selective statistics from Corbynistas) but that’s all they’ve done. People will vote for them out purely for the fact they’re the only way to oust the Tories – not because they feel inspired by them. Starmer’s strategy to pretend he can make Brexit work may be seen as clever politicking, but it doesn’t make him look honest – and we desperately need a return to honest politics after so many years of lies and deceit. In the meantime, Brexit will continue to unravel. It’s painfully obvious that it’s a turd that can’t be polished but Brexit is like a religion to some, it’s an article of faith and they’ll cling onto it. But faith can’t make fiction fact and the economic harm its doing to the UK will continue to manifest itself no matter how deep its adherent stick their heads in the sand. Now people can travel again it’s not hard to see the disparity when you cross the channel. The EU hasn’t collapsed as predicted, supermarket shelves are full and despite the energy crisis caused by the war, living standards (and wages) are higher. Not only that but other countries are still clamouring to join the EU. In fact on January 1st Croatia adopted the Euro as its currency and also joined Schengen (the free travel area). It’s easy to see just how isolationist and out of step the UK is. Europe’s going forward and we’re going backwards.
Railways
It’s been another torrid time on the UK rail network. Just as the system seemed to be recovering from Covid and passenger numbers growing far quicker than many pessimists predicted we’ve had a series of debilitating strikes with central government and the unions at loggerheads. Whilst regional governments in Scotland and Wales are willing to compromise and find a way forward through pay agreements, central government ain’t. They see it as a trial of strength and a way of shoring up their collapsing vote (have you seen the opinion polls recently?) by playing hardball to pander to their hardcore. We’ve had the worst Transport Minister for decades (Grant Shapps) followed by a revolving door. In the meantime, the Treasury (as always) are dictating terms via the DfT and there’s no sign of any political coherence – much less a strategic plan that will last longer than the next Ministerial appointment. It’s a depressing time when there’s so many real issues needing serious answers – and a long term plan (hello ‘climate change’ anybody? That you despair. On the bright side, Crossrail – sorry the Elizabeth line – opened on the 24th May and proved to be a massive success, as many of us knew it would be. The expression ‘build it and they will come’ is appropriate for so many UK rail projects – and sod the useless and BCR (Benefit Cost Ratio) calculations which so often prove to be that conservative they’re useless. A fag-packet would be embarrassed to have them scrawled on its back.
London’s East End never used to look like this! This is the new Crossrail interchange station at Whitechapel. Once the territory of ‘Jack the Ripper’. Murder it ain’t!
The dumb thing? The future of the railways should be a no-brainer due to the need to get modal shift from road/air to rail to tackle climate change. But then you have the problem of competing political ideologies and the fact the Tories are underpinned by so many crazies from the libertarian far-right who’re doing their best to pretend it’s not real. Thankfully, they’ve not managed to stop the majority of building High-Speed 2. Forget the Nimbys and protesters, they never had nay political clout, it was people close to Boris ‘two-faced’ Johnson who’ve done the most damage to the project by paring away at it without any credible replacement, timetable or plan. The bright side? The next Labour government (because that’s what we’ll have) have committed to building HS2 in full. What will drag on is the interminable and utterly pointless political arguments over privatisation vs nationalisation which is a distraction from actually making the railways work for everyone. ‘Great British Railways’ is now dead. The reorganisation’s stalled, but we have no idea what will replace it. Instead we have the classic British ‘buggers muddle’ with the railways caught between a rock (the Treasury) and a hard place (The Dept of Transport), made worse by a Government that has no idea what it’s doing, other than trying to cling on to power. Here in West Yorkshire we do have some things to look forward to as at least the Trans-Pennine route upgrade is going ahead, although that’s still a mixed picture. We know what it will look like East of Huddersfield as far as Dewsbury where work’s already started, but we’ve no real idea how it will look Westwards, or how this supposed new line from Liverpool that’s (somehow) going to end in the village of Marsden will happen – if it ever does as there’ll be another election before work even starts!
Travel
I’ve been fortunate to have several breaks from the Septic Isle in 2022, Most of which have involved working (and meeting friends) in Germany which gives a completely different perspective from this bizarre up it’s own arse island nation many people choose to be marooned on. Then the pair of us had a a fortnight in Greece, which showed us another side. Funny how Rhodes – despite it being an island – didn’t suffer the supermarket shortages and empty shelves that have become a matter of routine in the UK – and that includes from imported goods. Once could almost imagine being in a customs union and single-market had advantages! Now, in the new year I’m preparing to take a break from Britain for a couple of months and catch up with old friends and happenings in South-East Asia. No doubt the contrasts to the UK will be very interesting, expecially as I’ll be starting in Singapore, the island state that some Tories touted as their aspiration for the Brexit Britain, with London becoming Singapore on Thames. It was all bollocks of course.
2023. Things to look forward to…
I’d love to be able to say ‘a general election’ but that’s extremely unlikely! Instead I’m looking forward to a Russian defeat and Ukrainian victory this year. I’m hopeful that there might be some economic cheer too but with this lot in charge I’d suggest that will be more down to luck and the actions of others than the Government. I’m also looking forward to seeing High Speed 2 construction proceeding apace. The project passed some impressive milestones in 2022, the anti HS2 rebellion collapsed as their camps were swept away and the few remaining occupants scattered to the four winds. I’ll be visiting as many locations as I can in 2023 to report on progress.
In the meantime, let me wish you all a peaceful and optimistic New Year and all the best for 2023.
Thanks for popping by and reading some of the 264 blogs I published in 2022. This site had 72,006 views from 115 nations last year plus several donations towards helping me cover the (not inconsiderable) costs of running my blog. Thank you one and all! And finally, a big thank you (and love) to Dawn, my wife, for putting up with me disappearing many an evening to pen one of these blogs. Thanks Babe!
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/
Paul Bigland 