Day 1 - Singapore to Butterworth by train

Woke up way too early this morning (at 6.30!), finished packing my bag and got in a taxi to Singapore's Keppel Road Railway Station.

Packing for a 6 week trip

After buying some last minute supplies (cashew nuts, water and dried mango's), I went through Malaysian immigration before boarding my train. I'm in first class today (both to ease into this whole 14 hours in a train thing, and out of necessity as there were only first class tickets available), carriage N seat 3A.

My train out of Singapore

Really nice to see Singapore from a different perspective as I'm leaving the country today (have left by car, bus, plane, boat and on foot before, never by train). After about 30 minutes we reach Woodlands Checkpoint where I need to get off the train to go through Singapore Immigration. Once back into the train, we cross the water into Johor Bahru, Malaysia. My trip has now officially begun!

Singapore's Woodlands checkpoint

After leaving Singapore, the train takes about 6 hours to reach Kuala Lumpur, where we have a short stopover, unfortunately underground, as new passengers board the train. (in total there's about 20 stops between Singapore and Butterworth. 

Onboard the No 2 train from Singapore to Butterworth

All in all it's a very rewarding, but also exhausting, first day. Lots of new impressions and beautiful scenery (a train ride through the jungle really is something special), but I clearly need to get used to spending (half) days in the train. 

View from the train somewhere between KL and Penang

Tomorrow will be the next part of the trip: from Butterworth to Bangkok in 22 hours by sleeper train. Once in Bangkok, I'll have 4 hours to get to the airport and board my flight to Kolkata... let's hope there's no delays along the way!

Greets from Penang, Malaysia!

Steven

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My ticket out of Singapore

The ticket for the very first leg of my six week journey has been bought... on July 3rd I'll be taking my seat 5D on the train from Singapore's Tanjong Pagar Station on Keppel Road for the 14 hour ride to Butterworth in Malaysia!!

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From Singapore to Fontainebleau, overland...

This summer, I will be traveling from INSEAD's Asia campus in Singapore to the European campus in Fontainebleau, France by train, bus and car. During my six week trip I will cover roughly 20.000 kilometers and visit 12 countries.

I will try to keep you informed of my progress on this website, where ever I find internet access I will drop a couple of lines on my trip and upload some pictures of the previous stage of the journey.

To start off with, here's my planned route for this summer:

(click on the picture for a larger view)

I will start off by traveling from Singapore to Bangkok by train, a journey that takes almost 48 hours to complete and takes you along some of Malaysia and Thailand's most beautiful coastlines. From Bangkok, I will (unfortunately) have to take a plane to Kolkata, as overland travel from Thailand to Bangladesh/India is not possible because all border crossings with Myanmar are closed to foreigners.

From Kolkata I will travel by train to the border with Nepal where I will transfer to a local bus for the final 9 hours to Kathmandu. Here I will spend a couple of days to sort out my visa for China and Tibet (unfortunately, a Tibet Tourist Permit can only be obtained in Kathmandu). From Kathmandu I will travel onwards to Lhasa in Tibet through the Himalayas, stopping over for one night at the Mount Everest Base Camp (EBC). The whole stretch from Kathmandu to Lhasa will take me approximately 3 days by car (4x4).

Next I intend to spend a couple of days in Lhasa before I continue my trek onwards to central China. I will have roughly 10 days to get from Lhasa to Shanghai and this part of the trip is still a bit fuzzy. However, Xi'an and Kunming are high on my list of places to visit in central/western China.

After arriving in Shanghai and meeting up with everyone staying there this summer, I will go on towards Beijing where I will have to catch my train to Ulan Bator, the capital of Mongolia. I will spend a good two days checking out Mongolian culture before embarking on the (hopefully) longest non-stop train ride of my life. 100 hours exactly will stand in my way between Ulan Bator and Moscow.

Once in Moscow, I will take some time to refresh myself after the Trans-Mongolian Express experience and explore Russia's capital for a day or two. Once I feel like hopping on a train again I will catch the overnight express from Moscow to Warsaw via Belarus. With only 12 hours in Warsaw I hope I'll find some time to meet up with some of you who'll be staying there before I check in on another sleeper train. This leg of my journey will take me home to Amsterdam! Arriving somewhere mid August, I'll have another two weeks to complete the final part of my trek to Fontainebleau. How I'll get there I'll decide somewhere along the way...

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