South-East Asia

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SIM registration and mall time

With no hotel breakfast today, I went down to McDonald’s located within my hotel building.  I ordered their Nasi Uduk which came with a piece of fried chicken (spicy option), egg, sambal and crispy shallots. It was yummy.  Even the rice, by itself tasted good.  It was compressed into a cube-like lump but very moist, […]

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Around Palembang

I was surprised to be issued breakfast vouchers (but realised they were given by mistake and there would be none for subsequent days).  It was a simple buffet of rice, chilli fish, veges and a few other things. Despite Ramadhan, I did see some Muslims eating.  It appears that Indonesia is more relaxed than Malaysia […]

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Palembang for nearly free

We landed about 10 minutes late into Singapore but it didn’t bother me as I had a scheduled 4h40 self-connect to Jetstar to Palembang (a flight that was nearly free apart from Singapore airport’s ever-increasing taxes). As with my last trip, we were parked at the far end of T3 at Changi which required a […]

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End of the rail adventure

I had set the alarm for 0745 as we had a windowless room. Combined with the 1h time change from Bangkok it is very easy to oversleep. We headed out about 0930 by train to Pasar Seni and Kasturi Walk. It was just for a wander so that Jo can say that she did something […]

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The adventure turns electric

Breakfast was served around 0800. The steward converted my bed back into seat and I had mine there with the gentleman from the upper bunk. Jo had hers in bed; oh what luxury. We stopped at Hat Yai Junction soon after. With the uncoupling of the Sungai Kolok vs Padang Besar carriages, there was a […]

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The rail adventure continues: Bangkok to Padang Besar

  With a 1510 train departure, we decided we’d have a massage between breakfast and 1200 check-out, then eat lunch before going to the train. That worked well until the massage places didn’t really have anyone there despite the nominal 1000 opening. Even though we went at 1030, they only managed to start on my […]

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Shopping day in Bangkok

  Today was dedicated to a little more shopping, mainly clothing for the grandkids. I asked the taxi to take us to Pratunam Market. We got dropped off outside a building called City Complex. Even though it was a wholesale clothing place, there didn’t appear to be much of interest inside. Jo did pick up […]

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Bangkok Sightseeing

  Today’s the hot and sticky day of sightseeing I had planned with Jo. Hopefully it will be just half day. Our hotel included a good set breakfast. That placed us in good stead for the explorations ahead. The easiest way to the Royal Palace & Wat Phra Kaew (Emerald Buddha) area was by the […]

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Flying to Bangkok

  Jo and I had separate rooms last night, the only night during our travels together. This cheap, well-located and highly-rated guesthouse only had double rooms and it didn’t break the bank for us to have two rooms. We woke early, had breakfast in my room. It was an easy day with a pick-up and […]

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Kota Bharu to Hat Yai

We woke to some birdsong, more like chirping actually, even though we had a windowless room (there may have been a birdhouse for swifts to make nests nearby).   We investigated breakfast options around the hotel and decided against walking to the market so that we wouldn’t get too hot and sweaty before the long […]

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