Posts by: Philipp Babcicky

I scheduled only one day in Hanoi since it was time to get to China – where I planned to stay at least two weeks or longer. The most convenient way to travel from Hanoi to China is to take a direct train to Nanning. I’ve already bought a ticket for this direct train when [...]

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Day 13: Hanoi

On May 3, 2011 By Philipp Babcicky

After three days in the same train I finally arrived in Hanoi for which I’ve scheduled only one day. So after having breakfast close to the train station, I walked to the Temple of Literature (Van Mieu) which was the nation’s first university. It’s considered as a must-visit in Hanoi and as a jewel of [...]

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It was time to head to the northern part of Vietnam – which meant to spend three days and two nights on one single train. I managed to organise a soft-sleeper ticket (1,475,000,- Dong) for this trip which guaranteed a more or less comfortable ride to Hanoi. The train left at 11pm and it was [...]

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After leaving Cambodia, my first stop in Vietnam was in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon. Although I’ve originally planned to only stay one night in this city, it finally became two, since the train tickets to Hanoi for the following day have already been sold out. During my stay I got the [...]

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Good morning Vietnam – it was time to leave Cambodia and to head to closest major city in Vietnam which is Ho Chi Minh City (formerly known as Saigon). Siem Reap (Cambodia) is off the railway system and besides taking a boat along the river to the south (expensive and slow) the only option left [...]

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I took a train from Bangkok (Thailand) to Poipet (Cambodia) which left at 05:50am in the morning to the Thai-border at Aranya Prathet. The train is not the fastest and stops at even the smallest villages, however the journey is exciting if you like completely packed coaches, mosquitos, dust and smoke from burning plantations and [...]

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My initial idea was to cross the border between Malaysia and Thailand at Rantau Panjang (close to Kota Bharu) but recent bomb attacks on trains and killed tourists didn’t sound inviting at all. The only alternative was to go all the way to the western end of Malaysia and to cross the border on the [...]

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Singapore is connected to Malaysia by a one kilometre causeway in the north (Woodlands) to Johor Bahru (Malaysia) which is the first stop after the border-crossing. After the immigration-procedure in Johor Bahru I continued my trip further north. The destination of this trip was Wakaf Bahru (close to Kota Bharu), located in the North-East of [...]

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Singapore

On April 3, 2011 By Philipp Babcicky

As it is impossible to take a train from Australia to South-East Asia (yes, there is heaps of water between Australia and South-East Asia), I decided for Singapore as my starting-point for my train-trip back home to Austria. Singapore is the closest place to Australia with land-connections to the rest of South-East Asia.

On the [...]

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