Eastern & Oriental Express Train & Singapore

Sunday, October 13, 2024
Singapore, Singapore
Friday
We left the hotel (Kansai airport) with no breakfast since we should be able to get something in the lounge for our 10:55am departure to Singapore.  It was a longish walk to SA check in and then an even longish 'walk'  to the lounge where we did manage to get a coffee and muesli. This was a communal - with other airlines - lounge so was very busy.
It was a five or so hour flight so naturally I caught up with a film. This time was  'You've got Mail' with a young Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.. It was good to see some old technology as the film was made in 1998.
We hadn't travelled with Singapore Airlines for awhile (10 years?) so I was interested in what changes had been made in Business Class. They still have slightly wider  chairs so when reclined your body was at an angle. I didn't find this so comfortable. Food was good.

Arrived into Singapore about 5:00pm and caught a taxi to the Fullerton Hotel where we meet up with the rest of the SJR group.
We are staying for three nights before joining the Eastern & Oriental Express train for three nights.
Owen had booked us into the Executive level which entitled us to free drinks & nibbles from 5:30pm - 7:30pm which of course we took as an evening meal.
There were 26 of us most of whom we knew from previous trips.
I was amused to see in our bathroom a special faucet installed by the sink for filtered drinking water, also to find out the Fullerton in Singapore was the old Post Office just as the Fullerton in Sydney. A glass drink bottle was also supplied instead of plastic.
Saturday
Hot and humid day
A 9:00am start for the trip to the cable car trip to Sentosa Island. 
This is quite spectacular and is well worth the trip, unfortunately the trip onto Faber Island  was not working, this gave us time to go up on the Sky Helix a device which takes you up 30m and then you revolve around for 10 minutes or so.

After returning we were taken to the Botanic gardens for an an hour or so looking at the orchids which were spectacular. I admired the bat orchid.
We returned back to the Fullerton for a 1:00pm Yum Cha lunch, sixteen courses, which took a about three hours.
I don't think we did much in the afternoon however turned up for drinks and nibbles at about 6:00pm. 
Sunday
Another 9:00am start this time for few hours at the Zoo, I was able to hire an electric chair which made life a little easier. We saw bearded pigs and tigers among other animals. Went past the Australian enclosure but for some reasons chairs were not allowed.
Got back to the hotel about 2:00pm.
Leith went to the Peranakan museum which was very interesting. The Peranakans were families made from intermarriages with the many different nationalities of traders passing through Singapore. They had there own language.
A bit of free time before a visit to the Night Zoo. We decided not to go since we had done the visit two years ago.
We had a very nice meal in  the hotel.
Monday
Packed in the morning for a 1:45pm pickup to be taken to the train at Woodlands station. I didn't realize how big Singapore is since it took us 35 mins to get there. 
We walked through Singapore and then Malaysia customs and then boarded the Eastern & Oriental Express for a three night trip into Malaysia.
This train was richly decorated with great wood work but carried around 60 passengers, limited by the two dining cars. We were in the State carriage which only has four compartments. It had twin berths rather than bunks. Only a little smaller than the Japanese train but a lot less room for luggage.
Luckily we only had one carriage- the President Suites - to get to the lounge carriage. Then we had to walk through a staff carriage, spa and shop carriage, to get to the first dining carriage.  At the other end of the train there was a fine observation carriage which I never walked down since it was five carriages away. I did see the outside of it when the train was at a platform.
It started to rain just as we departed, luckily for us.
Afternoon tea was served at 4pm and dinner at 6:30pm. Good meal only four courses with a choice of mains.
After dinner there were a couple of musicians in the lounge bar, we stayed for awhile and then went to bed.
Tuesday
Dull day but with no rain
I didn't sleep well since we rocked and rolled a bit during the night on our way to Meropoh. Here we disembarked for some off train excursions.
We chose the 'Spirit of Taman Negara'. This turned out to be about a two hours drive through the Taman Negara National Park in a largish utility. Two of us in the cabin with driver/guide and Leith and a couple of others in the tray (on seats) with their own guide.
The guides were very proud of the park which they say is bigger than Singapore.  Much bigger I looked it up 4343km compared with 750km!
Home of tigers and elephants and many different birds, we did see some elephant footprints.
Outside the park we drove past palm oil plantations, Malaysia's prime export. Apparently the trees only last 10-12 years before needing to be re-planted.
Back on the train by 12:30am for lunch.
Spent the afternoon in the train while we traveled up to Butterworth, passing through many palm oil plantations.
Wednesday
Today we arrived in Butterworth.
Breakfast in the dining car, then off the train, where we walked to the ferry terminal to take us to  Georgetown, the capital of the island of Penang. We had decided on a rickshaw experience, this meant we had a rickshaw each and were pedaled around the town for about an hour. 
Our first stop was a temple which was famous for its string puppets and opera performances. We had a demonstration and lesson.
We were then pedaled around not knowing where we were going, I tried to follow on the map with limited success. By this time it quite hot but luckily not to humid. The driver knew of a coffee shop where we could get a coffee which had air conditioning and would take a credit card; this was a good idea.
We were taken back to the ferry and then the train about midday for lunch on the train.
We spent the afternoon in our cabin while travelling back towards Singapore. The train stopped for an hour or so in Ipoh where Leith and others could go for a escorted walk.
Dinner with Owen & Takako, we were most surprised that at the end of the meal the wait staff came around and sang 'Happy Birthday' to Leith, a day early, since tomorrow we leave the train.

Thursday
 We had a good nights sleep because at some stage during the night our train was stationary due to a breakdown of the train ahead.
This mean't we were two and half hours late back into Singapore.
Before getting there the train stopped at Johor Bahru which is the Malaysian town at the border. Here we had to get off the train walk into a customs hall and have our passports stamped. We then got back on the train to cross the Johor Strait into Singapore to finally arrive at Woodlands station to have our passports stamped again.
We finally go back to the hotel for a late lunch at 3:00pm
Luckily our room was ready, different to the one before.
Leith had time to visit another nearby museum.
Our last dinner with our friends in the Executive Lounge
Friday
An early start since we wanted to leave the hotel at 6:30am catch 9:35am SA flight to Sydney.
Much to my annoyance I saw an email when in the taxi to the airport that our plane was delayed an hour, the email was sent at around midnight!
So we had a bit of time in the lounge and linger over breakfast
Finally boarded the plane for the daylight flight home.
Caught up with:
Everlasting Days 2024 Italian movie Not bad, I had never heard of it.
American Dreamer 2022 with Shirley McLaine. Older Shirley but she still has a great smile.
I was very disappointed with the selection, no 'Classics' film category.
Arrived into Sydney about 7:45pm to a very empty airport.
Home by 9:00pm!
Both trains were richly decorated and worth the money. Certainly with only 20 passengers on the Seven Stars we were well looked after, however the E&O was interesting since it showed us Malaysia. Both travelled at night so we were rocked and rolled a bit.
However, we did enjoy ourselves.

Comments

Jenny
2024-11-12

These have been truly so interesting! Thank you David xx

Yiu Lam
2024-11-12

Owen certainly arranges some very interesting train trips for you and top shelf accommodation. I have never been to Malaysia but one of my old colleagues was originally from the highlands in Penang. Apparently it is very nice up there. Wonder what rates as the best train trip you have ever taken? Thanks again for sharing.

2025-02-09

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