RKS 2025 Travel: Destination Southeast Asia (Short Attention Span Version):16October2025: Eastern & Oriental Express Embarrassing Good-Bye and a Brutal Travel Day

16October2025: Eastern & Oriental Express Embarrassing Good-Bye and a Brutal Travel Day

A rough jerky night on the train. Feeling a tad better but when you don’t feel up to snuff even a luxurious Pullman Cabin equates to being a sardine in a tin can. No appetite so half a croissant and a sip of water.

Tipped our steward Keith and then off the train to the station platform. Our tour director organized a “ceremony” where the train staff lined up to receive a group tip. You can always be cheaper on a group tip! The whole event had a reek of superiority and servility to it.

So here it went;

1. Check out of Malaysia with eye scans, fingerprint scan and passport scan.
2. Check into Singapore with a corresponding host of scans.
3. Board bus for trip to Singapore Airport for the flight to Bangkok. Leave luggage on bus.
4. Arrive at Singapore Airport.
5. Pick up luggage.
6. Wait two hours for flight. The flight was paid for by ABC International our tour company but most irritatingly they failed to ask us for seating choice. Managed to get a bulkhead seat at check in.
7. Through airport security and yet more scans.
8. On Thai Airways for a 90-minute flight to Bangkok. The food was a slight notch above standard airline food but after the stellar cuisine aboard the train it just about turned my stomach.
9. More entry into Thailand scans.
10. Back on a bus to the departure point for a night cruise where a “local cocktail” was served and a minute appetizer. ABC International can’t spring for more than a COSTCO size sample it seems.

Alvin was to be our guide in Thailand and he certainly was a lively card but being so tired after a gruelling travel day his loud voice lead to a mental and nonverbal prompt of, “Just shut up. You are giving me a headache.”

Horrific traffic to our next destination a hotel where our boat would take us on a scenic night cruise of the Chao Phraya River with dinner and of course the parsimonious ABC International command of only two drinks per person during the two-and-a-half-hour cruise! Thousands of dollars spent on this tour and treated like adolescents. The food was excellent and the night skyline and illuminated buildings were spectacular. Bus to Peninsula Hotel. Had a shower and collapsed into bed past midnight. What a long day. Get that feeling I am in the military.

A piece of advice about the Eastern & Oriental Express. Unless you are a single person avoid the minute Pullman Cabin as it denigrates an otherwise blissful and memorable experience.