Eastern & Oriental Express
From March 18th to March 21st, 2024
Day 1
We flew in from Bangkok and were picked up at the airport and brought to the train station in Singapore North Coast
We were given our train tickets and we boarded the train while being greeted by a great big team dressed in colorful Malay traditional clothing
Like al the trains, we made it into our cabin and were greeted with a bit of caviar and champagne. The cabins were decorated beautifully as well to match the Malay theme
The train took off and we were on our way out of Singapore and began our journey into the Malaysian jungle. We immediately noticed how many types of palm trees were growing, wild animals roaming, construction and industrial sites, etc.
We unpacked our belongings as best we could, dressed up as best we could, and headed to the back of the train where the bar cart was serving fresh cold cocktails as we passed the city of Kulai.
Later that evening the piano was blasting incredible classic music, another musician was blowing on the saxophone, drinks were being served and all the train passengers were settling into the new atmosphere.
Day 2
The next morning we woke up around 7 to prepare for our first excursion at 8am. We made it to the town of Merapuh where a group of 15 young locals (all under the age of 20) prepared a song and dance for us as we disembarked from the train. It was a great greeting to their little city.
We hopped on our e-bikes and took off to discover the surrounding area on power wheels. We rode past a few rubber plans and were shown how the rubber gets extracted from the trees. We then came up to a cave in Raub called Guasisik Naga where we wandered inside using helmets, headlamps, and other candles.
We then hopped back on our bikes, toured through another cave full of bats, ate some local cheese (sambal gouda, beemster, montasio & double Gloucester), hopped on a truck bed and four-wheeled our way back to the luxury train.
Lunch, nap, a little work, then back to the bar cart it was, then dinner
Day 3
This morning the train stopped in Butterworth and we took off around 9:30am to make our way towards Penang. Once we got off the train, we found a parade of tuk tuk’s waiting for us to hop on and take us around town. We each got our own colorful and decorated tuk tuk, and just like that we were off to tour around the city.
The first stop was a temple in Georgetown, then we walked around for a bit, before hopping back on the tuk tuk and seeing another Indian temple in town called Sri Maha Mariamman. There was actually an Indian wedding going on and we were able to see locals sending their best to the “bride and groom”. It was really a beautiful sight to see. We then stopped off at another buddhist temple called Temple of the Goddess of Mercy.
It was so hot that we stopped off for a candy bar at a local convenience store. The sugar in the Oreo ice cream bar hit us like crack.
The last stop of the day was Penang Island, a sort of built out wooden pier with all kinds of shops separated by tarps. It seems you could have found any type of souvenir possible in the make-shift market place hovering above the water on pillars. We found a hipster part of town called Victoria Market and/or 35@Jetty, and could see ourselves spending more time there.
We made it back to the train for lunch while we passed over Bukit Merah Lake. More drinks, more bar cart, dinner, karaoke, sleep.
Day 4
We got off the train with new friends, incredible memories, and not-so-fun hangovers :)