Where I’m At is my monthly travel and site update, and other random ramblings from the editor (me). More regular updates can be found at the weekly travel newsletter, which includes interesting travel reads from around the web.
Where I’ve been
This is an overview of where I’ve been over the last month. Detailed blog posts and trip reports usually follow a month or so later.
Thailand
March began in Udon Thani, where I had wrapped up a tour of the Isaan region. Udon Thani will be served by the Bangkok – Nong Khai high-speed railway, so I’m interested in seeing how provincial cities will change with better transport connections to Bangkok.
I ended up staying in Bangkok for most of the month while doing some other train-related side trips. I went to Rayong, which is candidate city for a future high-speed rail. Rayong City is not on many people’s travel radar, though there is a nice little old town area if you happen to be visiting.
I was at the end of my second month in a row in Thailand, and three months of the last four were spent in Thailand. With the prospect of not returning for a while, I snuck in one more beach trip to Hua Hin. I haven’t been there for years, and it has become a work-from-home hotspot during the pandemic. I was also here to have a look at the new train station and double-tracking project, so the next time I go it might be on a faster train. There was also talk of Hua Hin getting a high-speed railway, but this is unlikely to happen.
I will do full trip reports for Hua Hin and the rest of my Thailand travel later.
Australia
The last time I was in Australia was in October 2019. I usually make an annual visit to my homeland, but little did we know what was around the corner at the end of 2019. Previous to this, the only years I wasn’t able to visit Australia were 2000 (when I lived in London), and 2016 (when I put my back out and wasn’t travelling much). This is the first time I’ve missed two calendar years in a row (2020 and 2021), and it’s the longest I’ve been away (about 2 years and 5 months). I have some expat friends that haven’t been back to their homeland for 5-10 years, but I don’t plan to do that.
Being away for so long has made me more aware of changes that someone living here may not notice, so I will be blogging my notes on Melbourne once I have caught up with my Thailand travel posts.
Blog posts and other site news
Notes on Dubai – Expo 2020, South Asia food paradise, Dubai Marina, Palm Jumeirah and more
These articles are from my month in Bangkok in December 2021:
Notes on Bangkok – Thailand’s cautious reopening
Looking forward to your posts from Melbourne, James.
Hi James, this really helpful to me cause i have plan to visit melbourne soon. thankyou for this amazing post