The rail runs through it

August 31, 2009 by  
Filed under Related Interests

The bamboo rail transporting firewood in Cambodia. -- CAROLINE CHIA/THE STRAITS TIMES

The bamboo rail transporting firewood in Cambodia. -- CAROLINE CHIA/THE STRAITS TIMES

AS THE train pulls away from Tanjong Pagar, factories loom like skyscrapers and squat houses acquire an imposing air. Familiar sights turn foreign even before we cross the border. Our journey across five countries has just begun. Inside the chilly carriages of KTM’s Ekspres Rakyat to Butterworth, Mr Bean stumbles his way through gaffes on the Samsung flatscreen television as a family tucks into a breakfast of bread and apricot jam. Other passengers catch a nap on plush fabric seats before we hit the checkpoint at Woodlands. It will be the first of four borders we pass in our bid to travel 5,000km to the edge of China via the route of the Singapore-Kunming Rail Link project.

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