Sentosa
Well, I'm back in Singapore. I have some cool stories and pictures from Malaysia to post, but they'll have to wait...well, until I set aside some time to organize and post those, along with the cool stories and pictures from Puerto Rico.
My sightseeing ambitions for today in Singapore were rather limited. I headed for Sentosa, which is an resort island off the south coast of Singapore, itself an island. I was actually headed for an island off the south coast of Sentosa. This island is, in fact, the southernmost point on the Asian continent. I headed there for three reasons. One, I find extremes interesting. Two, the site is a virtual geocache, and it allowed me to check off Singapore on the geocaching list. The third reason was not apparent to me originally, until I thought -- wait a second, how can this be considered the southernmost point in Asia? Parts of Borneo, definitely in Asia, are south of Singapore. If we're restricting ourselves to "continental Asia", well, this is an island. I finally realized that we were talking about the southernmost point in Asia, reachable by ground transportation. There are more southerly points, but this is the farthest south you can go without getting on a boat or a plane.
Then I remembered an article I read several years ago about the prospect of taking a train from Scotland to Singapore. This seemed to me to be a wonderful journey. There are a number of obstacles -- some of the train tracks don't exist yet (see this Asia Times article from earlier this year for an update), and at least a couple of countries aren't the best for an American to travel through. So I decided this trip is one I could take in retirement -- that'll give people plenty of time to build the railroads and, well, achieve world peace.
So the third reason is that this is one end of my journey. Maybe some day I'll come back here at the end of that trip. Most likely by then, someone will have built a bridge to an island slightly farther south, though.
Sentosa
On a positive note, I got to ride a monorail to Sentosa, and the rain stopped for long enough for me to see the site. On the other hand, it was very muggy, and switching from the train to the monorail required me to navigate through a mall. I decided to head for the Asian Civilisations Museum next, but I got caught in a downpour while trying to walk there from the mass transit station. At this point, my desire to be anywhere but home evaporated, and I headed back to the hotel. Sorry, George, but my trip to get a Singapore Sling will have to wait for some other trip. I showered and changed into whatever clean clothes I could scrounge, and am about to head back to my room to order room service.
- original URL: http://www.pseudoprime.com/2007/12/sentosa.html
jani
Of tips and rails
The "real" southernmost point of mainland Asia -- that is, one that doesn't require crossing two bridges and a causeway to get to -- is Tanjung Piai, Malaysia.
And while it'll be a good long while until you can travel from Europe to Asia via India, the long route via Russia and China is almost ready. At the moment, the only problem is hopping over from Vietnam to Thailand, as neither Cambodia nor Laos have workable rail networks. Fortunately, both countries are actively working on rectifying the situation, so with any luck it might be possible in as little as 5 years.
Jonboy
The Long Route
I don't have any problem with the long route.
Western Europe-Moscow-Beijing-Hanoi-Laos-Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore?
That seems more doable geopolitically than the short route.
Thanks for the info. I'll have to keep a closer eye on things!
jani
In more detail...
Here's a handy map of the region. The current railhead is at HCMC (Saigon), which can be reached from China either via Nanning or Kunming. Both links are (AFAIK) already operational despite being shown as dotted on the map.
The most likely candidate to be completed fairly soon is the Cambodian route, which has gaps in the network between Saigon and Phnom Penh, and again between Sisophon and Aranyaprathet (shown as "Poipet" on the map, which is the Cambodian side of the border). The Cambodian railways are in terrible shape and there are no passenger services between PP and Poipet at the moment, but the Cambodians have already been donated engines, tracks etc and all they pretty much need to do is, um, start doing something which them.
The second option is from Vung Anh to Nong Khai in Thailand. The first stretch of this from Nong Khai to Vientiane is actively under construction and may open as soon as 2008; the second (much longer) bit from Vientiane to Vietnam will take rather longer. Vietnam is pretty keen on getting this done though and, as the Lao PDR is buddy-buddy with their fellow Viet commies (unlike the much-invaded and perpetually suspicious Cambodians), this seems more politically likely.
The other dotted routes on the map through northern Laos and/or Myanmar into Thailand remain pipe dreams at the moment.
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