Christmas in Bangkok
The light in the darkness of Greenland, he bought a lighthouse, and you'll want to go to Bhutan after watching this video.
BANGKOK - It’s Christmas eve in Bangkok, but I am only aware of the season when I step into a mall. Oddly enough, the MRT is playing Christmas carols on station platforms but the BTS Skytrain remains a Christmas-free zone.
I’ve been spending a lot of my time visiting new malls and the construction sites of three new metro lines that are being built. I’ve posted an article (Bangkok construction update for 2021) that covers what is being built this year, and a metro report is next.
[EmSphere under construction in Bangkok.]
To wash away the construction dust, I took a break to Koh Samet this week. It’s the closest nice island to Bangkok, and I was glad to see the sea on this trip.
My one month in Thailand is coming to an end already, so it’s time to move on (in an age when moving on is complicated). Most of my newsletter peers seem to be taking a publishing break over the holiday period, but I will check in next week, even if it is a reduced service.
Wishing you a happy festive season!
Assorted travel reads
“What does the darkest time of year look like in Greenland?”
“Randy Polumbo won the 1899 Orient Point landmark in a government auction and turned it into an artists’ retreat.”
• Letter from Germany: A train journey through Prussia’s heartlands
“The not-quite vanished state is central to the history of Europe. Riding the RE1 train from Brandenburg to the Polish border, I find its ghosts linger on.”
• The Man In Seat 61 on global train travel, hidden subsidies, and Burmese numerals
• Bhutan is high on my list of places to visit next, and now this fun video makes me want to go more (so well played, marketing folk at Drukair, Royal Bhutan Airlines).
• Inside the campaign to save an imperiled Cambodian rainforest
“Deep in the Southern Cardamom Mountains, former loggers and poachers have assumed new roles as protective rangers and ecotourism guides. Can their efforts help preserve a vast stretch of wilderness?”
• As-Salt: The Middle East's city of tolerance and generosity
• Why does Italy have a ‘Trans-Siberian’ railway?
“A photographer captures the magic of Abruzzo’s mountain towns along the Sulmona-Carpinone route, which carries a curious nickname.”
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The Nomadic Notes Travel Newsletter is a weekly newsletter of the best travel reads and interesting travel news from around the web, and random ramblings by the editor.
- James Clark
That train trip through Italy looks amazing. Noted for the next time we're there.