Nomadic Notes Update (December 2024)
Site news for Nomadic Notes, the HCMC Metro Guide, and other sites I'm working on.
Welcome to the Nomadic Notes Newsletter, featuring a summary of the latest posts, site updates, and other unblogged ramblings. A reminder that the Nomadic Notes Newsletter is now monthly(ish) and the weekly travel reads is at The Travel Wire.
Greetings from Vung Tau, Vietnam. I’m here over the New Year period to do my year in review and to plan for the year ahead. I like to do my year in review by the sea, so I here I am at the closest beach to Saigon.
[Vung Tau Front Beach (@nomadicnotes).]
Travel updates
My main plan for this month was to be back in Saigon in time for the opening of the HCMC Metro on December 22. I’ve been following the trials and tribulations of its construction since 2012, so I wanted to be there on opening day. 2102 also happened to be when I started basing myself in Saigon on a part-time basis, so the metro construction has been a constant in the 12 years that I have been there.
I started this month in Bangkok to attend a rail conference that ended up being cancelled. December is the best month to visit Bangkok, so there were no complaints from me. It was a good chance to catch up with friends there.
I then got the train from Bangkok to the Cambodia border. After staying in the notorious border city of Poipet, I got a van to Battambang. The current working railway in Cambodia is from Battambang to Phnom Penh, and Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville. I rode the entire length of Cambodia’s rail network, staying at the main places along the way.
[On the train between Battambang and Phnom Penh.]
There is no train from Cambodia to Vietnam, so went by bus via the Mekong Delta to get back to Saigon.
What I’ve been working on
Nomadic Notes
In between the busy travel schedule and working on my other sites, I’ve not posted anything on Nomadic Notes for the last month. I will restart blogging with updates on the railways of Cambodia, including the refurbished Japanese trains that are operating from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville.
Future Southeast Asia
My plan for 2025 is to post more trip reports and editorials at Future Southeast Asia, and I have posted more articles there this month.
Ho Chi Minh City Metro Guide
I started a HCMC Metro guide to put all of my metro notes in one place, and the site has taken off since the metro opened.
I posted a summary of my first day on the metro, and I have now been to every station on the line (14 stations) to get more photos for future guides.
[Yours truly on the HCMC Metro]
The Travel Wire
The travel links section that used to be in the Nomadic Notes Newsletter is doing well at its new home at The Travel Wire. I’ve now published 15 editions, so from 2025 I will reduce the Nomadic Notes branding as older subscribers should be used to the name by now.
Other travel newsletters
I have some other travel-themed newsletters that I have paused while I work on higher priority sites. I also have some new travel newsletter ideas for topics that aren’t being covered (or at least by how I want them covered). The last thing I need is more newsletter responsibilities, so I need to think about this in my plan for 2025.
2025 plans
I will return to Thailand in January to renew my passport. I have renewed my last two passports in Bangkok, so I am keeping the tradition alive, but I am on standby for a visit to Australia in case I can’t.
Have a great 2025 and thanks for following Nomadic Notes!
…
James Clark – Vung Tau, Vietnam.
(Follow me on Bluesky at @nomadicnotes.bsky.social.)