Nomadic Notes Newsletter (January 2026)
[Ho Chi Minh City Update] Seeing in the Year of the Horse in Ho Chi Minh City, Notes on Dong Ha, KL to JB by train (and onwards to Singapore).
Welcome to the Nomadic Notes Newsletter. This newsletter summarises the latest posts at nomadicnotes.com, site updates, and other unblogged ramblings.
Travel updates
Hello from Ho Chi Minh City! The newsletter continues to be bimonthly (every two months) as I have not been blogging frequently of late.
Since my last update, I have been in Thailand and Cambodia, and am now back in Vietnam.
I’m visiting some new (to me) islands this year, and I started with Hon Son off the Mekong Delta coast. Here are some photos of Hon Son, and a trip report is coming soon.
I usually do an end-of-year review for business in December, and January is when I start planning in earnest for travel. The start of the year is locked in months in advance, as that is when I like to go back to Australia. I am back in Australia in Feb/Mar, then I fly back to Vietnam. After that, it looks like it will be China (first trip back since pre-pandemic). I’m also overdue to visit some new (to me) countries, so more on that later.
For now, I am happy to be back in Ho Chi Minh City in the lead-up to Tet (lunar new year). May your Year of the Horse be a good one!
[Seeing in the Year of the Horse in Ho Chi Minh City.]
Latest posts at Nomadic Notes
• Notes on Dong Ha – Living with the legacy of life by the DMZ
“Dong Ha is not a touristy town, though you might pass through here if you are doing a DMZ tour. It was the northernmost city in South Vietnam, and the city was in ruins by the time the war ended. There is not much to see in the city.“
Updated posts at Nomadic Notes
• Kuala Lumpur to Singapore/Singapore to Kuala Lumpur by train
There is now an electric train that goes all the way from Kuala Lumpur to Johor Bahru, where you can cross the border to Singapore. There is still no direct train service from KL to Singapore, but this new service makes the trip a bit quicker.
This update includes the new timetables, and I plan to do this trip in February.
What I’ve been working on / My other sites
I run a few other newsletters, but I have decided to simplify my publishing this year by moving the newsletters to WordPress. I have previously run content sites on WordPress, with a separate newsletter on Substack or Beehiiv. Now the newsletters will just be blog posts, and I won’t feel the need to post on a regular schedule.
The Travel Wire
I moved The Travel Wire to WordPress, and I am looking to expand it into a directory for travel writing.
Future Southeast Asia
The Future Southeast Asia Newsletter is now unified under one domain instead of a domain and sub-domain. This is where I am doing most of my writing these days.
Southeast Asia Railways
I’m turning Southeast Asia Railways Newsletter into a full rail guide, so the newsletter is now part of https://www.southeastasiarailways.com. This is a monthly newsletter with the occasional article.
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James Clark – Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.