Travel planning in South East Asia - buses, ferries, flights, railways

The transport-minister of Thailand has confirmed that construction on a much delayed rail project will start in December. Arkhom Termpittayapaisith told attendees at a seminar arranged by Thailand Post Publishing that contracts for the first phase of the 250km line were in their final stages of preparation.

The Lao capital city of Vientiane offers a varied selection of attractions and enticements to visit. Key attractions include the Patuxai Victory Arch, Pha That Luang Pagoda and the Lao National Museum. A walk along city streets takes visitors past colonial edifices and chateaus which could have been uprooted from French provincial towns and plonked down in downtown Vientiane.

Modern day travellers have the chance of following in Rudyard Kipling’s footsteps by taking the Road to Mandalay. As part of an expansion of ticketing choices for travel in Myanmar, 12GO now offers the option of buying tickets for Yangon Central to Mandalay trains.