Cumbersome connecting flights

* Picture copyright by FF, taken in Ho Chi Minh City, 14 February 2010

Last Valentine's Day/Chinese New Year was a bit of a record for me: 4 countries in 12 hours (well, more or less). I had to travel to Manila from Vientiane for an office mission - I need to stop to Phnom Penh, then to Ho Chi Minh (or Saigon, as some people still say that), then finally a 3-hour flight to Manila. Cumbersome connecting flights, indeed.

I prefer to travel with trains rather than airplanes. I hate heights. I hate the takeoff and landing part, plus, airplanes cause more carbon emission than trains. Which reminds me, I might have to offset my carbon emissions due to my mileage. I must say, I reckon it's my number one environmental sin.

The ASEAN region unfortunately do not have a comprehensive railway system like Europe. I think there's the Singapore-Kunming railway link but I have no idea whether this is already well established or not. The thing is, even if there's a railway system in ASEAN, we still need to fly to Brunei, Indonesia, and the Philippines. So I guess cumbersome connecting flights such as these are unavoidable after all.