Great Asian Railway Journeys

tv show

poster for Great Asian Railway Journeys

20 total episodes

-

1 seasons

First Aired January 27, 2020

Overview

Michael Portillo is in Southeast Asia, armed with his 1913 Bradshaw's Handbook. It will lead him on a spectacular 2,500-mile railway adventure across six countries. He explores towering megacities and magnificent mosques.

tv poster

Melaka to Johor Bahru

Season 1 - Episode 18 - 1h 30m

Air Date

February 19, 2020

Overview

Michael Portillo is in Malaysia on a 2,500-mile tour of south east Asia. His 1913 Bradshaw’s Guide takes him to Melaka, for centuries one of the greatest trading ports in the world. He tastes the spicy cuisine of the Kristang community, descendants of early 16th-century Portuguese settlers who mixed with local Malays. Continuing to Kluang amid fertile farmland, Michael joins in the pineapple harvest and discovers how Malaysia’s resources of tin and tropical fruit created a global market in food. Arriving at the tip of the Malaysian peninsula in Johor Bahru, Michael visits the palace of Sultan Abu Bakar, a canny and well-travelled monarch who became friends with Queen Victoria and used what he learned in Britain to modernise his realm. Michael learns how Malaysia’s first ever railway fell prey to an implacable foe.