It’s easy to be charmed by Henry Golding, with his mysterious dark mop of hair and pale skin not unlike Robert Pattinson from the big-screen vampire series The Twilight Saga. Twenty threeyear- old, Sarawak-born Golding moved from London to Malaysia in April 2008 after spending his time in the UK since he was 9 years old. His brush with hosting came when his housemate forwarded his CV to one of the producers of 8TV. Golding then became one of the regular faces at the local station’s ‘The Quickie’.

He was also working between Singapore and Malaysia, when talks began for a travel reality programme, also with producers of ‘The Quickie’. The show, Welcome to the Rail World, is a collaboration between the Ministry of Tourism Malaysia and Canon. In it, Golding is a lone-traveller, hopping on one train to another on board Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM), Malaysia’s national train system. Viewers are taken on an escapade to explore the diversity of Malaysia’s cultures, traditions and gastronomic adventures.

Riding on a train stirred past memories too. “It’s really nostalgic – when I was younger I used to take the train in the UK, so I was quite used to taking the transport,” Golding reminisces. “It’s miraculous the places that KTM could reach. These are really kampungs. It’s amazing how many people depend on it.”

The experiences Golding took back with him were priceless mementos, forever etched in his heart. “In one episode I went squid-jigging with a local fisherman in the middle of the ocean, on a little fishing boat. As soon as I put my rod in the water, I hooked a massive squid. Two hours later, I didn’t catch anything more,” he laughs. “It was getting to midnight, and the crew was getting seasick. Suddenly we were stuck in sandbank – the tide doesn’t come back until 5.30 in the morning!” Golding ended up sleeping on the roof of the boat. “It was a pretty amazing experience, a real test of patience.”

Another destination he fondly remembers is Tasik Chini (Lake Chini). “It is one of the most beautiful places that we went to. The water was like glass. It was also the time the lotus and lily pads were blooming so it was bright pink,” he describes. It is here that he met members of the Jakun tribe, one of the oldest indigenous tribes in Malaysia.

“We’re already talking about the next travel show, not by railway this time. I would love to do an international show like Travel & Living,” Golding reveals. Overall, it has been an unforgettable journey and he emerges a new individual with a different perception of people and his country.