My carriage fills up with a few Chinese passengers once we are on the way to Harbin. It’s good to have some company in the carriage, but they are mainly very noisy and not too social. Late in the evening I pass a short but very fit man in the corridor who now lives next door. He has tied back shoulder length grey hair and he bows deeply when he sees me, with his hands clasped together. He makes a sound like you hear in a martial arts dojo – “Ouooooooos”. Am I now in the company of a reincarnation […]
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Sergei hurries me off the train once we reach Zabailask, I have no idea why. I literally just grab my day bag and get off the train. I’m not clear how this is going to work. There seem to be some immigration people here, but all they seem to be interested in at present is their lunch. I play it cool, and see if I can do the same. Once inside the station, all I find is an empty waiting room next to an empty immigration room. There seem to be about six of us and I think the others are […]
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I’m pretty confused about the border ahead – I can make no sense of the timetable and everyone has a different version of it, so I’m going to need to be flexible with my planning. Valerie has taken to passing me notes with helpful things written on, as his English is nearly as bad as my Russian. This morning his note says just one thing “-31C”. This kind of ties in with my bathroom experience, as the toilet had frozen solid. If you want a technical explanation, this is because the water supplying it should be heated, but my WC […]
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I have been doing quite a bit of reading this week about my planned journey from Beijing via Golmud up to Lhasa. I’m really trying to get my head around the enormity of what has been built and there is a serious danger that I might accidentally slip into trainspotter speak. Not only the highest railway in the world, but the highest tunnel, the longest mountain tunnel and specially built on supports in the permafrost (with passive heat exchangers, what ever they might be). There are 675 bridges and the trains have an enriched oxygen atmosphere onboard. You can read […]
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21.30 (local) Good evening, and welcome to another episode of “border games”. It’s been a relaxing day, drinking tea, dozing, taking pictures of the fantastic landscape around Guilin whilst eating fiery stew from the restaurant carriage. Tonight I am starting with some “pre border, border games” at Nanning station. This is the last big city before the crossing, and most people finish their journey from Beijing here. Except me! My guard (seen here slightly annoyed with me taking pictures of everything!) got me out of my carriage (but my luggage is left in it) and handed me over to a member […]
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Morning form somewhere in Hunan province. I’m getting used to the way this train works and I really like it. If you want to catch a slice of China on the move, then just leave the door to your compartment open – not only do the locals come to stare, but you get to see all the people selling things “door to door”. These range from food & beverages, magazines, and sets of nail clippers through to iPads (that have probably not been designed in California). In fact its like a sort of Chinese “shopping channel”! Having recently read “The […]
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I’m on the train. Its massive – at least 20 carriages long, mainly consisting of second class hard sleepers (with the population of a small town settling in). It was a bit of a leap of faith getting this far as the system of waiting rooms, ticket check ins, scrum downs and carriage numbering are pretty alien to my Western brain. I’m in carriage L2. Where do you find that that when they won’t let you on to carriage number 2 and you only speak three words of Mandarin? The answer I discovered is that it’s at the slightly posher […]
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I have been on R&R in Beijing over Christmas. Its a strange time with modern China getting in on the commercial side without really understanding its meaning. That said, I’m happy to be here, and I love the place. The main downside here to me is access to my blog and Twitter is blocked by the government, so I now have two weeks of travel news to update you on when I reach Hanoi. Other than that the only other mild annoyance is the large number of well polished scammers that target Westerners everywhere with a brilliant story about their art […]
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Distance travelled so far: 9336 km. Distance left to go to Singapore: 9152 km Final morning on the train before we arrive at Beijing. Time for a rather early lunch in the Chinese restaurant carriage, and then some packing and exchanging plans with fellow travellers. No idea why, but lunch is strictly served between 10.30 and 11.30 this morning. No menu as such, but all quite friendly and efficient. As seems to be normal in a Chinese restaurant car, a policeman is on hand to prevent possible noodle theft and black market exchanges of meal coupons! The scenery is totally […]
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Distance covered: 12,490 km, distance to go: 0 km – the finish! Shanghai Longyang Road Station to Pudong International Airport 3 C, sunny, GMT +8. Distance: 30 km, journey time 7 minutes, max speed 431km/h (268 mph) Well here we go for the last train of this trip – but one seemingly without rails! It’s a 20 minute taxi ride from the Bund to Longyang Road, where the downtown Maglev station is to be found. A short hike up an escalator, then you buy a ticket (mine was a first class or “VIP” ticket, one way, discounted if you show […]
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