I woke to a distinctly strange sensation. I wasn’t sure quite what it was at first. Then I got it. It was one of stillness and a total lack of movement in any direction. I reached for my clock to find out what the time was, but it wasn’t on the table next to my berth. In fact there was then a further incomprehensible discovery. There seemed to be no edges to my bed at all – it stretched on and on in all directions, well beyond the dimensions of my compartment. It took my brain about 30 seconds to […]
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I re-edited this post to enter The Daily Telegraph’s “Just Back” competition. It subsequently became selected in the best monthly blog feature at Lonely Planet.I woke with a jolt to the bright daylight streaming through my frozen compartment window on the train bound for Vladivostok. Outside there are snow-covered trees illuminated by the low winter sun as far as the eye can see. As I head down the carriage to make a cup of coffee I pass a Russian boy travelling with his mother. He smiles at me and tells me in perfect English “it’s a beautiful forest”. It’s probably […]
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I’m not a beach person, and just like the line in Alex Garland’s novel of the same name, I have found a beach for people who don’t actually like beaches. It’s called An Bang beach, and it’s not far up the road towards Da Nang from my base in Hoi An. The purpose of my visit is to seek out another personal recommendation from Neville of a great place to eat – his restaurant tips are sometimes not easy to spot or discriminate from the other places around them. On this occasion its a place called “Tuyet” which is a […]
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Up at 06.30 today for another culinary adventure! This time it was a taste tour of Hoi An, run by a lovely retired Aussie couple, Neville and Colleen. They have moved to Hoi An and have an encyclopedic knowledge of every possible type of food and the best place to try it. Neville is seen here chatting up one of the many characters we meet along the way.. So I spent the morning meeting interesting locals and sampling dishes – 44 in all. I will just share a few discoveries here.. (and this isn’t the order I ate them in). Pictured […]
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I have waited 24 hours before writing this post just in case there were going to be any health consequences of my recent street food banquet. I’m pleased to report that I’m feeling fine. So a day munching through the streets of the old quarter with a guide called “Johnny” from a great little company called Vietnam Awesome Travel that I tracked down from TripAdvisor. Lunch started at 11.30 and finished at 16.30! The idea is only one dish at each place, washed down with some Hanoi Beer of course.. There was a mixed international group of about ten of […]
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I’ve had a super day cruising the chaotic streets of the old quarter of a Hanoi – more on this in another post, but if thought I would first share my love of Vietnamese coffee with you (I know that some of you are already champions of the cause though..) One of the enduring good things the French did in Vietnam (other than import its taste in baking, brewing and the guillotine) was to popularise coffee and cafe culture, and it thrives today across the country. At the end of a long lunch (about seven courses in five places – […]
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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 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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You get just a day to try your hand at some good and very reasonably priced Mongolian fare. The restaurant takes Yuan, so no need to do a black market deal for local currency (of course they say no one will take anything else at the border!) The menu is in English, Chinese and Mongolian with pictures of the main dishes. Highlights for me are the beef dumpling soup, the “Traveller’s Beef” and the Russian Champanska. The best local beer is a bottle of Golden Gobi, and to give you an idea, the filling dumpling soup and a GG beer will cost […]
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Okay, so here’s how it works. The restaurant is kind of franchised to a Russian couple on this train. They cook food to order and have a Russian menu with approximate English translations. There is a plentiful supply of cold beer and warm vodka. Hardly any locals eat here, it’s just really for rich and decadent Western tourists. About 80% of what is on the menu is unavailable, but in my experience of two trips, there is a plentiful supply of fresh salmon, pork, beef, ham, eggs & cheese and potatoes. There are even a couple of vegetarian options. The coffee is […]
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