I’m writing this blog on a moving train, so it’s a Toad first. I’m on the East Coast service from Edinburgh to London today, which will also be the start of my big trip as far as Newcastle as I am taking the boat from there to Amsterdam. So from the comfort of seat 31 in coach L, let me tell you about Mr Raymond.. I finally decided that I would get an agent to sort out my Beijing – Shanghai ticket, so I have got CTT based in Hong Kong on the case. The ticket has cost about £40 […]
Preparing for blast off in Beijing (photo from Sydney Morning Herald) I loved the train information on the Beijing Travel website “Attendants on Beijing-Shanghai high speed train are aged 19 to 22 years with height above 165cm. All of these pretty girls have high education background with ability to speak both Chinese and English.” This sounds like my sort of train! The G (high speed) train looks quite different to the Trans-Siberian. Its going to cover the 1318 kilometres from Beijing South to Shanghai Hongqiao in 4 hours 48 minutes, travelling of speeds of up to 350 kmh. After a […]
The magic key and cork – an unlikely combination? The only reason I discovered the existence of the “golden key” was when I started looking into how to open the window to my compartment if it got too hot. I understand that in the winter it can do owing to the Russian desire for a “toasty feel” to the carriage. Given I’m hoping not to share my first SV compartment with anyone, there should be no arguments and I’m hoping to secretly get some ventilation. Rumours are to be found in several travel blogs that the key to the windows, […]
My shortlist of boots at attention on parade This post is a bit anoraky. Well actually its a bit booty.. Perfect for people sat in their homes thinking “Hang on, I’m off to Siberia next week, what shall I wear?”. More specifically – for footwear. Here is the challenge – what do you take when you know you are going to spend a few weeks on warm Chinese trains with occasional forays into freezing Siberian snow, and then a couple of weeks playing in the jungles and beaches of South East Asia? The answer is of course to pack several […]
Best leave the Russian dolls in Moscow! I’m going to take some train orientated films with me on my iPad for the trip. I have had to shortlist my top train classics… 1) “Transiberian” (2008) – Brad Anderson’s film with Woody Harrelson and Ben Kingsley. The plot might go a bit wonky towards the end, but the recreation of the train and the scenery is stunning. 2) “Horror Express” (1972) – Spanish made film with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing on the Trans-Siberian – zombies, Telly Savalas and a cult classic in the making! 3) “Von Ryan’s Express” (1965) – […]
Rations for Leg One – Amsterdam – Moscow I’m not convinced that I have enough food. My first journey is from Amsterdam to Moscow, two nights and one day. The train booking for the EN447 (D25/402) says that the attendant will sell “snacks” on board, but I have no idea what that means..or if there will be a samovar to provide boiling water (I’m not sure if you can eat a Pot Noodle without water?) Good coffee is a high priority for me, so I’m carrying a cheap plastic filter cone, unbleached papers and tinned ground coffee beans. You can […]
My small collection of Trans-Siberian adaptors and cables I have spent quite a bit of time trying to find out what sort of power there will be on the train. It would seem that some of the more modern carriages are equipped with a socket in every compartment, whereas others have just one shared socket in the corridor for the purposes of hoovering, plus maybe one in the Provnitsa’s private quarters..hopefully for use with a small payment. My thinking is firstly to have a back up source of charging my devices (see my post this month on the fantastic Power […]
The Space Simulator at “Star City”, near Moscow Did you see An Idiot Abroad on Sky this week? Personally I wasn’t sure what to expect, but there was actually only limited footage shot on the train itself. From what I could see Karl wasn’t on Train no. 4 as I had expected he might be – the first class wasn’t the SV (“luxury”) type.. you can tell as it would have had a chair and a door to a shared bathroom between two compartments.. I suspect second and third class were quite similar though. Train no. 6 perhaps? I liked […]
I popped into M&S yesterday – all nice and shiny now it is the UK’s newest bank. I have always used them for foreign currency as the rates seem pretty reasonable. My quest was actually for US Dollars, and lots of them, in small denomination notes. What I found out was that both Russian Roubles and Chinese Yuan are no longer restricted currencies, so I also got some landing currency for both of these countries – and they were in stock there and then in the branch. The Mongolian Tourag remains restricted, so I’ll have to do something on the […]
I’m going to apply for my Trans-Siberian visas next month. I’ll be needing visas for Belrus, Russia, Mongolia and China. The snag is that the Chinese visa only lasts for three months from the date that its issued, whereas I understand the other ones (Russia, Mongolia and Belarus) work on specific dates. More on this in a later post – I’m in the hands of the Real Russia visa team, who so far sound like real experts. Anyway, in preparation for the red tape ahead, I went to get some passport type photos taken yesterday. Thankfully I visited my local […]
