My stay in South Korea is planned to be for just 24 hours. The Eastern Dream is breaking with its usual schedule and stoping here overnight. I’m guessing this is to let the crew have a night off for New Year. I have booked to stay in a hotel that is an hour away from the port. It’s famous in Korea for its view of the sunrise each day, and I’m staying here for the biggest sunrise of the year – bringing in the New Year. Oh, and yes it’s also a ship, built on a cliff. The problem with my plan […]
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I have had far too short a stay in Vladivostok. Thanks to some faultless organisation by my local agent, I was off the train, cleaned up and having dinner in my Korean hotel “nightclub” within an hour of arriving at the city’s historic station. The Rouble exchange rate allowed me to have a blow out meal with much beer for £25. But the perils of wifi meant I was up for several hours, and despite staying in a very comfy bed I only managed about three hours sleep. Priority number one the following morning (after a reasonable breakfast) was to […]
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After my first good night of rest on a train for this trip I arrived into Moscow at lunchtime today. Much to my disappointment it’s still quite warm here – just below freezing, but no snow lying in the city. It’s due to freeze good and proper on Friday, but it is just damp with a wintery wind today. I met up with Alexey (my resident interpretor, guide and fixer in Moscow) in the afternoon and we did some cosmonaut stuff. He reminds me that a couple of years ago we went out to a nearby airforce base in December […]
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I have had a short but enjoyable stay in Warsaw as I prepare to hop on the train to Moscow. I have been staying at the Marriott, an enormous property just a stone’s throw from the central station. One reason that I’m here is that I’m a big fan of the 80’s TV black comedy “A Very Peculiar Practice”. The last ever (feature length) episode “A Very Polish Practice” was partly filmed in the hotel. I’m big fan of Dr Bob Buzzard, played by David Troughton – who, in case you had not realised, is the son of the late […]
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Distance: 18 440 km – the finish! I’m writing this a day after my arrival – some time to decompress from the ups and downs of train travel. I know that not everyone loves the manic sense of order in Singapore, but I love it – more and more every time that I visit. If you know me you will perhaps understand why I like such a well planned and organised place. Things go from one extreme to the other on this trip. I hopped off a dirty train yesterday at Woodlands, and one hour later I was sat in […]
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I have checked in at the Eastern & Oriental Hotel. Founded by the Sarkies Brothers in 1885, and once described as “the finest hotel East of Suez”, it is a past home to many famous people, including two of my heroes, Kipling and Conrad. Don’t forget of course that “Apocalypse Now” was based on Conrad’s novel “Heart of Darkness”..! It’s all very old school, and I’m sure if I spent very long here I would begin to think Great Britain still had an Empire. If you are travelling on my route and you have a big bag (or better still […]
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Having arrived at Hua Lamphong railway station on Sunday night it began to dawn on me that I had got into the centre of town in the “eye of the storm”. Less than 12 hours later Bangkok was due to be totally shut down as the opposition party do their best to oust the care taking Prime Minister. This is politics Thai style, and I only hope it remains peaceful, both for the people and for my own personal well being. There is talk of further action if Suthep does not resign by Wednesday and the General in charge of […]
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Temperature: 31 degrees, cloudy, humid. Captain Willard: [voiceover] “Saigon.. shit; I’m still only in Saigon.. Every time I think I’m gonna wake up back in the jungle. When I was home after my first tour, it was worse. I’d wake up and there’d be nothing. I hardly said a word to my wife, until I said “yes” to a divorce. When I was here, I wanted to be there; when I was there, all I could think of was getting back into the jungle. I’m here a week now… waiting for a mission… getting softer. Every minute I stay in this […]
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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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Time for a bit of motorcycling this afternoon. To be more precise, some “Wallace & Gromit” style biking into the countryside. And better still, on a 46 year old Russian “Ural” 500cc bike.. Invented by the Soviet Union in 1940 on Stalin’s orders to provide mobility to special forces.. This particular motorbike was originally provided to North Vietnam by the Russians where it served as a Police bike for much of its life. It had a crew of three and space for a detainee where I’m sitting.. It still retains a working siren, but we don’t use it much as […]
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