hello all, Whilst the regular blog writer is otherwise occupied I shall offer my words of wisdom We are aboard the Qinghai-Tibet Railway which is the world's highest railway and one piece of impressive engineering .It has 160km of bridges ... Read more >

Beijing 2

CHINA | Friday, 15 Jan 2010 | Views [776]

Hi All, Day 1 Bit tired and grumpy today. German scientist in room is a snorer. So much for my 4 bed dorm being pretty good odds not to get a snorer... Makes me think of shark attack statistics when the improbable happens. Goes something like this.... Read more >

Beijing

CHINA | Tuesday, 12 Jan 2010 | Views [547]

Hi All, Early start and off to the airport. The hostel hailed a taxi and negotiated a price which was probably more than the meter but we were grateful. Vanessa said that the driver was micro napping all the way and the price didn't include the road ... Read more >

Photos: Beijing

CHINA | Monday, 11 Jan 2010 | Photo Gallery

Photos: Harbin 2

CHINA | Monday, 11 Jan 2010 | Photo Gallery

Photos: Harbin

CHINA | Monday, 11 Jan 2010 | Photo Gallery

Photos: Chita

RUSSIAN FEDERATION | Monday, 11 Jan 2010 | Photo Gallery

Harbin 2

CHINA | Monday, 11 Jan 2010 | Views [824]

Hi All, I forgot to mention that our hostel is in an old synagogue so the internal structure and fittings are quite interesting. Not as interesting as the gloves with little stuffed cats that many of the chinese girls are wearing or the polar bear ... Read more >

Harbin, China

CHINA | Thursday, 7 Jan 2010 | Views [779]

Hi All, We have arrived! Got off the train and boldly headed in the wrong direction along the slippery platform before being sent back by an official. Even more slippery up on the street and chaos. We needed to find money and it wasn't clear where ... Read more >

Chita to Harbin, China

RUSSIAN FEDERATION | Thursday, 7 Jan 2010 | Views [1567]

Hi All, Our train was a flash no 20. It was the Moscow to Beijing train and had a neat interior and even a TV screen which blocked access to some of the upper storage area above the door. I felt that the new improved version was not as good as the ... Read more >

Chita

RUSSIAN FEDERATION | Thursday, 7 Jan 2010 | Views [1106]

Hi All, Another day and another time zone. Now it is moscow time +6hrs. When we cross the border the time will magically change to beijing time which is moscow time +5hrs which is UT+8 for reference. Got it? We arrived at Chita at about 5am and decided ... Read more >

Photos: Ulan Ude

RUSSIAN FEDERATION | Monday, 4 Jan 2010 | Photo Gallery

Ulan Ude

RUSSIAN FEDERATION | Monday, 4 Jan 2010 | Views [931]

Hi All, So we hopped on the train. This was different to the normal 2nd class 4 birth compartment. We were travelling in 3rd class open compartment. This compartment had beds but no doors on the compartments and had more beds next to the windows ... Read more >