Long route home Our trip all the way home, trying to catch no planes and stay on the ground like civilised people. It's taking us via India all the way to Europe from Japan, the furthest of the Far East...

Photos: The final journey

UNITED KINGDOM | Wednesday, 15 Dec 2010 | Photo Gallery

Photos: Ice-Bergen

NETHERLANDS | Friday, 10 Dec 2010 | Photo Gallery

Photos: Brrr-lin

GERMANY | Monday, 6 Dec 2010 | Photo Gallery

Photos: Pole to Pole

POLAND | Thursday, 2 Dec 2010 | Photo Gallery

Train-ing

CHINA | Thursday, 2 Dec 2010 | Views [877]

We're on the 83 Karaganda-Moscow train, our 62nd and longest train.  Trains have been the defining mode of transport for us.  We've taken more trains than anything else, covered more ground and spent more time on them.  We did one train in each of Thailand, ... Read more >

It's Baltic

LATVIA | Wednesday, 1 Dec 2010 | Views [834]

[We are sorry to report we are having technical difficulties, the blog will of course continue, but the laptop is snarled up and we may not be able to fix it until we hit the UK. Updates may be even further behind than usual!] Here we are - in Schengen, ... Read more >

Photos: A right ball-tics up

ESTONIA | Monday, 29 Nov 2010 | Photo Gallery

Photos: To Hellsinki and back

FINLAND | Monday, 29 Nov 2010 | Photo Gallery

To Hell and back

FINLAND | Sunday, 28 Nov 2010 | Views [824]

[Dear patient and dedicated readers, I am sorry. Oli was left alone  in Helsinki and this is what happened. Personally, I think a pun fest is preferable to jumping in ice pools, joining the Hells Angels or sustaining headbang related whiplash, you may ... Read more >

Guides

NEPAL | Friday, 26 Nov 2010 | Views [625]

We started with three guidebooks on this trip and now we have none.  Rough Guide to Japan was left with Christopher in Beijing after 18 months of bookmarking, dog-earing and scribbling in during which it served us very well indeed.  Lonely Planet's South ... Read more >

St Petes

RUSSIAN FEDERATION | Wednesday, 24 Nov 2010 | Views [494]

Peter's St Petersburg, Petrograd, Leningrad, St Petersburg again.  Whichever name you prefer, it's still the city built on bones.  It's still the home of the October Revolution, perhaps the defining event of the 20th century.  It's still brass monkeys ... Read more >

Future shock

INDIA | Tuesday, 23 Nov 2010 | Views [842]

As you can tell from this slightly jumbled round up, our race through this huge country left us reeling - so many glimpses of people's lives, so many stories and so many possibilities. It's hard not to wonder what the future holds for India. This beguiling ... Read more >

Photos: St Pete's

RUSSIAN FEDERATION | Monday, 22 Nov 2010 | Photo Gallery

More musings on Indialand

INDIA | Sunday, 21 Nov 2010 | Views [493]

About India, society, religion and language It's hard to make sense, or draw one coherent narrative out of such an enormous country, with such a large and diverse population. We moved through 10 out of 25 states, and saw the landscape change from paddy ... Read more >

Don't have a mos-cow

RUSSIAN FEDERATION | Saturday, 20 Nov 2010 | Views [620]

The first genuine city we've been to for some time and it's alive! There's energy, bustle, no hint of the repressive behaviour we got used to in parts of Asia; people kiss in public, wear wonderful bright clothes and short skirts and mostly pay no ... Read more >

Photos: Holy mos-Cow

RUSSIAN FEDERATION | Friday, 19 Nov 2010 | Photo Gallery

India-rgh

INDIA | Friday, 19 Nov 2010 | Views [601]

We have written on many postcards that travelling in India has been immensely rewarding, but also immensely frustrating. Some of those frustrations come from outside, some come from ourselves and our judgements - we want to do things 'our' way, it's ... Read more >

Photos: Actaha

KAZAKHSTAN | Monday, 15 Nov 2010 | Photo Gallery

A star? Nah, a big tower

KAZAKHSTAN | Sunday, 14 Nov 2010 | Views [675]

We've come from Siam to cyan.  One of the things we've noticed in Kazakhstan is that the aquamarine blue of the flag is everywhere. From the towels on the train to the roofs on the houses, the uniforms of many workers to bus tickets.  Not only the ... Read more >

Al-Almaty, all the time

KAZAKHSTAN | Friday, 12 Nov 2010 | Views [1093]

A is for Almaty and Almaty is for apples.  This is just one of the many things we didn't know about Kazakhstan but do now.  Of course, there's still much more to learn and we'd certainly like to come back and carry on our all-too-brief Central Asian ... Read more >