Train Travel

The Reprint: ‘Punch, Drunk, Love’

February 26, 2009

Russia is macho. Resilient. Fearless. But even the strongest of souls will succumb to the trance inducing effect of their local water. Read, vodka. They love the stuff. Alcoholism is more a local hobby.

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The Reprint: ‘All in a Days Work’

January 28, 2009

This weeks Reprint shows one of the beautiful entrepreneurs of the Trans-Mongolian railway. Many of the stations are located in seemingly forgotten corners of Siberia, so a string of cabins full of hungry punters is a splendid bonus.

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The Reprint: ‘The Victor’

November 20, 2008

“You miserable, mangey, manky maggot! I bloody kill you! How dare you come into my restaurant and make such demands of me! Beg! Beg for mercy you flake of feeble fuzz. I’ll crush you with my clenched palm and smear you over the window with my elbow. Now, run! RUN! What you still here for? […]

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Mr Wang and The Curse of the Airag

August 18, 2007

Tired of walking, I decided to exercise my lifelong avidity to fly like a bird. I swiftly span upon a silver yuan , donned my colourful cape and followed my outreached fist over classical scenes of paddy fields and rice terraces. Moments later, I became caught in a ferocious crosswind which brought me tumbling back […]

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The Man in Carriage 17

July 26, 2007

One of the closing lines in my last post was “I’m leaving Beijing in half an hour for Datong, just 5 hours away.”. As a reader you’re afforded the blissful benefits of being effortlessly transported from the comfort of your armchair, from Russia to Mongolia and onwards to China with just a few gentle clicks […]

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Trans-Mongolian; it’s right down my street.

July 8, 2007

Dumdum-De-DUM, dumdum-De-DUM, dumdum-De-DUM. It took me the whole 5 days from Moscow to Ulaanbaatar, to decide how I would portray the drum of the Trans-Mongolian train I alighted this morning. Say it with me, dumdum-De-DUM, softer, dumdum-De-DUM, emphasise the capitals dumdum, De-DUM, one-two, three-four, dumdum-De-DUM. Never has a journey left me so relaxed. To my […]

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