Xi’an was the political heart of China until the 10th century, but long before this it was the beginning/end of the Silk and Spice Routes, meaning that the city became a mix of cultures and religions as well as the home to poets, monks, merchants and warriors. Today’s city walls date from the Ming dynasty …
We awoke just before 8:00 a.m. to see mountains still to our left and still of the old, red sandstone. The railway line, although improved for high speed running was still faced with the same geographical challenges of the old route, namely the Gansu Corridor, which narrows as the mountains come together some 300km south …
Today we catch the overnight train to Xi’an. For the moment we are waiting in the hotel for the appropriate departure time. The sun is beginning to break through now (11:00 a.m.) but when we awoke at 8:30 a.m. it was another smoggy day with very little visible and light similar to that of first …
We woke just before 9:00 a.m. to find it barely daylight and still covered in freezing fog and the morning ‘musak’ led by ‘O come all ye faithful’! As we write in the massive lobby of the hotel whilst awaiting delivery of the next set of train tickets for Xi’an, the sun is burning off …
We travelled though Xinjiang Province, which is sparcely populated, and has been under Chinese rule since the time of the early Silk Road. We awoke at 9:00 a.m. to a snow covered scene with cloud to the ground and temperatures around -5 C. Soon we were in Urumqi, a large and expanding city and a …
It was another crisp and snow covered night when our train left Almaty. We had been able to board more than an hour before departure and, as other long distance trains left before ours, the waiting room was virtually deserted. We realised why when our empty carriages were brought into the station. There were only …
Today we are based in Almaty at the centrally located Hotel Otrar. It is a modernised Soviet-era building and it is facing Panfilov Park, in fact we can see this from our room. It was -5 C with light snow when we set off to explore the Zhibek Zholy, a pedestrianised part of the city …
We have travelled overnight for a good 22 hours to arrive in Almaty, formerly known as Alma-Ata, in Kazakhstan. We left Tashkent yesterday on train 369, Tashkent to Novosibirsk service, and after only 25 minutes of travelling we endured 4 hours of security and immigration checks at the Uzbek-Kazakhstan border. The dull proceedings were enlivened …
We had a leisurely walk across town this morning to find the stone Earthquake Memorial. Tashkent was seriously damaged by an earthquake in 1966. The memorial is very simple but poignant. On a block of basalt is the date and on another face of the cube a clock showing the time of the earthquake. The …
Today we indulged in some train spotting when we went to Temir Yo’l Texnikasi Muzeyi or Railway Museum. Here we found a good collection of steam, diesel and electric locomotives dating from the 1930s to 1970s. Where the cab door was open one could climb on board. There were small locomotives for shunting and some …