Thursday 3rd March Our mission today was to explore the Forbidden City. This has to be entered through Tian’an Men Square, which as we have already seen is the world’s largest public square, a mass of paving stones and a giant collection of 1950s Soviet-style buildings and ringed by perimeter fences that mean everyone has …
Wednesday 2nd March Today has been a very special one. We have visited one of the ‘Wonders of the World’ – The Great Wall of China. When the team were younger and before GPS and other satellites, astronauts went into space with hand held cameras. It was from space that this single continuous structure was …
Tuesday 1st March At the centre of Beijing is the Forbidden City from where Imperial dynasties have ruled since the 15th century. In front of this is the Tian’an Men Square made as a product of socialism and Chairman Mao. The Square is the world’s largest and is not particularly pretty and is very hard …
Monday 29th February We awoke as the train was beginning its approach to Beijing. The scenery here is dramatic as the train crosses crop land, gullies and mountains which were the original gateway to Mongolia and beyond for the tea, silk and spice traders of the past. There are 60 tunnels to navigate and stunning …
Sunday 28th February We reached Ulaanbaatar at around 7:00 a.m this morning. The temperature was -15C!! We awoke south of Ulaanbaatar as the railway made its way through mountains and eventually onto the Asian Steppe. This is a rough grassland just before a true desert. The yurt (tent) is the traditional home of the Mongolian …
Saturday 27th February Now we have found the cold! Minus 7C is now common place during the day, and of course colder at night. Condensation inside the double glazed windows now freezes into amazing patterns. During the night the train continued through mountains and forest passing Kuytun which means ‘cold’ in the language of the …
Friday 26th February Last night we stopped at Novosibirsk for wheel checks, removal of ice and a change of engine. One member of the team saw the grand station which is described as a ‘real temple’ of the Trans- Siberian Railway. Here the sky was clear and the stars were visible. However, just before daybreak …
Day 8 Thursday 25th February Overnight our train headed southeast from Perm and finally crossed the Ural Mountains. 1777km from Moscow we crossed the border between Europe and Asia. This may be Asian Russia but we are still 260km from the start of Siberia. In the early hours we stopped at Yekaterinburg which was the …
Wednesday 24th February Last night we boarded the train to Beijing at Moscow’s Yaroslavsky Station. The rolling stock is Chinese apart from the restaurant car which is Russian and will be with us until the Mongolian border in a few days time. The provodnitsas (carriage attendant) are Mongolian or Chinese and it is their job …
Tuesday 23rd February Once again the roads and pavements were being cleared of snow when we awoke. It is a National holiday today and there was fencing around Red Square and the Kremlin to stop access. TV crews arrived and there was strict security with police on every street corner and along the road in …