Hong Kong today is a product of the British take over of Hong Kong Island in 1841 during the First Opium War between China and Britain. The 8000 or so local people seemed to work with the British but the two countries fought over the trading rights of other port cities such as Shanghai. The […]

We awoke around 7:30 a.m. to sub-tropical rainforest, which is not as dense as that at the Equator, isolated farms, terraced fields and tree covered pyramidal-like mountains. We were about 20 degrees north and the cloud and humid air clung to the mountain tops as well as in places almost at ground level. Yesterday whilst

This morning we commenced the last leg of our Europe-Asia rail adventure. We were booked in coach 8, beds 9 and 10, on train Z97 to Hong Kong. The journey is scheduled to take 25 hours. Upon arrival at the big and new Beijing West railway station we checked in as normal but because of

Beijing has had a chequered history since its first settling in 1045 BC. The Mongol warrior Ghengis Khan destroyed the city in 1215 but by the 15th century the basic grid of the present day city was established. Modern Beijing came of age when in January 1949 the People’s Liberation Army entered the city and

We left Xi’an just after 7:00 a.m. in heavy rain that was predicted on Chinese TV as likely to be prolonged and severe. It certainly was. Upon arrival at the new Xi’an North railway station we converted our e-ticket into paper ones. Following two layers of security we were in another massive and spotless departure

This morning we left the old city at the South Gate and upon crossing the moat we entered the very modern high rise section of Xi’an. It was interesting that within a kilometre the shiny granite and glass towers selling Prada and other named clothing brands changed to multi-storey apartments and old single unit shops

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