Sunday 6th March Overnight the weather changed and we awoke with cloud virtually to the ground and the tops of buildings impossible to see. We took the sightseeing bus around the city and from People’s Square, near the hotel, we passed through familiar territory to reach the waterfront at The Bund. Great disappointment!!! The opposite […]

Saturday 5th March Today we set out to discover the Shanghai waterfront known as The Bund. Leaving the hotel we made our way along East Nanjing Road which was once China’s most famous shopping street.   Today it is pedestrianised and awash with neon signs and the same so called deigner label stores found anywhere

Friday 4th March This morning we crossed the sprawling suburbs of Beijing by taxi to reach Beijing South railway station. The public areas are circular rather like the first terminal at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. In fact, it is more airport than railway station until one is on the platform. Like an airport

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