Kandy’s Temple of the Tooth

One of the most pleasant town’s in Sri Lanka is without a doubt Kandy. Up in the hills, it’s a great base for exploring the region and it also has plenty to see in town as well. There are plenty of great eateries and accommodation. But for Buddhists across Sri Lanka, the highlight must be …

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Train Journeys – Ekanterinburg to Moscow (Final Leg Trans-Mongolian)

My final journey which completed my trip from Beijing to Moscow began early morning in Ekanterinburg. Luckily my hotel was just opposite the train station, and I was there around 7am in the morning, an hour before the train left. In all cases I was advised to get to the station an hour before the …

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Train Journeys – Ulaan Baatar to Irkutsk (Trans-Mongolian Leg 2)

After four days in Ulaan Baatar and Terelj, it was very quickly on again by rail travelling a further 1114km to the Siberian city of Irkutsk, not far from Lake Baikal (around 60km). This, it turns out, was the shortest journey of the four legs of my Trans-Mongolian as far as distance covered. However, it …

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Taking a … Journey to the Center of the Earth

As far as journeys go, this might be the ultimate ‘World Journey’, well, okay, the real thing, not the ride. When I think of Disney movies that deserve a ride, this would probably be far from the top of the list. Not that I have EVER seen a movie of Journey to the Center of …

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Train Journeys – Beijing to Ulan Bataar (Trans-Mongolian)

Okay. Well here I am ready to start reviewing the four segments of my journey from Beijing to Moscow, around 8000 kilometres away, via Mongolia. The trip to the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bataar was 1426 kilometres, crossing the border at Erlian (China) passing through Jinignan, Zhurihe and Dzamynude and other towns that perhaps I …

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In China. That Wall Thing. (great!)

When I went to China at the beginning of May this year, more specifically to Beijing, it was about 95% to catch the first leg of the Trans-Mongolian train journey. However, as I was going there, I decided that I wanted to get to two of China’s great historical landmarks, the Forbidden City and the …

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