Train Journeys – Nha Trang to Hue

  If I have a main regret about my time in Vietnam, it’s probably that I didn’t spend as much time on the rails as I could have. Yes, there was the toy train at Da Lat which I’ve mentioned before and deserves a ‘train journeys’ of its own one day (And I’d say will …

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Train Journeys – Guilin to Shanghai

Everywhere I go, as you might have gathered, if I can take a train or two, I do. I took a couple in China, both over-nighters, and the most memorable was the one from Guilin to Shanghai. Leaving Guilin in the evening, and not arriving until mid-afternoon in Shanghai, I went the soft sleeper which …

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The Kindness of Strangers

On Saturday I wrote a blog about my time in India in 1999. I talked about my experiences in Jalandhar where I was taken in by a family thanks to meeting someone on a bus and spending a few days staying with them, completely impromptu. It turned out to be probably the most rewarding experience …

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Train Journeys – Darjeeling

Most of the train journeys I have written about so far have been longish journeys, overnighters, epic stories of survival (ok that’s an exaggeration) but not all worthwhile train journeys in the world are like that, in fact some are quite short. Take the seven-kilometre toy train journey from Darjeeling as a prime example. It’s …

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