Xi'an After a pleasant overnight train journey to Xian (we could switch the music in the cabin off) we arrived in Xi'an to find unexpectantly a man waving a "James Kilby" sign - bonus! We were staying right in the centre of the city overlooking the massive Bell Tower - where Ross and I actually rang the bell! There was just as much smog as in Beijing and it was only slightly warmer, but the city had a mix between modern high street shops and the old Muslim quater where you could pick up tasty arabic style kebabs. It became [View Full Entry]

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Arriving in China was our first major culture shock of our trip, until then we had spent most of our time staring out of train windows at snow or living it up in the largely European style Moscow. The train station alone was massive - with waiting rooms to accomodate up to 14,000 people, the majority of which seemed to be amassed outside in a giant mob, of which were two of the most hyperactive girls I've ever met who showed us to our hostel. We were staying in an old style 'hutong' (traditional alley neighbourhood) where the atmosphere was [View Full Entry]

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If you ever have the time in your life to ride the trans mongolian railway then do so, if you don't - then make time. We had the most amazing adventure crossing the continents of Europe and Asia. The first few days we crossed through Europe and the Ural Mountains, heading into the Siberean plain - trees everywhere. The snow and ice made for an even more interesting trip - there was a hole in the bathroom leading directly outside - you could see the track going underneath, and the areas between carriages were completely covered in snow (although we were [View Full Entry]

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I am already in Love with Moscow. We are told its warm this week (-6C), however there is a biting wind (-12C) that freezes your face off. We've been to all the famous sights including Red Square, the Kremlin, St Basils Cathedral and the GUM store. Yesterday we visited the statue park to hang with retired sculptures of Lenin and Stalin, mixed with new sculptures of everything from houses to ice pigs. We've got lost on the metro several times now, ending up at the other side of town, however each station is a marvel in itself and was worth the [View Full Entry]

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Everything is going well. Spent the last two days on trains with a few quick runarounds in Brussels and Cologne in between (the cathedral is amazing). On the Ost-West Express to moscow myself and Nick shared a 3 berth compartment with Vlad - an electrical engineer from Moscow. We drank 1 litre tins of beer, and shot vodka with a polish guy named Marco who we decided to leave when he couldn't sit up straight. Ross and Zander's roomate Alexander gave us tasty sausage. Sleeping on trains is great apart from being woken at 03.30 by border control. Now we are [View Full Entry]

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