Five Foot Traveller

Exploring the world one step at a time

Russia to Malaysia, overland

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Ten years ago, I had this crazy idea that perhaps I could fly to Moscow, hop on a train and ride it right through to Beijing and from there, fly home to Malaysia. I was supposed to go with a friend but that plan never happened and to avoid killing myself in frustration, I went to New Zealand  on my own.

This year, the opportunity to take that journey presented itself once again. In January I realised that it had been ages since I last took a serious train ride. Sure, I took the North Borneo Railway just last year, but I wanted something more than that. And so I started thinking about the Trans-Mongolian Railway once again.

I called up a few friends who I thought would be interested. That was in February, and after a series of meetings, emails, Facebook and Whatsapp messages, by the time it was June, it looked as though I really would have company on this trip.

But no, that didn’t happen either. People started pulling out for various reasons, mostly unavoidable and once again, I had this 10-year-old idea hanging in the air. And I began to get frustrated all over again.

This year, things are going to be different, though.  I’m going ahead with it anyway, friend or no friend.

Then I took out a map of the world a week ago and had another idea. Why not start in St Petersburg?

And do I really need to stop in Beijing? Why not take another train, and another, and another, until I reach Kuala Lumpur?

So that’s the plan for 2012.

 

p/s: Remind me to change the title to ‘St Petersburg to Kuala Lumpur by rail’, or something profound like that.

Image: Stock photo

© 2012 – 2014, Anis. All rights reserved.

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8 Responses

  1. Jardness says:
    August 1, 2012 at 11:17 pm

    Yes! Go for it! All the best, babe!

  2. Muslina says:
    September 11, 2012 at 5:41 pm

    You just too early. i am going to do Trans-Mongolia. Will fly to St Pete and disembark by 30th Sept. InsyaAllah. Wish you all the best!

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