Exploring the world one step at a time
Our train to Jining Nan Compared to the Russia-Mongolia train crossing, the Ulaanbaatar-Beijing leg can be described as slightly dodgy. The options for passage from Russia to Mongolia are more or less straightforward but...
The view, soon after entering Mongolia Overland crossings are incredibly exciting; I love entering a country by land. Arriving by plane sometimes strikes me as a little too straightforward and almost uninteresting. There...
This is my first night in a proper bed but I cannot sleep. For five nights, I was soothed by the gentle left-to-right rocking of my train. This same rocking put me to sleep...
I’m writing this thousands of miles away from Russia, a country I was very sad to leave. I never thought I would enjoy Russia as much as I did – even now in Beijing,...
There are two main points about the Trans-Siberian and Trans-Mongolian Railways. The first is that the Trans-Siberian proper runs from Moscow to Vladivostok and the second is that the railway branches out from Ulan-Ude...
Three days ago, I boarded a train from Moscow. My destination is a town called Irkutsk, the main stop for Lake Baikal. This is a four-day journey and I’m expected to reach...
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 will always remember the train from Guilin to Shenzhen as the train where I did not sleep. It all began with the Man Who Snored. He came on board when the train stopped...
I’ve written about books here and here, but I thought I should go back a little and have a look at those which first inspired me to travel. In short, books which told me to wake up,...
Somewhere in a flat or house in China is a Lonely Planet phrasebook in Mandarin which used to belong to me. It has ‘Anis Ibrahim, Feb 2005’ written in a big, happy...
