It must have been the lack of motion that woke me up. I didn’t know why were were stopped—there was no other train traffic—and then I heard someone passing by in the corridor saying it was the Gobi Desert and we were going to be stopped here for about a half hour. Furthermore, we were…
Whenever I travel from here in Hawaii to the mainland United States, I’m reminded immediately of a number of differences. First, although it’s certainly changing, there are all those white faces on the mainland. By contrast, everyone who lives in Hawaii belongs to a racial minority, which probably has a lot to do with why…
Notes and impressions from my recent rail journey — from London to Germany, Russia, Siberia, Mongolia on to China — now continues. Sorry for the interruption. ———————————————————————————- Mongolia has been another great surprise. Ulan Bator is a modern city, with apartment buildings, parks, cultural activities, and – at least as far as we could tell…
I’m in the final stages of planning what can legitimately be called a once-in-a-lifetime trip, built around a private train from Moscow, through Mongolia, to Beijing. I’ll spend a few days in Beijing, then take the train to Shanghai, flying home from there. But first I’ll fly from here to London and take the train…