Apologies for not posting recently. I have been swithering a lot about my next trip, and today I have made the final decision. I need to update the “departure board” to read “Tokyo via Vladivostok”!

If you have not read my recent blog posts, this winter I had hoped to travel through Central Asia, taking advantage of the route out of Russia and through Kasakhstan. I encountered several problems planning and researching this journey. Firstly that travel to the other Stans was looking like hard work by train – not impossible, but for example, there is just a single weekly train connecting Tashkent and Almaty, and limited certainty of getting a ticket on it.

Secondly that the security situation on parts of this trip looks like they are getting worse rather than better – significant terrorism in Xinjiang, moderate levels of corruption in some of the Stans, and now even unrest at my planned objective, Hong Kong. Thirdly, I discovered the train to Almaty isn’t as good as Seat 61 suggests, nor is the train to Astana.. (no first class) – it wasn’t a deal breaker, but adding these points together it feels like hard work. Sometimes you just have to follow your gut feel, and this now feels like a trip for another time. My “Man Who Would be King” plans are therefore on hold, for the time being anyway.

So that takes me to “Plan B” – across Siberia (once again), and onward to Vladivostok, then by ferry to South Korea and Japan, finishing up in Tokyo. With my train anorak hat on, it is the longest scheduled train service in the world – taking nearly seven days from Moscow to Vladivostok. I understand that sometimes there are two carriages on this train that actually go on southward to Pyongyang, but even if I fancied this run, it is currently barred to non North Koreans (you have to enter North Korea via China). For my trip I plan to use the “Rossiya” train, which is supposed to be a good one. In Russian trains, the lower train numbers are the better quality “fermeny” services – this train is numbered “002” (“001” runs West bound on the same route). It will be strange travelling for a week without having to deal with customs, borders and visas.. or change wheels!

I had been working on this plan for several days, and just when everything looked like it was “on”, my agent in Moscow was informed that the ship that sails to Japan once a week from Vladivostok would in fact not be doing so on my requested dates. It is also about to change its schedule that means an earlier weekly departure (Tuesday) and stopping off in Korea. Just as well we checked! I think this has now been overcome, and I’m waiting for confirmation that since last week it has not decided to re-route again. The ferry is Korean, and looks quite bizarre (hopefully in a fun sort of way). As for my stay in South Korea, I have a cunning plan that should be quite interesting too if everything works out.

The only other train problem I can foresee is the imminent closure of some of the Euro Nightline services – this might mean the loss of the brilliant EN447 “Jan Kiepura” service that travels every night from Amsterdam to Warsaw. If this is the case I have a contingency of getting a day train down to Cologne and then getting a night train from there to Warsaw.

To be honest I’m relieved to have made the decision on the trip – for the last few weeks its been frustrating not being sure what to do, and now I have made the decision, I can just get focussed on pulling the plan together. To quote Lao Tzu “the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step” How true.

I will keep you posted as I go into full steam ahead trip preparation. Or is that full diesel-electric trip preparation?

I seem to manage to suppress such thoughts most of the time, consoling myself by thinking about a comfy trip on a plane to somewhere where the food is quite spicy. However, this time last year my mood seemed to change quite quickly from “I’ll never do that mad train thing again!” to “I wonder if can I go by train all the way to Singapore?” in only a few weeks. Reflection some time after a big trip can be a strange thing. My glasses seem to quickly become rose tinted, and I forget about what -30 feels like, the lack of sleep, the language barriers, the occasional rodents, the food and the endless red tape.

Sir Ran Fiennes – the world’s greatest living explorer

Things moved up a couple of gears last month when I got to meet some great reference points for my next adventure. The first was Ran Fiennes. I had the privilege to meet both Sir Ran Fiennes and the Hon Alexandra Shackleton (Sir Ernest Shackleton’s grand daughter) at the Royal Geographical Society for the launch of a new polar expedition. His thoughts have made me think about the role of “proper” adventure and to somewhat revise my travel priorities, and it doesn’t get much more inspirational.

The second was Robert Twigger, a long time personal favourite explorer and adventure writer, who I got to meet and chat to at the Edinburgh Book Festival.

“Lost Oasis” Robert Twigger (2007)

He was promoting his new book “The Red Nile”, but I will always be most inspired by his jungle adventures in “Big Snake”.. not to mention the brilliant “Angry White Pyjamas” and “Lost Oasis” (see picture above).
Both were truly amazing people to meet, and both have made me think hard about what I want from my next trip. Drinking ice cold Tiger beer on a remote Asian beach certainly appeals, but where is the sense of adventure that comes from getting on a plane to get there? For me this has long gone, and I feel that I need something more meaningful to get excited about.

Having now completed two Trans-Siberian rail journeys (the last one on as far as Singapore), I have been thinking about some rail alternatives that might present a fresh challenge.

I keep a short list (together with a map) in the study that reads as follows:
– The Silk Route – Across Europe and Central Asia to Hong Kong  – “A bit mad, is Urumqi safe?”
– London – Tokyo via Vladivostok “Vostok – good train, ferry to Japan and South Korea”
– London to Pyongyang via Beijing “Beijing route only. Need two guides and driver”
– The Indian Pacific – Perth to Sydney “Bit touristy but could combine with wine making adventures!”

The Indian Pacific is a pretty comfy journey and I’m happy to take that next time I’m “down under”. The “Vostok” train looks good, and there is a ferry service twice a week to South Korea and Japan from Vladivostok. But the route is quite similar to the Trans-Mong route that I have now already completed twice. The North Korean trip would need a lot of organising and the journey would also be the same as far as Beijing. When the Russian border with North Korea becomes possible for Westerners, it might make quite a good continuation of the “Vostok” (I understand that two carriages travel from Moscow all the way..)

Which leaves the Silk Route. Traditionally this would be via Turkey, Iran and Pakistan, but as I have mentioned here before, there is also now a train that travels from Moscow to Tashkent (Ukbekistan) and also one from Moscow to Almaty (Kasakhstan). This means that assuming the visa situation is favourable, you can travel over the Tibetan Plateau and on into China.

There are of course a few logistical problems with such a trip, but none are insurmountable. The trains look a bit mixed, there is reported to be some minor bribery and corruption problems  in places, and one of the visas can be a bit problematic. Anyway, imagining what Ran Fiennes would think of this, I got straight on the case and started asking the people at Real Russia what they thought. The visa team suggested immediately that I find another route (!), but the rail people say it is actually all possible… they are even willing to sell me most of the tickets should I manage to get the visas.

I have been progressing matters at a steady pace for the last few weeks, but have hit an obstacle this week. I wanted to take the train from Moscow directly to Tashkent, then travel through Uzbekistan to Almaty in Kazakhstan. However its not easy to connect this train journey up. The train into Tashkent is twice a week, the train out of Almaty is twice per week, but the train between the two is only once per week. My agent suggested I hop on a plane and fly between the two, but I had to decline this. Not only is it against the spirit of my adventures, but it is probably not on an airline of choice. Out of interest I visited the Uzairways website to be greeted by a banner advertising the opportunity to buy some of their aircraft. A veritable haul of – Tupolev, Yakovlev and Illyushin planes, and all at a bargain price!

Some interesting reading on TripAdvisor!

So I’m waiting now to hear back on my options – then I have to make a decision. Should I forget about Tashkent and take a direct train to Alamty? Or find a long range bus solution? Or switch back to “Plan B” and head to Tokyo via Vladivostok?

I always quite liked the idea of a Central Asian trip – you see I have a chapter in mind for it in my book already – Its called “The Man who would be King”!

En route to “Kaferistan”..

I’ll keep you posted..

What a great opportunity to combine a blog about one of my favourite films with a possibility for train travel! If you want to get in the mood for this, it’s time to get your pith helmet out and start shouting loudly “Stop throwing those bloody spears at me!”..

I remember first seeing “The Man Who Would Be King” shortly after leaving university (in about 1989). It had a big impact on me at the time, and is one of those films that seems to just get better and better with age. I recently had it out again – unbelieavably an old work friend had yet to see the dream team in action – Sir Michael Caine and Sir Sean Connery, not forgetting Christopher Plumber of course.. set in fictitional “Kafiristan”.

So how can I get away with changing the subject of my blog from rail adventure to my favourite films? One word, Kasakhstan. New possibilities. They have built a railway line over the last few years to create a (mainly freight) route from China through to Russia. So I have discovered from about 2008 it has actually been possible to travel on the train from Europe to Asia this way, avoiding the tougher Turkey-Iran-Pakistan/Afganistan “Silk” route (to the South) and bypassing the now familiar Trans-Siberian route (to the North). You can see this on this map at Seat 61.

Central Asia and the fabled “Silk Road”.. by rail of course!

Subject to my experiences on the Singapore run later this year, I’m going to go for an overland route through Central Asia next time, most likely from London to Hong Kong, probably via Russia, Kasakhstan, Usbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and into China that way. Do let me know if you want to tag along.. I will lend you a pith helmet!

I have also been looking at more organised tour options for the much harder to organise Turkey-Iran-Pakistan/Tajikistan routing, and there are a few options here, but it looks like hard work. The one I liked most (from my armchair!) was from Intrepid Travel – Beijing to Istanbul (96 days).

Back briefly to my Newcastle – Singapore trip. My Vietnamese visa has now been issued and my passport is at the Chinese Embassy today. Apparently a number of perfectly good applications are getting rejected here each week owing to a lack of back up paperwork, which they love. I have lots of paperwork, but no actual train tickets, so my fingers are crossed. I will know on Thursday if I have been successful.

In gadget news – I did a deal with a friend and traded up to a new iPad last week – its got a massive 128GB memory, so the chance for more movies and more photo editing on the rails. The new iPad has a different “Lightning” connector, so I’m slightly annoyed that new cables are needed for everything. I spent the weekend learning how to rip my own (legally owned) DVDs onto this device thanks to RipIt and also editing my photos on the fly with Adobe Photoshop Express, before loading them into Blogpress. Blogpress proved itself as very capable on my Shanghai run last year – its got much better image manipulation and control than the native Blogger iPad app – I am amazed Blogger hasn’t covered this better for people on the move.

I will give the final words today to Brother Peachy Carnahan Esq: “Now listen to me, you benighted muckers. We’re going to teach you soldiering. The world’s noblest profession. When we are done with you, you’ll be able to slaughter your enemies like civilised men!”

And of course not forgetting.. “Now, the problem is, how to divide five Afgans from three mules and have two Englishmen left over”.