Quamped = Disappointed, downhearted. Derives from an old English dialect word, quamp, meaning “to dampen someone’s spirits.” My planning was perfect. I had been to the central train station – Beograd Centar – to carry our a recce, find the right buses to take and to check which platform I needed. The following day I… Read More »
Leaving Vienna, the train took me through the sort of landscape that you imagine for Austria – green valleys with flower meadows and picture book houses. All the roads and houses are ordered, tidy, well-maintained and beautiful with the backdrop of high mountains. The train was clean and efficient making a big change from the… Read More »
I had promised my friend Tessa that I would call on her one day i Bonn and it has taken several years but I eventually found some time in between contracts. Flying seemed quite expensive and so was the train so in the end I got a flight to Eindhoven in Netherlands and got a… Read More »
I had read about the Tazara and really wanted to try it. I don’t like long distance train journeys because they are usually boring and uncomfortable. I don’t get much if any sleep and feel constantly dirty. However I like to arrive to arrive slowly and I enjoy the journey as much as the destination… Read More »
At the last minute it became apparent that I didn’t need to work for 10 days! This is exactly the same realisation I had at this time (over Qing Ming) 7 years ago and the destination I chose was the same – Kashgar in XinJiang. I quickly got online and bought a ticket for the… Read More »
It was too good an opportunity to miss. The change of travel plans due to the sandstorms in Kashgar meant that I now had the option of going through the Takla Makan desert all the way. It had been suggested by Jackson in Turpan that I stay for a few nights in Kuqa. I turned… Read More »
I wanted to get away from Shanghai for a while and looked on the map and could see that Vietnam was very close and I figured that if I got myself to Nanning I could probably get a bus across the mountains to Vietnam. SO that is what I did. Here is what I did… Read More »
Predictably I missed by train at Hakata. I thought the number 16 printed on my ticket was the platform. Not wanting to wait for the next train for which my ticket was valid I hopped on a bullet train bound for Osaka. To avoid unwanted attention from ticket inspectors I quickly sat down in the… Read More »
I got on the Virgin train from Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury and as soon as we were all installed I could hear what I assumed to be a drunk man on the table behnid me speaking to various people about nothing in particular. As soon as we started moving he declared “I am going to speak… Read More »