I’ve reached the end of my travels and started work! The travelling ends and a new adventure begins.

I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City at 2am on Monday morning and started work at 2pm the same day.

I will be tutoring IGCSE and IB maths here for the next year.

Vending machines on one street corner, shrine on the opposite. I’m definitely in japan! I’ve come from the harbor to Shinsekai, a street in Osaka full of food, arcades and market stalls. I bought some tea from the market. The lady brewed each tea in front of me to allow me to sample them and after I bought some roasted tea she had me pick a raffle ticket and I won a small pack of the same tea! Somewhat lucky I guess…

The atmosphere here is so different from China. People are smiley and polite. Everyone smiles and say konnichiwa, even the smartly uniformed traffic officers. An old lady helped me find which ticket I need to ride the train although she didn’t speak any English.

As I write I’m in a small okonomiyaki restaurant. Its a speciality of Osaka, a cabbage based pancake, mine is absolutely delicious with some smokey squid amd mayonnaise. There is a counter with a grill where the chef cooks right in front of the customers. He is a skinny middle aged man with a bandana rolled up tied around this forehead doing everything with great care while a bubbly woman who speaks English bustles around serving drinks. There is a small CRT in the corner playing some colourful daytime TV. I watch the chef scraping the griddle and am reminded of my own burger van career. I watch the locals to learn the correct way to eat as the pancake is placed on the griddle in front of me and I’m given a small spatula.

I’m loving japan so far. I was worried I’d find the people cold and sycophantic but they are actually very warm and welcoming while being much more polite than chinese and russians, at least here in Osaka. Everything is going smoothly!

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It’s day 2 in japan. I got up early to visit a Shinto shrine. This required a lot of research as the etiquette is very complicated. There are rituals of bows, claps, offering giving and bell ringing as well as hand and mouth washing rituals.

I was worried that I’d got some of the ritual wrong and upset the spirit bringing bad fortune but today everything went swimmingly. I went hiking in the mountains. I had no map so from the train station I just walked towards the mountains I could see. At the foot of the mountain was a small shrine at a beautiful waterfall. The paths meander all over these lush mountains, fording streams and following ridges. I had a fantastic afternoon hiking in the shade of the bamboo.

I’ve been unable to update the blog while in China because the WordPress app didn’t work with chinese Internet. I’m sorting out my backlog of drafts and will publish them soon.

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Being seasick on a ferry that you took for fun is a lot like having a hangover. As you crouch over the toilet bowl you ask yourself why you make these life choices and swear never to do it again… Until the sickness passes and you forget all about the promise you made and start planning next time.

The crossing from Shanghai to Osaka (Japan) got choppy on the second day at sea. It might have been due to typhoon 10 (the Japanese don’t give names, just numbers). The typhoon had already delayed us from leaving Shanghai for a day. We had gone through passport control and officially left China and then we were stuck on the boat, spitting distance from Shanghai’s famous Bund. The plus side being I got to see the Bund at night and got to watch the ships coming and going through the world’s busiest port.

I chose to travel second class B which means sleeping in a Japanese style dorm which is just a huge open floor with no shoes allowed where we each get a futon.

There are 6 white people onboard. Myself, a Swiss German named Rafael, An 83 year old American, a French speaking mother and daughter from Moscow and an Italian cartoonist. Later I met Chenyi: a German born to chinese parents and speaks fluent Chinese, German and English. Other than that, the passengers are mostly Chinese with a few Japanese. I spoke to a pair of architecture undergrads studying in Shanghai who are off building spotting in Japan.

The boat is full of interesting characters. Rafael pointed out this is because everyone sane takes the plane. The most noticeable is a Chinese guy who always wears a gas mask and carries a huge rucksack everywhere he goes onboard. Chenyi asked him about it and apparently its for religious reasons. He keeps coming to me with 2 compasses pointing in different directions asking which way we’re going. The American is also a character. Me and Rafael both agreed he reminds us of The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared. He has tales from seemingly every country.

The food was mediocre and the gamesroom was locked. Chenyi, Rafael and myself passed the time by propping up the bar until the ludicrously late hour of 9pm when they kicked us out. They had a collection of empty spirit bottles and only sell beer (tsingtao or asahi) and a karaoke machine for 100¥ a song which broke on the last night. We made friends with Sansa, one of the young ladies working on the boat who is apparently not a fan of Game of Thrones.

After the swell of Thursday afternoon that sent everybody running to the bathroom or to bed, we wake to the American pointing out “Land Ho!” as Japan is now in view.

Coming into Japan the sea calms dramatically as we go between the two islands. We pass under several huge bridges as night falls and we gaze out at the industrial seaside of Fukuoka. We come so close at points to the shore that I feel like jumping off and swimming to land to get to Japan 12 hours early! At least there is phone signal here. I’m looking forward to the seafood in Osaka!

Harbin didn’t feel like it was far from Chita but the cities could hardly be more different (2024: it’s more than 1000km….I was getting very blase about long distances!). The quiet streets of Chita are only interrupted by the sound of a dusty, soviet era van puffing up the hill. In Harbin by contrast, the shiny German cars sit nose-to-tail in a 6 lane traffic jam next to the KFC.

I arrived at midday after a leisurely morning on the train. I said goodbye to my traveling companions who were all going straight through to Beijing and I set foot on Chinese soil for the first time. It was exciting having spent a year studying Chinese to finally be here!

I found a nice looking cafe with wifi and had my first experience of how bad the Internet is in china. Most apps I relied on in Russia are banned here such as Google translate and Google maps. Thankfully I’m prepared and have a maps app that will work offline (OsmAnd) and the best chinese dictionary app (Pleco)

It’s Friday night so I’m heading to the main street which is a sort of museum of European architectural styles. The souvenir shops are all selling russian dolls. This is because of Harbin’s connection to the transsiberian railway. In the past, the railway to Vladivostok went through China. Bringing hoards of russians to the sleepy fishing village of Harbin turning it into a major hub. Nowadays, the original train line stops at Harbin and goes no further east. The transsiberian skirts china to the North adding 400km to the route. The official transmanchurian route continues on a branch to Beijing.

There is some sort of festival happening on the main street, with a parade and a lot of musicians. I wasn’t expecting to see a brass band here! (although it does include saxophones… ) There were women dancing in carnival style dresses. A mother in the crowd turns to her young boy and says in Chinese “look, there’s an American”, I interrupt her in Chinese “I’m not an American, I’m from England”. I felt proud of myself for being able to use my Chinese.

My first impression of China? Not great, but I did find some consolation off the main street where people are selling all sorts of fragrant street food. This is a huge cultural difference between Russia and the rest of East Asia. Some of the cuisine is familiar from my time in Taiwan, others are not and some look downright disgusting like insects and scorpions….

(2024: I think I stayed in Harbin 2 nights before continuing on to Shenyang. I was excited to be in China for the first time but in retrospective Harbin isn’t a particularly nice city)

Drafted on 1st August.

It’s 6am and the view out of the window is very different from this time yesterday and we’ve not even gone far due to 10 hours sat at the border.

The picturesque wooden cottages of siberia have given way to cream buildings with bright blue corrugated roofs. The steppe has been replaced with fir trees and dramatic rock formations poking through the mist that look like they’re straight out of a traditional Chinese watercolour. I think this is the location of the observatory in Three Body (Chinese sifi novel I highly recommend).

I’ve always wanted to cross a border with passport control and customs etc without flying. Maybe its quicker in a car but the experience on the train was quite tedious. We stopped at a station called Zabaikalsky just on the Russian side of the border. The train got carted off to have the bogies changed for the different rail gauge and almost all the passengers headed away from the station.A small band of travellers and tourists were all that was left of the previously full train. A lot of them had been on the train since Moscow and were heading to the end of the line at Beijing. However Desmond, a programmer from Mexico, has done like me and made a lot of stops and travelled on a few different trains. He also quit his IT job in a large company to travel.

I spent my last 200 rubles on some delicious savoury pastry things and we decided to have a wander around the town. It seemed very bleak. There are a few corner shops and bars along the one dusty street. We got to the park where there was the obligatory T34. The hours did not fly by waiting there. When the train came back we could board and customs came to visit each of us in our cabins. They asked questions, brought a pack of sniffer dogs and what I’m sure was a gaiger counter clicking away as they checked everything including the curtains. Finally I got a passport stamp with a little picture of a train on it!At long last we rumbled across the Chinese border which is heavily fortified. We arrived at Manzhouli and some chinese officers came to check our visas and route through our bags. Then we’re shouted off the train and through immigrations. Anyone who stepped out of line (literally) was shouted at. I never thought I’d describe Russian security as relaxed but that’s how it seems now by comparison.After customs we waited at the station for 5 hours. There were no shops or cafés. The icing in the cake is that the train has no hot water when the engine isn’t running. The guidebook says that crossing the border takes a few hours but none hint at what an ordeal it is. I wonder if it’s more slick going via Mongolia where a lot more tourists go.After the tedium of yesterday I’m feeling happy and excited again now with the thrill of travelling. I’m now the only person in my cabin which is nice for a change but I prefer the liveliness of third class. Out of the English speaking tourists on the train I’m the only one who travelled third class and everyone is envious as I regale them with stories.Soon I will be going to the dining car for breakfast with Desmond which makes me feel like I’m in an Agatha Christie novel. Then at lunchtime (a mere 6 more hours on a train seems like nothing now) I’m alighting for my first Chinese city experience!Until I arrive in Japan on the 15th I won’t be able to use WhatsApp, Gmail, LINE, Instagram etc. If you really need to contact me you can do it on wechat (you’ll need to create an account).

The guidebook didn’t have anything nice to say about Chita and everyone in Irkutsk told me there was no point stopping here too. But here I am eating buuz in a yurt, laughing and joking with a lively group of Buryats and having the time of my life.

The transsiberian between Irkutsk and Chita skirts Baikal which should have given spectacular views except that it was very foggy. The only major stop is Ulan-Ude, the capital of Buryatia, republic of the Buryats. Buryats are an aboriginal people to Siberia. Historically they have a strong historic connection with Mongolia so have a similar nomadic lifestyle, language and food. I got off there briefly in the middle of the night to buy some food and right away saw two women in matching traditional Mongolian dress beaming at me as they swaggered down the platform. This station is where the transmongolian branches from the transsiberian. There are souvenir shops selling naff souvenirs from both sides of the border. If you want a little plastic yurt and also a fridge magnet of Red Square, this is the place for you.

I arrived at Chita first thing in the morning. I’m not staying the night here, instead I’m getting the night train at 2am over the Chinese border. The only thing I’d planned to do in Chita was visit the datsan – a tibetan buddhist temple and school. Its a bit of a walk from the town but I was surprised that it’s a lot better than Irkutsk’s datsan. There is a magestic looking pagoda in the centre and several well decorated stupas.

When it was time for lunch I popped into the temple canteen. A secret of the Buddhists in Russia is that all the temples seem to have a canteen that serves amazing buuz (Mongolian and Buryat traditional dumplings) and tea for a stupidly low price. Outside the canteen is a yurt. As I’m paying for my buuz I asked if I can eat in the yurt and they said its fine. The yurt has two dining tables, both occupied. An old man invited me to join him and starts talking to me in German. We eventually end up chatting in a mix of German, Chinese, Russian and English given we don’t have any whole language in common! It turns out he is a retired chemistry teacher. Eventually a group of kids from the other table pluck up the courage to come and say “hello” in English. I engage my teaching skills and try to teach them some phrases. They seem to enjoy it! One of the mothers hands me some tea. Mr Chemistry Teacher wants to take a selfie with me. We all have a merry little lunch.

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It’s evening, I’ve had Georgian food (Irina told me this was a favourite in Soviet Russia along with Uzbek) for dinner and I’m in a dive bar on the edge of town. Everyone in the bar has taken a selfie with me. I impressed them with my knowledge of Russian swear words I picked up when living with a russian junkie in Wythenshawe.I was brought here by Buryat medical student Aryuna who is keen to practice her English. It was a mistake to try and keep pace drinking with a med student! At least I can get rid of these rubles before crossing the border tomorrow! I know Elizabeta (Lisa) the barmaid short changed me for the last round but I’m passed caring. We stay until Lisa locks up then I stagger off to catch my final train in Russia.

I’m quite sad to be leaving Russia. I definately want to come back. The scenery and the people are amazing. In particular I’ve fallen in love with Buryat culture and hospitality and would like to visit Ulan-Ude next time.

Baikal is the most spectacular lake in the world. The view in the photo above could rival Scotland’s finest lochs. But that isn’t even Baikal. It’s the Angara river, draining Baikal and flowing towards Irkutsk city.

We had planned a hike today to celebrate my birthday but the girls decided that it would be too muddy and slippery given the torrential downpour. So we’re at the Taltsy Architectural-ethnographic Museum. It’s a collection of wooden colonial cabins from all over Irkutsk Oblast (county). There are farmsteads, a schoolhouse, churches, a jail and even a reconstructed Ostrog: the palisade fortresses built by the Cossacks when they first penetrated Siberia.

The group is me, Anya, her friend Marsha and her friend Dasha. Anya is being my guide in exchange for English language practice and I’m very grateful to her, and to Masha for driving us here! They even got me a birthday present! A fridge magnet and a plush Nerpa – the world’s only species of freshwater seal that live in Baikal’s icy waters.

After the museum we head to the lakeside town of Listvyanka AKA the Baikal Riviera. We make a B-line for the open-air market for smokey grilled omul, a fish unique to Baikal. As we drive down the front I get my first view of Baikal. Across the pebble beach, behind the lines of moored boats the lake looks exactly like a calm sea because the far bank isn’t visible. Anya tells me that it isn’t visible even on a clear day. As I step out the car I expect to hear guls but can only hear traffic.Yesterday evening we’d gone for a fancy dinner at <name> in The Quarter (A pedestrianised area of Irkutsk city full of cafes, restaurants and bars) The restaurant is retro style (retro is definitely a recurring theme in Russia). The food was great, I had soup from a bread bowl, potato fritters and a russian salad. We had a selection of fruity infusions from rather nice glasses which the girls say are “railway style” because they are available to use on the transsiberian.

What to do with just two days in Moscow? “Its not enough time!” complain all muskovites I asked but eventually yielded: Red Square (with The Kremlin and St Basil’s), Metro tour and VDNKh.VDNKh is a park full of monuments to Soviet Russia; including cosmonautics, the republics and the 1937 world fair statue: Worker and Kolkhoz Woman. I tried my hand at some arty stylised photos.

Everyone told me the donuts at VDNKh are the best. They are similar to churos batter but in a ring shape then dusted with icing sugar. They’re delicious!

In the evening I went to the Worker and Kolkhoz Woman statue to watch a jazz concert on the roof courtesy of Irina. What better way to get an aerial view of Moscow in style?

The following morning it was finally time to catch a train on the transsiberian railway!