We are now in Hanoi (Vietnam) and have finally found an internet connection that doesn't mind us using Google.
We'll try and attach some photos shortly.
After leaving London on Wed 10 March, we travelled on the Eurostar to Brussels and then caught the afternoon train to Cologne. From there we got the overnight train to Warsaw. We didn't get to Warsaw until around lunchtime and while everyone else in our carriage got up and off the train one man stayed sleeping right up until we got off. Sitting in a cramped sleeping carriage just a few feet from a fast alseep man for several hours was slightly disconcerting to say the least.
We then caught the overnight train from Warsaw to Moscow. It was nice to get a private compartment (the main compartments are all single sex apparently). The border crossing into Belarus (and Russia at the same time it turned out - we thought they were separate countries these days, but I guess not) was all ok.
Moscow was grey but not too cold. The main worry we had was being stopped by the police for having an unregistered visa (you only have to register them if your staying more then 3 days), but we managed to avoid them and saw a few sights - including the massive mountains of snow in the park where we ate our lunch.
At midnight we boarded the Trans-Siberian train, our home for the next week. This was after spending a couple of hours waiting in the wrong station (the correct one was on the other side of the street).
We were in a compartment supposedly for four people, but the train was half empty the whole way and we got to have the room to ourselves - like a hotel on wheels. It was great. The view constantly changing, hot water on tap from the samovar at the end of the carriage and a clean toilet and washroom (which was nice).
At first the weather was just cold (a bit like winter at home) and the snow not much deeper then what we had in January. But once we'd crossed the Urals (crossing from Europe to Asia) the thermometer dropped and snow piled up.
The train itself was very warm and we'd brought a huge bagful of warm clothes to wear outside, so it wasn't too bad, even when the temperature fell to -18C. Still, it was hard to stay outside for more than a few minutes as your nose and cheeks began to freeze!
Crossing the border from Russia to China was fine. Just about 8 hours in faceless concrete Soviet stations surrounded by barbed wire. Oh, and Robin was nearly not allowed across because they thought she didn't look like the person in the passport. Oh, and the Russians decided to plant a wooden gun under the mattress in our compartment after we'd left their customs. Apparently it was 'education'.
We arrived in Beijing on Friday 19 March. It is a very smoggy place and the next day there was a sandstorm - more like a desert than a capital city. We walked round a few parks and saw the locals tap-danicing, doing Tai Chi and chanting out slogans in unison to kickstart the day. It was all very charming if not a bit bizarre.
Our train to Nanning (the south of China) was delayed by 6 hours, so we spend the best part of a day jammed in a super packed waiting room in the largest train station in Asia (it is MASSIVE). We thought the crowds would start a riot at one point so it was a relief to finally get on baord. This meant our train arrived in the middle of the night in the south of China, so we had a fun night hanging out with the city crazies outside the station before catching our early morning bus to Vietnam.
The crossing from China to Vietnam was fine. Oh, except for the blasts of machine gun fire that rang out as we stopped for lunch near the border.
So it's been a great trip so far. It's been nice to actually stop somewhere for a few days. Hopefuly we can update you more regularly over the next few week. We're off to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) tomorrow...
