Hiccup on the road of life.

Hello and gooday.
Hello mates "I have been crook" as we say in Aussie.
I thought it time to correct a Hernia. Result of an earlier cancer operation. Here's me thinking it would be a quick in and out of hospital, Wrong again  the first operation  went pear shape and the surgeon had to go in and repair the repair another operation.  
Painful & expensive. Difficult for my family with a new baby due and Citt coming home to be here for the birth. 

Our mate Jo Hassan made me biscuits in the shape of red shoes.  Just to cheer me up.

But all is well now we have a beautiful grand-daughter. Citt has returned to "our world" and I am at last feeling good,


"Absolutely fabulous"  now we can resume our journey in Iran. The next leg is written and I will post in the next day or so.


Hope you are fine wherever you are. 
I had a great time on the net while I was crook and loved this clip. 
If it offends some just turn it off 
I like it as it is uplifting and taking the Micky out of establishment,


Life of Brian.
http://youtu.be/WlBiLNN1NhQ


Next Post
Travelling from Esfahan to Kerman/Bam/Bander Abbas (on the Persian Gulf)

Merry Christmas to you and the best for the New Year wherever you are,

It is Christmas in Australia.

It is the time we as a Christian Nation celebrate the birth of Jesus of Nazareth (7-1BC BCE - 30-36 AD/CE)

It is our time of family reunions, a time of celebrations with our friends and colleagues

Our time to remember, the year gone by and celebrate the blessings received

It is Christmas and wherever you are.

We wish you and your loved ones the very best for the season

&

A blessed and bountiful New Year for 2012 

From our home to yours.

From our home: Sunrise over the beautiful Gold Coast Queensland Australia

From our home: Sunset on the Beautiful Gold Coast Queensland Australia

Merry Christmas

From our family to yours

Urfa, Nemrut Daghi, Harran, and Abrahams Birthplace

Hello now where we on the last post? 
It has been really hot in the desert and we have had some problems with blogger software. Also the Turkish Military blocked all alien telephones. Due to the skirmish over the border with the Kurds in Iraq. We are  a long way from the trouble now.

On the Bank of the Euphrates River Urfa

OK we left Erzurum after collecting my Iran visa and caught a bus to Diabaykir. Our intention was to stay in that city but the connection to Urfa was waiting. 
Arrived in Urfa just on dusk. Friday 14th.
Urfa is a magic place and it should be in the Blue Book for must see places. The foundations of Urfa are reputed to be 9000BC. It is the birthplace of the prophet Abraham. His cave is a sacred Moslem pilgrimage site, 

The birthplace of the Prophet Abraham Urfa

The city is large some 870,000 people live here. Industry is farming and tourists. Not your usual tourists. But Middle East tourists from Bahrain, Dubai, Saudi and Iran. We found it to be vibrant alive and so hospitable, If you are a Christian then there are plenty of 12th century Crusader churches converted to Mosques but still unmistakable. 

With the Kids in Urfa

Jesus is  reputed to have sent a cloth here to cure a leper. The well where the leper washed is still intact covered with a rock!

Urfa from the old Fort 7000BC to Roman times
Citt and I have had random acts of kindness here, people just loved the fact we were visiting their city. A daughter and her Boppa. >me.

Our hotel was an old Armanien house renovated our host was a genial Kurd English teacher Aslan Asia. He was just great organized a trip to Nemrut Darghi And Harran taking in all the Roman Ruins. Historic sites and modern marvels of this region.

Aslan Konek Evi Hotel Urfa

We visited the Ataturk Dam part of the Gap Irrigation Project. That has turned desert into cotton fields and satisfied the Kurds with money and a future. 
Nemrut Darghi National Park sits on top of a mountain 2150mtrs. It is a pyramid of rocks with statues of Lions Apollo, Hercules,.Zeus,  King Antiocheus 62 BC built this monument to himself. 

Nemrut Darghi 62 BC

To the West it is Greek to the East the statues are Persian.

Nemrut Darghi Persian Side

Good Politician this guy hedging his bets. He was caught between the Byzantines and the Persians.

Nemrut Darghi Greek Side

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Nemrut
These guys sure outshone our modern politicians for egalitarian acts.
http://www.google.com/search?q=nemrut+da%C4%9Fi+national+park&hl=en&biw=1024&bih=577&rlz=1W1SKPT_en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=tl-gTtrPK4WLswbEz4jfAg&ved=0CFwQsAQ

It is a unesco site.


The Roman Bridge and perfect Seljuk period bridge burial mounds old cities all in the fertile crescent the land of the scriptures.

Roman Bridge

Citt 

That is it for now we are crossing into Iran tomorrow so not too sure if I can update you. I will try my best. You are yet to visit the Biblical town of Harran and the old Sun god caves. 

Thanks for coming along.

Erzurum, Ancient Ani, Historic Kars

Hello 13/10/2011

Arrived in Erzurum under a cloak of darkness. Taxi to our hotel from the train from Istanbul. Fairly uneventful journey as I spent most of it with my head in the toilet bowel. A bad case of tummy BUG. But a few Norflaxin had me up and around in a couple of days only for Citt to be struck as well. So we spent 2 days in a quiet 5 star in Erzurum. In hindsight we were both jet lagged and down on our health so it was timely to get it out of the way. We did not eat so we enjoyed the heavily discounted Marriott.

Rennaisance Hotel Erzurum

Erzurum sits smack bang on the cross roads of trade routes. It has a violent history since the earliest man walked here in 3000BC. The sites are fewhowever  there is an exceptional 12th century mosque and a Seljuk Hall.



Mongol Council House Central Erzurum

The main square has a Mongol council house with no windows and a single minaret added to make it look  like a mosque. True the minaret is beautiful with tiles and mosaics.

 Apart from the jewel markets (a 12th century palace converted to shops.) There is little else to hold ones attention. Unless you love cakes and sweets as this town has a caveat on them. Baklava, Eclairs, Rich sponges, and ice cream to die for. There are salons where women can go by themselves and of course the guys take their girls to sit and giggle while taking photos and texting to friends and facebooking the result.

Tea shop

 It would be difficult for a single woman to travel here as the men are really in your face.

Visa to Iran is proving difficult as they do not seem to have the necessary documents I paid for from Tehran. So after the first call and we got nowhere decided to head out to Kars and the ancient city of Ani. Trying to not waste time waiting for Beurocrats to send a file via god knows how.

Kars is an old city standing in the road of Emporers, Kings, Despots and Kahns. It has a bloody history. Has been a part of Armenia. Russia, Persia, even the British had a go at it during the Caucus wars. I think the light brigade was around here somewhere will do some research and let you know.

Kars Memorial museum Russian house

Kars is dominated by a huge bluestone fort. The city is Russian built you would think you were in Irkusk or central Russia with stone houses on a neat grid with well laid out streets lined with trees.

From here we visited the ancient 'city of Ani

The olive Press Ani City

This city now derelict once housed 100,000 people It was a vital link and a major trading place on the Silk Road. It was founded in 950  or thereabouts by the Armenian Bogradite Kings who made it their capital. These guys were pretty big in those days. They did OK with some fist fights with the Byzantines and Seljuks but it all came unstuck when the Mongols came and got rid of the lot. The City was left deserted and earthquakes did the rest. It is lttle more than a  heap of stones and ruined churches on the border of modern Armenia. By the way the border is closed due to a dispute so nothing has really changed.

Ruins

We spent three hours at the site and it was eerie to be in houses with the evidence of fires, in shops with the Pide oven in place. Walk a cobble street where Mums would have met and spent a time gossiping  The gates  where the tax agent lived and stand outside the church where a bride and groom Would have started life together. Dreams and realities all dead long gone.





We left the site and retruned to Erzurum to get the elusive Visa.

It is Thursday 13th and after a further 2 days, 3 visits and some Euros in the right place. I have my Visa to Iran. (:

Tomorrow 14th we leave for Mesopatamia. Diyabakur, Sanlurfa and Lake Van. The attraction?  Hanny near Lurfa is reputed to be the oldest inhabited city on the planet. Plus Nemrut Darghi (Roman Heads) and  Gobeki Tepe (10000BC older than stone henge). here Abraham was borne, this is the beggining of civilisation as we know it and it is all still standing ready for us to visit.

Are you still with us?

Let's go.

 

We are in search of Persia

The Jewel Market Erzerum

 

Capitalists and Traders. Silk Road Kashgar to Xian China.

The Silk Road is about capitalists and traders and commerce.The Chinese traded with the Egyptians, Romans, Byzantines and the Phoneicians, as early as 250BC. Add to this the Indian continent and Africa and it becomes even more interesting.

Later in history the road became the artery for all of Central Asia linking China, India, Central Asia, Turkey and Europe.

Marco Polo travelled the route in the 12th century. (Picking up noodles (spaghetti) along the way and, as they say, the rest is history.)

The area was lawless, dominated by tribal interests ruled by cruel and vicious Khanates.

The route for all the camel trains was to leave markets of Xian and navigate the Chinese deserts, the Gobi to the North and the Taklakamen desert to the South.

The northern route was favored taking 6 months to travel from Xian to Kashgar

. Later in time a southern route emerged.

The camel trains were large somtimes up to 300 camels. The camel trains were financed by traders and financiers. The train had a master being an experienced and seasoned campaigner able to oversee the safe passage of the goods and chattels on a perilous journey, navigating tribal boundaries, bandits and thieves. Levies were paid at various places similar to customs duties guaranteeing safe passage. Trains travelled various distances, short hauls, others longer journeys.

All roads lead to Kashgar (Kashi)

Kashgar is situated in the Extreme Western corner of modern China, encircled by the snow covered ranges of the Tian Shin to the West, Hindu Kush and Pamir Mountains to the south and South West. All impassable in winter.

From Kashgar the trains either headed South to India on what is still known as the Korakorum Highway leading to modern Pakistan and onto India and Africa, or heading West, crossing the Tian Shin Mountains and onto the vast plains of Central Asia leading to Samarkan, Bukhara and Merv, Turkmenistan, Iran and Turkey.

The area is inhospitable desert country with temparatures rising to 40c in summer and minus 30c in winter. Vicious winds are common creating sa

nd storms. There is very little water in this land hence the trains followed the the mountains where oasis style towns flourished servicing the camel trains with shelter, food and water.

The "Silk Road" has many routes leading all over Asia. Today's highways follow the same routes. We head straight to Kashgar.

The city has a long history, conquered by Alexander the Great, later by the Persians who colonised the deserts of Central Asia prior to the Mongols in the 12th-14th century.

At the end of the Mongol rule it became a Khanate in the late 19th century annexed by Russia for a short spell until an agreement with the British.

In the period of the Great Game (the British believed that Russia would mount an attack on India along the Karakorum Highway in the period of the Napoleonic wars), the area came under Chinese rule with Mao's communist centralised regime. The area is now firmly a part of China and is treated as the last frontier. There is tribal unr

est in the region due to the modernisation of the City and the influx of Han immigrants sponsored by the central government.

We are aware that the area will be even more sensitive due to the upheavals of 40 million displaced persons in Pakistan due to the floods. We will tread very carefully.

I write this on the Gold Coast prior to my departure. When we were last in China all social sites were banned. Therefore I wanted to get some

information to you.

I leave on Monday the 30th August for Kashgar. Meet Citt on the 1st September enroute in Urumqui airport.

My thanks to the Prestons for the Chinese train schedules, booking forms and menu cards. To Ron for the great folio society book on the Silk Road for research purposes. Pam for her encouragement and enthusiasm. You my friends for always being there.

Malcolm

Follow us on the Silk Road. Kashgar to Xian.

Images from our journey Silk Road 2008. Bukhara Uzbekistan.

Silk Road China, Visa, Flights and Medical.

Hi filling you in with the details of my journey on the Silk Road.

Please refer to my earlier post explaining my journey with Citt.

My departure is scheduled for the 30th August returning the 15th September

Me all I need is a Chinese Visa. Book return flights and a medical clearance from my doctor!

The visa is fairly easy for China, evidence of a return flight and in my case a travel schedule and of course $40 cash.

My preferred flight due to cost is out of the Gold Coast. I am fortunate to source a flight for $93.00. I have sourced a China Southern flight via Hong Kong to Urumqi and then onto Kashgar. I am fortunate as Citt is on the same flight from Urumqi to Kashgar so we can get an airport pickup together. The KL- China flight is 15 hours.

Returning is reasonably easy just a flight from Tianjin to KL 10 hours as again the flights are Budget via KL. KL- GC.

Medical is not so easy.

I take Clexane injections for thrombosis to allow me to fly.

My prostate cancer is controlled with hormones. The good doctor gave me a 3 month injection to allow me to travel. I must consult on my return

The travel doctor completes the picture. My card reads.

Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Polio, Cholera ETEC Diahorea, Typhoid, Rabies, Flu. Add to this lot the fact I have psoriases of the skin and use cortisone ointment.

It is not so bad I always make sure before a journey I have the necessary medical precautions. . It is just not worth the thought to leave Australia and travel without safeguards.

Yep I know you are asking, why I would bother to travel? Good question.

I enjoy the thrill of visiting out of the way places rich in history with exotic peoples and awesome scenery. Rich pickings for me and my Nikon.

"Travel the path less trodden".

Note for our friends.

Citt will depart 13th for Pyongyang in North Korea for a 9 days tour. Then she will travel onto the University of East Anglia Norwich UK to start a Masters degree in Science Climate Change on the 23rd Sept. She has taken a sabbatical from the UNU.

Kellie and Richie have a little girl Lucie Hannah and she is just beautiful. 8/5/10

Cruisin America - Grand Canyon to Monument Valley

The Grand Canyon is so huge it makes the mind boggle. Our aim was to make at least some distance to Monument Valley Tribal Park after a brief look at Grand Canyon.

Truth is it is such a huge wonder that our day did not do it justice.

The evening found us in Tuba City Arizona

in the Hopi Indian Reservation in the Navajo indian State. We booked a room in an NGO hotel.

The service was good and we got a kick out of supporting the Indians.

We have found that:

• Americans are hospitable
• the food is good value
• they all have an accent not like us at all
• the country around the corners of the four states is unlike any we have ever seen
• The corner states are
• Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico

• Monument Valley is awesome
• The country to the North of the valley is also awesome
• the roads are really good
• speed limit is 65mph in our terms 110kph
• Colorado where this is being written is true to John Denver "Rocky Mountain High".

Visiting Mesa Verde National Park tomorrow

The site Pueblo Indian cliff dwellings from 1100AD till early 1300AD still intact and sacred grounds.

Then back to the Mother road "Route 66" rejoining it at Gallup New Mexico.

We are "Cruisin America" in a convertible with the Sat. music cranked up.

Pure Rock n Roll.

A letter to a friend

I write this letter to you hoping that it will assist you sharing my experiences with cancer and the allied illnesses I have suffered and subsequent depression caused by happenings and things beyond my control. I have never written a letter to you. I rejoice in the fact that I may be able to assist others to overcome depression and feeling like a failure then my letter to you is from the heart. I am nervous about publishing my feelings.

My story starts at 10.15 am on the 13^th January 2006 I am laying in the recovery ward at St Andrews Hospital Spring Hill after a colonoscopy, the doctor arrives and tells me that I have a tumour in my rectal passage he asks me to find faith and assures me that he can give me a complete cure.

I felt helpless with my little cancer. Laying there my mind took me back to things, places to see, opportunities lost forever. I needed help I have a close caring family and a caring group of friends and friends appeared I did not know I had.

About December 2005 I was working with a team of 4 in our Real estate business a younger man had joined us and we were happy in the knowledge that the year ahead would be full of challenges and this was to prove correct. New years day 2006 we visited a friend I felt bad as I was having trouble passing solids and I saw blood in the bowl. That night was the first day of the rest of my life. Blood was flowing into the bowl from my anus. After consulting with our GP I was referred to specialist for a colonoscopy and there is where my story opened.

My family siblings are 4 girls and me a boy and the youngest. Pam and I have two beautiful girls 37 & 32 years old. The conversation has never been about bums and tits so to have a tumour up my passage was abhorrent to me. But there you go I got one. Rectal cancer is invasive it lives deep in your system it is very dangerous it can spread rapidly from the tumour to adjacent tissues with devastating effect. My treatment was shrink the tumour with radiation treatment. Then remove it with open surgery. Follow that up with 5 months of Chemotherapy. They say ignorance is bliss and so it is, I had no idea of the seriousness of my illness or the complications that I was to suffer.

Our oldest daughter decided to marry on the 18^th March 2006. The date was decided in December 2005. The treatment started in February the operation date was set for the 9^th March 2006. I personally did not want them to change the date for the wedding. It was surreal for us as a family with me sick in bed with more bags hanging off me “than a Brisbane bag man” and the family all-planning together for the wedding at Sunrise Beach. The feeling lingers that I let them all down with my silly cancer. I thought I should have been able to avoid it.

The operation was successful. I attended the wedding with the help of a close friend and the nurses of St Andrews I got a leave pass and It was enlightening when we left hospital all the nurses came out to cheer. Me I had a colostomy bag my bowels had just started to work. My stomach was bloated with wind I had been on a nil by mouth for the last 10 days. But Pam and I were to be together giving our daughter away there was lots of gaiety, champagne food and love by the bucket full. I went back to hospital after the ceremony.

In hospital I suffered pulmonary embolisms, a spell in ICU and a secondary staff infection, the last one I bought upon myself (a Hernia after working out in the gym too early and with the wrong exercises).

The bad news continued with Cyclone Larry wrecking our Mission Beach holiday units then the last of our sales staff quit. The bad news did not stop. We took a quick holiday to Laos in February 2007 I made a fundamental error with my trading business, leaving positions open. I did not take my broker codes with me. There was a violent correction in the markets. We got wiped out.

The after effects of the Chemotherapy were I could not concentrate, my energy levels were very low, my tolerance for others was woeful and I believed I had a legitimate cause and no one understood how I felt. I was tired irritable and had no patience. Anything that looked like a task was hard the simplest things took toll. I had tiredness and nothing I did excited me at all. I could not make decisions. I had depression and did not know it.

In hindsight.

• I did not give my body and soul time to heal after the trauma
• I did not take the time to readjust to my new life.
• The caring given to me by others I took for granted
• The pleasure of being alive I had forgotten to thank for it
• I had forgotten my loved ones hurt to see me in pain
• My loved ones wanted me to be happy and well. They wanted me back.
• I did not allow time to grieve for the things that were to be no more.

I thought I was invincible I was being irresponsible. I continued to work as if nothing had happened. That made me sick. Now I had depression and had to work out of it.

How does one do it without drugs?

My luck in the mid 80s I was diagnosed with depression Reason; I was running a catering business and there was no time for me or the family having insufficient time to rest. The GP referred me to a Psychiatrist who was sympathetic and understood my no drug policy.

His prescription read like this

• tryptophan tablets for sleeping,
• meditation twice daily for the soul
• lots of good exercise for the sugar
• stop stress related activities
• avoid people who do not give worth
• find a job congruent with my personae and do it well

The outcome of that. Learned to touch type, bush walk, took a ski holiday, spent time with my girls and became a Mr Mum finished off renovating a house. Took up glass etching, as the life I was leading was not congruent with my soul. I changed careers from caterer to real estate agent

That was then 1985 so now.

2008

I have a second cancer and to me that is a real boner. I was feeling good. This one hurts I realise the danger I am in.

Reason for depression right? Wrong!

The prescription given to me in the 80s worked.

We have sold our big house on the hill, sold all our land investments, closed our brokerage business, stopped derivative trading.

To lift depression I have concentrated on interest’s photography sharing photo books, calendars, movies and framing for pleasure. I am learning to draw and read again. We plan to journey. Take time for me to meditate. My guitar has come out of the wardrobe.

The last rule: Do not watch 6.00 news or current affairs programmes. Oh yeah and those kick out real time shows. Depression: It is not good to think negativity and death. Accept it yes but not be the victim

I’m Ok, putting this down for you helped me a lot. If you have got colorectal cancer and the cancer council gives you a video with a group of people talking about their experiences, yeah the guy talking at the end of the video is me.

I want you to

• ease yourself off the Prosac or whatever else you are taking
• take a walk every day somewhere interesting even if you have to travel
• go to the beach earth your body in the sea
• go to the RSPCA and get a dog, cat or bird, you will be giving a life hope
• get involved in community
• Stop talking to others about you and talk about them
• Learn to relax
• Keep it simple. Throw away the crutches you can walk real good.
• Get way from negative people that make you feel bad
  

You want to know how I am?

• I have aggressive prostate cancer
• My sex life is gone I am impotent
• My energy is not good
• I have a bad back
• I lost most of my business
• Our big house on the hill is gone.
• Our cat died

I decided that it was not going to stop me because.

“I live in Australia and I can do what I like”.

I have a loving healthy wife and vibrant family, friends welcome me to their homes, I can take photos, I can hear music, I can walk talk and think. My drawing is coming on and our business is virtual and growing again. Best of all we have been on a great train journey Singapore to London 2009. In March we leave on the ultimate road jurney. “Route 66”. We are about to become grandparents in May. We are moving to the Gold Coast to live in a Penthouse.

Yes it will be OK just you have complete faith in yourself and please get well we need you.

Your friend

Malcolm Williams

Image 1 Craig Lowndes and me

Image 2 Kellie, Richie wedding day

Image 3 Citt, Kellie, Me & Pam

Image 4 Richie, Pam, Kellie, Me & Pam.

Image 5 Citt and me on the Silk Road journey 2007

Image 6 My Frazer Island "tough fishing" buddies

Image 7 "I'm Alive and well and I feel great" in Paris.

Image 8 Just a bloody Ozzie trying to be a Kiwi. me.

London: The end of the "great train journey" Singapore to London by rail.

Hello this is belated as most of you know we have returned to Australia. However it is for me closure. I must complete this blog in order to complete the journey.
UK was to be the last stop to visit friends, visit our old work places, and the birth places or our kids and go back to our roots.

We left Australia in 1970. Worked a constant amount of pubs and ran foul of the Immigration police in 1973. We returned to the UK in 1974 on the strength of Pam's Gran being born in Newcastle. Our stay was till 1981 when we decided the time had come to return home to Australia for education and family.

So it was our stay in the UK was from 1970 till 198. It is impossible to live in that country and not make friends that will last forever and so it was.

This blog is not in order as we arrived in UK via the Euro star from Paris and stopped in Ashford Kent where our pub the 'Ben Truman' was> It has now been demolished. (see you can't leave anything to anyone else).
The Pub industry changed with EU membership. The central Brussels government believed that a monopoly existed. So the big brewers lost their Pubs. It was exacerbated by Aussie cowboys Alan Bond, Elliott and Spalvin. In time the big brewers Watney, Whitbread, Courage, and others were broken up and closed. The industry and the way of life for most Brits changed, the local pub became an endangered species. Some sold to become free houses, then small management companies were created and took on several licences. Most were sold off to become shops, restaurants and residential.

We left the UK and the pub business at a critical time when the managed house system was being abandoned. Smart guy hey David?
Before this all happened we got on with our lives, met a great bunch of mates and worked with the best "A team". David Sutton (Management) and Valerie Smith (marketing).

Friends change and multiply, families get bigger.

In Kent our friends hosted us. Tony and his beautiful wife Philippa and of course Charlotte, Jonty, Daniel, Lea, Jack, and Alex.
Then there is Janet and Andy (Blogs) and grandson Kelvin. Our old mate Hucky who left hospital to have a beer with us. This guy used to say "my idea of a good night is to watch my arse go up and down in the mirror on the end of the bed". Our friend Hucky is older and wiser but still believes in a good time.
Reminds me of Rosco.

Time is a killer.

You know it is interesting with friends! You can be away for years and within 5 minutes it is as if you were never apart. It is 38 years since we lived here and look at the photos! Are we all enjoying company?

Love our friends. Pam and I will travel miles to make contact; yeah Singapore to London is far enough.

This journey was always about people not things.

We visited our old haunts and places of employ.
The Western Counties (Paddington)
The Kings Head (Bayswater)
The Three Horseshoes (Kellie-Ann birthplace) (Hampstead London SW)
The old brewery (Truman Hanbury Buxton, Brick Lane E1)
The Ben Truman (Ashford Kent, demolished) Citt's Birthplace.
The New Inn (New Romney Kent) favorite watering hole.

For us it was about closure,

The Journey. This journey will officially end when we hear the tones of Big Ben. Why would you put yourself through the pain of traveling on a train? For Pam and I, seeing a country is about the people. It is important to get in amongst the people. This cannot be done by flying from one capital city to another with 3 day stopovers.

On a train it is a simple life. The train starts and you are on it. In our case we were always in a sleeper carriage for overnight travel. Pullman class for day travel. The sleeper carriage carries 4 or 6 depending on hard sleeper or soft sleeper. (There is no cattle class as people are not cattle)! Linen is supplied so are pillows and blankets.

The locals are the same as us. Families are important. In most cases in these parts. There is little left after wars, natural disasters and political upheaval other than families to cling to and support.

For us it was always a bonus to have children in the carriage. Some may not like this but for us it was the key to making friends with our fellow travelers.Twisty balloons, sketch pads and some nail color changed whole cabins and in some cases the mood of the carriage. I only wish I had taken time to learn some magic tricks it would have been really cool.

The fact is the train goes and it is on a time schedul. You are either on it or you are not!
The train goes along a designated line without danger of trucks, police, and other things that bug travellers.
The dining car sometimes delivers a meal with local flair.
The scenery unfolds outside the air conditioned cabin window or heated depending on the country and the temperature of the country outside. It is not insular like a plane or a bus.
The journey gives you time to make friends with fellow travelers, irrespective of language, nationality sex or age. It also gives you time to sketch, read or reminisce about life.

Photographic opportunities abound and at stops along the way traditions, dress and architecture change. If one is quick some great shots can be got.

Our journey was from the Equator, Singapore, to the Arctic area of Siberia and Saint Petersburg.
We traveled through 12 countries with untold languages, dialects and currencies. Religious beliefs changed daily. Hindus, Moslems, Christians, Buddhists and other religions. We took care not to contravene local beliefs, using hair nets, leaving cameras outside, not eating pork, taking off shoes when required, wearing hats and covering skin to respect local customs.

Our "Great Train Journey". Thanks to Kellie, Rich and Citt for encouraging us. Thanks to our friends in the U

K for making our stay 'WOW' factor again. Thanks to our friends we met along the way. Thanks to the people who made our journey so memorable who will remain nameless. But most of all thanks to you for reading and travelling with us on this long rail journey, 22,413 kilometers.
There and back 40,000 kilometers in round figures.
You visited 13 countries. Walked countless miles to visit monuments, temples and churches. Ate local food from stalls and local cafes. Visited local markets where people worked and sold their goods. Stayed in Hotels, Guest houses, Gurs and even a rail station.
Travelled on trains wherever we could. Boat (Mekong), buses, mini buses, trolley buses, tuk tuks, bikes, horses and even a local plane. You are exhausted thinking about it. It is all too hard? Our friends, our advice is find a journey for you and just do it.

Our theme: Wilie Nelsons song "on the road again"

And I can't wait to get on the road again.
On the road again

Goin' places that I've never been.
Seein' things that I may never see again

I can't wait to get on the road again.

Thanks Willie Nelson you made our day.

Image 1 The usual suspects Hucky,Pam, Jan,
Back Me, Sandra, Tony, Andy (Blogs)
Image 2 Pam and the London Eye
Image 3 Street Art Brick Lane E1
Image 4 Arriving London Cannon Street station
Image 5 Management part of the "A" team David and Ronnie Sutton having tea at Bournmouth.
Image 6 Our London mates. Wally Willie Pam and I
Image 7 Valerie Smith and Pam the other part of the "A" team
Image 8 The Weavers, Alex, Charlotte, Tony, Jonty, Phillipa, Jack. (Daniel & Lea missing)
Image 9 Looking for Paddington Bear
Image 10 Heading home. Stanstead shuttle
Image 11 Air Asis X KL Malaysia
Video 12 Big Ben strikes


More to come...........(: Route 66.