*plane* rhymes with…….
Monday, August 13th, 2007Last week we realised our plans included arriving in Beijing when the Olympics are on. We’re not snobbish travellers, but we’d really prefer not to be where half the world is at one particular time! Given that the Chinese academic year is not going to be altered merely to suit the preferences of one guest lecturer, we’re trying to bypass Beijing and go directly to Jinan. When you start thinking outside the box, the options open up. Why not take a train? If anyone can tell us how to go about booking a train from Hong Kong to Jinan, we’d be forever indebted to you. Failing that, our allegiance will remain with Mr Google. UPDATE TO FOLLOW POST-RESEARCH.
Just as I was about to turn off the computer for the night a why-didn’t-we-think-of-that-sooner-thought flamed through my imagination.
If we can manage a train trip from Hong Kong to Jinan….and if we can do the 36 hour trip from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar (as we are planning)….WHY are we thinking of catching a plane out of Mongolia? Why not hop on the Trans-Siberian Railway????? Why-ever-not?
Preliminary investigations suggest it would cost our Private Tour Group (aka dad, mum and the kids) about half the cost of flying, making it a Very Attractive Proposition. Hang on, a week incarcerated on a train at the end of winter with eight kids? Attractive? Absolutely! – that sounds like our kind of adventure!!! Of course, when you take a week to do something rather than a few hours there will be additional costs – like food, and in this instance, Russian visas, but it’s still going to be cheaper, isn’t it? Not to mention the Adventure Factor đ
*plane* rhymes with *train*
*train* rhymes with *adventure*, doesn’t it?
rayres