Mount Kinabalu, Borneo

Mount Kinabalu, Borneo

The journey

This is the travel blog of Alkit Patel on his adventure from London to Beijing by train, and beyond into other regions of China and South East Asia.

I have brushed aside my usual form of transport, the motor car, and opted for public transport by which I have travelled some 20,000 kilometres across 13 countries over six months.

The journey will take me to:

Belgium – Germany – Poland – Lithuania – Russia – Mongolia –
China – Thailand – Laos – Cambodia – Vietnam – Malaysia – Singapore

My fundraising effort with the 'tube' has raised £3,086 for Mines Advisory Group thus far. For more information or to donate, click here.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Fast track Vilnius

What a schlep of a journey getting here from Krakow. 16hr train journey starting in the middle of the night via Warsaw and Sestokai, Lithuania. Multiple stops meant two things: lack of sleep (as I couldn't risk missing my stops) and complexity.

Warsaw train station was deserted except for drunken louts and at least 4 kebab shops open - very handy (kebab shops that is) as it was 5am and I was starving.



Then came the real issues - I was convinced I was on the correct train to Sestokai, but the train conductor was telling me otherwise, or at least I thought he was. Between this Finnish girl, who had the same issue, and me, we finally figured out that we had to be in the final 3 carriages - surely the conductor could have simply pointed this out via than rap Polish to us - for anyone doing the same journey, remember this! The Finnish girl was hardcore - spent 3wks hitchhiking her way through many of the Baltic states and then thought she'd take the train for a break from the uncertainty!

It was noticeably much cooler in Vilnius; felt a bit like being back home in Britain. But then again, that may have been because there were armies of Brits out there - mostly on stags - and it's difficult to avoid them.

That even Germany scraped past Turkey in atypical nervy fashion. I had planned on an early night as I had a 13hr train to St Petersburg the next day. However, whilst strolling around town, a local boy convinced Ben and I that we could go with him to Prospekus club. It didn't take much persuasion. Turns out that this dude is the MacDaddy of Vilnius. All the girls were over him like a rash - he even helped us out (in pity). Ended up being a 6am job.

A hazy walk around the Old Town followed the next afternoon; lucky that most sights can be seen in a matter of hours.

If I had more time, I probably would have headed 30km out of town to a place called Trakai, which is a lake resort.

So far, I had crossed 4 borders and my passport has not been taken out of my pocket. But now it was time to face the Russian authorities and cross Latvia into St Petersburg, where the trip was originally going to begin.

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