Acknowledgements
In the days leading up to departure I often stared at my map covered in pins, strings, and scribbles, wondering what I was getting myself into. But my fears were soon allayed by the faith, support and endless enthusiasm from a circle of people who cheered me on from the moment I wrote my proposal until the morning the book went to print. To my brilliant agent, David Godwin, whose verve and spirit make this process an absolute joy, thank you for not laughing when I dropped in for a cup of tea and casually mentioned travelling around the world by train. Joining the Bloomsbury family has been a pleasure: my book has been loved and looked after in the safest of hands, particularly those of my editor Michael Fishwick who shares a thrilling obsession with dangling modifiers and without whom there would be far more descriptions of mucky toilets.
I owe overdue lunches to Professor Russell Goulbourne, Luke Doneghan, Shawna Pasquale and K. L. Kettle for their generous, patient editing, and to Adrian D’Enrico for forgetting to thank him last time. Along the journey we were housed and fed by Katherine Lambropoulos in Cannes, Adam Benzine in Toronto, Sarah Richards in Vancouver, Melissa and Anand Preece in Los Angeles, Matt Malarkey in Washington D.C., Arun, Rosie, Sean, Maya and Sam Naidu in Seattle, and Jamie Fullerton, Adrian Sandiford and Hannah Oussedik Sandiford in Beijing – much love and gratitude to you all. In addition, I am indebted to Azamat Abdullayev, Rod Beattie, Jean-Michel Filippi, Tomoko Maekawa, Hideo Nakamura, Professor Ulrike Roesler, Wade Shepard, Yuki Tanaka, Toshiko Yamasaki and Tetsushi Yonezawa for providing research, clarifying facts, arranging interviews, interpreting, and trusting me with their stories. A special thank you to Nick Bonner and Simon Cockerell at Koryo Tours for helping me in and – most importantly – out of North Korea, and to Sarah Davies and Geoffrey Cain for their guidance and expertise throughout the ten days.
It deeply saddens me that Sir Harold Atcherley passed away while I was still writing the book. His testimony, strength and unfailing good humour shaped my journey in a way I could never have imagined and I thank both him and Lady Sally Atcherley from the bottom of my heart for giving up their time and taking such delight in the book.
Marc Sethi deserves a gold medal. He and his flask of jasmine tea, sliders, and raucous laughter gave a much-needed boost to the final stretch and his beautiful photos capture moments in a way my words never could. Thank you for still talking to us. To my parents, Rekha and Rajesh, you embody the very essence of team work. Many thanks for your love, unflinching support and superior grandparenting skills. Jem read every chapter as I wrote it, helping me to relive an inimitable journey and make the book the best it could be; I couldn’t have asked for a better travelling companion, editor, husband and papa to my little girl to whom this book is dedicated. Dear Ariel, the most wonderful writing distraction, please forgive me for spending the first nine months of your life hiding in a study so I could finish the book. But I hope one day when you read it, you will be inspired to have as many adventures of your own.
A Note on the Author
Monisha Rajesh is a British journalist whose writing has appeared in Time magazine, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Sunday Telegraph, in which she wrote a column about her journey around the world. Her first book, Around India in 80 Trains (2012), was named one of the Independent’s best books on India. Born in Norfolk and mostly raised in Yorkshire – with a brief stint in Madras – she currently lives in London with her husband and daughter.
Image section
Boarding the first of eighty trains
Russian women sell omul fish on the platform at Perm
Remnants of the Death Railway at the Hellfire Pass Museum, Kanchanaburi, Thailand
A guard waves off the train at Nam Thok station, Thailand
Monisha willing the broken-down train to get moving
Tetsushi Yonezawa in Hiroshima, Japan
Toshiko Yamasaki at Nagasaki train station, Japan
The view from on board The Canadian, en route to Jasper
Making notes on the Sunset Limited to Los Angeles
A child plays the piano at the Steelworks Kindergarten, Chongjin, North Korea
Missiles, fighter jets and tanks in the Steelworks Kindergarten playground, North Korea
Passengers are hurried into a carriage on the Pyongyang Metro system
Pyongyang train station on a beautiful sunny morning
One of China’s numerous ghost cities
The Great Wall of China at Badaling
Jem and Monisha suffering the effects of altitude sickness
Monisha enjoying the view on the approach to Lhasa, Tibet
The Chinese flag flaps in the wind as the train draws into Lhasa
Armed military trucks patrol the streets of Lhasa
A Tibetan nomad looks into a Chinese shop selling skin-whitening products
Nomadic pilgrims enjoy bananas outside the Potala Palace, Lhasa
The Tibetan nun shows Jem and Monisha videos on her iPhone
A night-train passenger sips from a bowl of noodles
Discs of soft cumin bread are baked on the streets of Turfan
Trains pull into Turfan, Xinjiang Province, China
Surveillance trucks with armed police parked in central Urumqi, Xinjiang Province, China
Marzhan and Azamat wave off our train at Almaty station, Kazakhstan
A storm gathers on the mountains as the train crosses from China into Kazakhstan
The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express stops at Innsbruck, Austria
Dressed up for dinner in the Côte d’Azur dining car
BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP, UK
BLOOMSBURY, BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
First published in Great Britain 2019
Copyright © Monisha Rajesh, 2019
Monisha Rajesh has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work
For legal purposes the Acknowledgements constitute an extension of this copyright page
All photographs are from the author’s personal collection unless credited otherwise
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc does not have any control over, or responsibility for, any third-party websites referred to in this book. All internet addresses given in this book were correct at the time of going to press. The author and publisher regret any inconvenience caused if addresses have changed or sites have ceased to exist, but can accept no responsibility for any such changes
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication data has been applied for
ISBN: HB: 978-1-4088-6975-8; eBook: 978-1-4088-6978-9
To find out more about our authors and books visit www.bloomsbury.com and sign up for our newsletters