43 dead. My sister and I were on this train last year--going the other way. And I thought we were in trouble when we were on horseback in Mongolia, freezing in the rain.
Here are pictures from the trip so far. There are pictures from China (Tsingtao, Beijing, The Great Wall); Mongolia (Ulan-Batar, Trejl National Park): Russia (Ulan-Ude, Irkutsk, Listvyanka); as well as pictures in-transit to and from those places. We have employed the following modes of transport: Ferry, Crazy Taxi, Horse, Ox-cart, Bus, Mini-bus, Mini-van Bus, Subway, Tram, Foot, and lastly, mostly, Train.
First, my wave goodbye to Korea:
That’s the first half of the trip. Only three more stops, Moscow, St. Petersberg and Helsinki. It should be noted that as the train crosses the Ural mountains, so shall the blade of my razor, erasing the fuzzy influence of Mongol upon my face.
“…it’s hard to resist your own substance, you’d like to stop all this, give yourself time to think about it and listen without difficulty to your heartbeat, but it’s too late for that. This thing can never stop. This enormous steel box is on a collision course; we, inside it, are whirling madly with the machines and the Earth. All together, along with the thousands of little wheels and hammers that never strike at the same time, that make noises which shatter one another, some so violent that they release a kind of silence around them, which makes you feel a little better. You give into noise as you give in to war. As the machines you let yourself go with the two three ideas that are wobbling about at the top of your head. And that’s the end. From then on everything you look at, everything you touch is hard. And everything you still manage to remember more or less becomes as rigid as iron and loses its savor in your thoughts.” Celine, Journey to the End of the Night
“It’s not that I like the empire—I hate it—but there’s nothing I can do about it right now.” Luke Skywalker, Star Wars
