We met our driver after an early breakfast and set off for two nights staying in Banaue, home of World Heritage rice terraces. This was to be a journey of 9-hours as we wound our way up and around the Mountain Region into the Cordilleras Mountains. After leaving the sprawl of Manila we soon hit […]
Back in 2018 I undertook a single train journey in Turkmenistan, from the capital to Mary in the east of the country. We were informed that we were not allowed to take photos. I however got permission to take just one, though as you might expect I sneaked a few more in! Ashgabat has many […]
My travel buddy Hamish and I arranged a trip to the main Filipino island of Luzon for late 2023. I followed the tried & trusted plan: 1) Create an itinerary by looking at the tours offered by international tour agencies at inflated prices 2) Find a local agency and ask them to price up a […]
In 2009 I experienced one of my favourite ever journeys. Istanbul to Ankara by the Dogu Express, on to Adana on the Toros Express, bus to Antakya, and finally taxi over the border to Aleppo in Syria. The journey started with a frog march from our hotel to the port to catch a ferry across […]
On the last full day of my Luzon journey last year I headed south from Manila to the fishing town of Tagaytay. Fishing is however not what Tagatay is best known for. The Taal Volcano sits on an island in Taal Lake. The volcano has erupted countless times, most recently in 2020. Over the years, […]
The Afrosiyob is a wonderful name for a train. It derives its name from Afrosiyab which was an ancient site in Northern Samarkand, present day Uzbekistan, that was occupied from c. 500 BC to 1220 AD prior to the Mongol invasion in the 13th century. I travelled on it between Bukhara and mythical Samarkand in 2018. […]
Kyoto has many must sees – the Gion Geisha District, shrines, temples & beautiful gardens aplenty, the Fushimi Inari Taisha Sembon Torii (temple of 1,000 gates) and the bamboo forest amongst them. A lot to cram into 3 days. With a couple of hours to fill before our Shinkansen train to Hiroshima, I hot-footed it alone […]
As somebody reasonably well travelled, I am often asked my favourite countries visited. This is pretty impossible, so diverse are they. I will give it a go. However, if you ask me again next week I am pretty sure the list will change! Japan I am just back from a fabulous two week trip. Fuji, […]
It has been a long held ambition of mine to take the world’s first commercial Maglev train from Shanghai Airport to Longyang Road Station in the centre of the city. A chance recently presented itself when we flew via the vibrant Chinese metropolis to and from Tokyo. A top speed of 430k/mh, though slightly disappointing […]
I am just back from the land of the rising sun. It was a magical trip where we saw Fuji San and experienced Sakura (cherry blossoms). Here are some pictures combining trains with blossom. And here is Fuji San taken from the train.
Wilbur's Travels 