Freelance Tour Manager for Rail Based vacations around the world
Not much has been posted on here recently, for reasons that are hopefully obvious. I was reviewing this blog and thinking about some of the Tours that I've done while listening to some of my music. My mind went back to one of my favourite Tours, Tracks of the Deep South, or, as I prefer …
Continue reading "I met a girl who sang the blues, And I asked her for some happy news…"
It ... is of course COVID-19, the Coronavirus Me How is it affecting me? So far, it's not a good news story. I've now had two China Tours cancelled, and this represents a significant financial hit, which could be as much as 30% of my annual income. As things stand, I have no work for …
Sorry about that but I couldn’t resist. I have 2 hours left in Cambodia before the Tour ends and I think I’m getting De-Mob happy - as the Vietnam troops used to say, I’m on short time. Yesterday, and this morning we visited the Temples at the Angkor Wat complex. A mixture of Hindu & …
Another early start for the long days drive to Siem Reap from Phnom Penh. Our Local Guide, Lim (on the left) and driver Hing were waiting for us and after the bags were checked (me) and loaded (somebody else) we set off. A great Team to look after us. Driving in Cambodia (actually Kampuchea) is …
A busy and very complex day today. We started with a morning visit to the Royal Palace. Not only is this a beautiful building but it’s also immaculately maintained. Inside the palace the French erected a statue of Napoleon the third mounted on a horse. When French rule ended and Cambodia became independent Kampuchea they …
We woke up early, at zero dark 30, to visit the floating market at Cai Rang And then the sun rose... The floating market is kind of like a supermarket, only instead of going to Aisle six for a pineapple, you go to boat three. Dozens of boats, small and large, mill around, drinking and …
Yesterday we travelled from Sai Gon to the Mekong River Delta and spent the day learning more about how people live in the area. The river is 2,700 miles long, the 12th longest in the world. Starting in Tibet is passes through China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia & Vietnam. To exist in the river delta …
These opinions are my own and do not in any way represent those of any other person or company. Last night we arrived at the beautiful Victoria Hotel, Cần Thơ, This has long been my favourite hotel on the Tour and thank goodness GRJ have now reshuffled the Tour days to allow clients to enjoy …
We left our Sai Gon Hotel early to visit the Viet Cong Tunnel complex at Cu Chi. An extraordinary and extensive system of tunnels that existed literally under the feet of the Americans and that is now a centre for Tourists keen to understand more about the American War. It’s a fascinating morning, but unfortunately …
It doesn’t quite fit, but at this stage of the Tour it’s not that far off! 😁😁😁😁😁 https://youtu.be/2-bvNttwAUc
Today we travelled to Sai Gon from Nha Trang. Just under 8 hours but we’ve now completed our journey from Hà Nội and that makes 1726 km in total https://videopress.com/v/YNhT9iwd?preloadContent=metadata I got to take another picture for my collection of great conductors hats of the world. It’s a little small but you have to work …
So today was day one of our long two day journey to Saigon. Da Nang to Nha Trang Where I am now. Tomorrow onto Saigon itself. I thought today I just put up a few pictures to give you a rough idea of what life is like on our Vietnam train. The train is quite …
Hoi An by day is a pretty little town on a river in central Vietnam. The famous Japanese bridge is shown in the header photo above. We walked through the town in the morning and visited the Chinese meeting house. You buy an incense coil, write a wish hang it up and go for burn. …
Today was another train day, and the most scenic part of our train journey, from Hue to Da Nang. The line climbs and winds through the mountains of the central highlands while hugging the coast.  Despite being single line track for a lot of the journey, we arrived early after 2 1/2 hours. Da …
So, we made it to Hue and we're now staying in one of my favourite hotels, the excellent Indochine Palace. This afternoon we visited the Imperial City and Citadel, the national seat of power for many years and the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the American War (as they refer to it). …
Sorry. Had to be done.
It's 05:30 and I've sort of slept on the train. KInd of. I'm not sure how long for since my fitbit gets confused by the motion of the train and thinks I haven't slept at all. Also, a sadistic carriage attendant has turned the aircon to the icebox setting (if you're doing this journey bring …
Sorry for the long gaps between posts but I've been on a boat and now I'm on a train. (Yippee!) and the internet doesn't like moving trains in remote areas. We've just left Ha Noi and this is my home for the next 13 hours and 500 or so miles until we arrive in Hue …

Made it to Hà Nội in record time (9hrs 50 mins) due to 100 knot tailwinds up the chuff for most of the way. We had breakfast to recover and thankfully GRJ had arranged early room check ins for us. Virtually everybody grabbed a shower and a nap before heading out to explore Hà Nội …
