Around the World in 80 Trains: A 45,000-Mile Adventure

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after Pol Pot captured Phnom Penh in 1975, the trains played accomplice to his genocidal regime, enabling the evacuation and relocation to the countryside of hundreds of thousands of Cambodians forced into hard labor that led to their starvation and eventual massacre."

Safer? Not always. While she’s with Jem on a commuter service outside Moscow, two men spit at her legs; on the Trans-Mongolian, while Jem is elsewhere, the provodnik (guard) rescues her from a groper. Then there’s an additional danger for a writer: that travelling in company means travelling in a bubble. One of her predecessors on the long-distance train, Paul Theroux, has said firmly (in The Old Patagonian Express) that “to see, to examine, to assess, you have to be alone and unencumbered”. Not necessarily. You just leave the fiancé buried in a book, and seize every chance to chat up the locals. Filming locations included South Africa and Romania. Filming was suspended in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but resumed on 1 October that year. [4] In November 2021, ahead of the premiere, it was announced the series had been renewed for a second series. [5] The main title score is by Hans Zimmer and Christian Lundberg. [6] Release [ edit ] Before leaving London, she had interviewed Sir Harold Atcherley, a surviving POW (he has since died) who had recently played host to one of his old foes because “you can’t go on hating people”. Atcherley told her that “equal proportions of good, indifferent and lousy people exist in any group, any country”. In Hiroshima, she times her arrival for memorial services marking the 70th anniversary of the dropping of the bomb, and seeks out 81-year-old Tetsushi Yonezawa, who tells her: “If I had stayed in Hiroshima, I would have died. These trains saved my life.” Monisha Rajesh has chosen one of the best ways of seeing the world. Never too fast, never too slow, her journey does what trains do best. Getting to the heart of things. Prepare for a very fine ride' Michael Palin

Journalist Monisha Rajesh and her fiance Jeremy circumnavigated the globe in 80 train journeys, covering more than 72,000 kilometres along the world's most remarkable railways. She chronicled their feat in Around the World in 80 Trains: A 45,000-Mile Adventure . In this extract, Rajesh takes to the Trans-Mongolian to discover extreme heat, eccentric characters and eclectic souvenirs. Edit by Julietta Jameson BBC Media Centre (5 December 2019). "BBC acquires David Tennant fronted series Around The World In 80 Days". BBC Media Centre.

Second, why do books put photo sections mid-sentence. It's a chapter book, surely you could put them between chapters? Monisha Rajesh makes every country and their attractions sound so appealing. I would never even think about travelling to Tibet or North Korea. I would like to visit these countries because of her descriptive writing. There is the Potala palace in Tibet. This palace contains the Dalai Lama's throne. Tibet also has many butter sculptures made by monks. I think this would be interesting to see. I would love to see all of these things in person. I would love to visit Pyongyang to attend a film festival. I love eating new dishes. I would love to try the yak curry in Tibet. I would even try the cumin bread that is available on the silk road in Asia. A relentlessly curious and wonderfully descriptive writer … [Rajesh] offers us a never-ending series of Theroux-esque, quirky anecdotes … Remarkably engaging … If you fancy learning about global travel in the relative slow lane, try boarding this carriage and staring out the window – here you can view the world through Rajesh's eyes, as she takes us on a lazy, time-bending meander in search of authenticity and humanity”— Geographical Vourlias, Christopher (25 September 2020). " 'Around the World in 80 Days' to Restart Production in Romania, South Africa (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety . Retrieved 1 December 2021.Grater, Tom (29 November 2021). " 'Around The World In 80 Days' Gets Second Season; Producers Also Developing 'Journey To The Centre Of The Earth' Series". Deadline . Retrieved 29 November 2021. Rajesh [is] a rare rising star of the genre . She has a simple and easy style, she sees everything and listens to everyone, she's funny when she wants to be and serious when she needs to be, and she keeps the whole thing barrelling along like a wonderful dinner party conversation (Marcus Berkmann Daily Mail) I loved Monisha Rajesh's Around India in 80 trains, and have been looking forward to reading this one. It can't really be read as a sequel because there's little apart from the author's experience in Indian trains, that gets carried forward to this book. Around the World in 80 Days deserves better than this new adaptation - review". Independent.co.uk. 26 December 2021.

Two of her most powerful passages are from Thailand and Japan: the first on the Burma-Siam Railway – better known now as “the Death Railway” because it was built by prisoners of war and Asian labourers for the Japanese – and the second on Hiroshima, a few of whose residents survived the immediate after-effects of the atom bomb of August 1945 by fleeing on trains. In each case, she arrives well-briefed. The young Uighurs were regularly stopped and asked to hand over their phones for examination, and CCTV cameras above mosques ensured they didn't try to enter to pray." From the cloud-skimming heights of Tibet's Qinghai railway to silk-sheeted splendour on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, Around the World in 80 Trains is a celebration of the glory of train travel and a witty and irreverent look at the world. For Rajesh, the romance of train travel does indeed live on, “in the passengers who would always tell their story to strangers, offer advice, share their food, and give up their seats”. Unexpected acts of kindness and generosity of spirit create a unique sense of community, “like we are a train family”, as one traveller tells her in Thailand.An epic journey … When I say that I felt almost physically tired at the end of this book, I mean it as a compliment, a testament to its vivid evocations”— Country Life The book really gets into gear in N. Korea and China, and captures so much of the romance of train travel including the numerous little epiphanies about oneself while touching the edge of inner stillness in a moving train. Blessedly, not too much of that too.

What makes the book is [Rajesh's] wit, astute observations and willingness to try everything ... She arrived at St Pancras, on time, tired and triumphant. Her riveting account of the odyssey leaves us feeling the same”— The Times Ffestiniog Travel (01766 772030; ffestiniogtravel.com) offers up to 30 escorted rail tours a year. Profits help support the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railways. Stranded in an Indian village after the railroad Abigail wrote about turned out to be still incomplete, the group agree to stay for the night because of a wedding. When the groom is taken into custody as a deserter of the British Indian Army, the bride's mother, Aouda, tells Fogg she will only provide a guide if he convinces the army's young lieutenant to release the groom. He invites the lieutenant to tea but unbeknownst to him, Passepartout had spiked his tea with the drugs he received in Aden, making Fogg delirious. Mistaking Abigail for his former love Estella, he bares his heart to her, which Abigail writes in her next article. The next day, Fogg reluctantly speaks for the groom at his court martial and manages to convince the lieutenant to dishonorably discharge him by making an uncharacteristically rousing speech about the power of love.

MONISHA RAJESH'S FIVE FAVOURITE TRAINS

Apart from being a book about travel and experiences, it was also highly informative. She took out time to reach out to the surviving family members of The Hiroshima and Nagasaki blasts and has listed in detail about the Japanese technology and traditions including the one with the Geisha. It's fascinating to see so many different cultures that the world has embraced and this book is proof enough that there are wonders in every place that we visit. My only concern was about how daunting this book feels in the initial few chapters. It's only after you get across them, that you'll truly be able to enjoy it. It gives a serious case of wanderlust and what more can you ask for from a book that paints a beautiful picture about traveling?