To the Editor of the "Nonts-Cmxa Dox News.
Sin,—I shall be glad if you will publish this letter as [have no doubt many of your readers will be interested to hear something of this journey from one who has just made it. It is now possible to travel from London to Shanghai and vice verse in 19 days provided one hes the good fortune to catch the proper trains. From Shanghai this is simple enough as the fast steamers Mai churia and Mongolia, which leave Shanghai once aweek, run in connection with the express from Dalny to Moscow; the "Extréme Orient Express" as it is called. In making the outward journey from London it is necessary to catch at Moscow the express that comiects at Dalny with these steamers.
The "Extréme Orient Express" leaves Moscow twice a week, on Wednesdys and Saturdays, at 34.49 pan, and it is the Weinesday express which connects with the boat at Dalny and is therefore the one that passengers to Shanghai ought to take.
Intending rigers should therefore leave London in time to arrive in Moscow on Wednesday. At the principal hotel there English is spoken and one can get all the information necessary about the trains. At Moscow one takes a ticket to Mandchourie and there one takes a ticket to Dalny. It is impossible to get any reliable information about these trains in London. My own experience was an unfortunate one. *Cook's," to whom I applied first, were unable to tell me anything definite and referred me to the International Sleeping Car Ca., in whose hands I unreservedly placed myself, with the result that I was dispatched Vienna to Moscow, an expensive and circuitous route, caught a train there which did not go further than Irkutsk, where I spent two uninteresting days, and arrived in Dalny to find that the express boat leaves Dalay on Wednesdays and not Sundays as indicated in the Sleeping Car Co.s very latest timetable given me at Moscow. The mistake I made was in nagining that the Sleeping Car Co.'s trama were the only ones fit to travel by.
"There are others" equally good. It is unnecessary to describe the trains between London and Moscow s they are similar to those that are found all over Europe.
At present four express trains leave Moscow weekly for Irkutsk, but only two of these connect with the semi-weellly express train de luxe between Missovaia and Dalny, and only the Wednesday one with the express steamers between Dalny and Shanghai and Nagasal They consist of Ist and 2nd-class sleeping cars and a restaurant car, and are most comfortable.
The Ist-class cars are divided into two berth compartments, those on the Sleeping Cat Co.'s express being very luxurious, though the Russian eats will be found to be very satisfactory The second-class cars are divided into four-berth compartments and are also very comfortable and are those which are most generally patronised.
The restaurant cars, which are on every train, ate very well fitted up and the food provided is good and very moderate in price. There is a bath on all trains between Moscow and Irkutsk and on every Russian train there is. a piano on the dining car. The lavatories are very com-odious and clean and there are two on each ear on the Sleeping Car Co,'s Ist-class cars; there is in addition a small lavatory between each two compartments. Each ain carries its own electric plant and the lighting is extremely goo The train arrives at Baikal 7} days after leaving Moscow and here passengers step off the train on to the large and powerful ferry-boat_ which takes them across the eto Missovaia, where the Dalny express awaits them." The passage occupies four hours and all the arrangements for transit are as satisfactory as obtain at Dover and Calais.
The train from Mi vain to Dalny isan extremely good one.
The beds are very comfortable, the dlectrie Li st excellent and the food provided ery elegant dining Extremely good and moderate th price. The train I travelled in was one of the b T have ever been on and the Chef de Tron" was a most amiable and obliging oficial. On all the trains and at a fons the officials are very obliging and ignorance of the Russian language devs inconvenience one as French, ud a little English are generally spoken.
Except as regards speed these trains are vas any in the world and their com parativezslowness ensures freedom from Jolting and dust which is not without advantage in a long railway journey, while the frequent stops for considerable periods at the station afford one plenty of opportunity for exercise.
Tu regard to baggage, 40 Ibs. is allowed free in the baggage ear, where it travels in perfect safety and the charge for excess {Snot unreasonable. In addition to this one is permitted to take a very considerable amount of personal effects in handle Gladstones) with one in the sleeping compartment. At Lake Baikal there is ho Annoyance experienced in the transfer of one's. baggage from train, to steamer and. from steamer to train, it being only necessary for passengers supervise the transfer of the baggage they have actually with them in their sleeping compartment. The journey is a very pleasant one and the scenery is never without interest and is in many places very Veautiful. From start to finish the trip presents no difficulties of consequence and tone that might with perfect confidence ho undertaken by ladies either alone or with children, as except a* Baikal there is no need to leave the train for anything, Frosh milk and eggs can be purchased at almost every station and English books, Tauchnitz edition, are to be found at most of the large buffets between Moscow and Baikal.
"Phe cost of a first-class fare from London to Shanghai is about £46, second-class being £12-£14 cheaper, and 10s. a day is
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.