Experiences of the Railway and in. Russia on Way to England from China The following very interesting account of a journey Home vid 'Siberia, Moscow and Latvia' comes from Br. G. E. Cross and is dated Jarrow-on-Tyne, January 18.
As my wife and I have just com-[pleted the trip from Shanghai to London vie Siberia-it maybe of imerest to others to" publish our general opinion of thes journey through Russia, Tmay state that I was guided by the "article written "by "the Rev. 3. El Keyte and published in your well circulated paper. This T found essentially correct in all detail.
Te also must be taken into consideration that T was. travelling Under favourable conditions, being accompanied by my wife who Speaks the language and knew something about the route.
"The trip from Shanghai to Harbin an easy one and presents no dificulties. The only" remark T will make in this connexion in that the carriages on the South Manchurian Railway are overheated. The Japanese do not seem to give the attention to this subject that is done on the Russian trains, ive Months for Visa At Harbin Mr. Davit, of the Hotet Moderne, meets the trains. He is courteous and obliging. He can do practically everything for you with the exception of the Russian visa, which it is essential to have before commencing the trip. In my case Thad to wait five months.
From Harbin to. Manchouli the trip was very good. At Manchoult baggage and passports were examined both by the Chinese. and Russian Customs. The porters. this place are good and reliable They can be trusted to get your ticket for you if given the money. The number of the porter should be taken in case anything goes wrong.
From Manchouli to" Chita the train was not 30 good. There was no dining car Attached. The trip took about 19 hours and it was necessary to take some food with fis, On this train the toilets were bad, no. towels, glass for washing the mouth or other necessities ly found. Shortly after the train ad lett Manchouli there was an examination of passports and bag-age on the train, not severe. The ing officer tooked more for letters papers than anything else and questioned us about propaganda.
At about noon the next day our Passports were again scrutinized. At a place called Karinakyaia the train was delayed for about an hour and a half on account of one of the axles of No. 1 luggage van being out of order.
'The Porters' Prey After our arrival at Chita it was! bit of a scramble to transfer our Daggage and get tickets on account of our train arriving late. This would have been an unpleasant experience for a person who did not know the language. The here are expensive and thi tone commences to find out that there are few to assist strangers but ther to squeeze them. The train left for Moscow at about 8 o'clock pam. on December 6, 1924, which means as soon as we had completed our transfer of baggage and of our tickets. This train eon of the old Wagon Lits cars and was comfortable, but the lavatories were just as deficient as in the train we had just left.
Our first visit to the dining ear had rather a depressing effect. The car was poorly lighted and not looked after like those on the other sections. The dining car arrangement on this section is not one that will appeal to most foreigners.
The Ist class car was the end one of the train and the dining car the first. This meant that we should pass through the whole length of the train to get there. Under these conditions it was necessary to open and close three doors in each end of each car—six in each car—and a pair of gloves had to be worn or otherwise the hands would have been in a very dirty condition on arrival for the meal.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.