Hello from Mockba! or so it is called in Russia. Arrived from beautiful St. Petersburg after a party on the train (didn't think it was possible to fit so many people into basically a bunk bed) expecting bleak, grey Soviet chic but it is just as pretty a city. The Kremlin and Red Square are amazing. It is like being stuck in the middle of a fairy tale land... with a lot of loud Americans milling around. Went to see Lenin's tomb, which I thought was, you know, a to...

Helsinki is neither European nor Scandinavian but kind of like a college town where everyone is either blonde and good looking or dumpy and dark haired. They have Irish pubs where people queue for hours to get in, like Coppers but with a better looking class of people. For some reason the bouncers make you pay to put your jacket in the cloackroom even though it's august and nobody wears jackets. It's a sort of 'clothing charge', apparently. We had a genuine - '...

We are heading off with our friends Ruth and Paddy on the Trans-Mongolian Express. This involves being crammed into a probably non-air-conditioned sardine can type train from Helsinki to Hong Kong. Apparently we will be shoved off at various stops including St Petersburg and Moscow to enjoy the decadent surroundings and dodge the KGB. We will also enjoy leisurely country pursuits such as pigmy pony riding in the Gobi Desert and roasting scorpions on spits before ...