Nicky McLean Articles

A Slow Train or Three Across Nigeria (2 of 9)

Second: Kaduna to Kano
140 miles in 5 hours for 120 Naira
Kaduna is not such a pleasant city now, due to the usual fervid growth, but it does have a letter for me at Poste Restante so the system does work after all. At the railway station there is not much happening. Some fellows say that [...]

Puerto Natales – Puerto Montt, Chile

Nicky McLean describes the three days aboard the f

A Trek in Dogon Country #1 – Mopti, Mali, South Africa

The prime attraction in West Africa.

Xanadu (5 of 5)

As yesterday, I emerge into the dawn gloom at about six twenty, with activity in the streets and buses in motion. Indeed, one is leaving even as I cross the street, but when I mention Peking, the driver motions me to the terminal building. Within, the ticket office ladies nominate a bus to some [...]

Xanadu (4 of 5)

It is however, no ordinary embankment, but the remains of the walls and towers that girdled round twice five miles… Yes… this is the place. I go out into the bitter wind, and besides the track are stone pillars on which I recognize both Mongolian, and the ideograms for Shangdu. So here we are.

[...]

Xanadu (2 of 5)

Sunday starts with a delay over depositing the Green Toad (my backpack) in the baggage room, so a city bus to the railway station would risk missing my 8:50 train. The assistants normally lurking around the gates are absent but a small taxi delivers some Chinese so he gets an immediate refill, and only [...]

Xanadu (1 of 5)

Using local transport to visit Kublai Khan’s summe

Terjit Oasis: Greenery in the Heart of the Desert
(2 of 4)

[...]

Terjit Oasis: Greenery in the Heart of the Desert
(1 of 4)

Greenery in the heart of the Mauritanian desert.

Terjit Oasis: Greenery in the Heart of the Desert
(3 of 4)

Around three p.m., after the full ferocity of the sun had eased, I stroll to the village for a look around. The Land Rover is there, but there is no other sign of life. Some kids gather around me, especially a little girl who wants many lifts up, and more swing-arounds. The Land Rover is [...]