Ghost Train To The Eastern Star

Stuart Milligan reads from Paul Theroux's account of a journey in which he retraces his own steps and follows in the tracks of his classic 1973 travel book The Great Railway Bazaar

Episode

First
Broadcast

Comments

20080901

Paul sets out from a rain-soaked London by Eurostar on his journey from Europe to East Asia. He stops in Istanbul, a city of extraordinary mosques and churches but also with a seedier side. From Turkey, he travels on to the Georgian border.

Paul sets out from London, stops in Istanbul and travels on to the Georgian border.

20080902

From Georgia, Paul boards a train bound for Azerbaijan and alights in boomtown Baku, just in time for a national holiday to celebrate the first day of spring. Moving on to Turkmenistan, he witnesses at first hand the legacy of Saparmyrat Niyasov's repressive and eccentric dictatorship.

From Georgia, Paul moves on to Azerbaijan, stops in Baku and continues to Turkmenistan.

20080903

Paul travels from Amritsar in northern India to idyllic Sri Lanka, a land still recovering from the catastrophic 2004 tsunami.

Paul travels from Amritsar in northern India to idyllic Sri Lanka.

20080904

Paul reacquaints himself with a much-changed Burma and its crumbling cities. His initial reaction to the sad and skeletal city that used to be Rangoon is disbelief. But his time in Burma is not entirely gloomy, and his spirits are lifted by an unexpected encounter with his past.

05 LAST

20080905

Paul sets out from Vladivostock on the Trans-Siberian railway. He alights from the train in Perm, a Siberian city with a recent history of rocket manufacture, slave labour and arbitrary incarceration. Paul explores the grim legacy of Perm 36, one of the most notorious Gulag camps.

Paul visits Perm, a Siberian city with a grim recent history.

Episodes

Episode	First Broadcast	Comments
01	20080901	Paul sets out from a rain-soaked London by Eurostar on his journey from Europe to East Asia. He stops in Istanbul, a city of extraordinary mosques and churches but also with a seedier side. From Turkey, he travels on to the Georgian border. Paul sets out from London, stops in Istanbul and travels on to the Georgian border.
02	20080902	From Georgia, Paul boards a train bound for Azerbaijan and alights in boomtown Baku, just in time for a national holiday to celebrate the first day of spring. Moving on to Turkmenistan, he witnesses at first hand the legacy of Saparmyrat Niyasov's repressive and eccentric dictatorship. From Georgia, Paul moves on to Azerbaijan, stops in Baku and continues to Turkmenistan.
03	20080903	Paul travels from Amritsar in northern India to idyllic Sri Lanka, a land still recovering from the catastrophic 2004 tsunami. Paul travels from Amritsar in northern India to idyllic Sri Lanka.
04	20080904	Paul reacquaints himself with a much-changed Burma and its crumbling cities. His initial reaction to the sad and skeletal city that used to be Rangoon is disbelief. But his time in Burma is not entirely gloomy, and his spirits are lifted by an unexpected encounter with his past.
05 LAST	20080905	Paul sets out from Vladivostock on the Trans-Siberian railway. He alights from the train in Perm, a Siberian city with a recent history of rocket manufacture, slave labour and arbitrary incarceration. Paul explores the grim legacy of Perm 36, one of the most notorious Gulag camps. Paul visits Perm, a Siberian city with a grim recent history.