Paul Theroux Left Victoria Station On A Rainy Saturday In April Thinking That Taking Eight Trains Across Europe, Eastern Europe, The USSR And Mongolia Would Be The Easy Way To Get To The Chinese Border – The Relaxing Way, Even. He Would Read A Little, Take Notes, Eat Regular Meals And Gaze Contentedly Out Of Windows. The Reality, Of Course, Was Very Different. In Fact, Ther Paul Theroux Left Victoria Station On A Rainy Saturday In April Thinking That Taking Eight Trains Across Europe, Eastern Europe, The USSR And Mongolia Would Be The Easy Way To Get To The Chinese Border – The Relaxing Way, Even. He Would Read A Little, Take Notes, Eat Regular Meals And Gaze Contentedly Out Of Windows. The Reality, Of Course, Was Very Different. In Fact, Theroux Experienced A Decidedly Odd And Unexpected Trip To China That Set The Challenging Tone For His Epic Year-long Rail Journey Around That Vast, Inscrutable Land – A Journey Which Involved Riding Nearly Every Train In The Country. ‘Wry, Humorful And Occasionally Querulous … As Theroux Makes Excruciatingly Clear, Travelling Alone In The Middle Kingdom Is Not For The Faint Of Heart Or Stomach’ Time.