Episode list

Beginning of the journey in the south of Thailand at Hat Yai: 8.00 am national anthem at the railway station.Thailand is the only country of South-East Asia which not has been colonized.In the station the portrait of Rama V who introduced the railways in Thailand.In the train to Phatthalung Philippe meets a policeman who wears talismans.Then Philippe joins the Western coast at Ko Libong, there he visits the islands of Trang and they are looking for swallow nests (a very precious food and also expensive 2.000 Euros for 1 kilogram of nests)..Then from Trang to Bangkok 841 kilometers (in 15 hours).Very pleasant talk with a Thai lady about the smile (Thailand is the country of the smile).A moment in the dining-car where Philippe enjoys chicken meat with cashew nuts and listens to a waitress singing karaoke.Arrival in Bangkok: short visit of the Grand Palace, the residence of the kings of Siam and the temple of the Emerald Buddha and also visit of the temple Wat Pho, of the reclining Buddha.At the station Philippe tries a spicy noodle soup and takes a suburban train: they arrive at a huge market on the rails.When a train comes the female vendors take off their vegetables and fruits.Later Philippe takes the train to Lop Buri, in the ruins, in an old cinema and in the shops there are a lot of apes : interesting talk about the cohabitation with the apes.Next stop Sukhothaï, the first capital of Thailand (Rama Kameng), a place with nice monuments and a peace atmosphere.Last stop: a Buddhist monastery, the head monk is a former Thai boxer and young coaches are teaching to young boys Thai boxing (a way to keep them away from the delinquency and the drugs).

La Paz-Oruro-Uyuni-Sucre-Potosi-Santa Cruz-San José: a journey through Bolivia: pleasant talks in the trains, encounter of Cesar in the Salar of Uyuni, travel in the bus-travel from Sucre to Potosi, great encounter with Richard , a miner of this town, visit of his daily work in the mine.Then travel to Santa Cruz where Philippe takes a train to San Jose de Chiquitos: pleasant talks with the drivers and then at the kilometer 41 from San Jose Philippe meets a Mennonite farmer with his carriage who presents him his family and Philippe will discover the life of these Mennonite people.

Beginning of the travel in Istambul.First Philippe goes to the barbershop in the train station: a very kind barber who enjoys his job.Then Philippe goes to the west of Turkey,to Alpullu; near this town there will be a feast of Turkish wrestling, something like Greco-Roman wrestling but the body of the fighters is oiled with olive oil.Return to Instanbul.Philippe visits first Hagia Sophia , a Christian Church constructed in 537 which is now a museum and then goes to the Blue mosque , constructed between 1609 and 16l6 where he listened to the imam of the mosque calling the Muslims to the pray. Philippe pays a visit to the ferry on the Bosphorus.A travel by train (about ten hours) to Cappadocia: the place where the houses and monuments are carved in the walls of the mountains.Philippe meets a very kind family who shows him it's cave house and it's garden (they grow grapes) and also a 1.200 years old chapel with Christian paintings. and finally he drinks with them the famous Turkish coffee.The travel goes further crossing by train the Kurdistan til the lake of Van and the crossing of the lake by ferry.

Beginning of the journey in Iasi (or Jassy): Phillipe takes the train to Burdujeni (Bukovina): talk about the identity of the Romanian people (they are the most Latin of the Latin people).In the Bukovina the monasteries have nice murals.Philippe goes to a church: Orthodox mass, then picnic in the cemetery, later a great dinner of the people of the village (they like their pope).Then Philippe visits the pope who is also builder( the pope says that God teaches us the pray and the work).Later Philippe speaks with farmers who are working with their plow and a horse (to buy a tractor means to pay a lot of money for the loans).Then Philippe goes to a deep valley in the Muramures where there are no roads, only a railway track: Philippe travels in a van adapted to the rails, first with policemen of the border police then with foresters. Next stop Sighisoara, the home town of Vlad III of Wallachia (also known Vlad the Impaler) who inspired the story of the Count Dracula.In the train Philippe meets a young woman who tells him that they have a Bucarest an invasion of mosquitoes( another story of blood).Then a conversation about the past (communism) and the present of Romania.In Bucarest Philippe visits with Romulus, a journalist the People's Palace build by Nicolas Ceausescu.Finally Philippe takes the train to Babadag in the Delta of the Danube and goes fishing with a young Romanian man.

Beginning of the journey in Alor Setar: Philippe takes the train to Padang Besar: a woman is speaking of the beautiful landscapes of the rice fields with its serpents.So Philippe will meet Zinudine, serpent hunter: in the middle of a rice field Zinudine catches a cobra (he catches every week 14-15 serpents in this area), they go to his house: Zinudine explains that he keeps alive the serpents for educational purposes, he also extracts the venom of the cobras to send it to a university where they produce antivenins.Then Philippe takes the train from Butterworth to Kuala Lumpur: conversation with a Indian Malaysian women about the differences between Malaysian and Malay.Philippe explains shortly the story of Kuala Lumpue and then takes a suburban train: all the passengers go to Batu Caves: a great pilgrimage of of Indian Malaysians to god Murugan (Malay name of Kartikeia, the son of Shiva).There a man with hooks in his back is pulling a carriage without feeling any pain, later he climbs the steps to the statue of Murugan and awakes with some pains, happy to have realized his pilgrimage.In the train to Malacca Philippe meets a man of this town who offers him to show this place, a mixture of Maly, Portuguese, Dutch, British and Chinese influence.They visit an old Chinenese temple and then the mosque.Last travel from Mentakab to Gua Musang (the jungle train).Philippes meet Lim, a member of the Orang Asli community, who is hunting with his blowgun, in the village Lim and his parents are speaking about the jungle which gives them food, medicine and about the experience of theirs ancestors.

A journey beginning at the Iguazu waterfalls: a little touristic train lets the tourists very near of these waterfalls.Then Philippe takes the train to Buenos Aires: a pleasant talk with an Argentinian about the mixture of the cultures in Argentina.Philippe takes then the Buenos Aires underground with its wooden wagons, the oldest metro still in use since 1913.In the neighborhood of La Boca Philippe visits a gay tango school.Then a salt to the Recoleta cemetery were is the mausoleum of Eva Peron (called also Evita Peron), not far a wink to the tomb of Raul Alfonsin.Then Philippe takes a train towards the Pampa where he will meet a group of gauchos, one of them, Martin Tata is whispering to his horse and the horse is very obedient.Many railways lines have been abandoned, so Philippe visit the ghost village of Alemania in the mountains near the Andes.Finally Philippe takes "El tren de las nubes" from Salta to the Andean mountains (above 4.000 meters above sea level) and there the Argentinian passengers sing their national anthem at their arrival.