Around the world by Train_2of2

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00:00:00I'm setting off on the greatest journey of my life.

00:00:06Let's do this!

00:00:08To travel around the globe by train.

00:00:11I have no idea what platform we're going from.

00:00:17I'll be riding some of the most spectacular rail routes on earth.

00:00:21On the fastest, steepest, and most luxurious trains, passing through some of the world's

00:00:29most famous places.

00:00:30The Eiffel Tower.

00:00:31Grand Central Station.

00:00:33There it is, Mount Fuji.

00:00:37And beyond, to parts of the planet I never knew existed.

00:00:41We're totally isolated.

00:00:44To immerse myself.

00:00:45This isn't for anything, this is just what people do on a Sunday.

00:00:50In the weird, the wild, and the wonderful.

00:00:57This is unlike anything I've ever done before.

00:01:01After a marathon flight, I've made it to the land down under, Australia.

00:01:15I'm in Sydney, the starting point for the XPT long distance train, which is going to

00:01:20take me nearly 600 miles north.

00:01:26Quite frankly, if you've got a TV production company paying for your railway tickets in

00:01:30a country as big as Australia, you're going to want to see something a bit different,

00:01:34aren't you?

00:01:35Which is why I'm going to head off the beaten track and meet real Aussies on their own turf.

00:01:42This really is an insanely big country, so I'm not mucking about.

00:01:46I'll blast up the east coast quickly and efficiently, then dart inland to the Aussie bush before

00:01:52hurtling all the way up to the reef in the far north.

00:01:59So I've got no time to waste in Sydney, but before my epic journey, there's a view I want

00:02:04you to see.

00:02:05Look at that.

00:02:06I lived and worked in Sydney for a while, and it's always held a special place in my

00:02:11heart.

00:02:12It never fails to take your breath away.

00:02:15It's only by air you can really take in the complexity of its shape, how the water and

00:02:20the city constantly interact.

00:02:22It really is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, especially from the air.

00:02:27Well, Tony, we're just heading out through Sydney Head now.

00:02:30So if you see that beach there, that's Bondi.

00:02:34Can you see some white blocks of flats?

00:02:37Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:02:38I lived in for about three months, just overlooking the sand and the sea.

00:02:44It was a hell of a life.

00:02:46I know Sydney pretty well, but the vast majority of Australia is still a mystery to me.

00:02:51And to get to the remote places I've always wanted to visit, I've got to cover a hell

00:02:56of a lot of miles quickly.

00:02:58So I'm hitting the rails.

00:03:00I'm getting on the XPT, which will take me on the first leg of a two-part 18-hour trip.

00:03:05I want to go and check out small-town Australia.

00:03:09So I'm heading north from New South Wales to Queensland.

00:03:12This interstate route is part of a network of 25,000 miles of tracks crisscrossing this

00:03:18stonkingly huge country.

00:03:22This north coastline was completed in 1932 and ends up in Brisbane.

00:03:28But I haven't come here to see the big cities, so I'm leaping across the platform to change

00:03:33trains for the second leg of my journey out west.

00:03:37I just so love the design of these old trains.

00:03:41Stainless steel and all these snazzy colours.

00:03:44Evening.

00:03:48This little beauty will take me four hours west, or as it's known here, out bush.

00:03:55In the 19th century, it used to be called the Western Mail, but now it's got a snazzy

00:03:59modern name, the Westlander.

00:04:02I'm retracing the steps of the country's earliest pioneers.

00:04:07And I've arrived at the small town of Milmerran, at the edge of the outback.

00:04:17This is the Camp Oven Festival.

00:04:19It's a two-day event dedicated to the celebration of a cast iron cooking pot.

00:04:25This is a bit like 5,000 people having a festival in Maidstone, Kent to celebrate the frying pan.

00:04:32Thousands come from all over the country to pay homage to this rather humble camping accessory.

00:04:37And quite frankly, I'm fascinated to know why.

00:04:43Ned, are these camp ovens?

00:04:48They're the genuine camp ovens.

00:04:51Ned Winter is a former drover who used to herd sheep across the outback and cooked with

00:04:56a camp oven on his long and remote journeys.

00:04:59He helps dream up the festival to honour this piece of Aussie rural heritage.

00:05:03Tell me about them historically.

00:05:05People in the 19th century, they would come over here from England, they would buy one

00:05:11or two of these in the big town and then head off into the outback.

00:05:15That's right.

00:05:16So these were pretty important, weren't they?

00:05:17Oh, they were important.

00:05:18This was their only way of cooking that food, you know.

00:05:22What sort of things did people use to cook in them?

00:05:24Well, you could cook a beautiful roast dinner, a curry, a stew, your dampers.

00:05:30Well, practically everything.

00:05:32To experience bush life to the full, Ned's getting me cooking.

00:05:36And I'm starting with a traditional Aussie bush bread called a damper.

00:05:40The main thing is the correct measurements.

00:05:45You're just tipping it in, mate.

00:05:48That's the right amount.

00:05:50And the salt?

00:05:51Yeah.

00:05:52The right measurements.

00:05:54Mix the flour in, the salt in.

00:05:57Yeah, you do it, Will.

00:05:58Now, I'm going to ask one of these blokes here, why would I use this hand to mix the damper?

00:06:03Let's ask the sound guy.

00:06:05Ed, come here.

00:06:06It's got nothing to do with the hand you use when you go to the toilet, has it?

00:06:11No, no.

00:06:13That says more about you than it does about the question.

00:06:16So what's the answer?

00:06:19I'm right handed.

00:06:22To finish the damper, Ned adds water.

00:06:25And then it goes into the camp oven.

00:06:27Lid goes on.

00:06:29And in a TV 25 minutes later...

00:06:31Oh, look at that!

00:06:33That's not bad, is it?

00:06:34Looks all right to me.

00:06:35Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:06:37It's not quite...

00:06:40That is the fair dinkum Aussie damper.

00:06:44With my damper so lovingly made, is it time to eat it?

00:06:48No, it's not.

00:06:50This is the outback.

00:06:57For some reason, which I don't quite understand,

00:07:00when you've baked your damper here, you throw it as far as you can.

00:07:08If I attempt to do it, I'll be covered in humiliation.

00:07:12The Aussies' love of sport means they'll turn practically anything into one.

00:07:16All the way from London, England.

00:07:18With skills completely untried in this competition,

00:07:20how do you think you're going to go today?

00:07:22I think I'll probably win.

00:07:24I love your confidence.

00:07:26I'll come on and try it a little bit.

00:07:28Come on! That's it!

00:07:40Ladies and gentlemen, I regret to tell you that the tent castles

00:07:42will no longer be functioning for the rest of the festival.

00:07:45That's just what I hope for.

00:07:48People come from all over Australia to this event.

00:07:51It's run by locals and the profits go to local organisations.

00:07:56And, of course, it's keeping local traditions alive.

00:08:05There's an integrity about it that I really like.

00:08:09I think one day I'll come back here.

00:08:13Coming up, my journey continues as I head to the back of Beyond

00:08:17where I try my luck as a farmhand.

00:08:19Wait! Not so far! Not so far!

00:08:22Walk in the footsteps of dinosaurs.

00:08:24That's a massive footprint!

00:08:26And relax outback style.

00:08:43I'm on yet another train.

00:08:45This time, the spirit of the outback,

00:08:47which will take me on a 24-hour journey deep into the Aussie bush.

00:08:51I thought this would be a really rickety old-fashioned train.

00:08:55It's 37 years old, but they've done it out really nicely.

00:08:59I love this bed.

00:09:01And look outside.

00:09:06Isn't this nice?

00:09:08The colours are beautiful.

00:09:10This sort of dusty pink here.

00:09:13I suppose you'd call that burgundy down there, wouldn't you?

00:09:16But the point is, it's all curved.

00:09:19Normally, any train you go in, you walk down the carriage, it's dead straight.

00:09:24But this makes you feel like something special.

00:09:27Like I'm at the Savoy.

00:09:29But unlike the Savoy, you don't need a black suit and tie to come in here.

00:09:33This is the shearer's rest.

00:09:36But I don't think many of you are shearers, are you?

00:09:40Inland train routes like the Central Western Line

00:09:43helped to open up the inner reaches of Australia in the 1800s.

00:09:47In fact, this town of Longreach I'm heading to

00:09:50didn't exist until the decision was made to extend the line to this point.

00:09:57Oh, thank you. Enjoy.

00:09:59Look at this. Better than a ham sandwich, isn't it?

00:10:03Before you destroy it, I just need a quick little close-up.

00:10:07The thing about crews is that they're obsessed with a close-up.

00:10:11Tiny bit lower down nearer the table, that's great.

00:10:14Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a close-up of a scone.

00:10:26Inhospitable landscape.

00:10:29Total flipping luxury.

00:10:33LAUGHTER

00:10:36A rather considerable time later, I arrive at Longreach.

00:10:40But I still need to head even further out bush.

00:10:44Way, way out.

00:10:47Look at this earth. Dry as a bird.

00:10:51You'd think that farmers would be crazy to farm here, wouldn't you?

00:10:55But they've got one thing going for them.

00:10:57They've got a hell of a lot of space.

00:11:03ENGINE ROARS

00:11:06At 15,000 acres, Shandon Vale Farm definitely has space to spare.

00:11:12And because a trip to the outback wouldn't be complete

00:11:15without experiencing farm life, I'm here to get my hands dirty.

00:11:19Next to me is Tim, the farm's helipilot.

00:11:23The property's so vast, it used to take early settlers days

00:11:27to locate and move animals around.

00:11:30Now, with helicopters, the herds can be found in hours.

00:11:37Oh, hang on, wait, wait, wait. There they are.

00:11:40Camels were introduced to Australia in the 1840s

00:11:44to help explore Australia's red centre.

00:11:47There are now over one million running wild.

00:11:50How do you muster them?

00:11:52Well, you've just got to get them all together and move them.

00:11:58Well, ask an Aussie a silly question, I suppose.

00:12:01The camels are used to organically control weeds

00:12:04so the farm doesn't spray pesticide.

00:12:07And every six weeks, they need to be moved to a different paddock,

00:12:10which on a farm this size is an epic task.

00:12:14So we're joined by the farm owner Dion,

00:12:16and with a bike, buggy and heli, we get to work.

00:12:20Right, let's see if we can get around a bit.

00:12:24The wild camel population has become so large

00:12:28that Australia now exports its camels to Saudi Arabia.

00:12:32Oi, not so far, not so far.

00:12:37Oi, come on, sunshine, come on.

00:12:46Come on.

00:12:49I don't like that one with the frothy face.

00:12:59Oh, that was really exhilarating.

00:13:02I actually felt it quite a lot of the time.

00:13:05I actually got control of the herd.

00:13:08I'm working with the helicopter and the bike as well.

00:13:13I like that.

00:13:19This place is... There's a lot of property, isn't there?

00:13:22Oh, there's enough room to move, yeah.

00:13:24Can't hear your neighbour pissing on the tree next door.

00:13:27No.

00:13:28So it's just you and your wife?

00:13:30Yeah, just me and Lion, yeah.

00:13:32Do you ever get lonely?

00:13:34No, no, not nowadays.

00:13:38Probably the first six or seven years here, I lived by myself.

00:13:42And that was, you know, it's not really good for you

00:13:46when you're 17 or 18 and you're living by yourself.

00:13:49You don't have too much interaction with others.

00:13:52So you're all solitary?

00:13:54Yeah, a little bit crazy, yeah.

00:13:58This famously dry country is currently even drier,

00:14:02as it experiences one of the worst droughts in its history.

00:14:06How long has this drought been going on for?

00:14:09We're in our seventh or sixth year.

00:14:13You seem very laid-back about the fact

00:14:15that you're in the middle of a six-year drought.

00:14:17You've just got to learn to live with it.

00:14:19We destocked all our cattle and then we went into sheep,

00:14:22dooper sheep, you know, adapted to this climate.

00:14:25So we're sort of just running on the bare minimum and...

00:14:28And that's what you always do when you get a drought,

00:14:31you contract by yourself.

00:14:33So, yes, you need to try and keep a core

00:14:35so when it does rain you can take advantage of it, yeah.

00:14:38I'm riding out to feed the farm sheep

00:14:40with Dion and his wife, Lane.

00:14:42If there's a switch to be pulled, I'll pull it.

00:14:44Can you reach? Shut up!

00:14:47So just turn that on to on? Yeah.

00:14:55The drought means the land can't currently produce

00:14:58enough grazing grass, so the sheep need to feed twice daily.

00:15:04So you just walk along, make sure no-one gets run over.

00:15:10And it's not just around Longreach that's feeling the drought.

00:15:13Over 58% of the state of Queensland is drought declared.

00:15:17Very, very dusty, but really the most important thing

00:15:20is to jog along by the side of the little old truck

00:15:24because some of the sheep are so daft

00:15:26that they would go under and get squashed,

00:15:28but none of them did, so job well done.

00:15:34Oh, this is nice.

00:15:36I can't tell you how far away from everywhere else this place is.

00:15:40Had to drive mile after mile after mile down dusty roads,

00:15:45but this is cute alert.

00:15:47Ready? Come on. Come on.

00:15:51Look at that. Aren't you gorgeous?

00:15:56Can you sit down for me?

00:15:58Sit down for me.

00:16:00There's a good girl.

00:16:02This joey has lost its mother

00:16:04and is being hand-raised by Dion and Lane.

00:16:07I don't know if this will work, but...

00:16:11Hey, do you want to go back in?

00:16:13Sweetheart, sweetheart, this way.

00:16:16Come on, don't eat the sound, man.

00:16:18Don't eat the sound, man. Here you go.

00:16:20Come on. Here's your home.

00:16:23Yeah.

00:16:28Come on, put this leg away.

00:16:30There you are. I'll put you back now.

00:16:32It was worth travelling round the world just to do that.

00:16:36Say goodbye.

00:16:41After a day experiencing working farm life,

00:16:44Dion's arranged for me to end my day in true Aussie style

00:16:48with a cold glass of beer.

00:16:57Oh!

00:17:03Oh!

00:17:07And a view that really can't be beaten.

00:17:20Oh!

00:17:22You don't get this at the London Planetarium.

00:17:25Oh!

00:17:38Because this whole area is so unbelievably vast,

00:17:41I'm cheating a bit.

00:17:43I'm leaving the railway track and I'm getting onto this dirt track

00:17:47and a 4x4.

00:17:50I'm heading further north, above the Tropic of Capricorn, to Winton.

00:17:56This place is so bleak, so flat,

00:17:59so uninspiring when you're driving through it.

00:18:02It just does your head in.

00:18:05You would never think that in a place like this

00:18:09you'd find something which could completely turn

00:18:12our whole understanding of prehistory Australia on its head.

00:18:18But that's precisely what happened to Dave.

00:18:21Dave!

00:18:23Farmer Dave Elliott's life changed

00:18:25when he discovered a rather special bone.

00:18:30That's a heck of a bone, isn't it?

00:18:32That is a heck of a bone.

00:18:34It's your pride and joy, isn't it?

00:18:36It's a toe. It's just a little toe.

00:18:38A little toe from a...?

00:18:40Off a sauropod dinosaur.

00:18:42One of the small toes on his back foot.

00:18:44Did you know straight away that that was a dinosaur?

00:18:46Driving along on the bike, going pretty fast,

00:18:48and went to dodge a pile of rocks.

00:18:50And I just looked and said,

00:18:52I'll just duck back and have a look at that.

00:18:54And I found lots of pieces of dinosaurs,

00:18:56but I never found one that was a new species

00:18:58that was a really significant dinosaur.

00:19:00And in 2005, I found this.

00:19:02Did you say that it's a new species?

00:19:04It is. It was described in 2008.

00:19:07It was named Savannasaurus eleatorum.

00:19:09Eleatorum! Well done, mate.

00:19:12Not many people have a dinosaur named after them.

00:19:14It loosely translates to the Elliot family's

00:19:16lizard of the grasslands.

00:19:20And Dave's bone isn't the only evidence

00:19:22of sauropod activity unearthed in the Winton area.

00:19:28Well, there!

00:19:30That's a massive footprint.

00:19:32Like an enormous camel.

00:19:34That's the front foot of a sauropod.

00:19:36When they put their front foot down,

00:19:38they drive it forward.

00:19:40You see those big bowls?

00:19:42Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:19:44During the late Cretaceous period,

00:19:46this whole area was rainforest.

00:19:48And these trackways were formed

00:19:50when sauropods,

00:19:52huge plant-eating dinosaurs,

00:19:54walked through soft sediment

00:19:56leaving an impression,

00:19:58which over millions of years

00:20:00hardened into rock.

00:20:02This is absolutely massive, isn't it?

00:20:04That's 900 millimetres long.

00:20:06And they're walking that way.

00:20:08It's great.

00:20:10How big do you reckon these boys would have been?

00:20:12This bloke here would have been 18 metres long.

00:20:14The earth would have shaken, wouldn't it?

00:20:16The sauropods roamed these lands

00:20:18100 million years ago.

00:20:20Just a minute, just a minute.

00:20:22Are these here?

00:20:24Are these little footprints too?

00:20:26They're little chicken-sized dinosaurs.

00:20:28They're not little versions of this one?

00:20:30They're a different sort?

00:20:32How many different kinds of dinosaurs?

00:20:34Three.

00:20:36These are salurosaurs, our little meat-eaters.

00:20:38There's the ornithopods, which are a bit bigger,

00:20:40smaller than an emu, but some of the plain turkey.

00:20:42And then you've got the size

00:20:44of the sauropods.

00:20:46And is it usual to see

00:20:48all three kinds of dinosaurs

00:20:50going along together?

00:20:52No, it's very, very rare, actually,

00:20:54to see all three sorts of tracks together in the same trackway,

00:20:56and we have got them on this site.

00:20:58So you've found something really unusual?

00:21:00Well, it looks like we have.

00:21:06Coming up, I head to lush climbs

00:21:08of the north and take the plunge

00:21:10in one of the wonders of the world.

00:21:12It's like something out of Apocalypse Now down there.

00:21:14Have a brief encounter

00:21:16with a rather special lady.

00:21:18Oh, Margaret, you don't like that, do you?

00:21:20And I roll with the far north's answer

00:21:22to Crocodile Dundee.

00:21:24Oh, man, I can see it.

00:21:26It's a big one.

00:21:28My goodness me.

00:21:32I'm continuing on my journey

00:21:34in Australia.

00:21:36My train is now making its way north

00:21:38up the coast of Queensland.

00:21:40Over 85% of Australians

00:21:42live within 30 miles

00:21:44of the country's coastline.

00:21:46The spirit of Queensland

00:21:48runs between Brisbane and Cairns

00:21:50five times a week.

00:21:52This tilt train was introduced

00:21:54in 2013 and already

00:21:56has over 1.5 million miles

00:21:58under its belt.

00:22:00And after 31 hours,

00:22:02my train has finally arrived

00:22:04into Cairns in far north Queensland.

00:22:06Cairns

00:22:08is the biggest city in the far north

00:22:10and it's also the gateway

00:22:12to the Great Barrier Reef.

00:22:14Over there is

00:22:16Fitzroy Island. It's a beautiful

00:22:18tropical paradise.

00:22:20Turquoise water, lush

00:22:22green forest. Perfect.

00:22:24Except below the

00:22:26surface, things aren't quite

00:22:28what they seem.

00:22:32The

00:22:34Great Barrier Reef is the largest

00:22:36reef system in the world.

00:22:38Stretching for 1600 miles,

00:22:40it's larger than the entire UK

00:22:42and can be seen from space.

00:22:44But rises in water

00:22:46temperatures are causing damage

00:22:48and instead of the vibrant hues we're used

00:22:50to seeing, now parts of it

00:22:52look like this.

00:22:56That's horrible, that

00:22:58white coral, isn't it? It's like something

00:23:00out of a potluck canal down there.

00:23:02It was horrible, just white stuff.

00:23:04The corals were just melting off the rocks.

00:23:06Gary lives and dives here with his

00:23:08son Kai and has seen first hand

00:23:10the changes to the reef over the years.

00:23:12So explain to me

00:23:14what I was seeing. So the piece of coral

00:23:16you had there, that was a dead piece of coral.

00:23:18That would have died in the 2017

00:23:20bleaching event. But what is a bleaching

00:23:22event? There's a little microscopic

00:23:24algae that lives inside the coral that gives it

00:23:26its colour. So during a bleaching event

00:23:28the water gets too hot, the coral

00:23:30expels this algae and it goes

00:23:32a bleach white. But the chances

00:23:34are it will die.

00:23:36Though some coral will regrow

00:23:38naturally, the reef hasn't had time

00:23:40to recover.

00:23:42And what have you got there Kai?

00:23:44I got a piece of coral.

00:23:46What did it feel

00:23:48like the first time that you

00:23:50were snorkelling and you saw

00:23:52coral like this? Very, very sad.

00:23:54We sat on the edge of the water there crying

00:23:56and was very upset after seeing it.

00:23:58So it kind of spurred me on more.

00:24:02Gary's part of a group of local

00:24:04volunteers who are working to give

00:24:06the reef a helping hand to

00:24:08recover and regrow.

00:24:10They've been taking healthy coral,

00:24:12cutting it into smaller pieces and

00:24:14growing them in the nursery.

00:24:16It's a technique similar to taking a cutting

00:24:18from a plant to grow a new one.

00:24:20It's a delicate process and one that

00:24:22can only be done with a permit

00:24:24from the Marine Park Authority.

00:24:26It's fascinating. It looks like

00:24:28an apple tree

00:24:30in an orchard that's been

00:24:32half harvested.

00:24:34There are some branches with no apples

00:24:36on them and others with huge

00:24:38apples on. It's the same here

00:24:40except that it's coral.

00:24:42By using corals that have

00:24:44already survived a bleaching event,

00:24:46the new growths are more likely to be

00:24:48resilient to future bleaching.

00:24:50And keeping them closer to the surface

00:24:52where they get more access to sunlight

00:24:54and nutrients helps them grow faster.

00:24:56They grow maybe seven,

00:24:58eight times quicker because they're not

00:25:00fighting off algae, pests, other corals.

00:25:02All their energy goes into growing.

00:25:04So when you've got one of these little

00:25:06trees of coral and it looks like

00:25:08it's going to be okay, what do you do with it?

00:25:10After the six to nine months, we plant them back to the reef.

00:25:12Once the coral is taken to the reef,

00:25:14it's attached to the bedrock

00:25:16where it'll continue to keep growing as it would

00:25:18naturally. From one little piece,

00:25:20we can cut out thousands of corals from that one little piece.

00:25:22That's what we've done with a ten tree nursery.

00:25:24So you can imagine what we can do with a hundred trees.

00:25:26The reef is resilient

00:25:28if it has the time. But the thing

00:25:30now is that we don't have the time. We don't have

00:25:32ten years until another bleaching event.

00:25:34They're talking about it maybe bleaching again this year.

00:25:36If it bleaches again this year while it's in this

00:25:38state, we're in a

00:25:40we're in an awful way.

00:25:42We need to get more of these

00:25:44out there. What we're doing here,

00:25:46this isn't going to save the Great Barrier Reef,

00:25:48but it's making a positive contribution.

00:25:52These coral

00:25:54trees, they started

00:25:56apparently about that big. Well, some

00:25:58of them are zonking now.

00:26:00You can imagine that if the whole of this

00:26:02area was full of these trees,

00:26:04you'd be producing coral

00:26:06that would make a significant difference.

00:26:10And as night falls

00:26:12in Cairns, we're confronted

00:26:14with a very different sort

00:26:16of wildlife.

00:26:18Come on little lads.

00:26:22So it's in here.

00:26:24Yeah. So what

00:26:26happened? You just came in to

00:26:28look at the boat? Yeah, well I've been fishing

00:26:30yesterday. I hooked the battery up to

00:26:32charge. Yeah. And

00:26:34yeah. And what? There's a bloody big

00:26:36snake sitting there.

00:26:38Local snake catcher Matt Hagen

00:26:40has been called out by Phil and Lisa

00:26:42to help with their unwelcome houseguest.

00:26:44It might be helpful if you

00:26:46can be my bag man

00:26:48Tony. The snake is going to

00:26:50go in here.

00:26:58Under that front

00:27:00hatch, Matt.

00:27:04Oh man, I can see it. I can see it.

00:27:06Sam, can you see it?

00:27:08There are 170

00:27:10different kinds of snake in Australia.

00:27:12It's head

00:27:14isn't s-ing up straight away

00:27:16so it's not really in a

00:27:18struck position.

00:27:20Matt handles any and all snakes

00:27:22and Australia has 17

00:27:24of the 20 most venomous in the world.

00:27:32Oh it is, it's a really big one.

00:27:34My goodness me.

00:27:36It's pretty though.

00:27:38It's not so pretty from here.

00:27:40Oh, shouldn't you

00:27:42be worried more about its head?

00:27:44Yeah, I'm trying to be as

00:27:46kind to it as I can.

00:27:48That's a pretty decent sized

00:27:50carpet python to be living in your boat.

00:27:52Luckily this guy is

00:27:54a python, so not venomous.

00:27:56But it could still give Matt

00:27:58or me a mighty big bite.

00:28:00Oh!

00:28:02His tongue popped out again.

00:28:06It feels like I'm frying a very heavy pancake.

00:28:08Feeling down there

00:28:10it may be getting ready to lay some

00:28:12eggs. Do you think that's why

00:28:14she might have found this nice little place

00:28:16to tuck away? Very possibly.

00:28:18You could have had lots more snakes.

00:28:20A whole family, that would have been wonderful.

00:28:22It's a lovely garden.

00:28:24After driving

00:28:26out of town, Matt must now

00:28:28delicately try and return the snake

00:28:30to the wild.

00:28:32Oh, she's a heavy girl, isn't she?

00:28:34What do you do when you're not catching snakes?

00:28:36I spend the

00:28:38daytime farming crocodiles.

00:28:40It's a nice easy life. That's right.

00:28:42That'll do.

00:28:44It's a tricky process because Matt can't

00:28:46see where the snake's positioned in the bag.

00:28:48Step away from this a bit, I think.

00:28:50We've driven up a

00:28:52long windy road

00:28:54to the top of this hill.

00:28:56You can probably see the lights of

00:28:58cairns over there, but

00:29:00here is the beginning of the tropical

00:29:02rainforest, so we're going to

00:29:04free her.

00:29:06Sorry to mess you about.

00:29:10She is so

00:29:12beautiful, isn't she? She is.

00:29:14Hopefully she can lay her eggs

00:29:16in the rainforest instead of

00:29:18the bow of the boat.

00:29:20There.

00:29:26Job done.

00:29:28Time for a beer.

00:29:34Morning.

00:29:36Morning.

00:29:38I'm carrying on my travels

00:29:40by heading north into the mountains

00:29:42on the Carrander Scenic Railway.

00:29:50It might not have the prettiest starting point,

00:29:52but apparently where we're going

00:29:54is something else.

00:30:04I love the way this carriage is made.

00:30:06It's about 80 years old.

00:30:08And look at the way the seats are configured.

00:30:10It reminds me of my mum's lounge

00:30:12at Christmas when all the chairs

00:30:14were brought in for the

00:30:16uncles and aunties. And the fabric

00:30:18is lovely. Look at that.

00:30:20The Carrander Railway line

00:30:22was originally built to transport

00:30:24supplies to the mines in the

00:30:26Appleton Tablelands, and the trains would

00:30:28return to the ports in cairns laden

00:30:30with tin.

00:30:32Shoe bend, this is called.

00:30:34It's fairly obvious, more or less.

00:30:36And it was the building of this

00:30:38transport link that led to cairns

00:30:40becoming the largest town in the far north.

00:30:42This railway was built

00:30:44at the end of the 19th century.

00:30:46It was a massive engineering project.

00:30:4837 bridges,

00:30:5015 tunnels.

00:30:52It took five years to build.

00:30:54When it was finished,

00:30:56the freight line also began taking

00:30:58passengers, and quickly gained a reputation

00:31:00for its stunning views.

00:31:02It's remained a tourist train

00:31:04ever since.

00:31:06Oh, wow.

00:31:08Isn't this incredible?

00:31:14My travels in

00:31:16Australia have brought me to the far

00:31:18north of Queensland.

00:31:22A bit of planting like this

00:31:24at Birmingham New Street wouldn't go amiss, would it?

00:31:26Carrander is in the heart of

00:31:28rainforest country, and I want to

00:31:30find out more about these natural wonders.

00:31:32So I'm heading to one of the world's

00:31:34most spectacular.

00:31:36I'm in the Daintree National Park.

00:31:38Apparently, there are

00:31:40more different species in

00:31:42100 square metres of this

00:31:44park than there are in the whole

00:31:46of North America. It's pretty amazing,

00:31:48isn't it? And I'm going to meet

00:31:50a man who knows all about this

00:31:52forest.

00:31:54Hi, mate. Hey, Tony. How are you

00:31:56today, mate? All right. That's one heck of a

00:31:58tree, isn't it? Yeah, we call it Jarangal.

00:32:00This is a special place that the trees,

00:32:02they're home to spirits, to ghosts.

00:32:04To ghosts? To ghosts. So, yeah, our people, you know,

00:32:06if the spiritual healers were doing any

00:32:08spiritual work, they'd come to the old people around these

00:32:10big trees and talk to the old people.

00:32:12Juan lives in the rainforest and is

00:32:14part of the Gugu Yalanji mob,

00:32:16the traditional custodians of this area.

00:32:18And why have you got all this bark here?

00:32:20I'm going to give you a little traditional welcome to country

00:32:22here. And this is to clear

00:32:24any bad sort of energy that's following you

00:32:26around. All the city rubbish. That's

00:32:28right. That I carry about inside me. That's right.

00:32:30I see you've got an ancient

00:32:32indigenous cigarette lighter there. That's it, mate.

00:32:34Yeah, this is the way to go. Saves a

00:32:36whole lot of time.

00:32:38The smoke is good

00:32:40to breathe in. To clear any

00:32:42bad energy.

00:32:50The welcome to country ceremony gets performed

00:32:52when you enter traditional land.

00:32:58It's quite nice, this sort of ceremony, isn't it?

00:33:00It does make you feel that it's a special thing

00:33:02to do. Well, it is a special thing. It's quite

00:33:04important, you know. It's always a good thing to do,

00:33:06just to, you know, be respectful to the

00:33:08spirits of land. The visitor

00:33:10vows to respect the land and inhabitants

00:33:12while the traditional custodians

00:33:14honour and protect you on your visit.

00:33:16So the whole crew's got to do it too, right?

00:33:23Get the

00:33:25director in as well. He needs quite a lot.

00:33:27He's the biggest by far.

00:33:29Juan wants other people to learn

00:33:31about indigenous culture,

00:33:33so he educates visitors about the flora

00:33:35and fauna and history of the region.

00:33:38So at the base of the tree down here,

00:33:40Tony, if you have a look, you'll see these little

00:33:42red bulbs. If you give these little

00:33:44bulbs a squeeze, you'll get

00:33:46this gel coming out. And that

00:33:48gel is really good for mozzie bites.

00:33:50And it'll take the itching and the swelling out.

00:33:52Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. It really is

00:33:54sticky, isn't it?

00:33:56It's like something you'd squeeze out of a tube.

00:33:58Yeah. We're part of this

00:34:00country. We don't own it. We don't believe we

00:34:02are rulers of it. We're part of it.

00:34:04What's your tribe, your mob?

00:34:06Our mob here, we call ourselves the Gugi Yalanji.

00:34:08And how many of you live around here?

00:34:10Around 200

00:34:12to 300 people.

00:34:14Presumably you got hammered by us lot when we

00:34:16arrived. Yeah. Yeah, before European

00:34:18arrival, the local area here,

00:34:20you would have been close to a thousand people.

00:34:22And when settlers came, they wanted the resources

00:34:24and we tried to resist, but we didn't

00:34:26stand a chance with guns.

00:34:28So many of our people were massacred

00:34:30in different areas in the area.

00:34:32Aboriginals have been around for 70,000 years or more.

00:34:34When did you get the right to vote?

00:34:361967.

00:34:38It's mad, isn't it?

00:34:40And the Europeans, they tried wiping us out,

00:34:42but they didn't do a good enough job.

00:34:44I'm very glad.

00:34:48While I'm here in the rainforest,

00:34:50I want to know more about the different aspects

00:34:52of traditional life in the Dane tree.

00:34:54Lincoln is Juan's brother

00:34:56and he's agreed to show me another part of life

00:34:58here.

00:35:00Lincoln!

00:35:02How are you doing, mate?

00:35:04So what is it we're going to have to do?

00:35:06Alright, well, we're going to take you out

00:35:08and show you how to

00:35:10hopefully catch something here.

00:35:12Lincoln and I are spearfishing

00:35:14for dinner.

00:35:16Alright, I'll get you out

00:35:18and we'll start working.

00:35:20Just poke anything you're not sure of.

00:35:22Sage advice I plan on following.

00:35:24But at the moment

00:35:26I can't see anything at all.

00:35:28If I ever get the chance.

00:35:34I thought I saw the flash

00:35:36of something then.

00:35:38Got anything yet, mate?

00:35:40Nothing yet.

00:35:42I'm glad we're not running a fish and chip shop.

00:35:44The cure would be out there.

00:35:46Trouble is, I've got this

00:35:48great camera crew

00:35:50right in front of me

00:35:52stirring up all the mud.

00:35:54The waters

00:35:56around the Dane tree are filled with

00:35:581,500 types of fish.

00:36:00Allegedly.

00:36:02There's probably no other

00:36:04bit of water on the entire

00:36:06planet that has less fish in it.

00:36:08Here we go, crab!

00:36:10Oh, there he goes, he's on the run.

00:36:14Yay!

00:36:16Oh, you got something for the day.

00:36:18Well, I wouldn't

00:36:20say it was a total victory.

00:36:22I think we've probably been out about

00:36:24an hour and a half, haven't we?

00:36:26But, I've got one

00:36:28swimmer crab.

00:36:30Something to eat, yeah, share with the family.

00:36:32I hope there's a large salad.

00:36:34Crocodiles will be here soon, so we might

00:36:36better head back.

00:36:38You're not winding me up?

00:36:40No, they come fishing at night now.

00:36:42I'll take you back.

00:36:48It's changed colour already, hasn't it?

00:36:50Yeah, we don't muck around.

00:36:52Oh, great, thank you, mate.

00:36:54That's lovely.

00:36:56Oh, I like this bit.

00:36:58It's my favourite.

00:37:00Oh, that's great!

00:37:02The great thing about

00:37:04this country being so big

00:37:06is that you've got the reef and the

00:37:08rainforest and the rivers and the mountains

00:37:10and the outback.

00:37:12But for me, it's all held

00:37:14together by the

00:37:16Australians.

00:37:18Straight-talking, practical,

00:37:20very funny,

00:37:22very ironic, very

00:37:24matey people.

00:37:26Good on you, Australia.

00:37:28Coming up...

00:37:32Coming up...

00:37:34I continue my railway adventure

00:37:36in Japan, home

00:37:38of the famous bullet train.

00:37:40That's so cool!

00:37:42From Tokyo's neon nightlife...

00:37:44It's Godzilla!

00:37:46I get submerged in Japanese culture...

00:37:48The only thing I'm nervous about is sometimes

00:37:50I really want to scratch my face.

00:37:52And have a stab at being a samurai.

00:37:54Obi-Wan Kenobi!

00:37:59This time,

00:38:01my journey takes me across Japan.

00:38:03This place is famous

00:38:05for the bullet train, but I'll be

00:38:07venturing off the mainline too

00:38:09to explore this fantastic country.

00:38:11I'm starting my trip on

00:38:13Kyushu, Japan's most southerly

00:38:15major island, before speeding on

00:38:17to Kyoto and Tokyo at

00:38:19200 miles per hour.

00:38:21I'll finish up 1,200 miles later

00:38:23in Hakodate in the far north.

00:38:25It's autumn

00:38:27here, and the countryside is a

00:38:29blaze of gorgeous colour.

00:38:31This is my first visit to Japan,

00:38:33and absolutely everything feels

00:38:35completely new to me.

00:38:39First things first,

00:38:41this is not a costume.

00:38:43I got into my hotel last night

00:38:45and the hotel manager insisted

00:38:47that I wear this kimono-y

00:38:49thing all the while I'm at

00:38:51the hotel. And then

00:38:53the shoe thing started.

00:38:55See these plastic

00:38:57ones? I'm only allowed to wear

00:38:59them outside here

00:39:01on the decking, and then

00:39:03when I get into here

00:39:05I wear bare feet

00:39:07until I come to the

00:39:09front door where I have to put

00:39:11these on. Have a look,

00:39:13there's a little gap, see that there?

00:39:15Between my big toe

00:39:17and the other ones, in order

00:39:19to contain that thing.

00:39:21But then, and this is

00:39:23quite extraordinary,

00:39:25when I go to the

00:39:27toilet, I have

00:39:29special

00:39:31toilet slippers.

00:39:33Japan has done my head in

00:39:35and I haven't even got my shoes on yet.

00:39:37To make matters worse,

00:39:39when I was a kid, the Japanese

00:39:41were the enemy. It was just after

00:39:43the Second World War, and everyone's

00:39:45mum and dad told terrible stories

00:39:47of the cruelty in Japanese

00:39:49prisoner of war camps.

00:39:51It wasn't until the 1960s that

00:39:53anyone round my way even bought a Japanese

00:39:55car. Those days are behind

00:39:57us now, and I'm looking forward

00:39:59to seeing how a new generation

00:40:01has shaped modern Japan.

00:40:03Ever since the first railway line was built

00:40:05from Tokyo in the 1800s,

00:40:07the country's been obsessed by trains.

00:40:0917,000 miles of

00:40:11track now cover the length and breadth

00:40:13of Japan, which has the

00:40:15third busiest network in the world.

00:40:17My first stop is Beppu,

00:40:19famous because of its unique

00:40:21geology. It's built on top

00:40:23of thousands of hot springs,

00:40:25and as a result, you can see

00:40:27steam escaping out of the ground

00:40:29all over the city.

00:40:31The whole town looks like it's leaking

00:40:33steam and no one's noticing.

00:40:35Once we had somebody calling

00:40:37the fire brigade by mistake, thinking

00:40:39there's a big fire going on, and he was of course

00:40:41a tourist and didn't know all about this

00:40:43venting steam.

00:40:45My guide, Yuyomi, is giving me a flavour

00:40:47of life in a town that's literally

00:40:49built on steam.

00:40:51As well as providing a tourist attraction,

00:40:53the hot water's used by the town's residents

00:40:55for their everyday activities.

00:40:57It's piped into homes to provide

00:40:59heating, and used in restaurants to make

00:41:01the local cuisine.

00:41:03These are Beppu's ominously named

00:41:05Eight Hells,

00:41:07where the water gushes out of the ground

00:41:09at almost boiling point.

00:41:11Oh no, I pressed the wrong thing!

00:41:13So here, you can cook

00:41:15a whole meal in steam from the earth.

00:41:17Off we go!

00:41:19Put the lids back on.

00:41:21The alarm's going!

00:41:23In less than

00:41:2520 minutes.

00:41:27This is really, really gorgeous.

00:41:29That really

00:41:31is the dog's watsits, isn't it?

00:41:33There are lots

00:41:35of clever ways to use this stuff.

00:41:37It's the first time

00:41:39I've ever steamed my feet.

00:41:41Some more immersive than others.

00:41:45My feet

00:41:47are coming out.

00:41:49You tuck them back in.

00:41:51This is a bit like

00:41:53being wrapped up

00:41:55in a big duvet,

00:41:57and getting warmer

00:41:59and warmer.

00:42:01This is Beppu's hot spring-infused

00:42:03sand.

00:42:05The treatment's designed to create

00:42:07a subterranean sauna,

00:42:09opening the pores and relieving stress.

00:42:11The only thing I'm nervous about

00:42:13is sometimes I really want to

00:42:15scratch my face.

00:42:17I was thinking exactly that right now.

00:42:19Could you ask her if she can scratch

00:42:21my nose, just the left-hand side of my nose?

00:42:27Oh,

00:42:29oh,

00:42:31that is so good.

00:42:33Thank you, lady who's burying me alive.

00:42:35Oh,

00:42:37that was tough.

00:42:43Anywhere in the world

00:42:45you've got hot springs, you have nice

00:42:47hot bathing pools. In Japan,

00:42:49they're called onsen.

00:42:51In Britain, they say that this kind of

00:42:53bathing began with the Georgians, don't

00:42:55they, or the Romans. Around here,

00:42:57they say it was started by the samurai.

00:42:59And I'm sure that

00:43:01there is a lot of truth in it, but

00:43:03I reckon that there is a bigger truth

00:43:05too, and that is that as

00:43:07long as there have been people

00:43:09pacing the earth,

00:43:11they have loved getting

00:43:13into warm water and

00:43:15listening to the trickle

00:43:17of water. I reckon

00:43:19even in Stone Age times,

00:43:21they used to take the weekend

00:43:23off and bring the kids here

00:43:25and just sit down and have

00:43:27a nice time.

00:43:29It's actually boiling hot

00:43:31in here. Would you mind

00:43:33shifting the camera so I can get out

00:43:35without showing everyone the chopstick?

00:43:38I've got

00:43:401,200 miles to cover,

00:43:42but I'm not taking just any old

00:43:44train. This is

00:43:46the Seven Stars, one of the most

00:43:48exclusive in the world.

00:43:50Trips cost up to

00:43:52£10,000. Even so,

00:43:54demand is so high that prospective

00:43:56passengers sometimes have to enter

00:43:58a lottery for tickets.

00:44:00Oh

00:44:02my goodness.

00:44:04Look at

00:44:07this.

00:44:09Lovely elegant bar.

00:44:14Hear the singing.

00:44:16It's just gorgeous.

00:44:23How wonderful is this?

00:44:25This is Japan's

00:44:27answer to the Orient Express.

00:44:29And every last detail

00:44:31has been made as opulent and luxurious

00:44:33as possible.

00:44:35At the back, there's even a huge panoramic

00:44:37window, so when the train's moving,

00:44:39passengers are given a spectacular

00:44:41view.

00:44:43Your own bar.

00:44:45Oh, look at this.

00:44:47This is even more

00:44:49exclusive than the rest of the

00:44:51exclusive carriage.

00:44:53Imagine,

00:44:5526 millionaires and you're

00:44:57the one billionaire. Go away.

00:45:01This is probably the most

00:45:03luxurious train in the world.

00:45:05Only 30 passengers a time

00:45:07have the privilege of travelling in it.

00:45:09So as I'm heading north

00:45:11on my journey around the world,

00:45:13why don't I do it in

00:45:15absolute style on this

00:45:17magnificent train?

00:45:21£10,000 a

00:45:23ticket, that's why.

00:45:25Bye!

00:45:27One of Japan's

00:45:29national symbols is the

00:45:31samurai, the legendary

00:45:33sword-wielding warriors.

00:45:35I'm crossing the island of Kyushu

00:45:37to visit Kumamoto,

00:45:39where the samurai made their last

00:45:41stand against the Imperial Army

00:45:43150 years ago.

00:45:45The area is still home

00:45:47to one of the last remaining

00:45:49master swordsmiths.

00:45:51Matsunaga Genrokuro

00:45:53has been making this

00:45:55famous weapon for 40 years.

00:46:01Some swords can fetch up to

00:46:03£10,000, but I'm being

00:46:05given the chance to use one

00:46:07and getting a lesson in the

00:46:09ancient art of swordsmanship.

00:46:15I'm not quite sure

00:46:17what's happening at the moment.

00:46:19As soon as I walked in here,

00:46:21two people kind of mugged me

00:46:23and took my shoes off

00:46:25and put me on here.

00:46:29In the past,

00:46:31the samurai knights would have tested

00:46:33their swords on human flesh,

00:46:35but that might be a bit messy,

00:46:37so today we're using rolled-up bamboo mats.

00:46:45Although the samurai lost their power

00:46:47in the 1800s, the strict

00:46:49code of honour that they lived by

00:46:51still shapes Japanese culture,

00:46:53emphasising courage,

00:46:55loyalty and self-denial.

00:46:57It seems there's

00:46:59a similarly tough set of rules

00:47:01for me to follow today.

00:47:05If only I could understand them.

00:47:09I've no idea what he's saying.

00:47:13It's just somebody

00:47:15talking in a foreign language

00:47:17while I hold a deadly weapon.

00:47:21High speed.

00:47:23High speed.

00:47:25The question is,

00:47:27can I cut it as a samurai?

00:47:35Well, it died.

00:47:45Look, let's go again

00:47:47and let's do it properly this time!

00:47:52Oh, it fell!

00:47:54It fell!

00:47:58Get in, my son!

00:48:00Finally, I'm on a roll.

00:48:06Yeah, alright, if I do this one in slow motion.

00:48:15Obi-Wan Kenobi!

00:48:22It's time

00:48:24for the Shinkansen.

00:48:26Or to you and me, the bullet train.

00:48:31Just look at it.

00:48:33This is a thoroughbred.

00:48:37Oh, won't you look at this?

00:48:41Don't you just want to give it a handful of grass

00:48:43or something?

00:48:47It's so ridiculous.

00:48:49This bullet train is so

00:48:51ultra sophisticated

00:48:53and kind of sexy

00:48:55and animalistic

00:48:57on the outside.

00:48:59Inside, it's just a train.

00:49:01Just another train.

00:49:03A bit disappointing, really.

00:49:05But it is a train

00:49:07that goes up to 200 miles per hour.

00:49:09The Shinkansen

00:49:11was the world's first

00:49:13high speed commercial rail line.

00:49:15Opening over 50 years ago in 1964,

00:49:17it was the fastest train

00:49:19on the planet.

00:49:21Now, the network covers the length and breadth

00:49:23of Japan, with over a thousand

00:49:25scheduled journeys per day.

00:49:27So far from being something special,

00:49:29for the Japanese commuters,

00:49:31it's become just ordinary.

00:49:33The bullet train is taking me on

00:49:35to Kyoto, covering 400

00:49:37miles in less than three hours.

00:49:39That's the same distance

00:49:41as London to Edinburgh,

00:49:43but nearly twice as fast.

00:49:45From Kyoto, I'm making a detour

00:49:47and stopping off in Wakayama.

00:49:53All over the world, remote railway lines

00:49:55struggle to stay in business.

00:49:57But the Wakayama Electric Railway

00:49:59came up with a uniquely Japanese

00:50:01way to save their local train.

00:50:05The railway is now a huge success

00:50:07and it's all thanks to cats.

00:50:09Good Lord.

00:50:11Is this cat stuffed?

00:50:13Oh, it's moved!

00:50:15It's alive!

00:50:17I thought you were showing me

00:50:19a dead cat.

00:50:21Why is she here?

00:50:29Working as a stationmaster.

00:50:31Can we have a closer look at her?

00:50:33Let's go.

00:50:35Let's ride on.

00:50:37These cute cats

00:50:39have become big business.

00:50:41They're believed to have contributed

00:50:43nearly six million pounds to Wakayama's

00:50:45economy. A stray cat

00:50:47called Tama was first made

00:50:49an honorary stationmaster in

00:50:512007.

00:50:53The idea quickly captured the public's

00:50:55imagination, and the arrival of new

00:50:57passengers helped bring the line

00:50:59back into profit.

00:51:01Tama's successor, Nitama,

00:51:03is still drawing in the crowds.

00:51:05Are you a tourist?

00:51:07Yes, from Texas.

00:51:09And you came all the way to meet the cat?

00:51:11Yes. Well, we came to Japan,

00:51:13but I did make a special trip out here

00:51:15while I was in Japan to come out here.

00:51:17Did you know about

00:51:19this cat already?

00:51:21Yes. I really liked Tama, so I

00:51:23painted Tama, and so then I wanted

00:51:25to come and meet Nitama.

00:51:27You're a little bit obsessed, aren't you?

00:51:29I love cats, so, yeah.

00:51:31Tell me what you know about Tama.

00:51:33When she passed away, she was

00:51:35enshrined as a goddess.

00:51:37She was what, did you just say?

00:51:39She was elevated

00:51:41to a goddess status.

00:51:43This has gone far beyond a successful PR

00:51:45stunt. The cats have

00:51:47taken on a big significance for the people of

00:51:49Wakayama. When the

00:51:51first Tama died in 2015,

00:51:533,000 people

00:51:55came to her funeral.

00:51:57There's two

00:51:59stories going on here, aren't there?

00:52:01One is, you had this

00:52:03failing railway line losing

00:52:05loads of money.

00:52:07They got rid of all the staff

00:52:09in their station. Someone had this

00:52:11crazy idea of getting

00:52:13a stray cat to become the station

00:52:15master. It went viral,

00:52:17turned the company's fortunes

00:52:19around, and

00:52:21there was a happy ending.

00:52:23But there's a second story, too.

00:52:25This is

00:52:27a Shinto shrine.

00:52:29Before I

00:52:31do anything here, I have to bow

00:52:33twice, clap,

00:52:35bow again,

00:52:37pray, or ring

00:52:39the bell. This shrine

00:52:41is dedicated to that

00:52:43cat. These two

00:52:45representations here

00:52:47are of the cat

00:52:49who has become a deity,

00:52:51a god now,

00:52:53within this shrine.

00:52:55It says something about the relationship

00:52:57between the Japanese

00:52:59and animals

00:53:01that I don't quite understand.

00:53:05So it appears that in Shintoism,

00:53:07Japan's traditional religion,

00:53:09this cat can become a goddess

00:53:11simply because she brought such

00:53:13good fortune to the railway.

00:53:15Coming up...

00:53:17Tokyo.

00:53:19Oh, look at this!

00:53:21From neon nightlife...

00:53:23Hardly anyone is looking at him. There's Godzilla!

00:53:25...to street-style makeovers.

00:53:27This is quite liberating, actually. It's like being

00:53:29in drag.

00:53:37I'm halfway through my rail

00:53:39journey across Japan.

00:53:41It's 300 miles to my next

00:53:43stop, Tokyo.

00:53:45By bullet train, it takes just

00:53:47two and a half hours, through some of Japan's

00:53:49most famous scenery.

00:53:51I asked the woman who was

00:53:53collecting the tickets if we would see

00:53:55Mount Fuji, and she said,

00:53:57yes, at 10.56.

00:53:59Well, it's 10.56 now.

00:54:03There it is.

00:54:07It's incredibly symmetrical, isn't it?

00:54:09In Japan,

00:54:11even nature is neat and precise.

00:54:13The railways in Japan

00:54:15are famous for their punctuality.

00:54:17The average delay for these bullet trains

00:54:19is just 54 seconds.

00:54:21And this is one of the busiest

00:54:23lines in the world. During peak

00:54:25times, a train arrives every

00:54:27five minutes, meaning the Shinkansen

00:54:29service to Tokyo can be more

00:54:31frequent than some lines on the London Underground.

00:54:33But now this is going to be a real

00:54:35gear change. I'm heading for

00:54:37Tokyo.

00:54:39The bright lights, the big city.

00:54:41Cartoons.

00:54:43Lots of people going like that for their selfies.

00:54:47I'm not quite sure to expect.

00:54:49In my mind's eye, it's a bit

00:54:51like a kind of hyped-up version of Blade

00:54:53Runner, but

00:54:55whatever it's going to be like, I'm really

00:54:57excited.

00:54:59The capital

00:55:01handles 13 billion passenger

00:55:03rail trips every year.

00:55:05Not so surprising, given Tokyo

00:55:07is the world's most populated city,

00:55:09home to 37

00:55:11million people.

00:55:13The hyper-developed

00:55:15city I expected is easy

00:55:17to find. You can get a

00:55:19hot cuppa in a can.

00:55:21Café au lait

00:55:23sounds all right, doesn't it?

00:55:25Here it comes, straight away. And it's

00:55:27piping hot.

00:55:29For businessmen

00:55:31working long hours, there's the

00:55:33capsule hotel.

00:55:37Even the taxis are

00:55:39high-tech.

00:55:41These doors close on their own.

00:55:43Watch.

00:55:47But to really get a feel

00:55:49for Tokyo, it's best to experience

00:55:51it at night. I'm heading

00:55:53to Shinjuku, an area

00:55:55famous for its nightlife.

00:55:57As the sun goes down, the city

00:55:59lights up in neon.

00:56:07What's going on here? To try and make sense

00:56:09of the madness, I'm meeting up with Yumi

00:56:11for a whistle-stop tour.

00:56:13She's Tokyo-born

00:56:15and bred, and is an expert on life

00:56:17in the capital.

00:56:19Did you see Godzilla up there?

00:56:21Oh, yes. Hey, look, look, look, look, look.

00:56:23I love the fact that hardly anybody's

00:56:25looking at him. It's Godzilla.

00:56:27Ooh.

00:56:29Oh, look at this.

00:56:31I've been to some of the biggest

00:56:33cities in the world, but Tokyo

00:56:35at night is something else.

00:56:37You don't have to do anything.

00:56:39No, this is just a photo booth.

00:56:41With blinding lights and wall-to-wall

00:56:43noise everywhere, it's an overwhelming

00:56:45assault on the senses.

00:56:47Some people are, like,

00:56:49super-pro, like this.

00:56:54The Japanese do cute

00:56:56like no other culture I know, don't they?

00:56:58Oh, yeah, we're taking it a whole other level.

00:57:00Look at that. That is so cute, it makes me want

00:57:02to vomit.

00:57:05And, of course,

00:57:07anime. You cannot forget

00:57:09the anime culture of Tokyo.

00:57:13This is the stress relief.

00:57:15You just, like, flip the

00:57:17table over, and

00:57:19then you measure how

00:57:21annoyed you are, you know, how stressed

00:57:23you are. When you touch it,

00:57:25that's gonna increase the anger.

00:57:30And you flip it.

00:57:32Oh, that went!

00:57:34There you go!

00:57:36I gotcha!

00:57:43In a city this crowded,

00:57:45space is at a premium.

00:57:47And old neighbourhoods are

00:57:49right up against new ones.

00:57:51This is so pretty.

00:57:53Yes, this street is called

00:57:55Omoide Yokocho.

00:57:57In English, it's Memory Lane.

00:57:59It is brilliant, isn't it?

00:58:02It's just amazing how tiny

00:58:04every shop is.

00:58:06It's just so tiny.

00:58:08And they're all so full.

00:58:10Yes.

00:58:14It's just like

00:58:16old Japan.

00:58:18In one of the world's busiest cities,

00:58:20many people wear face masks.

00:58:22And I'd always assumed it was for hygiene reasons.

00:58:24And while that may be true for a lot of people,

00:58:26it seems for some,

00:58:28there's another more subtle reason.

00:58:30Japanese people, we're all concerned

00:58:32about what others think about ourselves.

00:58:34So we always

00:58:36try to keep our reputation

00:58:38as the best as we could.

00:58:40And that's why we cover

00:58:42the face.

00:58:44Because if you're wearing a mask,

00:58:46actually nobody can see what you look like or how you feel.

00:58:48So they can't think bad things about you.

00:58:50Exactly!

00:58:52I want to go up to someone with a mask and say,

00:58:54it's alright, lighten up.

00:58:56We haven't even noticed you.

00:58:58We're not worried about who you are.

00:59:02So we don't want to stand out

00:59:04from the same community.

00:59:06So there's a harmony

00:59:08in the whole culture,

00:59:10in Japanese culture.

00:59:12And we respect that harmony,

00:59:14maybe too much.

00:59:16I find that really fascinating.

00:59:18Because for me, as an old hippie,

00:59:20harmony is something beautiful,

00:59:22something to be worked for, something to be attained.

00:59:24But what you're saying is,

00:59:26it actually can mean,

00:59:28don't rock the boat.

00:59:30Yeah, exactly.

00:59:32Because it's so important to fit in

00:59:34to Japanese society,

00:59:36many people work hard to conform

00:59:38to what's expected of them.

00:59:40Perhaps the most famous example of this

00:59:42are the suited salary men,

00:59:44the white-collar employees

00:59:46who sacrifice everything

00:59:48in service of their companies.

00:59:50And Tokyo is the centre

00:59:52of this demanding work culture.

00:59:54But not everyone here wants to wear a suit.

01:00:00Oh, I like that.

01:00:02Yeah, love it.

01:00:04Oh, great.

01:00:08This is Harajuku,

01:00:10a Tokyo neighbourhood known

01:00:12for its unusual street fashion.

01:00:14Let's try a couple of different jackets.

01:00:16I'm really fond of this one.

01:00:18Wow.

01:00:20I think that might be a little much, though.

01:00:22Jun Yan, a designer,

01:00:24and Emily, originally from America,

01:00:26are giving me a makeover

01:00:28in the cute and colourful Harajuku style.

01:00:30And the monster.

01:00:32Definitely need a monster.

01:00:38Thank you very much.

01:00:40I'm being heckled

01:00:42by an Englishman.

01:00:44If you feel like it doesn't match, you're doing it right.

01:00:46Do you feel appropriately Harajuku'd?

01:00:48It's quite liberating, actually.

01:00:50It's like being in drag.

01:00:52Suddenly it's a completely different you.

01:00:54Shall we hit town?

01:00:56Yeah, let's take it on a test run.

01:01:00The Harajuku theme

01:01:02is taken to a new level

01:01:04at the local Monster Cafe.

01:01:10Absolutely everything

01:01:12is decorated in the kawaii style,

01:01:14the Japanese word for cute.

01:01:16Harajuku

01:01:18is home to one of Japan's

01:01:20many inventive subcultures,

01:01:22popular with young people

01:01:24who want to go against the grain.

01:01:26Adulthood in Japan

01:01:28has very specific tenets.

01:01:30You get married,

01:01:32you have children,

01:01:34you work for 40 years,

01:01:36you retire.

01:01:38And for a lot of people,

01:01:40especially during the 80s and 90s,

01:01:42immediately after the economy,

01:01:44like the bubble burst,

01:01:46they were disillusioned.

01:01:48And that life is still something

01:01:50that a lot of young people

01:01:52just don't either want or can't achieve.

01:01:54And so, kind of a kickback

01:01:56from that very deliberate,

01:01:58elegant, keep-things-to-yourself

01:02:00kind of adulthood,

01:02:02you get stuff like this.

01:02:04You get this explosion

01:02:06of childhood fantasy.

01:02:08So this is the absolute

01:02:10alternative of the

01:02:12multinational company

01:02:14that you go into when you're 18.

01:02:16You serve it 16 hours a day

01:02:18until you're 65.

01:02:20Yeah.

01:02:22Most of Japan's subcultures

01:02:24are really kicking back against that

01:02:26daily grind.

01:02:28Which is what punk was doing in the 70s.

01:02:30Exactly. It's a very similar motivation.

01:02:32Actually, a lot of

01:02:34subcultures here in Harajuku

01:02:36were born from late teens,

01:02:38early 20-year-olds going,

01:02:40I don't want to be a corporate person.

01:02:42I don't want to work only

01:02:44for the rest of my life.

01:02:46I want to enjoy something else.

01:02:48There were people who felt much more comfortable

01:02:50dressing up

01:02:52and feeling that security

01:02:54from being childish,

01:02:56from enjoying the times

01:02:58when you didn't have the responsibilities

01:03:00of working for everything.

01:03:02I've just realized that

01:03:04it is simply another aspect

01:03:06of being Japanese, isn't it?

01:03:08In a funny sort of way,

01:03:10it's really retreating,

01:03:12it's gentle.

01:03:14I understand now

01:03:16why some of Tokyo's young people

01:03:18want to look as different as possible

01:03:20from the suited salary men.

01:03:22Just like the hippies and the punks,

01:03:24they're refusing to conform.

01:03:26It's just that they're doing it with colourful clothes

01:03:28and childish characters.

01:03:30But Harajuku style

01:03:32is just one part of Japan's huge

01:03:34pop culture scene,

01:03:36which is now world famous.

01:03:38From anime cartoons

01:03:40to J-pop music to video games,

01:03:42something about Japan's

01:03:44cute and quirky inventions

01:03:46has captured imaginations

01:03:48far beyond Tokyo.

01:03:50That was just the most

01:03:52extraordinary morning.

01:03:54Incredible confrontation

01:03:56with a new pop culture

01:03:58that I knew

01:04:00absolutely nothing about.

01:04:02I suppose one of the really good things

01:04:04about pop culture

01:04:06is it's young people looking

01:04:08at the previous generation

01:04:10and doing something

01:04:12completely opposite.

01:04:14So there's been this incredibly

01:04:16oppressive, international

01:04:18capitalist

01:04:20series of organisations

01:04:22that have dominated Japan

01:04:24since the 1970s.

01:04:26And the sons and daughters of the people

01:04:28who worked in them are saying,

01:04:30well, we don't want to do that.

01:04:34I'm rejoining the rails

01:04:36and leaving Tokyo.

01:04:38I've just noticed that the train

01:04:40which has come in and is now

01:04:42going to go back out again,

01:04:44they've swivelled the seats,

01:04:46all of them, around 180 degrees

01:04:48so everyone's going to be facing

01:04:50the right way. That's so cool.

01:04:54From the capital,

01:04:56I'm travelling 200 miles

01:04:58to the coastal town of Sendai.

01:05:00I'm on the Tohoku Shinkansen,

01:05:02the bullet train line

01:05:04running to the top of Japan's

01:05:06main island, Honshu.

01:05:08We're heading north,

01:05:10but we've stopped off for a moment

01:05:12at Sendai Station.

01:05:14Do you hear those birds?

01:05:16They're not actually birds.

01:05:18It's just an electronic recording.

01:05:20It's Japan.

01:05:24This recorded bird song is apparently

01:05:26designed to guide blind people

01:05:28to the exits, another example

01:05:30of Japanese attention to detail.

01:05:3445 minutes from Sendai Station

01:05:36is Matsushima Bay,

01:05:38one of Japan's most scenic places.

01:05:42You get such a sense here

01:05:44of Japan as an island.

01:05:46Or rather, as islands.

01:05:48There's about 8,000 altogether.

01:05:50270-odd in this bay alone.

01:05:54These little islands are so pretty,

01:05:56aren't they? They're like something

01:05:58out of a Japanese painting.

01:06:00Because Japan's got so many islands,

01:06:02it wasn't always easy

01:06:04to connect up the country by rail.

01:06:06In 1988, there was an important

01:06:08breakthrough when the Seikan

01:06:10Tunnel opened, connecting the

01:06:12main island of Honshu with Hokkaido,

01:06:14an engineering masterpiece.

01:06:16Today, it remains the world's

01:06:18longest and deepest

01:06:20undersea rail tunnel.

01:06:22My journey ends at Hakodate,

01:06:24the northern terminal of the bullet train.

01:06:26I don't think I'd ever realise

01:06:28just how long Japan actually is.

01:06:30It's 1,800 miles

01:06:32from top to bottom.

01:06:34Remember, a week ago, I was sunning

01:06:36myself in the black sand

01:06:38right down south.

01:06:40And today,

01:06:42welcome to northern Japan.

01:06:50This region is the seafood capital

01:06:52of Japan, known for its

01:06:54huge variety of local fish.

01:07:04Ken Hasegawa,

01:07:06a sushi chef with 20 years

01:07:08in the business, is making me lunch.

01:07:18And I'm being joined by Kay,

01:07:20a Hakodate local.

01:07:22The world's worst person

01:07:24with chopsticks.

01:07:26Is this the right thing to do?

01:07:28You're laughing at me.

01:07:30If you want.

01:07:34Another thing about the Japanese

01:07:36is that they're not only

01:07:38polite, but

01:07:40a lot of the time,

01:07:42they're very humble.

01:07:44We think it's a kind of virtue

01:07:46to be sort of humble,

01:07:48to be reserved.

01:07:50In Japanese society,

01:07:52a tall tree catches much wind.

01:07:54A tall tree catches much wind.

01:07:56And also,

01:07:58we are trying to live in harmony

01:08:00with each other.

01:08:02To be in harmony with nature,

01:08:04to be in harmony with the people around you,

01:08:06is very, very important.

01:08:08So in that case, if you just insist

01:08:10your own opinion, it might offend other people.

01:08:12That might be a little bit

01:08:14coward in a way,

01:08:16but we prefer to be a reserved

01:08:18attitude like this.

01:08:24This is my favorite so far.

01:08:30Japan has felt very foreign

01:08:32to me.

01:08:34And there's still parts of the culture that I can't get my head around.

01:08:36I don't know if I'll ever quite

01:08:38understand the dressing up

01:08:40and the love of all things cute.

01:08:42But talking to Japanese

01:08:44people, I've learned how

01:08:46hard this society works

01:08:48to be harmonious in everything.

01:08:50And I admire that.

01:08:52I love their attention to detail.

01:08:54The way that every little garden

01:08:56needs to be so well kept.

01:08:58The food on the plate has to be

01:09:00so neat and well ordered.

01:09:02Even when you're being

01:09:04given the bill by the man in the hotel,

01:09:06the way he does it

01:09:08is so polite and just exquisite.

01:09:10And I've learned

01:09:12how to smile and nod

01:09:14and bow, just about.

01:09:16I know when you're supposed to take your

01:09:18shoes off and when you're supposed to put

01:09:20them back on again. In fact,

01:09:22if I've learned anything at all from this Japanese

01:09:24trip, it's the back home.

01:09:26I really am a bit

01:09:28of a slob.

01:09:36Coming up, I'm in the United States

01:09:38where I continue my adventure

01:09:40on some of the world's greatest train

01:09:42routes. From California

01:09:44and Colorado to America's

01:09:46deep south. New Orleans

01:09:48and the Big Apple

01:09:50where I explore behind the scenes

01:09:52of the largest railway station

01:09:54in the world. It's extraordinary.

01:10:02So finally

01:10:04I've made it to the United States.

01:10:08It's the beginning of a great journey

01:10:10that's going to take me from the wild west

01:10:12to the iconic east, across California

01:10:14to Colorado, Louisiana

01:10:16and finally New York.

01:10:18But the line starts here

01:10:20in San Francisco, California.

01:10:22Home to around

01:10:2440 million people, it's the most

01:10:26popular state in the US.

01:10:28And it's also the starting point

01:10:30for one of the world's most classic railway

01:10:32journeys called the California Zephyr.

01:10:34It's a legendary train

01:10:36opened in 1949

01:10:38to go from San Francisco

01:10:40to Chicago. And it was the

01:10:42first transcontinental train

01:10:44ever to sacrifice speed

01:10:46for scenery.

01:10:48Since the beginning

01:10:50the Zephyr was known for its

01:10:52trademark carriages with glass

01:10:54domes that allowed a 360

01:10:56degree view.

01:11:02In the early days this scenic route

01:11:04was a success.

01:11:06But by the 60s increases

01:11:08in air and road travel were bringing

01:11:10passenger numbers down.

01:11:12And the famous train was discontinued

01:11:14for over 10 years.

01:11:16But before I make

01:11:18it to Denver, there's one place

01:11:20I've always wanted to see.

01:11:26I love it

01:11:28when you get off a train and you're

01:11:30immediately confronted with the completely

01:11:32unexpected. I only have to walk

01:11:34half a dozen steps and

01:11:36immediately I'm in

01:11:38Sacramento as it would have been

01:11:40in the middle of the 19th century

01:11:42when it was a rich, powerful

01:11:44confident city.

01:11:50Like so many places

01:11:52in California, Sacramento

01:11:54was founded during the California Gold

01:11:56Rush. One of the greatest

01:11:58events of 19th century America.

01:12:00Thousands of prospective

01:12:02miners traveled here in the

01:12:04hope of making a fortune.

01:12:06So it's an incredibly

01:12:08prosperous gold town. Banks,

01:12:10barbers, brothels,

01:12:12everybody making money.

01:12:14Then in 1861, 1862

01:12:16there was a gargantuan

01:12:18flood. Suddenly there was

01:12:20a lake 300 miles long

01:12:22by 20 miles wide

01:12:24where there'd been no lake before.

01:12:26And it decimated this town.

01:12:28So what did the city fathers

01:12:30do? Did they decide to junk it

01:12:32and start again? No.

01:12:34Their plan was to raise

01:12:36the whole town up

01:12:38between 14 and

01:12:4010 feet in order to protect it

01:12:42in future. And that's what they did.

01:12:46Thanks to this ingenuity,

01:12:48Sacramento's importance grew.

01:12:50And now it's the state capital of

01:12:52California, which I didn't know till

01:12:54today.

01:12:56But I've got to keep moving.

01:12:58Denver's still a thousand miles down the line.

01:13:00And I want to relax

01:13:02and enjoy the beautiful scenery.

01:13:04But my film crew

01:13:06keep interrupting me.

01:13:08That's great, Tony.

01:13:10And then almost the same thing but with your hand

01:13:12down. Oh, for goodness

01:13:14sake.

01:13:18My epic journey across the United States

01:13:20has brought me to the exquisite

01:13:22Rocky Mountains.

01:13:24They're America's longest

01:13:26mountain range, crossing the continent

01:13:28from Canada all the way south

01:13:30to New Mexico.

01:13:32And with the arrival of the railways

01:13:34in the 19th century, they suddenly

01:13:36became accessible to everyone.

01:13:38My next

01:13:40stop is Colorado in the

01:13:42Wild West. Because to me,

01:13:44a journey across America wouldn't be complete

01:13:46without one thing.

01:13:48Cowboys.

01:13:50This is ranching country

01:13:52and this is a

01:13:54ranch. What's a ranch?

01:13:56By definition, it's a workplace,

01:13:58isn't it? Just like a factory floor

01:14:00or a building site.

01:14:02I'm heading to a place

01:14:04called a dude ranch.

01:14:06That means a working ranch that's also

01:14:08a luxury resort.

01:14:10People will pay thousands

01:14:12of pounds a week to come here

01:14:14and dress up like one of the workers.

01:14:16But why?

01:14:18What's the attraction?

01:14:25Tony!

01:14:27Hi, mate.

01:14:29The man who runs it is David Craig.

01:14:31This kind of ranch

01:14:33has been going on for more than a century,

01:14:35hasn't it? Well, this ranch itself

01:14:37has been here for 99 years.

01:14:39As a dude ranch? That's right. In fact, the first

01:14:41slogan was, all you can eat is steak and apple pie

01:14:43and bear hunting.

01:14:45A hundred years ago, the word dude

01:14:47had a different meaning to today.

01:14:49It's what western

01:14:51cattle ranchers called the city slickers

01:14:53who came here on holiday.

01:14:55These are

01:14:57traditional western chaps.

01:14:59I'm going to walk around this side.

01:15:03I'm not being fresh here.

01:15:05Do you feel kind of cool?

01:15:07Like you're a bit of a badass, right?

01:15:09I do. I feel very much of a badass.

01:15:11This is what dude ranching

01:15:13is all about.

01:15:15A five foot five little bloke

01:15:17puts on this stuff and feels

01:15:19like he's Clint Eastwood.

01:15:21No, I just want to look at the camera like this

01:15:23just for a little bit longer.

01:15:29The chaps

01:15:31are falling off.

01:15:33They're practically around my ankles already.

01:15:35As soon as I started to walk,

01:15:37I felt that long slither

01:15:39down my leg.

01:15:41I think that's a bit better.

01:15:43That's beautiful.

01:15:51A true cowboy

01:15:53needs a horse.

01:15:55Give me your darkest stallion.

01:15:57We're off into

01:15:59the real American wilderness.

01:16:01You can see

01:16:03mountains for days.

01:16:05That's the best part of Colorado

01:16:07because it's so expansive.

01:16:09If you look all around us,

01:16:11there's just mountains and mountains

01:16:13and mountains. It's so awesome.

01:16:17This takes me right back

01:16:19to the Hollywood westerns that I grew up with

01:16:21where stars like John Wayne

01:16:23glamorized this iconic way of life.

01:16:27I love the fact that you're actually paid

01:16:29to do this.

01:16:31Me too. It's a dream.

01:16:33People have been paid for well over a hundred years

01:16:35just to take idiots like me

01:16:37out into the countryside

01:16:39pretending to be a cowboy.

01:16:53I'm continuing my whistle-stop

01:16:55journey through the United States

01:16:57and I'm now heading for New Orleans.

01:17:03Some of the stations here are so small

01:17:05that all the passengers get off and on

01:17:07at the one door.

01:17:11In a culture obsessed

01:17:13with cars, the railway network

01:17:15is surprisingly comprehensive

01:17:17with regular intercity

01:17:19and cross-country services.

01:17:23Although I've never really

01:17:25understood why the US doesn't have

01:17:27a high-speed railway network

01:17:29like the ones in Japan or Germany.

01:17:37New Orleans.

01:17:39What I hadn't expected was that as soon

01:17:41as I got out of the train

01:17:43it would feel so different from any other city

01:17:45in the US that I've been to so far.

01:17:47The light's different,

01:17:49it smells different

01:17:51and it's so muggy it feels as though

01:17:53the whole city's sticking to me already.

01:17:55This is called a second-line parade.

01:17:57This isn't for anything,

01:17:59this is just what people do

01:18:01on a Sunday.

01:18:05The tradition of second-line parades

01:18:07goes back to 19th century funeral marches

01:18:09which were a celebration

01:18:11in honour of life lost.

01:18:15This is the first time

01:18:17I've ever seen a parade like this.

01:18:19It's the first time I've ever seen

01:18:21a parade like this.

01:18:23In honour of life lost.

01:18:25And really, apart from the fact

01:18:27that there's no coffins and no dead persons

01:18:29being carried, this is pretty much

01:18:31how the funeral marches

01:18:33would have been.

01:18:35And they reckon that this strutting

01:18:37style that they do

01:18:39and this whole idea of marching

01:18:41comes

01:18:43from their African roots

01:18:45and this is an echo

01:18:47of what people used to do

01:18:49way back in time.

01:18:53This is what we're...

01:18:55Yeah, that's it, yeah.

01:18:57There you go.

01:18:59Yeah, it's all about the feet.

01:19:01There you go.

01:19:07See, when they do those different

01:19:09songs and stuff, you have to catch that beat.

01:19:11This comes out of

01:19:13the parades that they used to have in funerals.

01:19:15Do you still have parades when people die?

01:19:17Yes, they just had a parade

01:19:19for Rita Franklin. Oh my God,

01:19:21the second line they had for Prince

01:19:23was amazing. They had the purple caskets,

01:19:25the purple cars,

01:19:27people dressed in purple.

01:19:29So it's different second lines that they have

01:19:31and that's when you have different brass bands come out,

01:19:33different social clubs come out,

01:19:35different people celebrating

01:19:37New Orleans and how much they love

01:19:39to play. And they celebrate the African

01:19:41culture of New Orleans.

01:19:43MUSIC

01:19:49Should we stop now?

01:19:53Flash storms like this

01:19:55are typical of this part of America

01:19:57and in 2005

01:19:59Hurricane Katrina was an extreme

01:20:01example of the power these rains

01:20:03can have. Local musician Winston

01:20:05Turner was here.

01:20:07I took it for granted just living here, growing up in it

01:20:09that, you know, the culture would never leave, but

01:20:11And after Hurricane Katrina, we were actually able to look at the city underwater.

01:20:17That's when we realised, man, this is a possibility that it may not come back.

01:20:22Oh, you really felt that?

01:20:26Yeah.

01:20:29Hurricane Katrina left over a million people homeless.

01:20:33As the population of New Orleans fled, the city's very existence was called into question.

01:20:40Everything that you knew was just displaced.

01:20:43It took me maybe three to four weeks to find my own mom.

01:20:47Your own mom?

01:20:48Yeah, because we thought, we're just going to leave and we'll be back.

01:20:52We were really displaced.

01:20:54So when I found out I'm in South Dakota, and there's a New Orleans band performing, I would

01:20:58do whatever I had to do to get there.

01:21:00Because it was somewhere that you could go and be with people that express the same hurt,

01:21:06the same feeling, the same love of something that you felt.

01:21:17The city is 90% recovered, and its spirit is as strong as ever.

01:21:24It's time for me to continue my journey to my final destination.

01:21:30There's a direct train that runs daily from New Orleans to New York.

01:21:37It takes 30 hours, and it's called the Crescent.

01:21:41It arrives in Penn Station, but a quick subway ride brings you to what's maybe the most impressive

01:21:48station in the US.

01:21:52If you're going to go round the world on trains, you've got to come to this place, haven't

01:21:57you?

01:21:58Grand Central Station.

01:21:59The biggest railway station in the whole world.

01:22:03Every day, three quarters of a million people come through these doors.

01:22:08That is the entire population of Nottingham.

01:22:11Well, not literally, the, you know what I mean.

01:22:18Grand Central Station opened in 1913, and the building was an immediate hit.

01:22:25I love it because it's the beating heart of the city, I feel.

01:22:28Concetta Bencivenga from the New York Transit Museum is showing me around.

01:22:32It is the epitome of New York in 1913.

01:22:38It's high camp, isn't it?

01:22:40It's saying, oh, look at me, I'm so elegant, I'm sophisticated.

01:22:44This is like a bridge over the canal in Venice.

01:22:48They really wanted you to have this sense of grandeur, of scale, of arriving, of being

01:22:53in New York.

01:22:56The building may be an architectural masterpiece, but in the 60s and 70s, it fell into disrepair.

01:23:02Tony, can you see that square, that dark square?

01:23:06Oh, right up there, yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:23:08Right there.

01:23:09When they started to save the building, this entire ceiling was hidden by layers and layers

01:23:14of black gunk.

01:23:15That colour?

01:23:16Yes.

01:23:17Wow.

01:23:18It must have been so oppressive here.

01:23:19It was, it was.

01:23:20So that's just a little reminder to everybody, that's how bad it got before it was saved.

01:23:25Restoring Grand Central Station to its original splendour took 20 years.

01:23:31To really appreciate it, Conchetta is giving me some very special access.

01:23:39These were originally constructed, they were meant to be opened for cross ventilation.

01:23:42Oh, with these wonderful cranky chains here to wind them up and down.

01:23:46That's why these were known as the lungs of the building.

01:23:48And they give you just a wonderful picture.

01:23:53It's like a Where's Wally drawing.

01:23:55It's extraordinary.

01:24:03Look, look, Sam, look at that guy over there.

01:24:07I thought he was having a pee.

01:24:10It does look like it.

01:24:11No, I was having a whisper.

01:24:12Oh, yeah.

01:24:13Watch.

01:24:14That's not you.

01:24:15That might be the same thing, yeah, yeah.

01:24:16And this is where you whisper into here.

01:24:18Hello, Tony.

01:24:19Can you hear me?

01:24:20Oh, wow.

01:24:21Yes, I can hear you.

01:24:22My goodness.

01:24:23So this sound travels all the way up, all along the tiles, and down to you over there.

01:24:30Yep.

01:24:31And so it's one of this sort of engineering happy accidents that happened.

01:24:34Because of the three of the arches, it created this lovely whispering walls.

01:24:38You sound like you're one of those recorded guides in a museum.

01:24:44Coming up, I visit New York's largest borough.

01:24:48Come this side.

01:24:49We drive on the other side here.

01:24:50Of course you do.

01:24:51I make a new friend.

01:24:53Tony's already making me take off my clothes.

01:24:55And I do as the locals do on a strange tour of Manhattan.

01:24:59Rubbing the cojones is good luck, Tony.

01:25:07My travels across the United States have brought me to the East Coast, to the Big Apple.

01:25:13Some of this country's earliest railway lines were here.

01:25:17Today, it's got the biggest subway system in the world, with 472 stations.

01:25:22Nearly all of them open 24 hours a day.

01:25:27I want to find out more about the real New York.

01:25:30So I'm heading to a part of the city I've always wanted to visit, but tourists don't usually go to.

01:25:37The 7 train links Manhattan with New York's largest borough.

01:25:42If someone says the words New York to you, what do you think of?

01:25:46Greenwich Village, Broadway, Uptown, Downtown.

01:25:50I bet what you don't think of is Queens.

01:25:53And yet, it's huge.

01:25:55So what's the problem?

01:26:01When the number 7 train opened in Queens over 100 years ago,

01:26:05it sparked a real estate boom that transformed a rural area into a lively neighbourhood.

01:26:11New York party bump.

01:26:12I tell you.

01:26:13The heroes.

01:26:16Tony.

01:26:17Hey.

01:26:18Welcome to Queens.

01:26:19Thank you.

01:26:20The most diverse borough in the world.

01:26:22You see, I had always assumed that it was the epitome of the white working class borough.

01:26:27Well, we speak about 170 languages.

01:26:29About 50% of our residents were born in another country.

01:26:33Queens native Rob McKay has offered to show me around.

01:26:37It's really interesting.

01:26:38Come this side.

01:26:39We drive on the other side there.

01:26:41Of course you do.

01:26:43Whoops.

01:26:46We're following the tracks of the 7 train that runs elevated above us.

01:26:51The line's nickname is the International Express.

01:26:55Right over here we get to what they call Little Manila.

01:26:57That's a Filipino place.

01:26:59You see over there?

01:27:00Chivles.

01:27:01Chinese Peruvian food.

01:27:04Do you have much of a problem with all these different ethnicities all mixed up and coming so recently?

01:27:09So the thing I'm most proud of is how well we all get along.

01:27:12That's Nepalese.

01:27:13The United Sherpa Association of America has its headquarters over there.

01:27:17So that's Ecuadorian.

01:27:18Remember, in Ecuador, in the mountains, they eat Cuy, you know, guinea pigs.

01:27:22They will tell you that it's the best meat because the guinea pigs eat nothing but alfalfa.

01:27:26Will you stop talking about the guinea pigs?

01:27:28Well, if you had one, you'd be a downer.

01:27:30I've had them in little cages.

01:27:31Oh, you've had them.

01:27:32OK.

01:27:33I've loved them.

01:27:34OK.

01:27:35I hope cinnamon and nutmeg aren't watching.

01:27:37You know, it is extraordinary.

01:27:38I've spent months going round the world in trains,

01:27:42seeing all these different kinds of faces.

01:27:44I might as well have saved myself the trouble.

01:27:46If I'd stayed in Queens, I would have seen exactly the same variety of people.

01:27:54There's another thing Queens is famous for.

01:27:56It's the birthplace of the current president.

01:28:00It's the birthplace of the current president.

01:28:02It's the birthplace of the current president.

01:28:04It's the birthplace of the current president.

01:28:07These days, he's got a place in the middle of Manhattan.

01:28:15This is the Trump Tower, owned, of course, by Donald Trump.

01:28:19Now, this isn't a political programme, so I just want to talk about the architecture.

01:28:23I think that is the foulest building in the whole of Manhattan.

01:28:28I think it's absolutely obscene.

01:28:30I think it should be demolished brick by brick.

01:28:34Those bricks should be ground to dust.

01:28:36That dust should be flushed down the drain and eaten by rats.

01:28:42But that's the architecture about the president.

01:28:45I've got nothing to say, really.

01:28:47It seems fine.

01:28:51The Trump Tower is just one of thousands of tall buildings here.

01:28:55Manhattan skyscrapers are rising even higher as we speak.

01:28:59This skyline is absolutely unique, isn't it?

01:29:03It is awe-inspiring, always.

01:29:06Luke Miller is a third-generation New Yorker.

01:29:09Pull up your...

01:29:10Oh, man, Tony's already making me take off my clothes.

01:29:13Look at that. Isn't that extraordinary?

01:29:15You are going to so regret that in 30 years' time,

01:29:18and I'm telling you that as a father.

01:29:20Anyway, what's happening here?

01:29:22This is crazy.

01:29:23This is literally the largest development project

01:29:26in our country's history.

01:29:28These skyscrapers are being built

01:29:30on top of some of New York's old rail yards.

01:29:33The apartments, restaurants and public spaces

01:29:36will form a city within a city.

01:29:38How much do you reckon that's going to cost?

01:29:41$25 billion is where they're at.

01:29:43$25 billion!

01:29:45It reminds us that we can reach for the sky.

01:29:48If you've got enough money.

01:29:50What's this crowd doing up here?

01:29:52So, this 7,000-pound bronze bull

01:29:55was sculpted by an Italian artist named Arturo De Monaco.

01:29:59It's a gift to New York and represents a bull market,

01:30:02a strong market.

01:30:03And everybody does this?

01:30:04Yes, rubbing the cojones is good luck, Tony.

01:30:07I do this now?

01:30:08Yeah, you'll see all the brokers doing it

01:30:10on the way to work every morning.

01:30:12It's amazing.

01:30:13It's amazing.

01:30:14It's amazing.

01:30:15It's amazing.

01:30:16It's amazing.

01:30:17It's amazing.

01:30:18It's amazing.

01:30:19I can feel the magic happening.

01:30:24It's clearly worked for some people.

01:30:26After all, New York has got more billionaires

01:30:29than any other city in the world.

01:30:31Presumably, this is the beginning of Times Square.

01:30:34Yeah.

01:30:35Whether it is Monday night or Saturday night,

01:30:38these crowds are here.

01:30:41This is the original New York Times building.

01:30:44So, Times Square gets its name from the New York Times.

01:30:47And you lived around here when you were a kid?

01:30:49Yeah.

01:30:50So, I am one of five boys.

01:30:51Ricky, Nicky, Timmy, Lukey and Ollie is the whole lot of us

01:30:54and grew up with a single mom raising us.

01:30:56And what was the area like around here?

01:30:58Yeah, I mean, this area was run down,

01:31:00crime infested, drug infested.

01:31:02I mean, 42nd Street was lined with drug dealers,

01:31:05pimps, prostitutes.

01:31:06I mean, when I walk through here today,

01:31:08I mean, it's just mind-blowing how this has changed.

01:31:12And that's the thing about New York.

01:31:14This is a city of aspiration.

01:31:16People have always come here hoping for a better life.

01:31:20Can you imagine, Tony, seeing this symbol?

01:31:23You're tired, you're poor,

01:31:24your huddled mass is yearning to breathe free.

01:31:26And you still believe in that stuff?

01:31:28Well, you do.

01:31:29I mean, a part of you does, doesn't it?

01:31:31Yeah.

01:31:32There is part of you that is still passionate

01:31:34about what that statue represents.

01:31:36Well, of course.

01:31:37I mean, my whole life, I've read about it.

01:31:40Well, of course.

01:31:41I mean, my whole life,

01:31:42I've grown up in a place that represents diversity,

01:31:45that embraces diversity.

01:31:47It's the thing that I'm most proud of as a New Yorker,

01:31:50and I believe that we hold that near and dear to our hearts.

01:32:01I've reached the end of my journey,

01:32:03and what an adventure it's been.

01:32:05I've travelled tens of thousands of miles.

01:32:08Inhospitable landscape.

01:32:10Total flipping luxury.

01:32:13And been on some of the world's greatest railways,

01:32:16from bullet trains in Japan

01:32:18to the scenic routes in India.

01:32:22I've seen incredible landscapes

01:32:24and met some wonderful people.

01:32:28And everywhere, I've been greeted with warmth,

01:32:31And everywhere, I've been greeted with warmth,

01:32:34kindness and hospitality.

01:32:39One thing I know for sure,

01:32:41if I was asked to do it all again,

01:32:43I'd jump at the chance.

01:32:47A delighting confectionary,

01:32:49brand new tomorrow at 5.35.

01:32:51All the sugar you need as we find out

01:32:53all there is to know inside Cadbury.

01:32:55Secrets of the Chocolate Factory.

01:32:57Next night, piecing together

01:32:59a Vesuvius timeline of terror,

01:33:01new evidence comes to light

01:33:03in Pompeii's final hours.

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