All language subtitles for ITV.Joanna.Lumleys.Unseen.Adventures.1of3.1080p.HDTV.x265.AAC.MVGroup.org.eng

'I've been lucky enough
to have visited

'some incredible places
over the years.'

Holy smoke.

'Travel is my passion.
It's in my blood.

'And I'm thrilled
that I've been able

'to take you with me
on these journeys.'

Hang on a second. Hang on, hang on.

'What you eventually see
on your screen

'takes weeks to shoot,
and months to edit.'

Look at this!

It's magic.

'We didn't always have time
to show you everything we filmed.'

Stark naked
and swimming like a fish.

'But we kept
the unshown stories safe.'

I sort of pretty much
love these, actually.

'So I've gone back,
as far east as Japan,

'all across the world,

'to Cuba in the west.'

Are you a pirate?
No.

Phew.

'And now I can reveal
this treasure trove.'

On our way to...

'And also show you a little about
how these programmes are made...'

These rather grand
and beautiful houses are called -

Oof.

'..and why I love making them.'

Here's my new granny.
Lovely, lovely.

Welcome to my Unseen Adventures.

Japan was a country that had
intrigued me for a long time.

And I was very excited
about going there in 2016.

It proved to be a fascinating place

with a unique mixture
of ancient classical culture...

..and razor-sharp
modern technologies.

Welcome to the hotel.

Yes. I will confirm
your check-in information.

Thank you.

We travelled right down the
full length of the archipelago,

some 2,000 miles...

Yes. So so so.

Very good. Very good.

..allowing us a glimpse
into the Japanese way of life.

We covered so much that there were
lots of great sequences

that we just couldn't squeeze in
the first time round.

Starting...

Start with the four great islands.

One, two, three, four.

'We travelled in February
to the north of the country.'

After 36 hours, we arrived
absolutely worn out,

jetlagged on the island of Hokkaido.

Japan is really
four colossal islands.

It's actually 4,000 islands,

of which 400 are inhabited.

But Hokkaido
is the northernmost island.

Huge, very beautiful.

And it was absolutely freezing.

We jumped aboard
the icebreaker Garinko

and headed out onto
the frozen sea of Okhotsk.

My role here
is to introduce the series

and welcome you to Japan.

And clearly
the best place to do this

was on the ice-encrusted
foredeck of the icebreaker.

Come with me

to the Land of the Rising Sun,

Japan.

Again?

MAN: And then turn round.

OK. I'm sorry about
nearly falling over.

It's a little bit slippery here. OK.

Come with me to
the Land of the Rising Sun,

Japan!

SHE CHUCKLES

I practically knocked myself over.

Behind me, Russia
and the Okhotsk Sea.

Ahead of me, a journey

of 2,000 miles,

from this icy ocean
down to the tropical beaches

of one of 4,000 islands.

Come with me to
the Land of the Rising Sun,

Japan!

I'd heard great things
about Japanese roads and cars.

So it was a pleasure to take
the wheel from time to time.

Now, let's see.

The great thing
about driving in Japan

is that, like in the UK...

..they drive on the left.

OK.
JAPANESE SATNAV ACTIVATES

Let's go. That's Will's, I'm afraid.

No, because I plugged mine in.

Well, what is she saying?
She just said hello.

It's all good. It's OK.

MAN SPEAKS JAPANESE

Let's do it again.

JAPANESE SATNAV ACTIVATES

How lovely.
I don't know what she was saying,

but I've got my safety belt on
and I've taken the brake off,

so I think everything is OK.

From the very start,
Japan made a big impression.

It sort of sounds a strange thing
to appreciate so much,

but the lavatories here...

..they are absolutely fantastic.

They seem to know
when you are coming in,

they've got warmed seats.

The one I've just been to

has got 17 different kinds of papers

and things
that you might need or want.

Sometimes it flushes the loo
when you get up,

you don't have to flush it.

It's fabulous.

You could live
in a Japanese lavatory.

Before we go on
these great journeys,

I do a lot of research
and I look at photographs,

and I study maps and things.

But somehow a picture
begins to form in your mind,

and for some reason,
maybe because of the news items

we see about Japan,
it's practically always Tokyo.

A place teeming with people,
and busy, busy traffic.

And very modern and up-to-date.

So to visit Hokkaido
in the wintery north,

empty,

was absolutely magical.

This is strangely exciting,

because I don't know what I imagined
Japan would be like in the winter,

but not like this.

It's like driving through Narnia.

Not only was it naturally beautiful,

it also gave me a glimpse
into Japan's ancient cultures

and philosophy.

In Japan,
the crane is a mystical creature

and is believed to live
for 1,000 years.

Shinto is a religion

that started in Japan 300 years BC.

It worships supernatural deities

that inhabit all things.

Look at that.

And just as we arrive here,
the sun comes out.

Look at that beautiful thing.

And I was delighted
to see a festival

celebrating the fire god Kagutsuchi.

But less keen on the health
and safety arrangements.

I didn't... I didn't...

I didn't quite know
what I was expecting.

Not quite
such flamboyant sort of liberalism.

with burning fire kind of twigs
on the end of a stick.

It looks divine when they
actually are going around,

but sometimes they fall off,
and fly into the crowd

in great clumps.
I've seen a tiny child

swinging something which is
virtually the same height,

which was just sort of
banging around.

Obviously,

there's a lot of sparks
coming our way.

It's very exciting.

And I've got to say, I do love fire.
I love the smell of fire.

The sight of the sparks
going up into the sky.

And this is
a kind of harvest festival.

Within a few days,
we had crossed over

onto Japan's main island, Honshu,

and were nearing a place
whose very name strikes fear.

In March 2011,

Fukushima was hit by a tsunami.

EXPLOSION

And as a result,
the power station there

suffered several
catastrophic nuclear meltdowns.

By the time we arrived,

the surrounding area had been an
exclusion zone for over five years.

Mai, our fantastic fixer
and translator,

took a front seat in Fukushima.

So here we are, Mai,
this is the exclusion zone.

It looks absolutely abandoned.

Yes.

This is five years later
and they are still boarded up.

Oh, it's tragic.

All these were people's homes here.

But even after all this time,

this area is still dangerous.

The road is barred off here.

So we have to...
Turn round and go away.

Go away.
Are they doing contaminated earth?

What are they cleaning?

They are cleaning up
all the contaminated soil.

Just getting rid of
the surface of it.

We had arranged to meet up
with Mr Naoto Matsumura,

who had courageously stayed behind
in the exclusion zone

to take care of all the animals
that were abandoned there.

Oh, look.

Cats, cats, cats.

Dog.

Naotosan, is this your house?

My house.

Hello, puppy.

Of course, it's quite obvious

that all the countries we go to,
I can't speak the language.

So we always have
a translator with us

doing the interviews with me.
I speak in English,

so the camera can record me
doing it in English.

You have to translate.
Yes, but...

NAOTO SPEAKS JAPANESE

She then translates it
to the person, who has no idea.

They then answer in their
own language, which we film.

'And I nod,

'thinking I know
what they are saying.'

Sometimes I don't.

And the terror is that they are
going to say something quite sad,

and you're going, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Thinking, imagining.
I've been tripped up once or twice

by that, you know, or indeed they
are telling me a very funny joke

and I've gone, "Oh."

Because I haven't
quite understood yet.

And the other important thing
you have to tell your contributor

is don't look at the translator.
Look at me.

As if you are telling me.

And they go, "Sure, I understand."

No, really, it's quite odd,
so do try to do that.

They go, "Sure." Cameras roll,
and off they start,

and the interpreter...
They spin their heads round.

You go, please...

Sometimes I'm going, "Me, me, me."
Not on camera, going...

It's very difficult.

HE SPEAKS JAPANESE

Of course what makes it
even more difficult

is that when you're talking
to somebody,

and an enormous dog who adores you
comes leaping up,

and you're trying to go,
"Oh, yes, and how long have you..."

Woof.

This quite a young dog?

MAI TRANSLATES

NAOTO SPEAKS JAPANESE

Three years old.

Kissing. Thank you. Thank you.

And cats.

NAOTO LAUGHS

Naotosan, where were you
when the earthquake happened.

MAI TRANSLATES

NAOTO SPEAKS JAPANESE

Down, down, down.
"I lived here.

"I lived in this house."
In this house?

Down, down, down.

Down, down, down. Come on.

Was it terrible when it happened,
the explosion?

NAOTO SPEAKS JAPANESE

This is... Here, it's about

12 kilometres away
from the nuclear power station.

And he could actually
hear the explosion.

Coastal buildings around Fukushima
were devastated

by the tsunami.

But the explosion
and nuclear fallout that followed

left a much more serious problem
to deal with.

I hate to say this,
but it's going to happen again.

This is the land of earthquakes,

the land of tsunami.

And it's on the four tectonic plates
all meeting.

It's on the Pacific rim of fire.

This seems
the most vulnerable position.

Are they gonna rebuild here?

Japan is rightly famous
for its onsen,

or boiling-hot natural spa waters.

We drove up into
the snowy hills of Nagano,

and here it's not just
the humans that enjoy

this stimulating phenomenon.

It's extraordinary here,
because here we all are.

Each time the monkey does something,
out come the cameras.

"Come on, darling." Paparazzi.
We've turned into the paps.

I've been papped often. Anyway, this
is my way back with the monkeys.

The worst is
when you're getting out of the car

and they try
to get under your skirt.

It's unbelievable.

It's unbelievable. They don't even
bother to look at you.

They just jam the camera
against the car window.

You can see their faces
looking at their watch,

and just go far, far, far
as you sit in the car.

AS A PAP: Lovely.

Onsen are always taken in the buff.

But I wasn't delighted

at the idea of cavorting naked
in front of the very lecherous crew.

But always the consummate
professional, there I go.

Erica very kindly took a shot

in which my knees were like this,

and they looked like two huge,
escaped sagging tits.

So what I'm trying to do,

if I put them there,

can you see my legs at all?

This is as hot as a bath
I would run for myself at home.

It's fantastic.
And to think it's full of minerals

just gushing up naturally
from water.

Because this is women-only,

and obviously the crew are...
SHE MOUTHS

..I'm wearing a towel.
A modesty towel.

I didn't want you to think
this was my enormous body

beginning
to flake off under the water.

This is a beige towel I am wearing,
but normally,

if I was here on my own

I would be stark naked
and swimming like a fish.

I loved Kyoto.

It's simply one of the most
beautiful cities in the world.

And it was made more magical

by meeting
the fascinating maiko girl,

who I had tea with
and explored the city.

I hope that you have such success.

We had planned our arrival there

to coincide with the Sakura,

or the much-heralded arrival
of the cherry blossom.

'It's a huge deal in Japan.'

We had managed
to secure an interview

with the most revered gardener
in Japan.

If you think of Alan Titchmarsh
crossed with Monty Don,

and a bit of royalty thrown in,

it doesn't even come close.

However, when we arrived,

Sanosan and his men

were wrestling with
a colossal piece of granite.

It looks quite perilous.

Quite Heath Robinson. But they are
all working towards the same thing.

I just can't quite see what it is.

And now they're working
on some winch,

which is doing something down there.

I'm clammy with fear.

Anyway, this is Sanosan,

who is the great tree man,

who is also, quite clearly,
the rock-moving man.

So although I'd hoped
to be speaking to him by now

about cherry trees and their
importance in Japanese culture,

I, in fact, got a kind of lesson

on how to build a garden.

With rocks.

I feel much better about
the way I do stuff at home now,

because this is my way of doing it.
Put a bit of stuff in there,

and put a Sellotaped thing on there
and hang that off there.

But to see this going on here,
it's perilous.

I mean,
they've got that great stone up.

They are putting
their arms in underneath

and putting an old twig
and a little bit of wood,

and you think that wood will sink.

No, this has all been here
for 1,000 years,

for goodness sake.

And he's been here for 88 years.

I don't think we're going
to get to talk to him about trees.

This is gonna take all morning.
He's not gonna leave it.

Of course, he turned out
to be a real character

and extremely wise.

Sanosan, what is the best way
to look after a tree?

Do you just put it in the ground
and put water?

Or must you do more than that?

SPEAKS JAPANESE

You love them? You sing to them?

Whenever I see cherry trees

in the UK,

I shall think of you, Sanosan.

Arigato.

I'll take my cherry blossom with me.

We have to go
all the way back to 2014

for the vertiginous opening

planned for
the Trans-Siberian series.

Overlooking Hong Kong harbour,

camera and sound are in position.

And it's my job
to usher in the series

by gesturing towards
the two enormous countries

that we'd soon be visiting.

And believe me, it's not easy.

I'm on the peak of the world

and over there, to the north,

are two of the most
colossal empires on earth.

TROMBONE PLAYS

A trombonist.

Yes. We'll do that once more.

I'm here on the peak of the world...

DRILLING
Chunter, chunter, chunter.

A little bit.

Don't care about it?

Just over here
is some building work. OK.

I'm on the peak of the world.
Just over there,

to the north, are two of the
most colossal empires on earth.

I lived in Hong Kong for a couple
of years in the late 1940s.

My father's regiment
was posted to Hong Kong

in, I think, about

1947 or '48.

Anyway, I was tiny.
I was either one or two.

And we stayed there until
I was about three and a half.

We spent about two years there.

And, of course, everything
I remember about Hong Kong

was from knee-high.
I was a tiny, tiny little person.

So I can remember
our big, dark, cool kitchen there.

We had a couple of guinea pigs
which we kept on the little veranda.

Their names were Sammy and Michael.

They could whistle,
they whistled at the sailors.

The sailors thought there were

lovely ladies up there,
whistling back.

But everything I remember
was so small, and so little,

and I think most of my memories
may come from photographs,

which were taken at the time.
Bathing in the sea

and being with Mummy.
Not with Daddy much,

because, of course, he was on duty,
with the Gurkhas.

It's a strange experience
going back anywhere.

Perhaps it's because,
at that young age,

you form such vivid memories.

I couldn't believe in 2014

that Hong Kong was the same place.

And now, in 2020,

unfortunately,
it appears to be changing again.

When I was here as a child,

I think the tallest building
was about six storeys high.

So you can imagine what
a shock it is to come back

and see the skyline so changed.

And, of course, when I was young,

this was completely filled
with junks,

little, tiny Chinese junks.
This was alive with tiny watercraft.

When the Peninsula Hotel
opened its doors in 1928,

it was set on becoming
the finest hotel

east of Suez.

Now I can at last
take you for afternoon tea

at the Peninsula.

It's one of Hong Kong's
great traditions.

Here we are.

I think I can almost remember
being here

when I was about three and a half.

Oh, my goodness.
Obviously, from this high,

a tiny little person...

That's not very long ago.

But this huge, extraordinary lobby,
it hasn't changed.

No, it hasn't. We are
the oldest hotel in Hong Kong.

And obviously
the lobby is so iconic,

starting with the tea dance
and now the afternoon tea.

And all the history
that surrounds the lobby.

This place has seen it all.

It was here that in 1941

the British surrendered
to the Japanese,

who had established their
headquarters on the third floor

of the hotel.

The Japanese had surprised
the British colony

with an attack on the same day
as Pearl Harbour,

the 7th of December 1941.

So, this hotel was only

six storeys tall.

And you can see how close we were
to the railway station.

At the time,
the Kowloon-Canton railway station

was just across from us.

Where was the train
coming from and going to?

Actually, in 1910,

we were already able
to go to London.

No? From here?
Yes, from Hong Kong.

I believe it took only ten days

on the train,
versus five weeks on the boat.

So you would say,
"London Victoria, please?"

Yes. Yes.

It came as such a shock

to hear that you could go by train

from Hong Kong back to Britain

in the 1950s.
We didn't know about that.

Because we were army families.

Army families always travelled
on troop ships,

which took from Hong Kong,
I think it was about five weeks.

Anyway, it was thrilling to know

that I was going to go
from Hong Kong on a train

up into mainland China,
up into Beijing,

and start the beginning

of the great Trans-Siberian
Railway adventure.

It was an epic journey
I was longing to start.

Beijing was phenomenal.

I believe 22 million people
live there now.

And you get a sense of the
sophistication and strength

of the ancient
Chinese civilisations,

when you visit Beijing's immense
and imposing Forbidden City.

Three Chinese characters,

the top one is Tai.

Tai means "supreme".

We persuaded my very patient guide,
Don Mai,

out into the midday heat.

We have a saying, mad dogs and
Englishmen go out in the midday sun.

Mad...
Mad dogs...

Mad dogs...
And Englishmen...

And Englishmen...

Mad dogs and Englishmen, why?

Go out in the midday sun.

Built in the 14th century,

this was the imperial palace

and state residence
of the emperor of China

from the Ming to Ching dynasties.

And it exudes unchallenged
power and wealth.

If any clarification of China's
present-day status were needed,

Beijing's Rolls-Royce showroom
certainly provided it.

Wow, look, we've got stars
on the ceiling.

I never thought I'd see Beijing
from the heart of a Rolls-Royce.

China's economic miracle
claims to have lifted

800 million people out of poverty.

And this new middle class
has money to spend.

Over the last decade,
fashion sales have tripled

to a staggering
$200 billion per annum.

And this year,
China's fashion industry

will become the second biggest
in the world.

This takes me back
to my modelling days.

Going to see the editor of Vogue.

I mean I obviously didn't always
see the editor of Vogue, but...

Little bit nervous.

Hello.

I've come to see Angelica Cheung,
please. Just wait one second.

'The editor of Chinese Vogue

'has become one of the most
influential roles in world fashion.'

How lovely to meet you.

Yes, great to see you.
Welcome to Beijing.

I'm Joanna, how lovely to see you.
Thank you so much.

It's exciting. Look.
We are in Vogue. This is just great.

This is my little world.

Oh, it's wonderful.
This is where you work from?

Make all the decisions from here?
Well, sometimes.

Sometimes on the plane.

Sometimes on the train.
Very often in the car.

Can I come and see
what your people are doing?

Yeah, maybe you know better now.
Let's go have a see.

This is the art department.

Stefan is the creative director.

Candy, our fashion director.
Hello, Candy.

This is, I think, what Patsy was.
Lovely to meet you.

Patsy called herself
a fashion director.

I don't think
she'd ever been in an office.

Look at all that champagne
over there. That's what they do.

They don't actually work.
They just drink...

champagne.

And just being in
the office of Vogue

takes me back to the '60s.

Before I became an actress,
before I became a presenter,

I was a model.

And actually the world of fashion
has always held me in its thrall.

It was the first real main job I did
when I grow up,

left home, came up to London.
And it has remained with me always.

There's nothing more thrilling
than going to this country

or other countries
to the great fashion houses.

To the great fashion magazines.

And seeing what is going on
in the world.

Then, I have this secret room.

Secret room!

They are having a shoot tomorrow.
This is beautiful.

So I just look at the clothes.
Do you want to try it on?

I think it will look good, no?
It looks beautiful.

Let's see.

Oh, it's sensational, isn't it?

Wow, look at that.
Wowee.

This year is all about long coats.
Long, long, long.

And with boots and things like that.
Nice.

That feels really good.
Yes.

What are the new styles?
Sometimes you go,

"Oh, my gosh, I was wearing that
about 35 years ago.

"This looks slightly different."

But it's just a thrilling language,
let's put it like that,

a language I learned
when I was very young.

And I can't quite shake off
the feeling

of putting on
a beautifully tailored coat

or putting on what my mother called
a "hat face" for a photograph.

So you looked rather gorgeous.
I kind of love it.

I know I'm past it now,

but I do adore it.

And Patsy had been a model.

I made sure that Patsy had been
a model in the old days, too.

She was not as good as I was.

So, in a funny way,

you're in charge of shaping

how Chinese women of the future
are thinking.

I think we belong to
a generation in China

where you grew very quickly.

You absorbed a lot of things

from China, from overseas.

But it's also a generation

who like to think.

You know,
think that you have a value.

It's not just about
the craftsmanship

you introduce in the designs.

It's not just about
the artistic value, the creativity

in the fashion.

It's also about the kind of person

we want our reader to become.

Can people buy these?
Are they rich enough to buy them?

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
These are actually more affordable

because they are
by young Chinese designers.

Later on today,
all the Chanel, the Dior,

the Max Mara, they will come in.

So we mix them together.

So you have the high end,

and you also have
relatively affordable.

On the one hand, you have people

who can spend a couple of million
yuan on clothes.

And on the other hand, you have the
secretary who is still saving up

for their first designer handbag.

So you need to have stuff
for the more beginners

and then you have stuff
for the very sophisticated.

Coolio. It's a coat without a back.

I'm going to have to put that on.
Do you want to try?

Because this is my life really.
It's a symbol of my life.

From the front,
she appears to be something.

And surprised when you turn around.

And then when you turn around,
there's nothing there at all.

JOANNA LAUGHS

You are brilliant.
MAN: Brilliant. Thank you!

LAUGHTER

# He's a dedicated
Follower of fashion... #

No journey to China is complete

without seeing the Great Wall.

We travelled far into
the countryside,

where this massive structure

is overgrown and remote,

and witnessed a glorious sunrise.

And for a moment away from
the busy, crowded cities,

it was wonderful
to feel the serenity

and expense of this beautiful,
but bewildering, country.

But very soon
we were travelling north again.

And back to business.

So the sound
will not be on the camera.

Joanna is wearing a mini recorder.

Patrick,
we've only got three minutes.

You join us frantically boarding
the Mongolia-bound

Trans-Siberian express.

Go, go, go.

I just get in a panic about
getting so much stuff onto trains

in such a tiny amount of time.

This is how people
have sudden cardiac arrests.

There we are.

I've got for this trip, because
they've got a hot-water tap,

pot noodles.

Look at that.

We're off.

I'd never been
to mainland China before.

And we'd just spent
the last two weeks travelling

right across this immense country.

A snippet of China,

but enough to get some idea.

We came to Jining, which is where
we got onto the train today.

And then we trundled
towards Mongolia.

And here at the border,
we cross over,

and that's where they'll change

the railway
onto a different set of wheels,

which are either closer
or further apart.

I'll let you know about that later.

My guess is that
they're going to be further apart.

These look jolly close together.

That's Russia all the way
round to there, to Vladivostok here.

And here's China.

Colossal. Right up to there
and right down to there.

And in the middle, squashed between
these huge, great nations,

post-Soviet Russia, communist China,
sits Mongolia.

Travelling on trains
just makes me hungry,

and by sundown I'm literally clawing

to get at my fancy pot noodle.

What I'm hoping to do is to eat...

I've selected
this "hot tingle" flavour.

I bought two "hot tingle" flavour.

Ah. Yes, please.

Oh, oh, oh.

Thank you. Thank you, my honey.

Thank you so much.

How much water does...

It's like a kind of Brillo pad.

This is the "hot".

Yeah, that's more like it.

I feel sometimes, you know,

a bit of a fraud
about being in China

and from the outside.

Because I'm sort of predisposed
to liking stuff,

and liking people

and loving what I see
and not minding things.

So when I go to places
and I just go,

"This is lovely, no, this is great."

And now suddenly we're leaving China

and I think of all the things
that really...

..hurt me about China.

I haven't sort of touched on
any of that on this journey.

Principally,
because the people I was talking to

were not the right people.

You've got to speak to officials
about that,

not the darling people
in the streets.

But they weigh on my mind, you know.

I'm just going to attempt
this hot and spicy noodle dish.

SPEAKS WITH HER MOUTH FULL

Unfortunately...

I'm...

Maybe...

Maybe there's a time limit.

Maybe it's just...

It's like...

It's like cleaning an aquarium...

with...

There we are.

Just before the Mongolian border,

we are shunted into a huge shed.

We have a bogey issue to deal with.

CLANKING

This is extraordinary.

We've got carriages
just lifted up in the air.

Have we been lifted?

We've just been going "dzh-dzh".

And I still can't work out

whether the gauge
is wider or narrower.

Isn't it funny?
These things are called bogeys.

And it strikes me
the English language,

which is so rich in so many things,
has the same word for

a nostril event,

a golfing term,

and the wheels on a carriage.

Couldn't we have thought of
something else other than "bogey?"

Anyway,
with the new bogeys in place,

85mm wider, as you're asking,

we have now become
the Mongolian train.

And head through the night
across the steppes

on our way to Ulaanbaatar.

Crossing the border
from China into Mongolia

did seem like entering
another dimension.

Mongolia is one of
the least densely populated

countries on earth.

It's five times the size of the UK,

but with only three million people,
half of whom live in the capital.

Ulaanbaatar is not at all
how I imagined it.

I thought it'd be far more
kind of lethal grey,

brutalist Soviet buildings.

I can see some of them,

sort of stern tower blocks.

But it looks as though,
just a guess,

that since its secession
from the Soviet empire,

that the Mongolian spirit
has sort of bloomed

all over again,
and it's picking its own colours.

Look at these gorgeous
green and orange and white.

Quite a lot of them
are quite Buddhist colours.

Tawny golds, and orange and red.

Just gorgeous.

Look, look,
look at these old trains.

Beautiful condition,
all painted up and bright.

You can imagine
how important railways are

to this part of the world. You've
got no way of getting goods in

by sea, because there is no sea.

So it has to come overland.

Soon after independence
from the Soviet Union in 1990,

Mongolia enjoyed
a commodities and building boom.

And the capital is quite a contrast

to the rest
of this wide-open empty land.

In 2014, the country was just

finding its political feet,

and television was playing
a big part in wooing

its newly democratised people.

'At C1 Television,

'I was intrigued to be met
by a fellow countryman.'

Thank you so much seeing me.
Welcome.

Let me show you round.
Thank you so much.

So, is C1 your baby?
No, no, no.

Are you in charge of it?
I'm the CEO here.

It is owned by a group of guys,
some of them politicians.

And one of them said to me,
"If I get elected,

"I want to have my own TV station."

So he became an MP,
and he came to see me and said,

"Now I want my own TV station.
You can build it, Ben."

You've got auto-script. You've got
this lovely circular track.

That cool kind of
delivering-the-news thing.

With journalists in the background,
which is very au courant, lovely.

But TV has a ways been
a difficult industry in Mongolia.

There's over 90 TV stations
in Ulaanbaatar alone.

90?
90, yeah.

You amaze me.
So it's super competitive.

When do you broadcast again?
When will we hear the live news?

This is our news,
which is on air right now.

But Mongolia is quite
a small country. I know.

So it's quite hard to get...
"What shall we do news on?"

Generally, news in Mongolia

is based around two subjects.
In summer, it's all about roads.

They love talking about
their new roads.

And then in winter time,
the story always changes to

the air pollution.

Cos it's super polluted
in Ulaanbaatar.

It's the second
most polluted city in the world.

According to
the World Health Organisation.

It doesn't deserve to be that,
because this is a place of paradise.

Ben, it's been so good to talk
to you. Wonderful, great.

I hope you enjoy your time here.
We're loving it.

Mongolia is
the most extraordinary country,

and Ulaanbaatar
has always been sort of held out.

It's rather like Timbuktu,
it's kind of the end of the world.

Ulaanbaatar.
Of course, when you get there,

it's a sophisticated city,

filled with people
who are completely marvellous.

And some of them
are quite extraordinary.

You might remember
the last time I showed you

this enormous equestrian statue

to the Mongolians' national hero.

Images of Genghis Khan

were banned during the Soviet era,

but look at him now.

130 feet of glittering
stainless steel,

looking east to his birthplace.

I met up with the remarkable man
behind the project,

ex-world wrestling champion

turned businessman and politician,

Mr Battulga.

Also the owner of one
of those 90 television channels.

This is Mr Battulga.

Mr Battulga, how do you do?
It's so good of you to see me here.

Joanna Lumley.

Mr Battulga was the one who had made
the statue to Genghis Khan

on such a scale
that you literally fainted.

You saw it standing, glittering,

in the middle of these great plains.

Huge mounted horseman
looking fierce and so on.

Why did you think it was important

to have a statue of Genghis Khan?

SPEAKS MONGOLIAN

But what I didn't show you last time

was the even more ambitious scheme

Mr Battulga was dreaming up.

His plan was to build
a new eco-city,

radiating out from a centre,

where was going to be
the tallest Buddha ever made.

To spread his blessings
out over the eco-city

for 300,000 people.

I couldn't wait to see it.
I said, have you started?

Has this even started,
this crazy idea?

And he said, yes.
Well, we went out to see it.

And there, right out
in the middle of nowhere,

were the makings of one of
the largest Buddhas in the world.

And a site cleared
ready to start building

Mr Battulga's dream city.

They had started building,
they had got a great crane up there,

but, ah, I couldn't believe it.

I wonder...

I wonder if it's built.

I wonder if it's going to be built.

I wonder if the plans
have been abandoned.

I'd love go back and see it.

Mr Battulga, what became of him?

I knew he was impressive.

For a start,
he spoke in a very soft voice.

Quite often,
extremely powerful people

speak in a very soft voice.

He wasn't only politically powerful,
he was physically powerful.

Because he was a world
wrestling champion or something.

Extraordinary.

When you see him very quiet,
very modest. Very courteous.

Dandy, our fixer,
took me aside and said,

"Mr Battulga is going places."

Just how far, I had no idea.

The year
after we'd been filming there,

he became the president of Mongolia.

And he was photographed with Putin,

he was photographed with Trump.

Strong man.

Extraordinary man.

TRAIN HORN

The Trans-Siberian Railway

is so immense that we couldn't
do it all in one go.

By the time we had returned
for the second chunk,

two months had elapsed.

And venturing north into Russia,

we were confronted
with the biting chill

and beauty of a Siberian winter.

Lake Baikal is enormous.

And it contains a staggering 22%
of the Earth's fresh water.

That's more
than the combined volumes

of all the North American
Great Lakes put together.

We'd come here to film the only
freshwater seals in the world.

But our delay
made that almost impossible.

I wish I could see the seals,

the freshwater seals in the lake.

But I can't. It's very cold and
they are not coming up to the top.

So I've come
to this beautiful museum,

where I understand they've got
three in captivity.

Ones that have been rescued.

So I make my skiddy way up the path.

And here we are, Baikal Museum.

It's something of a mystery
how Baikal seals came to be here,

nearly 2,000 kilometres
from the sea.

They may have swum up rivers,

or possibly the lake was linked
to the ocean at some point

in ancient history.

However they got here,

they've been here
for over two million years.

You can see from their figures
that they have regular meals.

Do you throw for each seal?
Yeah.

So this only goes to Baikal?

This is only for Baikal.

This is for Yola.

And this is for Dot the seal.
OK.

'To give me
something constructive to do,

'we'd arranged our filming
around their breakfast.

'As presenters, we are always asked
to join in on something.

'You know, "Oh, you're making
something, a spindle out of wood.'

"Can I have a go
at trying to do it.

"Oh, you're making chapatis.
Let me have a go.

"Oh, you're doing brain surgery.
Do let me hold that."

No, but they don't do brain surgery.
But they like you to be involved.

And usually I kind of go,
do I really have to do that?

Do I have to do this Greek dancing
or whatever it is?

But one thing I never mind
is anything to do with animals.

And so it was pretty much thrilling
to help feed the seals,

except, to my horror,

the seals didn't know me,
so they were afraid of me.

Anna is saying that they won't come
if I'm looming over them.

They are afraid.

So even though
they are hungry for breakfast,

they are not going to come,

because at the moment, the fish
are just floating in the water.

'I suppose it's good
that they are not too tame.

'But it meant that I had
to retreat behind the glass,

'where they knew I was no threat.'

Come and eat... Eat this one.

Eat this one.

It's been done so beautifully,

the thoughtfulness

of making it clear,
lovely blue Baikal water

and a block of ice.

But you can't help thinking
that these clever animals

are pretty much caged.

I know it's for their own safety,
but...

We've got a pond in the garden
at home with fish in it.

We've got nine fish there.

Which have really been given to us
by people who say,

"We used to have a fish pond
and we're not having one any more,

"can you take the fish?"

And although we've got everything
that they could possibly want

and I feed them
and they've got reeds and rushes...

..I don't like
anything that's locked up.

But it's better than being dead.

Expression, darling.
Look at your face.

Look at your whiskers.

Head for me, Joanna.
Next time,

join me herding camels
in the far west of Uzbekistan.

Hang on a second,
hang on, hang on, hang on.

We couldn't stop them.
The crew got in the way.

They were getting quite cross.

I'll walk with them,
but I can't manage them

and talk to camera.

In Samarkand,

I'll tell you the grisly story
behind one of central Asia's

most magnificent mosques.

Timur saw that
there had been a dalliance

and he had the architect executed.

And in India I learn a lesson
the hard way on glorious Lake Dal.

Can I buy?

What was I thinking?
I don't think

I've ever felt so ill
in all my life.

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