Daniel
Senior Tailor · Sleeper Trains
BasedBeijing
Years designing11
Regions he knows bestBeijing · Qinghai–Tibet line · Yunnan
LanguagesChinese, English
"The slowest way across China is still the fastest way to see it."
Daniel has crossed China by rail more times than he has crossed any city by car — the Beijing–Lhasa express, the old green carriages down into Yunnan, the desert line to Kashgar. He books the train most people only photograph, and times the windows so the best light falls on your berth.
His journeys pair one great railway leg with the places trains cannot reach: a night aboard, then three days in a walled town the highway skips. Guests call it the most restful way they have ever travelled. He calls it simply the honest way.
"A sleeper train gives you the one thing no hotel can: a day that does not end when you sleep. You board after dinner, and wake somewhere new — the journey does the moving while you do the resting."