Travellers' checks

Fear of rail travel (eventually dubbed siderodromophobia) was as common in the 19th century as fear of flying is today, fuelled perhaps by a similar feeling of helplessness at being forcibly contained at high speed. Novelist Charles Dickens, for example, is said to have never travelled by rail without a bottle of brandy to calm his nerves after a train he was riding crashed, in 1865. Railway tunnels were seen as particularly daunting in the days of unlit carriages, partly for reasons best explained by Sigmund Freud, but also because thieves and robbers took advantage of the darkness. An anonymously written book, published in 1862, advised passengers that when "going through a tunnel it is always as well to have the hands and arms disposed for defence so that in the event of an attack the assailant may be immediately beaten back or restrained". The Railway Traveller's Handy Book also offers tips on what to wear, how to converse with fellow passengers and "how a gentleman might trick his wife into punctuality" when arriving at the station. Some of these points will, of course, be more relevant for the 21st century than others, but if you have a long journey planned, the book - reprinted this week by Osprey Publishing - should make an amusing if not entirely practical travel companion. You can find it at Amazon.co.uk for about HK$85.

The Banyan Tree Shanghai on the Bund (top) will have its soft launch this month. But like the similarly misnomered Hyatt on the Bund, Hotel Topsun on the Bund and Sunrise on the Bund, it is not actually on the Bund (obviously a much-sought-after address for hotels), but in the North Bund district (so named by the Shanghai government in the 1990s, allegedly to boost tourism and raise land prices). Each of the Banyan Tree's 130 rooms and suites overlooks the Huangpu River, with many offering views of the Bund proper. See www.banyantree.com for a virtual tour and opening rates.