Depart Beijing, Arrive Pingyao

Hey all. So we've left Beijing (finally!) and have arrived in Pingyao. It's a beautiful old town with tons of history, definitely worth a visit. Back in Beijing we did the sights. The Forbidden City and Tian'anmen Sq was awesome as were the parks around it. But it was busy! Absolutely packed with large tour groups. They're really funny to watch actually; there are loads of them all wearing the same coloured baseball cap and play follow the leader. Most of them are old and get delighted when they see us Westerners. It's great fun watching them try to be sly and take pictures of us... the Chinese aren't very good at that. What's worse is that we ask them to take pictures of the four of us afterwards and they manage to cock it up every time! 'Wow, great picture of the sky there!' So yeah, Tian'anmen was cool and we also visited the Summer Palace. The Summer Palace was awesome. We hired bikes to get there and back which was great fun. About an hour and a half each way. The palace itself was built around a lake, which was expanded by Emperor's over the years. It also had a marble boat... smart that one. We were lucky as well with the weather. Original forecasts stated we'd be in for rain for the majority of the week but they quickly changed and we only had the rain the one day Briony got here. After that it's been perfect blue skies, shorts, t-shirts, sunglasses, suntan.

We set aside Sunday to go to the Wall. Unfortunately our plans went to shite and we couldn't get to the site we were going to go to. The only buses running went to Badalling, which according to our Bible (the Lonely Planet), everyone and his Dog goes there. So we gave that a miss and went to actually organise going to the Wall the next day. We went for another wander around Beijing as well. We bought our new mascot 'Slab'. It's a 1 and a half kilo block of flapjack! It was so big we gave it an identity (although it's just about finished now).

I was glad we did re-organise our Great Wall expedition. The place we went to was brilliant! Absolutely amazing. It's called Huahuang and took about 2 hours to reach, leaving at 6am (which meant getting up at 4.30am). When we got there we were practically the only people there. It was a huge park area with a lake, with part of the ruined wall stretching across in certain areas. We weren't technically allowed on the wall bit itself but we climbed up nonetheless. It was a great day, and I managed to cap it off superbly with 'Poo-Shoe'. Poo-Shoe was the name Briony came up with when I went to go to the outside bog and fell through the floor next to it opening up the cess-pit below! It stank. Horribly. I walked back up to where the stream went over some rocks really fast and tried my best (in vain) to clean my leg and left shoe.

This day turned into being the longest day ever. Back at the hotel I managed to grab a shower. They told us we couldn't as we'd already checked out. But it's communal and they didn't notice me slink away from reception. Anyway, it was a really long day because of the train ride to Pingyao. It's a 12 hour overnight train which left at 7pm. Unfortunately all the sleeper cabins were taken so we were in cramped seats full of some very inquisitive Chinese people who liked to play music out of their phones all night long. So yeah, didn't get an amazing nights sleep and couldn't have been happier to get off the train.

Pingyao is great. We were taken from the train station to the hotel in the old part of town by a buggy thing with some seats. It sounded like it'd collapse under our weight but we got there okay. Unfortunately Alice has come down with another stomach bug. I feel really bad 'cause I've had none and she's had two, and Pingyao really is a lovely place to explore. Thankfully she's feeling a bit better tonight and will hopefully come out to dinner with us. This afternoon me, Andy and Briony rented some bikes and went outside the old town to a temple near the city. The bike ride was cool though we did manage to get lost. We then followed this bloke on his moped through some really dodgy areas. At this moment we were thinking we had made another Song mistake (Song was the guy who took us to that place in Qingdao and offered us coke). But we got to the place fine. Unfortunately they wouldn't let us in unless we bought a really expensive ticket allowing us to get into everything in Pingyao. We don't have that kind of money so we gave it a miss. On the way back a pedal fell off my bike... but I managed to disguise it well enought to get my deposit back!

So that's it for now. We leave Pingyao tomorrow afternoon and will arrive in Xi'An around 7pm. Looking forward to seeing the Terracotta Warriors and going to some of the surrounding mountains. Bye now!

Briony is here!!

I know I only posted the other day but we've actually done a fair bit in that time. On Tuesday we got up relatively early to visit the Temple of Heaven park. It was an amazing day, blue skies and all that. We stayed there for hours just meandering around the park. It's a sort of huge old persons playground. They dance in massive groups, do tai chi, kickups (with weights with feathers attached to them), play with ribbon things (see below) and play Roubi Ball.



Roubi Ball is a game with sort of tennis rackets which catch the ball. You just lob the ball back and forth to one another, sounds mundane but it was good enough fun for me and Andy to buy a set! It was such a good day and we'll definately be taking Briony back there.



Yesterday we went to the Olympic Stadium, aka The Birds Nest. It's a fantastic looking stadium and the whole complex is huge! We walked by the Water Cube and went into the stadium. It was pretty cool walking down onto the place where we saw the ceremonies and Olympic events only last summer. Clearly the place still makes a fair bit of money from tourists. We had our packed lunch sitting in the middle of the stadium and played more Roubi Ball. It was really funny when the Chinese spotted us though. It was like being a celebrity. There was, at one point, an actual queue of people waiting to get a photo with us!



To today then - Briony is here! It has been a long time coming but now the four of us are together. It feels like we're back at Uni again... except we're in China!

Back in Beijing

I'm back in Beijing from my little excursion to Qingdao. On our last night in Qingdao we decided to go down what's called 'Little Street' (I think) and get some eats. We saw this place where you get a big fondou looking heater thing which boils up water and you cook the food yourself. It looked like great fun so we gave it a shot. We had no idea what to do so it was the classic point and hope technique that has served us so well in the past. We first chose some innocent looking vegetables and got some beef. Easy as. Then the guy pointed to these strange shellfish monsters and we got those too. That turned out to be the funniest decision made yet!! Check out the picture below. Please if you know what that is, tell me.



We got three and they were delivered to us very much alive! The main problem was that it took an age for our burner to heat up to get the water to boiling temperature. In this time those creatures did not stay still. It was a great laugh and tasted good, although disappointingly they didn't hold much meat.

The next day we went back to the train station and went to Tianjin. It is on route to Beijing and the bullet train took about 5 hours, so quite far away. When we reached Tianjin we were going to walk to the hostel. The problem was that we were heavily flooded in. It's the first rain we've had on our travels... but there was a LOT of it. In the end we had to get a taxi there because it was simply impossible. We were drenched. We were trying to lug our bags about. And it was only 10RMB (that's 1 pound) to get a taxi to the hostel. The hostel was very basic and we set out pretty much immediately to wander Tianjin. The city itself, from what we saw, was very nice and quite cheap. We met a couple of Australians and went out for a really good dinner which worked out to be 2 pounds 50 each.

Today we have come back to Beijing. It is quite nice going back somewhere you've already been since you know where you are in relation to your surroundings. There are a couple of people we've met that are in Beijing as well so we can meet up with them again this week. That's about it for now. Keep an eye on my pictures as I will try and get more up when I can.

Big Fun in Big China!

Hello. So I've been away for a month now and I'm still alive. Hooray! Hope you are all wrecks without me. I had great fun in Beijing though I'm waiting until I go back this weekend to find Briony to see the tourist sights. Still we went to Silk Street which was marvelous fun. It's a 7 floor indoor market which has everything from tailor made suits to the millions of stalls of pure tat. The bargaining is brilliant fun as well. There are loads of methods we've worked out to get prices down such as walking off when they offer a price, offering ridiculously low prices, etc, etc. I didn't get my chance to try much crazy food but I will try to do so when I go back.

On Monday (13th) we got the train from Beijing to Qingdao. Qingdao is a beautiful port city with loads of beaches and piers. It has China's largest brewery, for the lager Tsingtao. On Tuesday we walked along the coastal road and went to (Xingqingdao) Little Qingdao. It's a small island, connected via a road from the mainland, with a lighthouse and some statues. We went to the brewery yesterday. It was quite interesting to hear about how the lager was orignally made in 1903 and see how they make it now. We also got a taste of the unfiltered and filtered beer and beer peanuts, which were awesome. Today we went to Laoshan (meaning Old Mountain). It was a bit dodgy because we didn't know what we were doing when we got there - it's an hour and a hald bus ride from Qingdao. We think we got sold knock off tickets, but they were the right place and they got us in so all's well ends well. The mountain was brilliant and the views incredible. It was a shame they didn't let us anywhere near the waterfalls or the dam as it looked really cool. We walked the mountain for 4 and a half hours, not even having a break or using the cable cars!

Me and Andy had a bit of a scare the other night. On Tuesday night we met a German bloke called Tim and a Chinese guy from Qingdao called Song. Both were a good laugh and the four of us got drunk and ended up on the side of the street at 3am buying meat and vegetables on a stick. That was fun... the next night wasn't. Song came to the hostal around 10pm and proceeded to buy us loads of alcohol. He then went with his brother to buy Qingdao's famous beer bags (literally a bag of beer) and somehow convinced us to go to his brothers house to drink them. We really didn't want to go and the whole way there we were both thinking the same thing without saying it... 'why don't we just turn and leg it!?' We went into the house and it was a sort of tense affair, especially as we were literally locked in behind bars. We figured, let's just drink a bit of beer with them and get the hell out. After turning down cocaine and the possibility of going upstairs to sleep with 'some Chinese girl' we told them we had to leave and went. We ran all the way home and were quite joyous to be alive once we got back to the hostel!

... so that's what it's all about I guess. We did manage to avoid him last night and will definately ignore him again tonight if he turns up! We are staying in Qingdao another couple of days. Might go to Tianjin for a couple of days before we go back to Beijing.

In other news, I have managed to get some pictures up on Photobucket. I will try to get some more pictures up if I get the chance. Hope you are all okay, and you can rest assured I wont be going back to any crazy locals house for a while.

Link: http://i572.photobucket.com/albums/ss169/ianpatmore/

Irkutsk to Ulaanbaatar to Beijing

Happy Easter weekend! I arrived in Beijing this morning, border crossing was a LOT better than the border crossing into Mongolia! First impressions of Beijing - bloody awesome! Everyone here is so friendly and the city is literally buzzing! We have only been here since 3pm (it's about 11pm now) and I've already had my first taste of proper Peking duck. The food is so good. I strolled through the night markets, for which I'll have to go back to tommorow night so I can try seahorse and live scorpian, maybe a bit of sheep's testicle - who know's?

Anyway, enough of today, I need to tell you guys about Mongolia. It is AMAZING. We arrived in Ulaan Baatar (Mongolia's capital) on the morning of the 5th April. We had a couple of hours sleep as it was practically impossible to sleep on the train over the last couple of nights and then went to get some food. I had my first taste of horse for starter and for main got a plate of meat... a massive plate of meat! We then went to the Choijin Temple Museum and learnt about Mongolia's Buddhist views of hell. The temples themselves were cool, and we had to follow Mongolia etiquette by never turning our backs to the alter's and always entering facing the alter (i.e. backwards). We then went to see the main square, which had a huge statue of Chenggis Khaan (Genhis Khan to us), his son and grandson, and his lords. After that we trekked to the Russian Memorial, which had some 600 steps to the top - you could see the entire of the city from up there.

The next morning we left for the Ger Camps. A Ger is what traditional Mongolian's live in. A sort of round tent with a fire in the middle, it's chimney sticking out of the round window at the top. I couldn't believe how hot it was. Most of us got burnt. The camp itself was in the national park about an hour and a half away from the city and once we got there we settled in instantly chatting to locals and other travellers alike. We then went for a horse ride through the mountains of Mongolia.... incredible! Had a traditional lunch and then went for a climb up the mountains. I did a couple of climbs I probably shouldn't have done without any ropes but all the same it was great fun. I took some fantastic pictures, but as the computer I'm using now doesn't have a USB slot I wont be able to put them up yet (I'll try to do so before I leave Beijing).

The next day I went for some more trekking and we invented a new strange football-tennis game across the raised flat foundations used for Ger's. We played for quite a long time. Did a load more trekking then went to see a traditional family living in a Ger. It was very surreal, especially as she had a tv antenna sticking out the side of the Ger, she was wearing Nike trainers, and she gave us some God awful homemade Mongolian sweets! I left my coat as a gift to her family as I wouldn't be needing it anymore ( I hope!). We then went to see the famous Turtle Rock (if you Google it you'll see how it gets its name - it's pretty obvious), the legend was that some great King dropped the rock shaped as a head on the original rock to kill his wife who was promiscuous and hiding there. Retarded I know, but we thought it was funny. We climbed into the rock and went through a very tight crack that our honcho, Annie, said was supposed to symbolise being reborn.... due to the fact it clearly resembled a vagina! Anyway, we went back to the camp and did a bit more trekking until it got dark. We then had a bonfire and proceded to drink lots of beer and vodka.

The next day we went back to Ulaan Baatar and visited the monestary. It was really cool to actually see a still live monestary and there were hundreds of monks of all ages, many of which chanting rituals. Got a chance to feed the pigeons (possible the closest thing to being in England I've done in a while) and then I went and got a hair cut. It was one of the strangest experiences of my life! For 5000 To-grog (about 2.50 pounds) I got my hair washed, clipped, washed again, one hand massaged and my neck massaged! The reason I didn't get my other hand massaged was because we ran out of time. I then had to run all the way back through the main square and down through the main road, in rush hour, to meet everyone to go for dinner. I'm very glad I did though because the dinner was amazing. All you can eat for about 7 pounds. You fill up a bowl of raw food including the meat, seasoning, vegetables, sauces, etc, and take them to the cooks. They are then poured over a massive round griddle and stir fried for you. The cooks tend to play around with the food and their crazy sword/spatula things, which was awesome. Not only that but it tasted great!

The next day we went through the border crossing to China. For the first time I was so bored on the train. I was disappointed to leave Mongolia so soon and although I was looking forward to Beijing, I really didn't want to spend any more time on the train. I finished reading The Road and moved onto Brief History of Time, but it's not a book you can just sit and read to pass the time and I got bored after a couple of chapters. We arrived in Beijing the next afternooon and that's where I will come to an end - finally, Jesus this post is long!

If you got this far, well done I hope you have a happy Easter. If you didn't, I hope your Easter is RUBBISH! There is no Easter here though, so eat enough chocolate for me guys! Zaijian!(Goodbye!)

Lake Baikal

Hi all! So I kind of underestimated how long we were going to be on the train for. Turns out it was 4 nights. No matter though, I had a bloody good time. We spent most of it playing cards, drinking beer, and eating noodles and soup. As lame as that sounds it was excellent! Siberia from the train wasn’t the white barrenness I was expecting, though the new honcho told us that most of the villages and towns are there because of the train, and they just sprouted up from the amount of trade there. The babushkas were all very friendly, though some don’t seem to take much notice when you tell them you really don’t want a 5 foot stuffed animal! By Tuesday though, I was very happy to get off the train. The train itself is quite stuffy and too hot, and started to smell after a while of not being able to actually wash! We arrived in Irkutsk on the Tuesday morning around 5am Moscow time, which is 9am local time and 3am GMT. My body clock has readjusted now but I was feeling a bit of… train… lag?! Yeah train lag.

Irkutsk itself is nothing special, and there’s not a lot to see. The bus to Lake Baikal took around about an hour; everyone was basically asleep for it though. We stayed at the south west ridge of the lake and the view was absolutely stunning. Lake Baikal is biggest lake in the world by volume and even though it is spring, the majority of the lake is still frozen over. We were skidding on the lake, having snowball fights, and trying to play football (not a good idea!) for literally hours! It was so much fun. We stayed in a little cottage right next to the lake, and were given authentic Russian breakfast and dinners. I tried the local fish Omul, which only exists in the lake, it’s really nice. Yesterday I went husky sledding, and got my chance to drive the husky’s myself, they went a lot faster than I thought they would and at times I thought I was going to come off! Afterwards we went for a Banya. It’s a Russian tradition and many Russians go for a Banya once a week. It’s a very, very hot sauna where you go in once until you are dripping with sweat, come out for a bit, go back in until you are really out of any remote comfort, come out, then finally go in and get beaten with sticks and leaves. Once you come out again you are covered in freezing cold water. You then stop for a tea before dinner. It was brilliant and very refreshing.

Today we walked up the side of the mountain to the observatory where I saw possibly the most fantastic view of my life. I have tried taking pictures but because the lake is white, the mountains are white, and the sky is mostly white – the pictures don’t do it justice at all. We had fun coming back down through the forest. I stayed in front picking out some very fun routes to go down though. We then had some Omul and got the coach back to Irkutsk. I have the afternoon now to have some coffee and chill out until I get on the train for another 2 nights heading into Mongolia. I’m not too sure how likely it is that I’ll get on the internet in Mongolia but I’ll keep you updated when I can.

Hope you are all doing okay. Ian. x