Beijing, Xi'an & Hong Kong

So we finally made it to Hong Kong and out of the great Chinese firewall!  There's a lot to catch up on, so I'll try and give a taste of everything.  Once we arrived in Beijing we went to our first hostel, to find our room had an amazing huge king size bed, with an en suite bathroom.  Just what we needed after the two weeks on the train.   The hostel was really cosy and a good base to explore beijing from.  Plus they had access to facebook which was a bonus.

On the first day we visited Beihai park and hired a little boat to pootle around on the lake with.  We ate some oranges and slowly watched the sun set behind the big white pagoda.  We also walked up to the Pagoda and saw some locals having a sing song wth various traditional instruments.  It was very atmospheric surrounded by temples and gnarly cedar trees.    That evening we attempted to meet some of our trans siberian train friends who were staying in a nearby hostel, but got totally lost on the way there, so we missed them.  Instead we asked their hostel to recommend a good food place and were directed to a nearby restaurant that did amazing peking roast duck and lamb.  We had some really tasty food, but my stomach wasn't quite up to eating much of it as I still didn't have much of an appetite post food poisoning. 

The next day we explored some of the market and shopping districts.  Including a great area near Beixingtao which is is famous old hutong filled with funky bars, cafes, restaurants and shops.  We bought a few souvenirs and even sampled a pizza, which wasn't too bad, considering its not really a Bejing signature dish.  We also met with our trans siberian friends properly and took them to the restaurant we'd been to the night before, and they were really impressed with the food.  Caused a bit of havoc with knocking over coke bottles domino style and smashing some glasses by mistake, but the watiting staff were very understanding.

The next day we visited the forbidden city and saw all the sites there were too see.  It was very drizzly with rain though so it wasn't as much fun as we hoped.  Really enjoyed the gardens at the end though as some of the ancient trees and rocks looked amazing.

As the weather wasn't great the next day we decided to skip the great wall tour and explore the art zone on the outskirts of Beijing.   Its been set up in an old industrial district thats been taken over by and art community.   This is where lots of local artists and designers have studios.  There's also lots of galleries and exhibitions, and great cafes bars and shops selling unusual clothes, often with designers working away on their sewing machines at the back of the shop.    We got a taxi back into the centre of town afterwards and came across the famous red lantern restuarant district where we had some great spicy sichuan seafood.


The next day we headed off to Xi'an in the evening.  We got the overnight train on the hard sleeper on the way there which was pretty chaotic, noisy and smelly but certainly an experience.  Its a lot more sociable too so we swapped some food and booze with the locals and figured out when to get off the train as it was really delayed when it left.   Eventually it arrrived in Xianan which was an hours drive in a taxi from the city centre.  We teamed up with some americans and a czech australian we met on the train to get a  taxi and then we all ended up staying in the same hostel.  It was a really sociable hostel, with some great really tasty street food stalls just outside.  Beer was only 25p as well!  bonus!  We also went on a city wall cycle tour which was a lovely way to spend an afternoon, and then went to explore the nearby hutongs with lots of tradtional calligraphy equipment shops and calligraphy artists painting in the street.  We also visited the oldest mosque in China as there was a big muslim community in Xian.  It was really beautiful, and I enjoyed it more than most of the temples we'd seen so far, as it was more dilapidated and felt like you really were stepping back 1,200 years in time. 


We're off to a Korean BBQ with Laura and some of her friends tonight, so will have to follow with more Chinese adventure updates soon.  Photos to follow soon too! H x

 We finally arrived in Beijing on Friday after our epic 2 week train ride, the blur of tourist attractions and bustle of the city has occupied our time since then. We had an amazing time everywhere we went. By far the longest and most arduous streetch of the journey came at the beginning -the 3 and a half day stint from Moscow to Irkutsk. Our tickets were on the aptly named 'Hard Sleeper' class, meaning four bunks tightly packed together,  no curtains or screens and the constanst dim glare of overhead ighting. At the end of each carriage is the samovar, a Jules Verne Soviet hybrid contraption of twistig pipes and uninteligable gagues that dispences the key ingredint of susinence onboard: scalding hot water. From this a consant stream of noodles and teas snake their way pensively past the cabins. Beyond he samovar is the toilet, metalic, basic. A flush operated by a foot bar at its base discourges the contents directly onto the Siberian permafrost. That they are locked twenty minutes before each stop seems wise. All is ruled and controlled by the Provodnistas, two fearsome ladies per carriage, working in shifts at scrubbing, mopping, dispensing tea & coffee (buy one, keep the mug for the journey) and barking curt Russian phrases at confused foreigners. Customer service runs somewhere between distain and insighting outright fear, though I swear I saw half a smile when two of our party nearly failed to get back on the train at a 30 min stop over. Nothing is private in this situation, snores and chatter blunted only by the ceaseless rumbele of the rails ever eastwards. Movements in and out of the top bunks & round fellow passengers become as swift and compact as the living conditions dictate. A seemingly infinite panaorama of Siberian wilderness rolls past the windows, birch tres by the millions, ramshackle huts, free roaming livestock, rusting vehicles, less snow than expected. Our total journey (Moscow - Beijing) falls just shy of 8,000 KM, the vastness of which consumes the view in every direction. Every so often we stop for anywhere between 20  mins o an hour, where Babushkas (RUssian Granmothers) hawk sausages, drinks, out of date noodles, home made food and smoked fish - the latter two of which we avoid, let we play  Russian Roulette with our constitiutions. Each opportunity to stretch our legs is seized upon, taking it in turns to guard possesions onboard. The nightime stops are long waits in sidings, our slep disturbed by staion announcements barked over tannoy and echoing off concrete and steel. 

The Russian restaurant car dining experience... not complete without the soundtrack of 'Winds of Change', meat, beer and the sensation of sitting on a washing machine.

The sop in Irlutsk (2 days) appears like an oasis in the Siberian widerness. We decamp to a chalet, to all appearences dropped from an alpine ski resort, perched on the edge of lake Bikal. The lake contains 20% of the worlds fresh water, remains cold year round and is indistiguishable in size from a sea. Waves lap the shore and dazzlingly clear waters allows crystal clear ice to form across the 40k width each January. We decline the offer of a refreshing dip and clense ourselves of the jouney in a Russian  banya sauna. A highlight was Omul, a fish native solely to the lake, similar in taste to rock, and ravenously depleted in number by two (be assured it's a sutainable stock!). 

The next leg of the journey (2 nights, 1 day) turns out to be in plush four birth cabins, the group can hardly contain its joy a the sliding doors with full length mirrors and, the total darkess they provide.  Old hands by now, we progress swiftly to Ulaan Bataar, Mongolia, where we stayed in a ger camp, a cosy round tent with a wood burning stove to keep us warm and lovely comfy beds (a nice change after train carriages).  We went to visit a mongolian 'nana' in her ger, she told us about her nomadic lifestyle and the animals she has, and gave us a selection of mongolian delicacies - fermented yogurt vodka (I'm never throwing away a week old yogurt again!), Mongolian cheese, and dried curds.  They love their dairy - milking everything that moves - goats, cows, horses and camels!  We also tried some archery and dressed up in Mongolian costumes, Andrew may as well have worn a whole ger as he bcame swamped in fabric - Chengis Khan was surely stouter than he. A two hour horse trek across the desert at sunset was so awe inspiringly beautiful as to defy description. Unfortuately Andrew's horse randomly kicked Helen on the shin, but shin guards prevented lasting damage.  We both felt like wimps next to the hardcore mongolian herdsmen! 

We went to Ulanbaatar the next day and fitted in a visit to the mongolian history museum which was fascinating - right from stone age through to present day. The central square which houses the government building jas a spectacular  view of the surrounding mountains.  Then we went to a mongolian cultural show with dancing, music, throat singing and contortionists, ther harpists left the hairs on our necks standing.  Dinner was at a  a mongolian barbeque restaurant which had a huge salad bar.  It was really tasty so Helen went a bit mad about all the fresh vegetables (haven't really had any since we left the UK), but the next day felt really sick and thew up 3 times from what must have been food poisoning.  You've got to be really careful with eating fresh veg and fruit, as it may have been washed in tap water, which we cant drink.  Unfortunately the food poisoning kicked in during the 6 hour border crossing where we were stuck on the train the whole time with no toilet access!  During the crossing from mongolia to china they literally have to lift the train onto a different set of tracks, as Mongolian and Russian trains run on a different track gauge to the rest of the world. So we were in the train whilst they were lifting it.  Helen was too busy throwing up though so didn't really get to appreciate it, Andrew was like a child with a train set.
Anyway, we then were on the train for another day, and saw some great chinese coutryside on the way to Beijing.  We arrived in our hostel which is gorgeous - we have an en suite bathroom and a huuuuge bed which is more than kingsize and is 3 feet high.  Its just what we needed after the train journeys.  We went to a tasty chinese restaurant in the evening, but the pictures and descriptions of some of the food didnt help Helen's still delicate stomach - duck webbings, jellyfish, chicken feet, sea cucumbers, tripe etc.  But we did order some delicious roast lamb, rice with vegetables and duck dumplings. 

We've been exploring markets, shops and Beihai park in Beijing so far.  Will be going to the forbidden city today, and hopefully the great wall tomorrow.  We've booked an overnight train to Xian in a couple of days so that we can go and see the terracotta army.  So more Chinese adventure updates to follow!

We're getting the train to Mongolia tonight from Irkutsk.  We're also going to be staying in a Mongolian Ger camp on one of the nights, which I'm really excited about.  Our trip on the railway so far has been really fun.  We were in 'cattle class' on the first 3 days from Moscow, which meant an open sleeper carriage with 40 other people.  It was a bit stinky and cramped, but fine otherwise, and we're on a tour with  22 other people from Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Finland, Sweden and the UK, so there's been plenty of people to hang out with.  The local people from Russia and China we've met along the way have also been really sweet, and sharing food etc. 

We've just spent a couple of days in lake baikal which was beautiful, and we had a traditional russian sauna 'banya' which was amazing.  Been on some walks in the woods by the lake, up to an observatory for incredible views.  Eaten some fish from lake baikal - which exists no where else in the world!