Hanoi

Day 64 - 28/07/2010 - 20:33 - Hanoi, Vietnam

So we've had our two days in Hanoi, and are now back in the room packing ahead of our 3 day trip to Halong Bay where we will  take part in various activites such as kayaking and will be spending 2 nights on a boat, coming back in 3 days and heading  straight to Da Nang/Hoi An on an overnight (yet reasonable timed train).

Yesterday was a strange day. We were very tired but still headed out at a semi-reasonable time - around midday. We headed for  the lake in the Old Quarter - Hoan Kiem lake. From what it looked like it seemed very nice but as soon as we got to the  waters edge Laura said she felt really ill. There was a public toilet nearby I quickly gave the cleaner 2000 dong (around 5p)  and Laura was sick. Bad times. She felt very very ill and there was only one place she should have been - bed. We walked back  to the hotel, she was even more ill and then got into bed. I watched over her a little, making sure she was OK but I ended up  going out on my own that day.

As Laura wanted to see the Old Quarter, I went over to see the "newer" side of the city. The side of the city that was  insipred by communism rather than the French colonials. It was pretty good. I saw some old Commie favourites such as Ho Chi  Minhs masolueum (although it was shut I didn't go inside) including the goose stepping changing of the guard (Moscow). I also  saw a Lenin statue (various) and lots of overly patriotic monuments/oversized flags. I also paid a massive 50p to go and see  Ho Chi Minhs palace grounds which actually was surprisingly nice although the palace itself was very European looking.  Finally I saw the one pillar pagoda which was pretty impressive but not as big as I'd thought it would be.

It was raining a bit but luckily only a small shower so I began to head back before it kicked off big time. I went home via  the Hang Day Stadium (I've read on Wiki that all 4 Hanoi teams use it - 22,000 capacity stadium!) stadium which was worn down  but quite big and impressive still. When we got back Laura still wasn't feeling great and I was starting to feel a bit tired  and getting a head ache. We got a pizza ordered (with the help of the Hotel) and just ate that. We went to bed at 8pm - very  tired to go to bed that early! I can't quite believe it myself but we didn't get up until 9am! We obviously needed the sleep!

Today though, Laura was feeling much much better which was good for two reasons - I had my fellow explorer back by my side  and no more pizza (which was OK, but a bit strange tasting!). We went downstairs for our free breakfast (which was a choice  of various foods on a menu). I had bacon, eggs and bread. The bread, was fantastic - out of this world. Crispy outside and a  VERY fluffy inside! Delicious!

So today we sucessfully headed for the Old Quarter today and walked all the way around the lake taking in the sights and life  in the vicinity of the lake. We saw the main temple which was on a small island on the lake as well as a pagoda in the middle  of the lake which couldn't be accessed by foot - it was isolated. The water in the lake was a beautiful green colour. We sat  on benches around the lake at frequent intervals, taking it all in and enjoying the sun! We stopped for lunch on the other  side of the lake at "Pho 24" a Vietnamese Pho (noodle) bar. We both ate a bowl of Pho (I had beef meatballs, Laura had  chicken) as well as some spring rolls and a drink each for £6. We continued around the rest of the lake going in land briefly  to see a gothic church from the French period. It stook out like a sore thumb but it was very very beautiful and took us all  the way back to Eastern Europe just looking at it! We also saw some people filming a music video which was rather interesting  (shame the music sounded rubbish - cheesy pop!) When we reached the part of the lake we started at, we went for a drink on  the 5th floor balcony of a cafe. It only cost £2 for drinks, something that would never happen in the UK (tourist attraction,  reasonable prices). We sat there for a good hour, just taking in the beautiful view over the lake and Hanoi.

We came back to the hotel to wash off the humidity and then headed out for some food. I wish I'd taken my camera for various  reasons. We were sat on the balcony, overlooking the street below with a tradtional lamp lighting the table. The food was  very good for the price - I had prawns with cashews/pepers in sauce and rice and Laura had chicken with lemongrass and chilli  stirfry. Both were delicious. We also saw two Lizards on the roof chasing each other which provided us with great amusment.

Hanoi is great - I've only two gripes! The traffic hazards (it's very difficult to cross the road here because everyone  drives like a nutter) mainly in the form of scooters and those trying to sell you something. I really didn't want to be rude  but the best thing to do is ignore them!

Roll on Halong Bay tomorrow!

Photographic Memories from Europe, Russia and Mongolia!

It's that time you've all been waiting for! Pictures! Yay! It's been a while, but China really was the first place we had a decent connection for several weeks and Blogger was blocked!! We got most of them done in Hong Kong and the rest of Europe, Russia and Mongolia in Hanoi tonight - uploaded for your eyes to feast upon.

Merely click the link above this post titled "Graduation Trip 2010 Photos" - if you can't find that you can try clicking here for now (it's better you use the other link though as it's permanent and on every page!)

Photographs from China, HK and Macau on their way by the end of the weekend!

Nanning to Hanoi

Day 63 - 27/07/2010 - 10:28 - Hanoi, Vietnam

We've arrived. The door to south east asia is open and we've set foot inside it for the first time. Really haven't seen too much today though!

We arrived into Nanning stupidly early in the morning, at 6:30am (nothing compared to today though) and we got our bags together and headed to the ticket office to try and get tickets from Nanning to Hanoi. We had all the necessary words needed in Chinese so we were confident that this wouldn't be the barrier, but availability would.

The first problem we had was finding an ATM that accepted Western cards. Luckily there was one not too far from the station, although completely in the opposite direction to the place I looked when Laura was in the queue. By the time I had come back, she'd left the queue and we found the ATM together before getting back in. We got to the front and were told that we had to go to the end window. Lowe and behold, there were tickets left, we managed to buy them (the ticket clerk spoke surprisingly good English but we met him half way). They did need to see our visa for Vietnam but it didn't cost a lot - £24 each soft sleeper.

We were happy but knackered, dropped our large bags off at the left luggage and went in search for something to do in Nanning. We had been told that there was not much to do by many travellers websites and we were indeed finding that to be the case. The humidity and us feeling groggy didn't help. We were walking back to the train station when we saw a hotel offering a 3 hour rate for 58RMB (around £6). We took them up on the offer - shower and nap, up and out of the hotel for 12. Both of us feeling much better as neither of us slept well on the train.

We walked around a bit more, having lunch in Nanning. Then the skies opened and it rained. We got drenched and thought to ourselves we were better off in the waiting room - dry and air conditioned. We spent 3 hours there in total before our train at 6:45pm. We took great fun in waving to all the kids who stare at us for being different - it's very cute. They like Laura (there is a surprise). One boy who can't have been much older than 10 came up to me and shook my hand then ran off - it was funny and various encounters like this during the day kept us entertained and smiling in what otherwise would have been a very drab and boring day.

We boarded the train at about 6:15. We were sharing with a British man called Andrew who had lived in Zimbabwe for most of his life before coming to Britain. He is a lecturer in Science and Engineering at Shenzen University (he lectures in English) and previous lectured at Loughbrough! He's been in China for 5 years and still hasn't learnt Chinese. British trait! Andrew was also travelling to Hanoi for part of his 4 week summer break. He was also going to Laos and Western China. We both got on really well with him, had a lot of stories to share and he was particuarly amazed at our trip.

The border controls were not too bad last night. Pretty short stops at each point (around 1 and a half hours each) although the free for all in collecting passports from the Vietnamese desk was not appreciated at 12 midnight! I slipped in and out of consiousness over the rest of the journey and we got into Vietnam at the ungodly time of 4:45am. Yes, 4:45am! Ugh!

Andrew managed to negotiate a taxi (the ones immediately outside the station were stupidly expensive!) for 7 dollars to our hotel and then another 3 for his, he refused to let us pay for the taxi which was incredibly nice of him and wished us a pleasant trip, as we did to him! The meter was showing much less to be honest, and in Vietnamese Dong but I don't think he had any (nor did we) or we'd have insisted paying in that. I've already got a bad feeling about taxi scams over the next couple of months. My tactic is agression, DONG DONG DONG DONG DONG *point violently to meter* - should work - I'll report back!

So we were at our hotel by 5:15am. They said they were full and we'd have to wait until 8:30am when they had some guests leaving to go on a tour to Halong Bay (something we're doing as well in a couple of days). They showed us to their same company hotel (around the corner) and let us stay in the public lounge on the first floor. We got a little sleep, but there were a group of young Austrailians up waiting to go to Halong Bay so didn't sleep as well as I could have! Nevermind, time to explore Hanoi!!

Guangzhou onto Nanning

Day 61 - 25/07/2010 - 17:06 - In Transit, China

So we've been and seen Guangzhou and are on the way to Hanoi in Vietnam via Nanning, not knowing if we've got a ticket from Nanning to Hanoi until the morning when we can go to the ticket office in Nanning. We've tried getting tickets via an agency but they won't issue a ticket without seeing a Vietnamese visa. One company could do it for $120, but we know it should be about $40 each tops. So we aren't that desparate! We're a bit nervous - but I'm sure we'll find a way to Hanoi for the day after tomorrow.

We're sharing with a Chinese woman and a man - travelling separately. The woman is middle aged and the man maybe around our age. They seem to be keeping to themselves though and don't seem particuarly interested in us which makes a nice change!

Going back a day - yesterday (our full day in Guangzhou) was a very pleasant day. We got up quite late (at around 10am) and took our time getting ready. We went to Subway around the corner for brunch which made a nice change from MSG riddled food. Shamian Island is a very strange place although it's much more peacful and laid back from the rest of Guangzhou.

However, there are a LOT of American couples here adopting Chinese children - you can't get away from it. It seems that the economy on the island is centred around English speaking visitors who come to adopt children. There are two 7/11's, a Subway and a Starbucks on the island (it's not that big) as well as several hotels and a lot of small private run shops that sell baby clothes and prams! Those shops offer laundry services too, at much better value than hotels for those long stays! We didn't use them though it was still expensive for us! One shop we went in asked us if we were adopting a child! Erm, no, not this time!

We did, during the day look beyond the island to explore the rest of Guangzhou. Our first stop was the business district which is still very much under construction in Guangzhou. We saw the new, yet to open (sometime this year) International Finance Centre which will be the 5th tallest building in the world. It's absolutely massive compared to the current Guangzhou skyline - although this will probably have changed in the next 15 years or so I think!

After that, we made our way to Martyr's Park, a large park in the centre of Guangzhou dedicated to those who died in the Communist uprising in China. It was so much better than a lot of gardens we've seen - a lot less tourists (Chinese and non- Chinese) and generally (because of that) much more tranquil. We saw a beautiful Lilly Pong _ the main monument to the Martyrs themselves was awesome! We got a picture with a load of Chinese teenagers who wanted one of us all by the statue. Only happy to oblige of course!

Our final stop for the day (before looking around Shamian Island) was a temple. It was very nice to walk around but the scammers and beggars ourside the temple were beyond a joke. Especially those scammers who were dressed up as monks - it is so disrespectuful to their religion! They try to give you a "lucky charm" as a gift before asking for a donation of 100-400RMB (around £10-£40). Jokers!

We we got back to the hotel we went for a swim on the rooftop pool. Very nice after a hot and humid day in Guangzhou. It was raining a little as well which was very nice. That evening we had the best sweet and sour we've ever had - only in Canton naturally!

Before our train today we looked around the Island some more - bit it was really too hot and humid to do much today - we spent most of the early afternoon just sat in Shamian Park!

Caught in a HK Storm

Day 59 - 23/07/2010 - 22:48 - Guangzhou, China

So we've seen Hong Kong, left Hong Kong and are now back in the PRC! The train took just over 2 hours, cost £16, no border checks and no sleepless nights. It was like a flight in the sense that you only have your papers checked at departure and arrival which made a rather pleasant change on the train - it was called the Intercity Through Train and is recommended!

Yesterday was our last full day in HK and we decided to pay a little money and see the open top bus tours of the city - it was about £26 for a 24 hour pass, but we had aspirations of seeing them all within the day. We were on the bus at 11:30am for the tour of Hong Kong Island (the north and urban side of the city). It was pretty good to be fair, we saw lots of interesting things, and the commentary you get helps you to piece together Hong Kong's history which is something you don't get if you just walk around the city. It was particularly interesting to see the legal buildings of HK, which of course was influenced heavily by the English legal system and the adoption of such for many years. What I wasn't particularly interested in was "This street is full of expensive shops". Wow. I can go and shop at Gucci in London, show me something interesting!

We finished that one at about quarter to two, with aspirations of leaving on the 2:30pm bus for Stanley, a small town on the south (and more rural side) of HK island. We left on time, after having a roll and a cookie each from the local bakery by the bus stop/harbour and departed for Stanley. We reached our first "break point" a sea life park when the heavens opened and it chucked it down with rain. Everyone on top dashed downstairs, but we just got our raincoats out and sat it out - until it got even heavier. Then we proceeded to go downstairs. There was lots of laughter from the driver and the assistant but it was all good natured fun, we knew we'd been pretty stupid to try and stay up there! We got to Stanley at around 3:05pm, by then the rain had stopped but it was still very grey. We could either spend 25 or 1 hour 25minutes there and decided to opt for the former as not a lot was going on (probably due to the weather) and I wanted to get back to go on the Kowloon bus tour in the late afternoon. It didn't rain for our quick stop, so we decided to brave it on top on the way back - something I was going to do either way as the views from the lower deck window were beautiful, even through the lashing rain. I wanted to capture them on camera.

Laura joined me as it wasn't raining and she felt slightly ill going round all those small and tight bends up and down hills to Stanley. As we made our way back up the hill we had great fun being splashed by the tree branches above us, the force of the bus swaying them and the water off them onto us. We also got some absolutely beautiful pictures and it was something we were both glad we did. Once we got back to Hong Kong pier/tour bus terminus, we headed for the Star Ferry terminal - pier 7, upper deck. Our tickets were included in the bus ticket price so we went straight through the barriers to wait to board. The star ferry was a lot smaller than I expected but they were very old and still retained the look I can imagine them having all those years ago when they were still in use, and then still very much an integral part of life in HK (now the metro is open I can't imagine a lot of passengers are there on business/work related trips!).

We boarded and sat on the right hand side of the ship by the window. I was eager to sit there because of the mist rolling down from the hills , just on top of the skyscrapers in the distance it was beautiful. I was blissfully minding my own business, enjoying the view of Kowloon when it started bombing it down with rain, it was coming straight through the window on the right hand side. I looked up - 0 skyscrapers could be seen on the right hand side, over back towards HK island. Uh oh. Storm time. We made it over to the other side safely, despite being shrouded in mist and it chucking it down - the Star ferry we were on letting it's fog horn go a few times. Cue lots of thunder, very loud thunder and incredible sheet lightning - I've never seen anything like it. We decided, somewhat disappointingly to miss the Kowloon tour but it was chucking it down, we got absolutely soaked in the very short time we were out from rain cover (running to the metro station back to the hotel from the Kowloon pier) and the rain storm continued all evening until about 7:30pm. We watched the lightning and listened to the thunder from the relative comfort and warmth of our hotel room (after we'd dried off!!)

Unfortunately we didn't have time to do the Kowloon tour this morning (it took long enough to get to the train station) but we were glad we gave it a miss yesterday because of the weather! We read in the paper we get through our hotel room door every morning that North Point (where our hotel was) had the worst of the storm, but I can't imagine it being much better in Hong Kong central!

Anywho, now we are in Guangzhou and looking forward to our only real day to look around tomorrow. That's if our hotel doesn't keep us in the room all day. The bed is the softest we've had. There is a movie channel in English that's free. Sauna, table tennis AND roof top swimming pool over looking Shamian Island (the historical colonial part of Guangzhou) where our hotel is situated! We've definitely planning on having a swim and a look around the island tomorrow - if I can get out of bed in the morning! I really wasn't expecting the hotel room to be this nice!

A day trip to Macau

Day 57 - 21/07/2010 - 22:06 - Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong

We woke up this morning and looked out the window. All was calm, no rain nor wind so we decided to go to the ferry terminal to see if we could make it to Macau. Turns out we could and we both got the ferry from Hong Kong island at 11:15am to Macau, which took an hour. The vessel was actually a catamaran, which was good because you could hardly feel it was on water (except when the engines were off in HK harbour, my oh my it was choppy, we both felt quite queasy).

So we arrived into Macau just after noon and by then it was raining quite heavily - this was an intermittent feature of today unfortunately, but we were well prepared with our raincoats!

Macau is very strange. We decided to walk to the old part of town from the Ferry terminal, which is on the other side of the mainland Macau. The first part of the island we saw was FULL of Casinos and various gambling dens, and wasn't very pleasant. We stopped for lunch at a Macau restaurant just outside of the old part of town - partly to get out of the rain and try and dry a little bit. We went for a Macau based meal - Macau chicken, macau fried rice and we each had a cold coffee which is supposed to be a Macau style drink. It was OK, but I certainly prefer Chinese food.

Old town was like stepping back into Europe though. It was amazing. Cobbled squares, Christian churches, square centerpieces (fountains etc). Then we would walk around the corner and we'd be back into the narrow side streets with cafes and small businesses, just like Beijing. Incredible.

We made it to the other side of the island in pretty good time to be honest. we couldn't believed we'd walked the width of a small country but it was pretty cool, and you could see mainland China on the other side of the water. After looking around for a bit we headed back to the other side of the island via bus and bought a ticket for supposedly the 5:15pm ferry back to HK, although it had been cancelled.

We hoped it wasn't because of the weather - the cyclone warning had been upgraded to 3 - strong winds and thunderstorms but it was OK - I think it was cancelled because there wasn't enough demand, and we'd all been placed on the 5:30pm ferry, which was about 3 times the size of our cat coming out to Macau. Whilst in departures I got asked to do a survey by the Tourism board in Macau. I felt bad answering questions on how much money I'd spent - practically nothing! But I got a free pen out of it - a nice souvenir eh!

Even though the ship was bigger, you could feel the waves this time. Obviously the storm was getting closer. Nevertheless, we still made it back to HK safely and an hour later, although this time the HK harbour water was so choppy it made Laura ill and I've been feeling queasy all evening. Fun fun.

Macau was nice, it certainly feels more authentically Chinese AND European than Hong Kong does. It's a bit more worn down and rough round the edges, but nice. The only thing that annoyed me were the amount of bloody casinos there were!!

Hong Kong Island

Day 56 - 20/07/2010 - 23:01 - Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong

So we've had our first full day here and I must admit, I've not made my mind up on whether I like the place or not on what we've seen so far.

Several things really annoy me about Hong Kong such as the downright stupid fines that you can receive, and what stupid things they label illegal. Examples: eating and drinking on the metro. Eating I can do with, but somewhere so hot and stuffy, to ban drinking on the underground and have a fine of £150 for it is stupid beyond belief. With regard to the latter, "Illegal photo taking". They actually encourage people to report others whom take photos in metro stations. Completely bonkers. I saw someone take a photo of an advert in the metro today and jokingly said quite loud "Oh my, report her, she's taking a photo". I don't know whether she heard me, but she ran off as soon as she took it and therefore was incredibly amusing.

Another problem I find is how unfriendly the place is to pedestrians - the cities (I don't know about the suburbs) seem like for cars only. Pavements will lead you around a corner and then disappear totally - the unoffical pavement is now an entrance to a tower, up to a second floor and a walkway in the sky. It felt bloody wierd walking into tower blocks just to use it as a walkway to a bridge. Tourists without a very good map (we've only got a basic one which shows a couple of walkways) will find it very confusing and annoying (like us). Unfortunately this trudging around looking for the entrance to the bridge over the road was often very difficult to find.

When you know where they are however, they are quite good and you can often skip mass parts of the city's roads either underground or on the 2nd floor of buildings, using bridges and pathways to get across. It feels like somewhere in a science fiction movie - 3 levels all of which feel like street level, which is quite cool I guess. We found it very easy to get back to the metro once we saw the sign earlier today, we entered the pathway from the Immigration tower of all places, which was around 3 blocks away from the metro stop. We went up to the second floor, then walked out onto a walkway over roads, sidestreets and in between towers. The second floor of those towers housed shops which were accessible from the walkway. Incredible really.

What we did do today though was visit Victoria peak on the steepest tram I've ever been on. The views were absolutely spectacular but the fact they'd built a tower on the part where you get the best view and charge you to look at the views from the least obscured bit of the building took the piss a bit. It was also absolutely scorching hot today (33 degrees and 70% humidty) and therefore, we really couldn't spend too long in the sun on a mountain. Never mind. I did however, take advantage of the tower and managed to get myself some portable MP3 speakers from one of the 3 gadget shops in the tower. One was selling this one type for 200 dollars (around £17.50) and we went to another to see if there was anything smaller/cheaper on offer. They only sold the same model but wanted 250 for it (£20). I said, that's pretty good (when she showed us the demo) but they are selling it for 200 upstairs. She looked at me shocked and quickly got a calculator out and put 180 onto it (£15). Deal. We can now listen to music together in our hotel, result.

We spent the peak of the afternoon heat (which seems to be from 3-5 in Shanghai and here) back at the hotel and headed out to go and see Stars Avenue (Hong Kong's version of the movie stars in Hollywood) and the laser/light show which takes place along the river bank every day at 8pm. Both were pretty good to be fair, although the laser light show was obviously incredibly Chinese and cheesy. Stars Avenue was also Chinese, although I recognised 4 of them on there - Bruce Lee, Jet Li, Jackie Chan and Chow Yun Fat.

We walked around a bit more, passing the 1881 Heritage an old colonial building which is now a very posh shopping mall before going for something to eat at a restaurant and coming back.

We are planning to go to Macau tomorrow but this afternoon I heard (from hotel reception) that there is a cyclone in the distance that MAY affect Hong Kong (it's mainly going to affect China between here and Vietnam, the outsides of the storm catching HK and VN). We'll see how bad it is tomorrow - there is a risk they could upgrade the cyclone warning system which was turned on today from 1 (possibility) to 3 (very strong winds/rain). I would like to see one, but I think I'd prefer to see Macau!

Hong Kong

Day 55 - 19/07/2010 - 20:43 - Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong

So we've made it here and my it was a long drawn out day. We were up at 6:30am and thanks to the extremely good location of our hotel, were at check in for 5 minutes past 7. Laura's bag had to be checked in a private room with her present, they thought here little Sure deodorant spray was suspicious. Fair enough, it did look a bit weird when you think about it.

It actually felt like we didn't have to wait that long in the airport. They had free Wifi in the departures bit so we had a quick browse on the net before boarding promptly at half 8. Problem: flight was delayed by one hour - the air traffic control hadn't given us a time! Even though we were all sat on the plane by 10 to 9! What a joke! That was very frustrating but we only ended up late into HK by about 40 minutes in the end.

Then we had to get to our hotel with the large bags which was quite arduous considering the distance. They rail network also have a pretty nasty monopoly on transport to HK Island so £8 was the price to the main station and then it only cost 70p to get the metro to the stop where the Ibis was. It's still a fair bit more expensive than Shanghai and Beijing though.

The scenery over the airport express leg of the journey was particularly beautiful, coming on and off little islands with beautiful hills which the sun helped look all the more amazing. The countryside here looks remarkable, I can't wait to get out and see some of it. Likewise, the vastness of the urban areas is too very spectacular - lots of tall buildings, making most of the urban space and preserving the green. The weather when we got outside for the first time though was unbearable. The hottest it's been (in my opinion) on this trip and the humidity was high. There were few clouds which probably multiplied the scorching feeling.

We luckily were literally 20 metres from the metro station entrance and we were outside our hotel. We've checked in. The room is small but the view of Kolwoon island and all the skyscrapers is amazing. Especially now at night.

As for sightseeing we've not seen much. We've looked around the local area, Hong Kong central (where we had tea) and we also went to look at the Nian Lan Gardens which were very nice. Small gardens, beautiful and tranquil in the middle of a very very built up area. It was nice to see. Hong Kong's government are very keen on green spaces and very clean streets which is nice.

Two observations on HK so far (aside from the more expensive bit) are 1) there seems to be a love for warning/health/safety/restrictions of a ridiculous scale signs. More so than in China. It's also a fine worthy offence for you to drink (soft drinks) in the paid areas of the metro. Up to $2000 dollars, around £180. Mad. The other one 2) is the lack of British people I've seen. I would have thought there were more here, but I'm very surprised. That said absolutely everyone we've encountered so far speaks good English and every public sign is in both languages. It's funny how some adverts are completely in Chinese as well, yet Marks and Spencer are only in English. Haha.

World Expo

Day 54 - 18/07/2010 - 23:50 - Shanghai, China

The usual start on a check out day, but not a usual end. We would have liked to stay at our hotel for tonight, but they were full (presumably because of the world expo). We took our time (usual) and checked out shortly after 12. We made our way to Pudong Airport where we are staying tonight at the Motel 168, which is literally between the two terminals on a bridge. Our flight is at 9am tomorrow so a nice early start for us but at least it's not as early as it would have been had we still been on Nanjing Road.

Today I've continued to play my game (and scored a couple of points) and lots of people have told Laura she is beautiful (turning into a very continual theme) - everyone loves Laura!

The metro took over an hour to get to Pudong, for 70p. We checked in, and then dropped the bags before proceeding to come back to Shanghai for the World Expo via the Maglev train and a stop at the Kung Fu fast food chain in China (it's nowhere near as nice as Yonghe King). The Maglev train is steep in comparison to the metro at £5. However, 7 and a half minutes later we were in Shanghai, 4 stops away on the metro from the Expo site. We hit 431kmp/h at one point, tilting around the bends and watching the world (literally) fly by.

We got to the expo site in the mid afternoon and were amazed at the sheer size of it. Surprisingly, the queue was non- existent at the entrance, although I was baffled by the no water allowed in the arena. My cynical nature thought they were going to charge through the nose for it, so I downed the rest of our 1.5 litre bottle (there was about half left). The guard then told me I could take the bottle in as there are free fill ups around the site. I was livid, my eyes watering from how much water I'd just consumed. Never mind, I needed all of it - it was absolutely scorching today, no rain and still as muggy as hell.

The exhibitions proved to be the real pain. We literally only saw two country Pavilions - the UK and Italy who were side by side, which was quite nice for me and it made up our mind for the first 2 stops (and the last 2, but we thought we could see more when we got there!) The bus we got from our entrance dropped us off by the Italian pavilion, which, didn't look that amazing. A concrete box with glass strips down it, simple and basic. However, it was a great exhibition inside and I was full of enthusiasm for the expo. Ferrari's, vespas, wine, food, musical instruments and either robotics. Whatever Italy made, it was in the building. It was great.

I couldn't wait to see the UK one, despite expecting another 40 minute wait in the blistering heat and humidity. Unsurprisingly, I desperately needed a wee, and a refill of the water bottle (though not at the same time) before heading to the UK one. The queue was even longer. We were queueing where a sign said "150 minute wait" but 1 hour, and we were there. We kind of knew it wouldn't be that long from the Italy one. The queuing was pretty unbearable in terms of the heat and humidity but the building looked fantastic. A giant marshmallow shaped building with spikes pointing out from it.

It was the most disappointing thing I've seen this trip though, far more than the sightseeing tunnel! Literally there was a outside circuit, where you could walk around the marshmallow with diagrams of parks in the 4 UK capitals and then the giant marshmallow was a seed cathedral - 6000 different seeds, in individual plastic casing that made up the walls and ceiling. Nothing particularly relevant to the UK - a complete waste of time and disappointment compared to the patriotic showcase that the Italians put on next door. We made our way back to the centre of the expo and the metro station out of the park pretty downbeat about how we'd wasted a good part of the afternoon, walking past a good portion of the European quarter expo. Even Monaco looked better than the UK and there was more smiles coming out of Slovakia of all places. Rubbish UK expo.

Some of the buildings looked fantastic, the Spanish one being a highlight for me. I wished we had just looked around more, even if we hadn't had seen any pavilions themselves. Maybe the next Expo (ha ha) I will be more aware!

Into town we went, absolutely destroyed from queuing in the expo heat and humidity. We managed (after much trudging around) found a restaurant that looked half decent, although we picked on the basis of convenience rather than it looking great. It was a small restaurant, and it was a bit worn down. Looks can be deceptive eh, best meal in China so far I reckon. It was pretty expensive for such a small place but definitely worth it (and lets face it £13 for a meal and drink for 2 people isn't that bad!)

So by then it was 9pm. We made our way to the metro station (we weren't going to pay for the Maglev again) to go back to the hotel. The metro station was absolutely packed, I'd never seen anything like it. We didn't have enough coins to pay at the machine, so faffed around for a bit before trying to make our way to the offices manned by staff. They only took 3yuan each off us but somehow we got to the interchange station without much of a problem.

However, we had fun trying to get from the first stop outside of Shanghai to the airport. The trains stopped running at 9pm (which IMO is absolutely rubbish for a city the size of Shanghai!!) and we were stuck with no real money left on an unknown station which was supposed to literally be a hop off hop on change. We were very very lucky though. A Filipino couple who live in Beijing and were visiting the expo were on the way to the airport to meet their friends! They spoke great Chinese and English and let us share a cab to the airport. I'm glad they did!! We were absolutely shattered, the place felt rather intimidating with taxi drivers everywhere trying to get my attention because I was European, it was 35km away and cost £10 we didn't have. As soon as we got to the airport I found a cash machine and gave them the money for half the cab fare. They were very very nice to us and we were very lucky to be in the right place at the right time, or we might not be here yet (still somewhere between here and Shanghai!) It just goes to show that there are genuinely good people out there!

Bed time for me I think, and a flight to HK tomorrow!

Shanghai!

Day 53 - 17/07/2010 - 22:43 - Shanghai, China

Another 2 days in Shanghai, and a chance for us to really get a feel for the place. It's very different to Beijing, that's for sure.

So yesterday we got up at a reasonable time - the problem was that it was chucking it down with rain outside, even coupled with a little bit of thunder and lightning. Scary. Nevertheless, we were up and about the hotel, and we tried to get the remainder of our Chinese train journeys sorted out from the agency in the Lobby. However, they only sell tickets from Shanghai, no other stations which isn't much use to us, seeing as we're flying to Hong Kong (the unexpected result of the World Expo)!

Nevertheless, we did have one massive surprise that day. Terry (Laura's dad) sent us a text that morning. He works for Jaguar Land Rover and has visited Shanghai on a couple of business trips. He was currently on a course in England with the MD of JLR in China, who so happened to donate his personal driver and a Jaguar to us for the 2 days - today and yesterday! We phoned the Shanghai number given to us, and spoke to the MD's PA, who arranged for the driver to come and pick us up in the early afternoon. We were very impressed, and were looking forward to it - the weather was still crap and we really didn't want to venture outside on our own!

He picked us up in a brand new Jaguar, which was blissfully air conditioned and told us about where we could go. He took us to the Yu Gardens and Bazaar, something we wanted to do whilst here so were pleased about. The weather was STILL rubbish, and he gave us this massive Jaguar umbrella to keep us shielded around the gardens. We were planning to go today in the morning (to beat the crowds) but the rain did us a massive favour and it wasn't (that) crowded yesterday afternoon. I played my game which has turned into a serious sport in China - getting in the way of the locals photos of Laura. They love Laura, blonde and beautiful. Many ask to have pictures with us (I'm sure I'm just an unnecessary extra) and we are happy to oblige. However, we find it quite rude that some people take pictures of her without her permission. It's probably happened 20 or so times since we've been in China and it's my plan to ruin them. Jumping in the way, sticking my hand in front, cutting in front of Laura, all great tactics. She certainly finds it amusing which is great.

I definitely scored a couple of points around the gardens, but we did oblige a couple of people too, who actually asked us. We really don't mind that, and it reminds me of Japan a lot. The gardens were beautiful, and I dare say the rain bought out the green in the plants, so it was a welcome addition. However, by the time we were done looking around the gardens we were drowned rats and just wanted to go back to the hotel to dry off! The driver said he would take us to a couple of places the following day - including the Financial tower, which was a very nice addition. He dropped us off outside our hotel (well near enough considering it was pedestrianised) and said 11am tomorrow.

Once we were dried off we headed outside (it was STILL raining) and went to the Bund - the sun was setting and the lights were coming on - the Bund and the Pudong (business district) on the other side of the river were looking beautiful. We got lots of pictures down by the river and then proceeded to cross it via the Bund Sightseeing Tunnel. Our guidebook said it was rubbish, but needed to be done because of how stupid it was. An accurate assessment. The tunnel is essentially a poor mans laser show, with crappy sound effects and epileptic fit inducing lights. £4.50 that I could quite have easily just pissed on and thrown in the bin, but instead I gave myself a headache and nearly put myself into a coma. Don't do it. I really don't recommend it.

We walked around Pudong for a bit (still raining) before heading back via Metro to Nanjing Road (main shopping street and road Hotel is on). Cost of metro - 30p. Hmm. No fits included though.

We went for tea at a restaurant by East Nanjing road metro station which was on the 5th floor (4th floor to normal people) of a building. It was a rather strange establishment but we both ate and had 2 drinks each for £10. And it was amazing. We had chili shredded beef (which is a million times nicer and spicier than the stuff at home - real chillies!!) as well as Kung Po Chicken (also spicy) and rice. It was so good that we went back there this evening and had the same beef again. Laura even had a beer to compliment the chili - I'm very very proud of her!!

So today, as planned our driver (sounds very strange saying that and not in Mongolia) picked us up at 11am. He had gone and got us tickets for the financial centre already that morning and said it was better to go now because it was quieter. It was packed. Seriously. Queues here, there and everywhere. The music and the light shows in the basement lobby was just as trippy as the sightseeing tunnel. Maybe they like seizures here? After a good period queueing we were herded upstairs. The lift was immensely quick, my ears popping several times in the process. The view was pretty special and you could see for miles (even with the poor visibility from pollution!). However, the amount of people up there was insane and it was quite difficult to take pictures because of the reflection in the glass. Maybe I'd bigged it up a little too much, and I was expecting too much from a tall vantage point. I wasn't surprised either at the £6.50 it cost for a beer at the bar on the 94th/100th floor. That said, the 97th floor - where there were a lot less people was much more pleasant and easy going and here I actually enjoyed the view and felt like I could take it in without being crowded out. It was a very nice gesture from the driver and those behind the scenes that had organised a ticket for us and we won't forget it! I also managed to play my game and scored 2 points here too, one was hilarious. We were coming down an escalator from the 95th to 94th floor where a man going the other way had his SLR pointed straight towards Laura, no permission asked. I managed to whack my hand in front of Laura's face, wave it up and down manically and shout "Woooooooooo". He didn't look impressed but that was another point for me!

After that we headed to a couple of places where I can imagine all the suits are taken too. Small backstreets of the old French quarter where you can eat foreign food for a premium in Shanghai and new, outdoor shopping complexes that look like Brindley Place in Birmingham without the canals. We did however enjoy aspects of both. We managed to find a great Chinese cafe just outside of the back streets on the main road in the old French quarter where we both had lunch and a Fanta for £1.80. I'm seriously not joking - it was an absolute bargain! At the Brindley Place mock up we got a Starbucks (for £2.80 each, puts it into perspective how stupid Starbucks is) and also saw the sight of the first congress of the Communist Party in China. Yay, history and culture! How I'd missed it today.

We also visited the Jade Buddha temple which was on the other side of the city. We'd asked the driver to go out of Shanghai but he wouldn't (never mind, beggars can't be choosers) and so opted to go and see, really the last cultural, religious and/or historic monument there was left to see in Shanghai that was in our guidebook. That was pretty nice to be fair, and capped off a pretty surreal 2 days with a chauffeur taking us around Shanghai. It wasn't probably where he usually takes his boss and his guests but it was great for us!

He dropped us back at the hotel and gave us two tickets to the World Expo for tomorrow, which we intend on using. We've pretty much seen what Shanghai has to offer.

In conclusion, it feels a lot less "Chinese" than Beijing, through it's history with the Bund and it's modern story. The former isn't a problem, as it's still very different to other places in the world. Shanghai however, seems to be desperately trying to lose itself and shake its history and turn into some culture less capitalist clone. It must not forget where it came from though, because that ultimately in my opinion is what defines a place. The modern side of the city (Pudong) is nice, in fact it's a whole different type of great, but I just didn't appreciate the Western companies and types that had moved into somewhere so beautiful as the French quarter. That said, there still remains a lot to see in Shanghai that still is in tact but it's not as obvious as somewhere like Beijing. The Yu Gardens were a particular highlight for me, which were absolutely beautiful.

Beijing to Shanghai via discomfort

Day 51 - 15/07/2010 - 22:08 - Shanghai, China

So we survived the horror that was the train journey in a seat, overnight. I was very annoyed when I saw how luxurious the Chinese sleepers on our train were. Even more enraged when I saw our seats, which were about as comfortable as the seats on the Cross City line in Birmingham. The legroom was OK though, a plus - about the only one. They never turned the lights off either - 50% of them went off for maybe 6 hours. Bad, bad times. But, we're in Shanghai, the room is nice, the location great and considering the lack of sleep I've had, I'm feeling OK.

Yesterday was our last day in Beijing. I was really sad to leave to be honest, if you exclude the Mongolian tour (which had no fixed location) Beijing is probably my favourite place so far - displacing Tallinn of top spot and pushing Moscow into 3rd. We did our usual, taking time to check out and got a taxi to Beijing South train station to drop the bags off before heading into the city one last time. The taxi took half an hour yet was still only £3.80 - I love Beijing (or BJ as those I love NY imitation T-shirts put it - yes it's not the best choice of alliteration to name a city on a T-shirt).

We found a duck restaurant that I vaguely remembered from the Temple of Heaven visit - turned out to be there and I wasn't seeing things. We had an absolute feast for lunch - Beijing Duck (pancakes, celery/onion, sauce), Duck in a beer based hotpot with chili and garlic (a real nice surprise, was so so nice) as well as some spare ribs. The meal was only £12, which included rice and a big bottle of coke between us (I'd learnt from our last mistake).

By the time we'd eaten we only had 1.5 hours to get to the Summer Palace and look around, which is what we'd wanted to do. Unfortunately, we decided against it, we'd have only had around 45 minutes there. Instead, we headed towards Jing Shan Park which was near forbidden city. The park was famous for being the spot where the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty hung himself. Like the Temple of Heaven, the park was big enough to lose yourself from the crowds, and although the pavilion on top of the hill with a panorama over the city was an obvious choke point for tourists, it was still very nice up there, and worth the walk up the hill in the heat and humidity.

After that we headed back to the station and awaited the train to Shanghai, which as I mentioned above wasn't great. We're booking the trains from Guangzhou to Hanoi tomorrow, to save that happening again (it will be a little more expensive but better safe than sorry) and we've booked our HK-Guangzhou train today online. Hopefully no more unexpected flights and extra nights in airport hotels (which is where we're staying on the 4th night in Shanghai).

So today we arrived at 7:30am into Shanghai. We managed to work out the metro system and make our way 2 stops east to the Nanjing pedestrian street where our hotel is. We'd read on Trip Advisor that the staff can be a bit moody, today was no exception. That said, they still let us check in really early to dump our bags whilst we got something to eat and drink and they cleaned the room.

We had a little nap, nothing big and then decided to head out - our first port of call being the Jing'an temple. It was rather nice, and looked pretty modern so it made a refreshing change to the rest of the temples we'd seen. It was also used by worshippers, which is always more authentic. The only downside was the £3 entry and there wasn't much to see.

We went for lunch at our favourite chain restaurant (they have one in the basement of the dept store here - Yonghe King the chain is called). It was slightly more expensive than the one in Beijing - I could see a pattern developing here but still nothing to grumble about.

After lunch we headed to the business district - our aim to go to the top of the Shanghai Financial Centre - the 2nd tallest building in the world. The surrounding area is scattered with tall building but the "bottle opener" (google SFC) was the one that stuck out. Unfortunately, £15 EACH to essentially use a lift was not expected and we didn't end up going up it as we couldn't justify the money. It's not exactly a New York skyline here, there are only a few buildings that would look better from such a height. Very very disappointed.

This evening we've been relaxing, and we walked down from the other end of Nanjing Road east back to our hotel. We went out this evening in search of a shop for supplies and we're pleasantly surprised to see some nice looking street food vendors down a side street around the corner from our hotel. We had a couple of meat skewers each - total cost 80p. Yay.

Shanghai seems nice, but it does have that London feel to it - the English influence, everything crammed into a small are and also coupled with expensive attractions - they even have their own Madam Tussuad's here!

Temple, Temple, Great Wall!

Day 49 - 13/07/2010 - 22:16 - Beijing, China

So we've had another 2 days, 2 great days in Beijing. I really love the place, it's a beautiful, modern city that still holds onto it's traditional roots and it can be seen in the backstreets, such as the one our hotel is on.

We watched the World Cup final on Sunday night, and didn't get up too late on Monday considering - about 10am. We headed out to the Lamas Temple in the morning which was really great - the fact that many Buddhists actually worshipped and burnt incense there made it stand out from other temples we've seen on this trip. It smelt beautiful and gave the place that added atmosphere too.

For lunch, we went back to the chain restaurant we went to yesterday. Laura had the same as me, whereas I had some pork with cabbage and rice, the pork was slow cooked and was very tender. It was still only £1.70 - an absolute bargain.

In the afternoon we headed to the Temple of Heaven which again was spectacular. The complex was over 270 hectares big, and it took all afternoon to walk around. Some parts (the main temples) were very crowded which wasn't great but you could really lose yourself in the park which was just as great as the main sights themselves. We went for quite a long walk around part of the perimeter of the park. The park is also used by local people to exercise and dance and we saw lots of people playing ball games which added to the feel that it wasn't just your usual tourist attraction.

We got back to the hotel at about 6pm, and showered before heading out for tea. We didn't end up leaving for a while because the safe box in our room malfunctioned and they actually had to take it out off the wall (after opening it with the master key) which was a bit annoying, but never mind.

For tea we decided to see what was on offer at the street food night market on Wangfujing Street. We knew that there would be stuff we would never touch with a barge pole, but there wasn't much "normal" savoury food on offer so ended up going to a restaurant. Scorpions, seahorses, spiders (tarantulas+bigger), lizards, locusts. You name it, they will have it (alive) on a skewer waiting for you to pick it, for them to cook it, and you to eat it. Yum yum. Can't say we had too much of an appetite after that but hey ho, we went to a restaurant eventually.

That was a whole different experience in it's own right. The menu, whilst in English was possibly the worst translation in the history of man kind. I know Chinese people don't do English translations very well but my god this was bad! The food was almost in riddles it was so confusing but in the end we managed to order some spicy pork and pineapple chicken (which coincidentally were about the only 2 things translated properly!) The drinks menu was even more of a pain to decipher, we managed to find coke with the help of the waitress and ordered two - they came out and they were 1.25litre bottles of coke! Oops! The meal was nice though so I can't complain.

We booked our tickets to the great wall that evening and went to bed knowing we had to be up early. Before we went to bed our guide telephoned us in our room and said that she would be in the hotel at 7:30pm and there was no need to wait in the lobby she would ring. On the basis of this we got up at 6:45am. 7:05am - telephone rings. She's downstairs - mad rush!

We expected there to be a coach load on this tour, but there were only 5 people in the end excluding guide and driver. A Dutch couple and a Pakistani man. I chatted to him a fair bit and he was out in China on business, with a day off in Beijing before he travelled all around the country to see his suppliers. Fair enough!

I was very amazed with the tour we went on. For £24 we got to see the ming tombs, the great wall and had lunch included and transport each way. The numbers of us as well made it instantly good value. However, we realised why it was so cheap. We had 3 things I did not know about (Laura knew few details as she booked the tickets). We saw a jade factory, a silk factory and a tea house where we could be part of a Chinese "tea ceremony". They were all quite informative and good fun, but right from the off at the Jade factory in the morning, we could see what they were - ploys to get the Westerners into the gift shop to buy some stuff at stupidly high prices. None of us bought anything from any of them - culminating at the silk mill (the last stop for the day) when we were shown the silk making process then went straight to the duvet shop, where the woman quite bluntly asked us if we wanted to buy one - to which the Dutch woman in our group said so brilliantly and so simply "No". The sales woman looked well pissed off, but we all thought it was hilarious.

As for the things we knew a lot about - the ming tombs, wall and the lunch - they were all fantastic. The ming tombs were very very cool, hidden away at the bottom of mountains, only 3 of them have been restored. We saw one of them, and as we were there so early (9am) it was essentially just us and a couple of others there - it made such a pleasant change to the tourist attractions in Beijing. It was very tranquil and the monumental buildings to the Emperor were very similar to the religious temples in the city and elsewhere.

After the jade factory and the Ming tombs came the great wall, the main event, at Mutianyu. We decided to go to this section because it was less touristy than Badaling (another restored section of the wall closer to Beijing). Our friends from Bromsgrove - Tom and Lauren had also recently visited it and recommended this section. The problem I had with it was the fact that EVERYONE said it was less touristy - surely if everyone goes there it can't be great? But, I was surprised, pleasantly again when there were few people on the wall. I know why to be fair, the wall was stupidly steep where we were, but was restored enough to see it all. The only downsides were the mist (visibility was pretty poor) and the humidity (my t-shirt was absolutely drenched by the end of it), people were finding me quite amusing with sweat rolling down me, whilst everyone else was coping OK.

Another particular highlight of the wall was the manner we reached it. The wall is up in the mountains, it would have taken a good part of the two hours of our free time to get up there so we (as the others did) took the "cable car" up. It was quite expensive and was not included in the price (£6.50) but was worth it. It was like a ski lift, was very rickety but was part of the experience. Getting down was even better. On the ticket it had two sections - "cable car" and "toboggan". As we were ascending on the ski lift, you could quite clearly see a metal slide winding its way down the mountain. I was like a child at Christmas. A giant slide, down a mountain. It was SO fun! I got told off 3 times for going too fast though! Haha, great times. For those who wouldn't like it, the return could be made by the ski lift, but the slide was amazing!

Lunch was also a pleasant highlight where we all shared about 6/7 different plates of Chinese food. In the afternoon the tea ceremony was interesting - although I don't think I'll be moving from PG tips to Chinese tea anytime soon - the 5 year old black tea was quite nice though!

We got back to the hotel at about 16:30 and were pleased with the tour. We chilled out in the afternoon and headed out for tea in the evening. We had our hopes on a duck restaurant but unfortunately couldn't find one. We know where one is now, so will be going there tomorrow - our last meal in Beijing before Shanghai and the overnight train in a seat. Fun!

First blip on the itinerary

Day 47 - 11/07/2010 - 23:19 - Beijing, China

Well we've had an interesting 2 days or so. The border crossings were
absolutely hell. We were not allowed off the train at all during the
border checks until the last 30 mins of the Chinese one, from about
00:15 onwards. With the last 30 mins being agonisingly tedious, the
train coming in and out of the platform to try and join to another
part of the train, us still not being allowed off. When we were, me
and Lena went to try and find some food, a supermarket was open, they
sold noodles, job done.

We all slept like logs that night, getting up at around 10am which
made a nice change from the other train journies. The rest of the
journey was spent chatting to each other, admiring the beautiful
Chinese hills on the way into Beijing and just generally relaxing
which was nice. I gave Lena my Long Way Round book, as I'd finished it
- she said she had been looking for it in shops and it was a good way
to lose some weight in my bag! Success!

We got into Beijing at around 2:05pm - I don't need to tell you that
it was a punctual arrival. We said our goodbyes to Lena and made our
way to the ticket office to get tickets to Shanghai. Problem number 1:
World Expo in Shanghai. Tom reads that tickets should be OK 4/5 days
in advance but does not put two and two together. Demand for tickets
is obviously up, no sleepers for the next 10 days. Oops. They did
however, have just seats. We needed to stick to our route guide as we
didn't want to start missing days out in other places so opted for the
seat only option. We're not looking forward to it but at least it's
only 10 hours and we will actually make it to Shanghai. It did make me
worry about our Shanghai to Hong Kong ticket though, which I would
book through the agency in our Hotel that evening.

To get to our hotel was quite difficult as it was 2km from the nearest
metro station. We opted for a taxi, and knowning they can be quite
awkward, I sat up front with the driver. He was a strange looking man.
When we left I pointed to the meter to make sure he started it. He
then pointed to it and with no hint of a joke in play he said
"Dollars". I said, "No, Yuan". He just looked at me and said "Dollars"
even slower than before. Turns out he was joking. Ha, ha, funny. He
also made some comment about my beard, then pointed to himself to say
he was clean shaven. I said "Hotel *imitate shaving action*". He then
proceeded to show me he stomach which was completely hairless, like
his arms too. What an awkard taxi journey, I was glad that we were
still alive, had paid the 28 Yuan (£2.80) and had made it to the
hotel.

2nd problem after the tickets ahoy. Our hotel said our room wasn't
available (double standard) and all they had left was a business room
which was cheaper and didn't have a window - they said they'd transfer
us the next day. They would offer us free breakfast as compensation. I
said not good enough as we're paying for the double. Laura went
apeshit at them, I've never seen her fume "It's unacceptable" she
said! According to our guidebook, staff don't like being shown up
which proved to be right, as she gave in quite quickly and looked
genuinely distraught that Laura had challenged her - the poor girl!
But it was all good as they gave us a standard twin instead which is
bigger and cost more than the standard double. 2nd problem resolved
much more successfully and preferably than the first!

3rd problem. After we'd checked in and paid for our room (which is, by
the way, the nicest we've stayed in so far) I headed to the ticket
booking office at our hotel. No train tickets to Hong Kong, or
Guangzhou. In fact, not tickets out of Shanghai for the next 10 days
(the booking advance period). Shit. What will we do? Online booking
companies have confirmed the lack of availability, including ones
recommended by Seat61.com, the website we've used a lot in planning
this trip. Balls, balls, balls - and the air ticket office wanted £250
each for a flight. I looked all over the place, even for flights to
Shenzen, the first Chinese city out of Hong Kong (domestic rather than
international) but eventually found (on Expedia of all places) a
flight from Shanghai to Hong Kong for £150 each including taxes and CC
surcharges. It's not ideal but it's sorted and our plan is still in
tact. Now we have to find somewhere to stay for the extra night in
Shanghai as we leave on the 19th - our hotel for the other 3 nights is
fully booked. An on going problem.

So we really didn't do much yesterday. Running around like a headless
chicken to try and find some solution, we ended up going to a
restaurant on our road of the hotel which was recommended by an
Australian couple staying on the same floor as us. It was pretty good
- we both ate for £8! There was also a supermarket on our road where
we stocked up on supplies. The road our hotel is on is amazing, it's
so authentic, none of this business district rubbish - street stalls,
restaurants - a little Beijing back street - amazing!

Today we got up reasonably late (around 10am) and didn't do much as we
were sorting the flights out (it's only today that I actually booked
them!) and left the hotel just after 12. We headed for Forbidden City
as we knew it was just around the corner from the hotel. We're
planning on seeing the Great Wall on the 13th, we can book the tour
the day before apparently, so that is quite good. The Forbidden City
north entrance is 10 minutes by foot from the hotel (if you go the
right way initally which we didn't so it took slightly longer!) It was
very beautiful, but the downsides were it was very crowded and the
audioguide deposit was so much I couldn't afford 2 for us. We ended up
just walking around it to the south entrance which was nice enough.
Our guide book recommended one particular hall, which was very
disappointing, lots of people queueing up to see a dark room filled
with pillars so you can't see the centrepiece! That said, there were
some quiter areas of the city, away from the main halls and that was
very nice. The weather today was stupidly humid - Laura coped OK but I
really didn't and ended up sweating a lot!

We walked out the south entrance as a heard of people, it was rammed
and proceeded to Tianamen square, crossing the Tianamen with the
picture of Chairman Mao and going under the underpass to the square.
As we walked into the Square we heard "Hey guys" where we turned
around and saw the couple who were at Golden Gobi and got the same
train as us! Beijing can't be that big!! They were heading to
Forbidden City after seeing TS, the opposite to us. The square was
massive and very impressive. It was very funny, whilst there, 2 groups
of Chinese teenagers wanted pictures with me and more importantly
Laura - something that reminded me of Japan very much - it was very
funny and sweet.

After the square it was about 3:00pm and we needed to find some food -
I was getting quite faint - the first sign of a headache. We went to
an area of the city where there was a recommended restaurant and ended
up going into a fast food chain place just round the corner from the
metro. It was absolutely fantastic. It was also very refreshing to see
no coke/pepsi on the menu. We both had 2 lemon teas each - with a meal
each (I had this really good beef, rice and cabbage) for £4.50. I shit
you not, and it was very very good.

After we'd eaten we headed for the Olympic stadium to have a look
around - on the way we met a Chinese lady on the underground who
seemed very curious about our travels, and impressed! She said we
looked so young (like we'd just finished high school) which I thought
was very funny. She gave us some advice on the sights and was
generally very polite and kind, just like everyone else we've met here
really - it's such a welcoming city!

By the time we'd looked around I really had a full blown headache and
when we got back to the hotel I had to take some Asprin (which we
picked up in Mongolia of all places) and a lie down. I felt better by
about half 8 and we went out to the supermarket in search of supplies
before going to a restaurant literally across the road from our hotel.
We shared food and it was the same price as the last restaurant we
visited on the road for half as much (1 main and 1 rice shared) by my
my was it amazing. The food was really really good, we shared a sweet
and sour beef on a sizzler, with a bed of onions and had a mixed veg
rice. Amazing.

World cup final tonight, best get some sleep before it starts!

UB to Beijing!

Day 45 - 09/07/2010 - 16:22 - In Transit, Mongolia

An early start today, a very early start indeed! Bad times! We were up
at 5:30am for our supposed 5:50am bus to the station which is put on
by Golden Gobi. However, it didn't show up until 6:30am! It didn't
matter too much as our train to Beijing wasn't until 7:15am.

Whilst waiting for the bus we chatted with an older couple who had
also stayed at Golden Gobi as wel as a Swedish girl called Lena
(spelling may be wrong!) who is our age and whom Laura has spoken to
around the hostel before. I was also getting attacked by a mosquito
outside, I only noticed on the 3rd bite, when he was on my arm - by
then it was too late and he had flown off before I had time to kill
him - the bastard.

Anyway, we eventually did get the lift and it turned out we were
sharing a cabin to Beijing with Lena - and there is no 4thperson in
our cabin! Room! Space! Yay! I've had 2 naps already today, and have
been listening to my Zune non-stop. I'm still only on the letter C -
"Cy" with a few songs left before onto D! (For those who don't know my
challenge was to listen to all 3800 songs on my MP3 player on this
trip, in alphabetical order - it's not going to happen!) I've also
finished my book, the Long Way Round, finally! I hope there is an
English book shop somewhere soon though - more than likely HK so not
too long to wait!

That's pretty much it for now, nothing of interest to report - the
Gobi is rather vast but not "true desert" - there is still quite a bit
of plant life. The hot water tap on the train is also lethal - the off
and on parts of the tap are not positioned logically, that's about it
in terms of reporting!

Dreading more border crossings tonight - we are scheduled 1.5 hours at
the Mongolia border and bloody 4 hours in China! Great!

The Wonders of UB

Day 44 - 08/07/2010 - 20:36 - Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

After 2 and a half days in UB, we feel we've covered everything that
the main sights have to offer. I'm still unsure how I feel about the
place.

After our arrival, we got showered and set out for a restaurant for
something to eat. At the junction of Peace Ave (ironic considering
what happened) and another main road, by the state department store,
someone tried to steal/open Laura's bag. Luckily she had a security
bag. The bag has a re-inforced steel strap, as well as interlockable
zips and steel clasps to attach the strap to the bag. They tried the
clasps with what I presume were plyers without Laura noticing  - it
was only when they tried the zips she noticed, her bag open but
thankfully nothing missing. I was slightly in front of Laura, and
heard her gasp and turned around. I saw a tall, thin man who looked
like a sheep in headlights, I looked back at a clearly distressed
Laura with her bag open, and asked "Did he try your bag?" to which she
replied with "Yes". I was shocked but by the time I had clicked it and
looked back he was gone. It was a close shave, nothing missing, just
worn away paint on the clasps with very vague dents, not damaging the
bag at all - but it left us both shaken - we hardly ate anything and
Laura was very shaken up. This was within 5 minutes of us leaving the
guesthouse after showering - a great first impression!

I've unfortunately been very paranoid since, and this is completely
unlike me. I even got Laura to ring the Credit Card company this
evening because of a shifty looking guy who jumped the queue to go
after us at the cash machine. Nothing had been taken out. Bad times,
immense paranoia and a twisted view of the city I'm sure. But
definitely not Mongolia as a whole, I have to not let it mar my
experience in the country, some of the best days of my life. Nothing
has gone wrong, but I feel like something is about to.
Luckily for Laura, she later that evening received some good news
regarding her degree and got her 2:1 which cheered her up to no end
after how shaken she was. We went to bed reasonably early, after not
eating much (the meal was luckily on £12 for both of us including
drinks).

In the morning we got up, but I had a very bad headache so I went back
to bed after we'd dropped the laundry off with Golden Gobi and had
something to eat. We got dressed and went out for about half 11 in the
end, taking out with us just cash, no wallet or anything. My camera
now on my belt rather than on a strap like a postal bag. All we saw
after eating (for £10 with drinks) we headed for Sukhbaatar square had
a look around and then went to the State Dept store to look around
which was very nice. My view of UB had improved slightly, although I
was still evidently a bit too paranoid taking such little stuff out
with me. We went to supermarket on the ground floor of the dept store
after looking around to get something for tea - salami sandwiches, a
big favourite for both of us it seems on this trip.

We went to bed early, I had hopes of watching the world cup semi final
between Spain and Germany at 2:30am, but turned my alarm off at about
1 because I was too tired. That said, I was woken at about 3am by
someone coming in the door of the guesthouse, so watched the second
half. I went to bed after and got up at half 9, not feeling too tired.
Result.
Today we set off on doing something a little more touristy, instead of
lying about all day and only seeing a little bit. Today I actually
took my wallet out, as well as my bag, although all we had in it was a
bottle of water and my guide book. But it was progress, UB wasn't that
bad, surely? In the morning we headed for the Gandan monestary which
had the biggest statue of a Bhuddist deity I've ever seen. Incredible.
It was a very nice morning. We headed for the centre of the city for
lunch, where we could post our postcards (which we did without any
problem).  However, before we did, we took the cash out which worried
me as above stated. We said we'd sort it out later, ringing the
company on skype. It turns out there was absolutely nothing wrong,
which made me feel stupid again. Very unlike me to be so paranoid. I
will probably be OK after we leave. We also went for lunch in the
centre, where we actually ate and had a pepsi each for £5 - I'm not
even kidding. It was a really nice meal too - I had mutton with chips
and rice (strange combo) but a load of roasted vegtables on top and it
was absolutely delicious! One thing I don't mind about UB are the
prices!!
In the afternoon we headed to Bogd Kahn Palace and Museum which was on
the other side of UB. It was absolutely beuatiful and so worth the
walk to see it. I just can't believe such a hidden gem exists in such
a soviet style city. Unfortunately as we were there it absolutely
chucked it down. And it did so, all the way back to the hostel. We
were like drowned cats by the time we got back, but at least the rain
helped Laura's asthma, as it's very dusty here.

Tonight we went back to the state dept store, bought some food for the
train and something for tea, as well as visiting the souvenir shop on
floor 5. It was a good evening. Our train is at 7:10am tomorrow.
Golden gobi are giving us a free lift to the station - at 5:50am when
they meet people off the 6:10am train from Irkutsk! Haha, that should
be fun!
So UB wasn't all that bad after all, but we did learn some lessons and
we won't forget them - without letting them get in the way fun and
joys of the rest of our trip. Roll on China, but dreading the early
start!

A Journey into Mongolia

Day 42 - 06/07/2010 - 18:49 - Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

We've just been and visited many sites over central Mongolia in the last 4 days and all I can say is wow - what an epic adventure we've had. We've just checked into Golden Gobi Guesthouse properly - are staying in a nice comfy room with a big TV.

and fridge (surprised!) and are going to just go out for a meal tonight and chill out - we are both absolutely knackered but have had the best days of the trip so far!

Here is my travel write up from the excursion!

Day 01 (Day 39)

We rolled into Ulaanbaatar at about 06:05 in the morning (as punctual as ever) and were met outside our carriage door by two staff from Golden Gobi - one holding a sign saying "Welcome to Mongolia - Tom Coe" - I thought that would be for us then!

They took us to the guesthouse (where we are staying currently) and very kindly gave us breakfast and let us use the showers both of which were greatfully received after a long stint on the train.

The place looked nice (the main building) but were yet to see where we were staying as there was an apartment block with more rooms which is where we are staying now.

We set off for our great adventure at 8am on the dot - meeting our guide Oogii and driver Zorgio shortly before setting off - both seem nice - Zorgio only spoke a bit of English but he still seemd very friendly. Oogii was very pleasant from the off - we'd realised by that point that she was the one that made us a cup of tea on arrival - very nice of her!

Our itenary altered ever so slightly from the one we had on paper - our first stop was Hustai national park (supposed to be visited on day 3) around 150km from Ulaanbaatar (UB). The national park is famous for its reintroduction of the Pretzwile horse into the Mongolian countryside. We watched a video about it, looked at a couple of exhibits and then set off with our guide and driver to find them!

It did look like we were not going to see one until near the very end when we started to turn back - Laura spotted 2 on top of a hill, one domestic, one Pretzwile were near the top of the hill. There was another domestic horse too out of sight until we got closer. We also saw lots of insects, eagles and marmots (I did not get a picture of the latter unfortunately - they were rather evasive!

We then made our way along the long (and rather bumpy) road to Kharakorum - Oogii calls it a Mongolian massage! - stopping off for lunch in a cafe where there was mutton and rice all around. We had a traditional mongolian tea with it to drink - our guide explained that there was cows milk, goats milk and sheeps milk in it as well as a small amount of green tea - it was very milky but pretty good.

We didn't get to Kharakorum until the early evening, with brief stops for toilet breaks (either a hut with a hole in the ground or in the middle of nowhere). We did also stop when we saw some vultures flying around a village, got a few good photos of that!

When we arrived, it was too late to see the monestary inside the old Kharakorum city site, so we stopped at a guesthouse just around the corner from it in the town of Harhorin - you could see the old city wall from the entrance to the guesthouse we were staying in. As in true Mongolia, all the rooms in the guesthouse were outdoor Gers - a traditional home for a nomadic family. We had our own ger and were left to it by Oogii apart from the occassional time when she bought us hot water and tea - that evening we had "camping food" as I like to call it - pasta, sausages, salad etc.

Laura and I were playing cards after tea until around 8pm when an old Mongolian man knocked on the door of our ger. He introduced himself in brilliant English and asked where we were from. He told us he was playing traditional mongolian music at 9pm in another ger for about £3 each. We decided to go along, even though we didn't have any Mongolian money - he said USD would be fine. He was absolutely amazing - he played 3 instruments, mongolian flute, harp and some sort of string and bow instrument. Only 3 of us watched it - me, Laura and this guy from Japan - we were all amazed. It was a fantastic end to a great first full day in the Mongolian countryside!

Day 02 (Day 40)

We slept really well. Oogii bought us breakfast at 8:30am - an assortment of pastries, pancakes, fruit etc. as well as tea and coffee.

After we had packed up (and Laura had had a shower, they had campsite like facilities) we headed around the corner to the ancient city of Kharakorum where we saw all of the temples and monestaries. It was beautiful and so tranquil - walled by fantastic white obelisks in every direction. We saw some monks praying, as well as all the artwork on display. We'd had finished there by 11am, and headed back towards UB - stopping off at phallic rock, a monument to a buddhist monk who wanted to marry - I think the monument is a timely reminder to other monks - what happens when you sever that vow, something else gets severed!

We spent a lot less time on the road today, which we were greatful for and we got to our destination - a nomadic family living in the semi desert area between UB and Harhorin in the early afternoon. We were welcomed into the lounge type ger, they had 4 in total and given Mongolian yoghurt, which was very nice - it tasted a bit like greek yoghurt. Oogii prepared lunch shortly after, a type of broth (Mongolian of course!) and it was very nice, just the incredibly hot weather made it difficult to eat - only Oogii knows how difficult it must have been to make in the heat!!

During the day Oogii asked if I wrestled (a traditional mongolian sport) - I said no I didn't chuckling because I thought it was quite funny. She then said it was because I was strong which was why she asked - a bit more chuckling to myself - and then she said because I was fat. I suddenly stopped chuckling. I know what she meant, I am a lot bigger (height, width and shoulder/arm size) than all the Mongolian men I've met but yeah, I took it in a Western context!! Nevermind, I know she was being complimentary.

We were given the afternoon to rest, ahead of our ride on the camels. It would have been too hot for us and the camels to ride them at 3-4pm, so we waited until about half 6. A man delivered the camels to the dad of the nomadic family, and he took us out on them. It was great fun, and the sand dunes were amazing - my camel was a little bit tempremental - so much the man gave me a stick to beat it with if it misbehaved! I had to use it a little, not hard though and he seemed to walk a little bit quicker, for about a minute, before slowing down again! We stopped off at these rocks, where ancient paintings were located on them, and then headed back - this time I had the camel Laura had, and Laura had another one - another group were nearby and had finished with the camels, so they gave Laura the quiet one! I was actually allowed to be in complete control of my camel on the way back and it went rather well, though he sat down twice!

When we got back Oogii was preparing tea, Mongolian dumplings - Laura sat with her and one of the dauthers of the family and helped make them. They were very nice. Mongolian families seem fairly "traditional" in the sense that the womans place is the kitchen. It was a nice day but the only downside for me was the lack of time spent with the family. We stayed in a "spare ger" and it seemed to be a case of here is a spare room, enjoy! Bar the yoghurt, camel riding and the dumpling making, there was very little interaction with the family - they occassionally came over and told their dog off for coming into our ger - but he was very friendly, we didn't mind too much!

We went to bed pretty early again because of the heat exhausting us and slept very well again!

Day 03 (Day 41)

So day three, we knew we we would be travelling a very long way - from 350km to UB and then another 70 or so to the other side, to near Terelj National Park. Seeing Hustai national park on the first day left us with nothing of particular mention on the itenary to do which in hindsight was a good idea! As we were packing this time it was Zorgio asking me if I was a wrestler because he said I was "very strong". No mention of fat this time, I was a lot bigger (shoulders and arms) than him, which is where it probably stemmed from! We left at 09:30 and as we were getting in the car, the mother of the family said to Oogii that we all looked the same! Oh, OK I thought - I'm never going to feel bad now when I can't differentiate between oriental people in the future!

On the road on the way back, I could quite easily remember where we stopped for lunch, and where we stopped for breaks. We did pause a couple of times, once to photograph some cranes I had saw hanging around near the road. The nature and variety in Mongolia is amazing, I really enjoyed it for just how many different types of birds there were - and best of all NO PIDGEONS! We stopped for lunch on a hill somewhere around 80km from UB. Oogii had made these AWESOME fried pastry things, with potato onion and carrots in - we had it with salad too and it was very nice. We then got back in the car and continued on towards our stop for the night, another nomadic family outside of Terelj national park. On the way to UB, we took a turning off the road onto one of the many dirt tracks that have been seemlessly created by continued driving over them. I guess you could call it the UB bypass, it felt like a lot longer than 80km though! We did, on the way see some horse racers preparing for the Naddam Festival on the 11-13th July (one of the 3 sports with archery and wrestling). They were having a race through the countryside, I got some good pictures.

The early evening had arrived and we had still not reached our destination. We looked like we were lost. We were circling the same places and fields and stopping to ask families where they were. We eventually met another Golden Gobi tour group (which I presume was planned because of the time that Oogii and Zorgio were on their phones), who took us to a nomadic family where there were just 2 gers.

The tour group was a French man travelling on his own tour (with guide and driver). We were staying there for the night with him, which it was quite nice to be able to have a conversation with someone else in a good standard of English. He had lived in China for quite a while before coming to Mongolia, and was heading back to France via the Trans-siberian as his contract was up.

I found this family to be much more hospitable than the other in the sense that they spent more time with us. They offered us milk tea on arrival in their lounge type ger (where we were sleeping). The ger had a wind powered generator and they had a satellite TV with DVD player in it - they had BBC World to which our French friend stated "You guys get everywhere". I found that quite funny - he clearly hadn't been to Russia yet! It was great though, he gave us lots of useful tips on China and Hong Kong, and we tried to tell him a bit about Russia! We had tea together, with his guide and driver as well - the family and Oogii had prepared this Mongolian stir fry, with lamb meat of course, but it had been dried, and therefore was quite smoky and very nice!

After tea we both played football with the boys (the family had 4 teenage boys, as well as 2 younger boys). I took the football game as a good opportunity to get my football (and one NBA) shirts out that myself and my uncle had provided. I had been carrying them all the way through Europe but I'd found a good home for them, a family with lots of boys who liked football! They took them, after Oogii explained that they were a gift and said thank you very much, in English, which was very nice. Somewhere in central Mongolia is a family with an Aston Villa, Plymouth Argyle and Bristol City shirts (guess who didn't provide the latter 2!) They also had a little girl 2, who was very curious in the 3 westerners staying in her home!

It was a very enjoyable evening and I was very tired by the end of it! I scored 1 goal that I can recall, a very simple tap in off the post, a Tom Coe goal.

The only downside was the lack of sleep really. It rained for a good part of the night, and because of that, bugs galore tried to get into the ger, some falling on me during my sleep. Coupled with the fact I was on the floor with no real mat benath me and above the floor - it was quite a rough night. Nevermind. I really enjoyed myself tonight. Oogii said that they family from Western Mongolia are more Kazakh in origin and because of such, do not use furniture as much. I didn't mind it, I had read a lot about the traditions in gers, and many involved food on the floor etc, so it felt just as authentic, if not more so than the previous night. A great day, despite all the travelling!

Day 04 (Day 42)

The next day we left again at a reasonable time, around 9:30am/10am. We stopped first at the Chiggis Kahn complex, a new and still partially under construction tourist resort where the centrepiece is a GIANT metal statue of Chiggis Kahn on a museum - which we visited. It wasn't on our itenary so had to pay for it, but it was worth it.

After that we headed for Terelj national park, which maybe took around half an hour. Zorgio dropped us off at Turtle rock and Oogii explained that we were going to walk to meet them. So off they drove and we both had a pleasant walk through part of Terelj, it was pretty hot though - the only downside! It was a beautiful park, filled with amazing hills, crazy rock formations and strange insects - there is a buttefly type creature which rattles when it flies that lives there!

We made the journey to the ger we were having lunch in at a reasonable time. We sat inside, recovering from the heat. We were going horse riding in the afternoon, which we were both looking forward too. Whilst in the ger, we gave our contact details to Oogii, as she gave us hers yesterday. She warmed quite a bit to Laura it seemed, which was very nice. We got pictures with them both ealier in the day too, which we will cherish with fond memories. Our guide and driver made the trip that bit more special.

So in the afternoon we went horse riding. Laura managed to get some free reign of the horse, whereas I didn't. I think it was because she had some previous experience I don't know. We rode up to the top of the hill from where our lunch stop ger was - there was a monestary up a path into the cliff face from the top of the hill. My guide (who was about 8 years old) took me up there, Laura gave up part way up, he gave up a little further, but I made it to the top. The monestary was closed, but the building itself was impressive enough for the walk, and so was the view back down the hill over Terelj. Very nice.

We then rode back the same way, via a trip to the top of another hill. It was rather pleasant, but not as fun as the camel riding as I didn't get free reign. My horse was very obidient and I reckon I would have been OK - but I appreciate horses are dangerous compared to camels so accept it.

When we got back I had a chat with one of the guys on the camp who I think worked/lived there. He asked where I was from, to which I replied Birmingham. He said, "Ah, Birmingham City" - I said. No, Aston Villa! He laughed and he said "Oh OK!"

We soon after made our way back to UB, me napping in the car on the way back owing to my lack of sleep and the very strong heat (again) exhausting me.

We got back to UB at about 5pm and checked into our room which was nice. We said goodbye to our new friends, Oogii and Zergioand gave them $20 tip each, which we hope was adequate for the excellent time we had! We also saw our French friend who was leaving for Irkutsk in the evening, he took our blog address down!

What a trip, what a four days - we will never, never forget it!

From Irkutsk to UB

Day 37 - 01/07/2010 - 23:54 - In Transit, Russia

We're on our way out of Russia! We're on the train to Ulaanbaatar (UB from herein). Once again we are sharing with two women - however one is German and the other is Swedish. Both speak very good English. I was thrown at the start though as they were speaking French to each other. I found out (talking to the German woman) that they both live in Brussels which explains a lot.

The two of them are travelling the Trans-Siberian and they stopped in Moscow, Novosibirisk and Irkutsk (Listvyanka) and were now going to Mongolia on a 11 day excursion! We had quite a good chat about our Russian experience. Both seem to agree that it's expensive for what you get and there is a complete lack for the need of tourism in Russia - they don't seem to want or need it. To be honest, I've been thinking that this whole trip and apart from value that is the only other thing I didn't like about Russia. Apart from that it's beautiful.

The particular carriage we are on is different to the rest of the train - there are about 30 carriages in total - the cast majority are either going to Ulan Ude (other side of Baikal) or the Russian side of the border with Mongolia. All of the carriage staff are Mongolian and it seems much cleaner (especially the toilets)! Signs are in English as well as Russian and Mongolian (notices etc). Yay! We're both on the top bunks tonight (we forgot to specify) - hmm, should be interesting - I feel like a child again!

She also took great delight in the fact that Germany beat England 4-1 in the World Cup. She said she didn't know but I'm not so sure!

All four of us stood in the corridoor for quite some time trying to see Baikal as the train passed it - it got darker and darker and in the end we did see it - but only off the reflection of the lights in the nearby village it was so late!

So today was our last day in Irkutsk. We didn't do an awful lot - as usual taking our time to check out. We headed out of town a little to go and see the Kazan Cathedral (no, not the one in St Petersburg!) and it was stunning! We made our way back to town by foot and tram, passing the old Jewish synagouge on foot. The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing in the parks of Irkutsk - the fine, hot weather helping quite nicely. As for tea, we went to the same place we did as on the first night in Irkutsk (Old Cafe). Unfortunately I had something different this time (chicken parcels) - they were not that nice!

We also spent some time stocking up on supplies for the train journey - including Baikal water (bottled). I also bought some Irkutsk brand vodka and some caviare which I fully intend on consuming when I have a fridge to chill them both (probably Beijing now!)

Day 38 - 02/07/2010 - 21:30 Local Time - In Transit, Mongolia

It feels nice to be out of Russia! It was a very beautiful country but we had spent a little too long with the lack of curtains and the relatively bland food. I slept OK I guess last night, my body was too small for the bed though, my feet up against the wall).

Today however, has not been all that great - certainly not as wonderful as the Mongolian mountains with the sun setting behind them - occassionally spotting a ger or two and herds of animals etc.

We've spent 7 (yes 7) hours at border stations today. Around 4 at the Russian exit point and 3 entering Mongolia! It has been very very tiresome. Sat down on the train, when you can't leave because the authorities have your passport is very very annoying! Dull dull and dull infact!

But that said, it hasn't been all that bad! My Zune and cabin friends have been more than good company! The pair that we are sharing with are VERY well travelled. The both work for the European Community (hence Brussels I guess!) and have been to around 55 countries each (although this is only the 3rd time they are travelling together!) A lot of it was with work apparently, but it's still very impressive. That said they were impressed with my 25 at such an age (we all counted Mongolia!)

We've had a few conversations, their English is fantastic and it's nice to be able to say and use such a comprehensive vocabulary with strangers and they understand you! We talked a lot about Brussels and the divide between French and Flemish speaking people as well as the Russians (again!), what Mongolia has to offer and also asking me about what I think of the UK government!

I also (quite impressed with myself) managed to read some of their guide book on Mongolie! It was all in French but I managed to read a fair bit, including the entry on Golden Gobi - whom we are staying with! Only 8.5 hours to go!!