Beijing

Monday 13th - Sunday 19th October Days 12-18


Our week in Beijing exceeded all expectations. The moment we emerged from Beijing Railway Station we were hit by the noise, bustle, the crowds, the traffic. It is such a vibrant city – a fast moving and complex visual experience that takes a lot of getting used to. It is a little disconcerting to not speak the language at all but we were surprised at the amount of signage in Roman characters. This made navigation with a map possible (but not exactly easy).














Our hotel was in a 'hutong' only minutes from the railway station. Very convenient and - with quadruple glazing – remarkably quiet (although after 6 nights sleeping on a train anything would seem quiet). At £27 per night it was a real bargain and had everything that we needed. Chinese hotels are much cheaper than the western 'chain' hotels such as the Marriott (nearby). We had English speaking staff and the buffet breakfast – at £1 each – gave us a chance to try some Chinese food and fill ourselves. Walking round the city near the station, you could easily imagine you were in Regent's St. in London – women in the latest designer clothes (or copies), glass and marble -fronted shops selling all the latest fashions, etc. But dip into a side alley (hutong) and you are in another world – in some cases more like the 3rd World. The houses are single storey and accessed through gates opening into the alleys. Behind these gates are rabbit warrens full of bikes, chairs, tools, and similar. The original dwellings (many have been renovated) have no hot water or flush toilets – there are public toilets in many of the alleys (not generally to be recommended!)

We walked and walked (and cycled) miles – probably covering about 10 miles each day – in and out of hutongs, shopping malls, parks and markets. The metro is easy to use and very cheap.

Tienanmen Square at night ...















Occasionally we would take in a 'required' tourist site such as the Forbidden City ...




























or the Lama Temple















but these are the places where you find tourists in such enormous numbers that the experience can be less than pleasant. Tourists generally seem to belong to organised groups, each with a particular colour of baseball cap and a guide with a flag somewhere up front.

We visited the Great Wall on the first day, with a couple from Denmark who we had met on the train. We went to Muytianu which is less touristy. It is well worth the 2 hour (each way) ride. You have to survive the Great Wall Mall on the way in and out.




















Before we left England we contacted two locals – one Chinese and one a young Canadian living in the city. To both we are very grateful. Through them we saw aspects of Beijing life that would otherwise have been impossible – the inside of a hutong house, an apartment in the suburbs, amazing local restaurants.

This is the entrance to the Sichuan Restaurant that we ate at the first night - absolutely amazing food and an experience we will never forget. (This is what it looked like in the day time...)















The one overriding memory will be the friendliness of the people. So many wonderful smiles. Youngsters wanting to practice their one word of English ('hello') and then bursting into giggles. So many times we were offered help – sometimes to point our that money was showing in Jeff's back pocket or that a pocket of our bag was open. Some people really put themselves out to help us, detouring from their journey to take us where we wanted to go.

We saw no evidence of oppression – although that is not to say it isn't the case. There is clearly an 'underclass' sweeping the streets, tending the greenery in parks and on the roadsides, etc – mostly from the provinces. These (mainly) migrant workers are almost invisible as they go about their work.

It is amazing what you can get on a tricycle. There are people who go round sorting out refuse from the bins and carrying it off to - presumably - recycling points where they get paid for it















This street scene is unusual as it has very few people in it















There are some beautiful parks - some with rivers and lakes and you see lots of people (mainly old like us) enjoying the air (which we did not find polluted at all)

One day we went out to the Olympic Stadium which was teeming with tourist groups.














We eventually found our way out and found a tiny restaurant where the only diners were the 'management'. We pointed hopefully at what they were eating and indicated 'two please'. It was delicious.















The young Chinese are virtually all without siblings as a result of the state's one-child policy. It is hard to imagine the consequences of this. We talked about this quite a lot during our week.

We saw a lot of people playing Chinese Chess or Go on the streets. Sometimes there would be a big crowd round the games. Jeff wanted to find some real chess but never did.





























We finally left Beijing for Hanoi on Sunday – yet again running desperately to get to the train and arriving with only 3 minutes to spare. For the story of this trip – which involves being deported from Viet Nam and being driven by police car to an internet cafe - you will have to wait for the next instalment...

Days 6-12 The Trans-Mongolian Railway

Wednesday 8^th, Day 6
St Basil's in Red square. It's funny that I didn't notice that it was at an angle at the time




















Red Square in the rain

The train is so luxurious! There is so much space and it feels shiny and new. We even have a shower (shared with out neighbours in the next compatment and only cold water – but what a step up). Our thoughts had been that the train from Cologne was exactly what we would get from Moscow to Beijing but I had heard that there is a Chinese train on this route which is far superior and this is it! While the problem of tickets has yet to be resolved we are enjoying the camarade of the English-speaking passengers in carriage number 9 on train number 4.

Sleeping was difficult with all the adrenalin from the journey to the station and the hassle with the tickets. Our driver got caught in heavy traffic and what should have been a 20 minute trip took over an hour leaving us with 25 minutes to find the train – and he pointed us to the domestic terminal instead of the international terminal. We ran flat out with heavy bags for about 400 m to arrive with only half the tickets. And of course we fond that the tickets only took us as far as Ulan Bator ...

Today has been a matter of settling in to the culture of the train. Our cheerful carriage attendant 'Doo” supplies us with a thermos of hot water every so often and most compartments leave their doors open so that people drop in for a chat. The stops at the stations are a big excitement as we bargain for un recognisable items of food in plastic bags held out by the local women. They do not seem to display any food-handling certificates and one feels that hygiene rules may not always be strictly adhered to but it is interesting - and we are close to the toilet so its worth taking a chance.

The country is very autumnal with birch trees everywhere mixed with what seem to be spruce. The yellow of the changing birch leaves contrasts with the deep green of the spruce to give a display of colour I have never seen before. The rural areas are clearly very poor and what industrial towns we have passed through show strongly their Soviet origins – large heavy equipment, lots of concrete, in a terriblly run-down state.

Thursday 9^th October, Day 7 (2000km from Moscow)

Dawn over Siberia. We passed over the line dividing Europe and Asia some time during the night and woke up to see the sun rise over a different landscape. We seem to have outrun the rain that we travelled through yesterday and the sky is a clear blue. The coniferous trees have gone and the birch that remans is more advanced into winter. There is much more open land – some large scale cultivation but mainly rough grassland. This is not quite what I imagined but in winter it would presumably be under several feet of snow.

You see quite a lot of these water pipes - but look at the lagging. How do you transport water when the temperature is -30 degrees C?

Our train going through the forests in Siberia

Friday 10^th October
Day 8 (4000km)

A hard frost quickly disappeared under early morning sunshine. The landscape has changed again. We can see rolling hills for the first time. The trees are very bare now but there are more villages and, now, lots of small ramshackle greenhouses in amongst the vegetable plots. We can't decide if these plots, with their tiny 'houses' attached are dachas (weekend 'allotments') or actually living quarters. We go though Krasnoyasrsk (4100km), a big city of nearly a milion people – typically drab and very industrial.

The crows we saw were a moment of excitement as we have been wondering where all the birds are. The cold winter probably means that most birds are migratory and have long since left for the winter. At the station we were offered a bucket of cherries for 200 roubles (£5). We took a handful. They were very small and a little sharp with tiny pips.

The landscape rolls on and on with little variation – grasses that have turned yellow and stands of birch trees. There are hills from time to time (that the train makes hard work of) but otherwise little changes. The stations provide a focus when all the carriage come together on the platform. Some take the opportunit for a smoke while others are busy deciding what food to buy (or what the food is). At the last stop we phoned the travel agent and were promised that the tickets will be delivered to our carrialge at Irkutz (at 5:30 a.m.) . Why does that not fill me with optimism?

A typical station 'supermarket'


















...and sometimes the vendors were a little less formal
You take your chances but no one in the carriage was ill.



















Although the train is 'electric', they load up coal at each station - for each carriage.
This supplies the heat for the fictional hot water (and probably the carriage heating)




















... and here is the boiler in the carriage. Well we thought this was interesting.

Saturday 11^th October Day 9

At 5.00 the train pulled into Irkutz station and there, waiting at the entrance to our carriage, was a man with our tickets for Beijing. I am sure we would have coped if we had had to leave the train at Ulan Bator but it would have meant less time in Beijing and a lot of hassle. Unable to sleep, we sat in the dark watching the stars move around in the sky as the train twisted and turned on its way though the hills to Lake Baikal. This lake hold 20% of the worlds fresh water.

It was well worth getting up at 5:00 a.m. to meet the 'man with the tickets'.

We really had resigned ourselves to having to get off at Ulan Bator

Our first glimpse of the lake was by light reflected from the street lamps of Slyudyanka but as we rounded the lake the sky began to lighten. Dawn breaking over the lake was the highlight of the journey so far. The train then climes up above the lake with snow capped mountings to the south and the lake below to the north.

Dawn over Lake Baikal - the picture can only hint at this wonderful spectacle

The journey to Ulan Ude was full of interest. We seem to have too much to do and it is hard to find time to write this. The train follows the valley of the Selenga river and we move from one side of the train to the other to depending on which goies the more interesting view. The villages are poorer than previously, and there is no mistaking their tiny ramshackle houses for 'dachas' here.

After Ulan Ude we reach the border control at Naushki. In our carriage everyone is trying to work out how to complete the immigration/emigration forms and we all decide to go with the Lonely Planet guide to the Ukraine version asn this seems to be an identical form. The whole process appears to be entirely without point but more a show of who is in charge as officials scrutinise our passports and then walk off with them. We have a carriage 'party' during the 6-hour wait (one at each border post). There is plenty of Russian champagne and something that is a cross between Ribena and Sherry. Everyone contributes something from their stock of food and, as some of us get off the train early tomorrow at Ulan Bator, there is a really nice atmosphere.

Snow on the KhamarDaban mountains



















This childrens' play area was the first signs that we saw (since leaving Moscow) of any play facilities for children - no football pitches, basketball nets, swings, playgrounds, etc.



















The next two are the Selenga River.
We followed the river valley before going up nto the mountains






































A small Siberian village

After Ulan Ude we reach the border control at Naushki. In our carriage everyone is trying towork out how to complete the immigration/emigration forms and we all decide to go with the Lonely Planet guide to the Ukraine version and this seems to be an identical form. The whole process appears to be entirely without point but more a show of who is in charge as officials scrutinise our passports and then walk off with them. We have a carriage 'party' during the 6-hour wait (one at each border post). There is plenty of Russian champagne and something that is a cross between Ribena and Sherry. Everyone contributes something from their stock of food and, as some of us get off the train early tomorrow at Ulan Bator, there is a really nice atmosphere.

Most of our carriage - taken by "1 Yen", one of the carriage attendants (Huan Yen - I think)

Our farewell 'party' - well some of them

Sunday 12^th October Day 10

Everyone is up early to say goodbye to those that are leaving. UB is very different and we can tell immediately that it is no longer in Russia. New passengers arrive – we now have French 'bathroom buddies'. I made the mistake of speaking a little French to them and now they talk fast and incomprehensibly while I nod and smile.

We climb the mountains (two diesel locos now) and see small patches of snow on the side of the track and finally reach the watershed that divides the run off between the Arctic and the Yellow Sea off the coast of China. We are now crossing the Gobi Desert. We see the occasional camels that roam wild here. The Gobi Desert goes on and on. The landscape changes gradually from sparse grassland into a more sandy soil with intermittent vegetaion (reminiscent of the prairies in the USA) and we begin to see red tingest in the soil. By the time we reach the border post the soil is more reddish and some of the distant sandy hills are the same colour as Ayers Rock as they reflect the light from the setting sun.

This is Ulan Bator Station - the capital city of Mongolia



















The train in Mongolia - OK it isnt much to look at but its
all there was to take a photo of


















Mountains in Mongolia

Going through the border into China is once again a long drawn out process. Passports disappear and reappear, forms are filled in. (What do they do with all these forms?) The bogeys have to be changed back to the narrower guage but this time the process is done in a clean railway shed with us in the carriages and uniformed guards overseeing the process. 'Supervisors' take digital photos of the underside of the carriages for some obscure reason. We eventually begin to move again just after midnight.

Monday 13^th October Day 11

We have a complementary breakfast today as the restaurant car is now chinese. This consists of bread, butter, jam and two hard boiled eggs but is very welcome.

The change in the view from the carriage is the most dramatic so far – lots of heavy industry, massive buildoing works, half-completed motorways, and enormous stretches of maize being harvested. This appears to be done with scythes but the crop is then loaded onto tractors (sometimes donkey-drawn carts) and taken off to, presumably store for animal feed.

There are some sizable mountains to our left, several miles away, and we see deep 'gulches where the run off has cut through the soft surface layer.

There is great excitement as Meg spots the Great Wall and this spreads through the train – everyone is on the side facing the wall. Cameras click away taking blurred pictures of the Wall, through the hazy atmosphere, at a distance of several kilometres. I suggest buying a postcard in Beijing but no one seems to understand this.

Day 5 Moscow (6th Oct)

Our first set of pics

We left Kemble without too much luggage (for which we have been grateful ever since).

This amazing sphere, in the Museum des Beaux Arts in Brussels, is covered in irridescant scarab beetles. It hs to be seen to be believed.

The rain does not really enhance Brusssels but the waffles aare fantastic.

One of a number of art works in an exhibition in Brussels Cathedral. Rahter more impressive than the minimalistic 'dropped handerchief' which was also on display (it wasn't even a used one).

Cologne Cathedral is simply stunning – neither of us could get over the amazing detail in the structure. It dominates the city from every angle.

We went to the top of an office block on the other side of the river to get this view – well worth the 5 euros.

Our compartment on the train was a little cramped but quite comfy. We were glqd to have a 2-berth comprtment rather than 4. It was not much mor4e expensive but meant that we could spread out stuff about.

This is the train in Moscow Station, althoug it metamorphosed several tiimes during the journey as bits were added and taken away.

Changing to a different gauge track in Brest. The carriage is lifted of the bogeys with four hydraulic jacks and then lowered on to the new bogeys.

This is our view from the Cosmos Hotel in Moscow – our room was on the 23rd floor. You can see a tethered balloon across the ring road. We had a better view than they did.

Sorry about the order - time running out at internet cafe!