Terra-cotta warriors watch out. We are exhausted. 6 hour bus ride. 3 hrs walking around to find a hostel. Xi’an looks amazing. Here for 4 nights at least. More to follow.

Btw. Noticed some time zone issues with posts. The displayed date and time is local to the reader and not to the author. (so if you see posted at 15h30 it was actually posted at 21h30 our time) At the moment we are 6hrs ahead. Need to figure out how to fix that ! WordPress issue.

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More as promised

V’s cough is not getting better. Under the threat of being smothered under a pillow she has decided to take a course of anti-biotics. We left Pingyao around 9 with another electric tak-tak travelling to a toll-gate on the highway outside the city. The long distance bus just pops in and back out. There was a substantial crowd at the stop but as soon as the bus arrived they all disappeared ! No idea what that was all about. The bus was half empty and the 6 hour ride to Xi’an was comfortable. We passed over some amazing bridges and caught the landscape getting a little greener in between eps of the West Wing.

Again the bus decided to stop at a station that we had not expected. We were at least 10km from the hostel options and there was not a taxi or tout in sight. We enlisted a motorized tak-tak that was in pretty bad condition to get us to the first hostel. I’m not sure if the driver was brilliant or insane – cutting congested corners by speeding through back alleys and markets or just getting onto the wrong side of the road until he could bob and weave back into the flow. It was a wild ride.

As is usually the case when V gets directions wrong, she gets it way wrong. We were dropped about 200m from the hostel but we walked about 2km in the wrong direction. Another tak-tak got us to the hostel – it was full. We decided to walk another 2km to its sister hostel. We got there hot and sweaty to find it had moved. Another 2km got us to the correct spot and paradise. A room for £16 a night that for us is 5 star. Even has BBC world and some other English channels.

A short walk around the area to find V some more meds and we were quite DONE for the day. Xi’an is massive but feels much better than Beijing. Lots of trees and parks, blue sky and a little cooler. Lots to do over the next few days. Can’t wait!

[Pictures: We finally made it to the hostel/inn – must be how a suicide bomber thinks he will feel after pushing the button – paradise]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

We were both very nervous about the Russian part of the trip, but in retrospect it was not justified. The vast majority of people we met were friendly, polite and willing to help as long as we made some effort to communicate with the few words we could manage. We were frequently mistaken for dosmetic tourists, a problem I don’t expect in China, and I don’t think we got ripped off too much – probably just the right amount.

Booking the train tickets online was our most expensive error. The guide books and websites made us think that doing it ourselves would be far to difficult. We had time so it would have been far cheaper to get a local agent or even the hostels to assist. Besides that, the thrill of managing to get the right ticket from the ticket office at SPB station was worth more than the comm for an agent.

The biggest disappointment was the cancellation of the Star City tour (one of the reasons we rushed to Moscow). A lesson enforced: sometimes it’s better to just pay the high price and get on with it.

The sights were great as we expected and the museums vast, but not that English friendly (audio guides seem to be a good option). Travel was reasonably easy and we probably didn’t need to walk as much as we did.

We have since met people who have had only negative things to say about the Russians. We can’t agree. We had a great time there and the hospitality and kindness of the strangers on the trans-sib will not be forgotten.

A few odd notes to remind ouselves:
– The Armoury, Red Square, St Basils, Lenin, SPB fort.
– More ice cream
– Choc chip cookies
– Tea and more tea (but black)
– Sitlletoes on cobbles
– Dodgy houses, flash cars, leather jackets & cell phones
– The Soviet stuff seems to be mostly missing
– Cosmonauts Museum
– Milk and Drinking yogurt confusion
– Women dressed to kill and posing as if supermodels at every chance
– Learning and trying to speak a bit of Russian
– Heavy Soviet doors
– Conquering the Metro
– Gold leaf

Will have to keep adding to this post as more memories pop into our heads!

– Posted from my iPhone

V’s cough is getting much worse. She has hardly slept for days so we decided to take a rest day. Up at 10ish. Pancakes and toast for breakfast with knives and forks ! By 12 my V was back in bed. I took the opportunity to make some calls, send some emails, surf the web and play with some programming on the blog – that got me sidetracked onto a remote desktop connection with the Stern office and I spent another hour sorting out pc problems on their LAN – I couldn’t resist :). Also downloaded new podcasts and Dr Who eps. Happiness.

In the late afternoon we took another longer stroll around the town and realized that possibly we should have spent another day here but we have booked the bus to Xi’an tomorrow. We are both feeling a bit off. Probably the lack of sleep and V’s cough.

The evening dissolved over a good dinner of stir-fry beef with rice, a couple of beers and relaxing conversation with a friendly Swiss lady travelling solo. We finally got the meal quantity correct. One dish and a small rice is more than enough for us. We are almost done with season 1 of the West Wing – what a win that was.

[Pictures: Anyone for braai bricketts the size of footballs ? See – we did nothing]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

Up early and to the bus (the lady from the hotel took us all the way there and made sure we got on it). After a stop at the bus terminal to buy official tickets and relieve my gut from last nights pork dumplings we were on our way – a 4 hour ride to Taiyuan. The road was extremely bumpy, made worse by the lack of functional shock absorbers, and wound its way down the steep roads out of the Wutai Shan mountains. Our driver did not seem to have any regard for speed cops or his brake pads. The beautiful mountain scenery eventually turned flat and farmed. Passing through towns of varying sizes and degrees of chaos V and I settled into some ‘For good reason’ podcasts.

The bus arrived at a station outside of the city centre and after failing to negociate what we thought would be a fair cab ride to the train station we decided to walk it. The 2km walk in the heat went quickly as we took in the town while occasionally stopping to ask directions and attempting (unsucessfully) to retrieve cash from various ATM’s.

You cannot begin to understand the confusion involved in getting a train ticket in China. In future we’ll happily pay the comm for a hostel to do it for us. We spent half an hour hopping from one que to the next trying to get information with no luck. In the end we decided to pick a que and stick with it until we got to a counter. BTW, my V rocks! While in the que for an hour she was able to decipher the scrolling Chinese characters and extract the relevant information. We ended up with tickets for the next train to Ping Yao – only standing room was available.

The train was again packed and we squeezed into our assigned carriage. The locals happily made a little space for V to sit but one of the conductors was not impressed with how we had stacked our packs – it took much hand waving and shouting to explain that. We were once again the centre of attention. A young chap with a bit of English said hello and politely asked if I was tired – I said ‘No’. That was his que to fetch his friends. What a great bunch of friendly guys. We yakked the whole way and felt like movie stars as we posed for photos with various fans. They told us all kinds of useful bits and if they had not been travelling in a bigger group would have joined and shown us around Pingyao. Apparently the beef in the area is excellent – will have to see.

Our new friends were making absolutely sure that we did not miss our stop. Another lady on the carriage was also getting off there and she wanted to know where we were heading. She phoned ahead and arranged a transfer for us making sure we did not get ripped off. Saying goodbye to the guys on the train she led us to a waiting tak-tak (well an electric one – have to say that over 90% of the bikes we have seen are electric).

Pingyao is a preserved ancient city. No cars are permitted in the central area and our ride took us along the city wall into he heart of it. She led us on foot the last section to the door of the hostel and civilization! A fantastic hostel/guest house (Harmony guest house) with everything a traveller could want including aircon rooms and hot water all day.

We spent some time wandering the quaint streets before grabbing a bite to eat – it really is a special place and deserves its UNESCO World Heritage status.

[Pictures: Crammed train station, the courtyard area at Harmony Hotel]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

Warning – another long post.

We woke up this morning to hooting, shouting, revving cars, and the occasional megafone which was mostly blocked out by the earplugs thankfully. Our grim bathroom had decided to flood itself during the night so having to wade to the loo was not fun. When we discovered that there was no water and that the loo no longer flushed, we packed up our bits and left. I could have handled the grubby place another night but the flooded bathroom and loo problem was just too much.

As we walked down the road the owner tried to get us to eat breakfast at his restaurant. We don’t think he realized we were actually leaving.

(more…)

What a day this turned out to be !

We were up early and discovered that the hot water in the taps from last night had been cunningly replaced with glacial run-off. Lesson learnt: find out when the hot water is on ! Our driver (Wang Shu Min) was on time and washing his cab outside when we got to reception. We negociated (probably not very well) a tour or the popular sites with the intention of staying the night in Yingxian on the way to Wutai Shan.

Lots and lots after the break…..

(more…)

A very bumpy and cramped bus ride got us to Beijing West train station. Lucky the bus stops are displayed in English and Chinese or we would have been circling Beijing all day. The station is massive, slick and clean but packed to capacity. Our first local train in China, destination Datong. We had the hostel arrange the £6 ticket for a £2 fee (well worth it). The earlier train had standing room only availble but standing for 6 hours is not an option for us. We got a “hard seat” which turned out to be a typical train seat. To continue a theme, the carriage was stuffed. Not only were all the seats full but the floor too, making it difficult for anyone to move anywhere. People were constantly up and down the carriage including fruit and food trolleys inspiring mass shuffling on a regular basis. It was also noisy, very noisy and we were the only westeners onboard.
(more…)

Okay – I have spent the morning sorting some pictures and working on the ‘Count de Money’ spreadsheets while V has been researching where we are going next. Working with Excel in Chinese was not easy (been without Open Office since a virus had a little fun with my memory stick). Dad will be helping me get the graphs updated sometime soon. In the mean while I have finished tagging and sorting photos up to Helsinki – which means I’m only 3 countries behind ! I need another 5 hours solid in front of a PC to catch up the rest but we have run out of time here in Beijing.

We are popping out for lunch and then heading for the train station. I suspect we will not have a decent internet connection (or time for that matter) to update for a while. Our plan is to head for Datong, then Xian, maybe Chengdu, then the Three Gorges Dam, Shanghai and down the coast to Hong Kong. We have to be in Hong Kong by the 18th July. Let’s see how all that goes.

Bye for now – Simi & V 🙂

V’s cold has gotten a lot worse and she hardly slept. She can now qualify to hock and spit like the rest of China. We may have to resort to some traditional Chinese ‘medicine’ to knock it out of her (yeah right). We were up at 6 to get to the gorge.

The minibus ride out to Dragon Gorge was long and made longer by a major traffic jam and having to wait to link up with another tour group. The 3 hour transfer turned into 4 hrs before we finally arrived at what looked like a theme park. The Chinese are great at taking something that is a natural wonder and converting into a tourist Mecca. To get up the the gorge you take a set of elevators climbing a few hundred meters inside a concrete dragon that is stapled to the side of the mountain – like having esculators up Table mountain. Once above the dam the scenery is unbelievable. Steep norrow gorges covered in vegetation. As you cruise around the valleys, stunning scenery eventually gives way to more traps (little bungee jump, high wire act, temples, viewpoints etc.)

Having little time at the gorge and with V sick we opted for a little wooden row boat so we could explore a little away from the crowds. You have to pay for everything in China. Even to take a photo at a scenic spot, but the boat only cost £5. My rowing (and the paddles were not up to scratch) but it was a bit of fun. Getting back we decided to have a paddle each but V’s short little T-Rex arms were letting her down as she patted the water 🙂

The free lunch and the trip back were uneventful. Out of the tours we have down with the hostel I would say this was the least value for money but worth it for the scenery – looking forward to more of the same in the month to come. One problem on the trip back was the inconsiderate cow in the seat in front of me pushing her seat right back making it impossible for my legs to fit. We moved seats and it happened again. What is it with people ?! If I were 30kg heavier I would have pummeled a couple of travellers today.

Anyway. Tonight is our last night in the excellent Beijing Leo Courtyard Hostel. We have lots to get sorted out for tomorrow…

[Pictures: ooooo pretty cliffs – V got a cute new hat so I’m using her old one until I find a suitable replacement.
GPS position: N40.54685 E115.99634]

– Posted from my iPhone

If anyone has time and If anything interesting is happening out there (tech, world news, coup in Thailand etc etc please post comments about it. When we get online we just sync the blog and research the next destination. Don’t have much time to check all the sites and blogs we love (Boing Boing, Pharagula, Gizmodo, BBC News, Engadget, Bad Astronomy etc etc). Starting to feel disconnected – maybe a good thing? Tomorrow we are heading out of Beijing so not sure when will next be able to post or check in.

Thanks all 🙂

– Posted from my iPhone

We now have a rough plan of where we are going over the next few weeks. Southern China needs time to dry out and we have 3 weeks left on our first entry of our visas. We have organized train tickets to Datong via our hostel (leaving on Friday) and are planning on working our way down to Xian (terracotta soldiers) then onto 3 gorges dam before heading East to Shanghai then down the coast to Hong Kong. Will re-evalutate the plan and resources from there but at the moment it looks like we will come back into China on our 2nd entry of our visas and wiggle our way through the southern provinces hopefully to Tibet.
Disclaimer-plan not fixed, may change dramatically depending on situation.

After sorting or plan out, we toddled off to the Ancient Architecture museum. Turns out it is free on Wednesdays. Incredible! We actually got something for free in China. Plus it was practically empty so double bonus. Not a lot to see but some intricate scale models showing how the beams and rafters all fit together like puzzle pieces. Looking for the loo I used the international sign language of a squat motion with immediate result.

A quick once round the Temple of Heaven park (a very big park with endless forests, gardens, more temples and cute chipmunks) followed by another long slog home and we were done for the day.

Caught a Kung Fu show this evening at the Red Theatre. A very Vegas style show. Lots of lights and fog machines. It was really good. Combined a bit of theatre (bit of a cheezy story line), singing, dancing, acrobatics and choregraphed fighting. So we got a bit of everything. Definately worth it.

The weird rash on my legs and feet seems to be slowly fading. My cold however seems to be getting worse. I’ll survive though.

[Pictures: Taking a pic in the heaven, Naughty V snuck a shot in the Kung Fu show]

– Posted from my iPhone

Can someone please let us know if there is a Season 7 of House planned ? I need to know.

Back at the hostel. Amazingly we still had some energy to do some planning and plotting. Things are changing rapidly now. Will try to post our plans – when we decided on them! I started sorting photos again but the Internet connection was shocking. Am really going to have to reduced the number of pics I upload or I’ll never get it done.

V, besides feeling fluey and flemmy has got a nasty rash all over her legs. Seems she is falling apart. For me it’s just my guts – but that is no surprise (and hopefully we toughen up).

[Pictures: V’s Legs – looks owee, Plotting Domination]

– Posted from my iPhone

We set out with renewed vigor after the inspiration of the great wall and a good nights sleep. The Summer Palace was first on the list for the day. About 15km from the town centre the place is beyond massive. We strolled around for hours checking out the vast gardens, palaces and temples. Taking photos was a bit of a flop as the smog was particularly bad today, but it did feel marginally cooler. The ‘Marble Boat’ (no it doesn’t float) was odd, but not half as odd as my icecream – Mielie flavoured ice cream wrapped in what could be described as edible ‘plastic’. Blargh!

We took a ferry (Dragon Boat – but not really) across the lake to visit one of the islands and swallowed an excellent hot-dog for lunch. A very long walk around the lake (dodging the Safas from yesterday) and up through the spectacular Buddhist temple where V and I had a race up either side (well V ran up the stairs, I watched and laughed) got us to the top of the mountain/hill and back onto the subway shortly thereafter.

Next stop. Another highlight and engineering marvel. The Olypmic park with the Birds Nest Stadim and the Cube Indoor Arena. Wow. Awesome. Like a 100 000 hotdogs awesome. There was some show on so it was not worth our while to go into the stadium, but wow again. It is looking a bit grimy though – that smog again. V tried a can of herbal tea – not recommended – I’ve taken to orange juice.

We then headed over to the Wangfujin shopping area in search of a few items including chopsticks and a big map of China what more do you need to plot domination ? The snack street was filled with more gross looking food and creepy crawleys on sticks. If you can push a stick through it the Chinese will eat it!

V is usually brilliant with navigation but when she gets it wrong – oh boy! We walked forever and ever to get home. Through some very scary looking areas and detouring around city block sized construction sites where the municipality has demolished the old Hutongs (fiendishly narrow and dingy streets not unlike slums but that are apparently ‘full of character’) to be replaced with shiny new buildings. People are up in arms (well you would never know it) about the transformation – I’m in two minds.

The city is vast but we have been using the metro system most of the time. At 20p a ride to any destination it’s reasonable, clean and easy to use but the trains are not as frequent as London. The other way to do it would be to hire a bike. Since everyone here rides it should be fine but the traffic chaos put us off.

The last stop before getting back to the hostel was sups. More rice and fried something. Quantity was too much and it seemed expensive – we think they billed for plates ?

[Pictures: Mielie icecream, The Birds Nest Stadium, Fried Something]

– Posted from my iPhone

Happy Birthday to our good Fin-boertjie friend Nico. Hope you had a great day Nico. Love from both of us to you and the clan.

– Posted from my iPhone

Another big tick on our imaginary list. We hiked 10km of the Great Wall of China today. Amazing !

It was an early start for us. Up at 6:30. The Hostel reception came to check that we were up at 7. I have to admit this hostel is amazing with everything.

A 2.5 hour bus ride full of western travellers and tourists took us past the busy (typical) section of the wall, which is packed, to a more remote location. The 30 of us had 10km of wall all to ourselves.

As soon as we started out our ears tweaked as we heard the old Safa accent coming from 6 other people in the group. So far all the Safas we have come across have been more proud, annoying, loud and obnoxious than the sterotypical American. We were embarrassed to be assocated by birthplace as they droned on and on to poor unsuspecting Euros and Americans.

The hike was strenuous. The first section has been restored (like the popular spots and what you see on postcards) but as we climbed up over hills and down valleys the wall reverted to ruins – which were far more intersting to me. V was really battling (unusually) with her cold but we were both thankful for the cloud cover and spots of rain.

Lunch at local farmers was typical. Rice and various fried things but nothing odd. We all snoozed on the bus back home while nat geo videos of the wall and South Park played on.

It was an incredible and exhausting experience. A full day’s adventure. Tomorrow more sightseeing in Beijing.

[Picture: V looking worse for wear on the wall, and a view of ‘the stone dragon’
GPS Location: N40.327260, E115.968525]

– Posted from my iPhone