Moscow
Moscow, I liked!! Not the real Russia but very impressive at Red Square with the Kremlin St Basil's Church and Lenin's Tomb, I have seen on TV so often. Safe feeling in central Moscow, many young people on the streets, and no police harassment that I'd been warned of.
Trans Siberian Express
Across Russia, 4 nights on the train from Moscow to Irkutsk. But wait 4 nights on the train and only crossed half of Russia. The world is indeed very large. The global village is by air travel only. Nothing to do but sit and look out the window and drink beer. Not many chances to do this and not feel guilty that I should be doing something else. There was nothing else to do.
Endless landscape of birch forest, fields, wooden houses and Ladas .
Stopped at many stations, old steam locomotives lovingly restored, wagons loaded with rusting Soviet tanks lay forgotten at the side.
Keeping track of time was not easy, the train ran on Moscow time, local time as the train crosses the continent. In one day the train crossed two time zones. Less time to drink, we found ourselves at 4am and still drinking. 8% proof beer and mistakenly 8% proof orange juice from the station shop. The shop assistant had tried to discourage me from this, ha ha ha.
Irkutsk
Siberia meets Europe. Decaying wooden built houses next to decaying concrete. There is an air of wealth and redevelopment here. There are oil fields nearby.
A short bus ride away is Lake Baikal. A big lake! The deepest in the world with crystal clear water. It's cold in the morning when we arrive at Listvnyenka and hardly a soul to be seen. It was Sunday and the day trippers from Irkutsk soon arrived in their droves. The lake front full of people but not an ice cream in sight just fish. The local speciality is smoked omul fish eaten on a stick. A strange sight but very fine tasting.
Border Town
Arrive at border town between Russia and Mongolia. Rusting Lada at the side of the road with smashed wind screen. Syringes lie broken in the dirt road. Signs that all is not well with this town, but not so different from any European inner city scene. Somewhere to pass through quickly, not the 9 hours it took to cross this border.
Seemed like a comedy border crossing. Our carriage was checked by visa people, passport people and then customs people. Each time the compartment was checked. The officials, incredibly hot Russian woman in uniform. Then the carriage was boarded by 4 soldiers with face masks carrying batons posted at each door of the carriage. They motioned for us not to look out of the windows. Across no mans land, bombed out personnel carriers, lookout towers on the hills, how paranoid are the Russians. Looked like a mortar pipe pointing out of an old shed? How long is the Russian / Mongolian Border? 1000's of miles, surely not manned all the way with soldiers and Alsatian dogs. All we could see on the train were Mongolian people exporting beer out of Russia. Yeah, the Russian beer was good!
Trans Mongolian
We stop at Ulan Baatar, Mongolia's Capital. The main square named after the Axe hero Suhkbaatar. His statue faces the brand new front of the parliament building where a giant statue of Chinggis Khan sits in all his glory .
Trans Mongolian
We stop at Ulan Baatar, Mongolia's Capital. The main square named after the Axe hero Suhkbaatar. His statue faces the brand new front of the parliament building where a giant statue of Chinggis Khan sits in all his glory .
Mongolia is a vast country. We travel west on our tour and stay with nomad families and visit the old capital Kahrkorum. Our driver Jack is great and is also our tour guide and friend. The little yellow Hyundai bumped along the dirt roads and never started before the fifth attempt. Not somewhere to break down, further in the journey we pass only one or two cars in 3 hours. The vastness of this country is hard to comprehend. Herds of goats, sheep, horses and later camels. Ger tents sit uncomfortably beside their owners satellite dishes.
Mutton, mutton and more mutton was hard to digest, at least it was the wrong season for the fermented mares milk, and not a goat's testicle in sight.
Mutton, mutton and more mutton was hard to digest, at least it was the wrong season for the fermented mares milk, and not a goat's testicle in sight.
Returning to Ulan Bataar we pass the entire field of the Peking to Paris classic car rally. A reinactment of the 1903 original. It was some sight to see these old cars, including Rolls Royces and Aston Martins, being driven hard on the dirt roads.
And onto Beijing crossing the Gobi Desert.
Border Town
The entire train is taken into a giant railway shed, jacked up and the bogies removed and replaced with new bogies the correct width for the Chinese rails. Five hours pass and then we are in China.
Past the Great Wall and onto Beijing
Beijing
Temples, temples and more temples. a good sense of imagination is required to get the most from the historic areas of Beijing. All the old temples have been restored (actually rebuilt) and really appear to be like new. The smog is pretty bad. Can't See Tiananmen Square from The Forbidden city and they are right next door to each other.
We arrived on 4th June which is the anniversary of the 1989 masacre. No demonstrations this year but lots of under cover police, I'm sure.
The Hostel we stayed in was in the 'Hutong' area, an original part of Beijing that has not been flattened and rebuilt in preparation for the Olympics next year. This area was full of winding streets with markets and had a really good feel to it. Struggling to deal with the heat, it had snowed the last night in Ulan Baatar, now it was 39 Deg C.
Authentic fake clothing in the shops. It's hard bartering for goods when you should pay a tenth of the original asking price. There is no word for 'no' in the Chinese language, and that makes it's harder. Still, good T-shirts for 2 quid is not bad.
As tourists we felt like walking dollar signs, fair game to be ripped off at every opportunity. Please just give me the price of the goods or service.
The Great wall. Really is this a great wall or not? Never kept anyone out, especially the Mongolians and Chinnis Khan. Great picture to have on the Chinese Visa though. Incredible sight the wall winding it's way across the mountains. How lucky we were to see the wall with no tourists, our group the only people there, having sweated our way up hill then up and down along the ruined path in the heat of Chinese summer and the smog.
Piera heads home, I continued my journey south by train.
Xian
Further south than Bejing but much cooler Xian is at the start of the old Silk road and the city nearest to the Terracotta Army. The smog hangs thick in the air just 100ft up from the pavement. The taste of burnt oil and coal is in your mouth.
I meet some Kiwi's at the hostel and at night we all go to the Water Show beside the Wild Goose Pagoda. A thousand fountains shoot upwards coloured by lights and in time to music. The square is full of Chinese people, our group the only Westerners there.
Back at the South gate of the city wall, lit along the top with red Chinese Lanterns, a large crowd has gathered. Musicians play, choirs sing and a processional dance with the women dressed in pretty silk dresses holding fans and tinsel parasols. Again we are the only westerners there. This is for the benefit of the Chinese tourists. The domestic tourist market is huge. A foreign holiday is all but a dream for the majority of the population. All looking so happy and almost in defiance of the Capitalist symbols of Gucci and Chloe and the towering HSBC bank that stand across from this scene.
From Xian to Guilin by Train
The train leaves early evening and it's soon dark. Long sleep, the first city the next day is Wohan, One of the 3 'furnace' cities in central china, the train crosses the mighty Yanzi river here. From the pleasant air conditioned carriage all is fine, the smog and heat not so outside. The train heads south passing by industrial cities and then more rural landscapes and finally immaculate paddy field lush green from the summer rains. The train now travelling much slower in this undeveloped area. Ever changing though, new motorways lie waiting for traffic, new rail tracks being laid and stations being built in expectation of the commuter rush. I venture to the restaurant car for my lunch. It's early in the day and I wanted water with my food. The answer was no from the waiter. I was to drink beer only, no hardship I suppose. I was the centre of attention in the restaurant car, the chop sticks I was given were impossibly short for my big hands and all eyes were on me to fail. Ha! Tucking into my meal they all go back to their business.
Yangshau and the Li River
This for me was the highlight of my trip to China. Famous for the Krast Mountains and the view on the 20 Yuan note. Most unusual limestone hills covered in lush green vegetation. Met up with some really cool people in Gulin, Nikki, Gavin & Lucie, Rob, Jim. We all met up in Yangshau and went for a cruise on the river, cycling, to mud baths deep in a cave and generally had a good carry on with maybe a beer or two thrown in for good measure. All right, lots of beers. The only way to deal with the heat and humidity was to drink cold beer.Up at 7.30am for a Kung Fu lesson from our friend / guide and Kung Fu master, Terry. Far too early in the morning, down beside the river, mist still hanging in the hills. Learned some moves and kicked some ass! I think not. Feeling sick with the heat I slope off an hour and a half later for a shower and some breakfast.
Train to Shengzen
My first experience of the hard sleeper. 6 beds per berth in an open carriage. Much cheaper but hardly secure. I'm the only westerner on the carriage, it's not long before I'm invited to join some Chinese people and they are really interested to see my photos from home. They share their food with me and were very friendly. They are in awe that I am an Engineer! I play it down but later discover that engineers are held in very high esteem in China. My new friends make sure I know where I'm going to get my bus to get the ferry to Hong Kong.
From a shaky start in Beijing to leaving now three weeks later, I'm am left with a really warm feeling for the Chinese people, and their country. I hope it is not long until my return.
Hong Kong
The ferry from Port Shekou in China to Hong Kong takes an hour and it was well worth the extra traveling time to arrive by water and not by train. Past immense container ships in the bay then the towering high rise buildings on Hong Kong Island come in to view.
The ferry docks in Kowloon. I walk through the streets weighed down by my backpack, the heat and humidity slowing me down. The contrast with China was immense. The wealth immediately apparent.
I book into my hostel in the Mirador Mansions. Whoever named this building obviously had a sense of humour. This building would be condemned in Scotland. It's part residential, part business, part cheapskate hostels. The lifts creek, it's like constant rain outside with the drips from a thousand air con units. Once it would have been gleaming white, now badly discoloured. My room in the hostel is like a windowless cell..... Bathroom so small sit side ways on the toilet, shower above, nice... I'm told later, I've earned a travellers medal of honour for staying there.
Out side on the street the wears of the world are for sale; hookers, a shiny new Rolex, hashish or maybe a bespoke suit. Many African and Indian people, a big change after China.
I like Like Hong Kong, the view across to Hong Kong island from Kowloon I rate as a man made wonder of the world. The buildings all lit up, the light show and the fireworks display. At night a travellers hang out, sit there drinking beer from the 7 / 11. HK was expensive after China. The bar prices were up to 20 times the price they were in China. Three of us out drinking in Ned Kelly's Last Retreat, sit down by an English business man and strike up a conversation, but this is no joke, I think he took sympathy on us and when he left he threw down HK$200 for our bill. We didn't even know his name. Random act of kindness. Very much believe in kharma.
So Part I of my journey is complete. I have travelled from Aberdeen Scotland to Aberdeen Hong Kong, covering more than 10,000KM by train from Moscow and crossing the continent of Asia from it's land border with Europe to the South China Sea at Hong Kong. As I left Asia I had only just got used to the climate and my stomach used to the food after two weeks of quick dashes to the toilet!
