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The journey from UB to Beijing passed relatively easy. I was sharing a cabin with my German 'friend' and 2 Argentinian boys. We had fantastic views of UB on the way out of the city highlighting just how sprawled out, disorganized and slum like it is. We were quickly into the Gobi dessert with eternal views of nothing except random farmers on horseback with a flock of sheep or stranger still a couple of camels!
Just before the Mongolia china border we headed to the dining car for supper. It was a beautiful compartment with ornate wood carvings! We were given chicken and rice and a small salad. She then tried to charge us $14 dollars each! This being about 3 times more than an expensive Mongolian meal! A huge argument erupted between our table and a German couple on the next table and the waitress! To save an argument I wouldve paid but the boys wouldn't listen and the German woman even grabbed hold of the waitress! Eventually the (very drunk) maître d charged us $8 each still overpriced but better! Not my idea of good fun!
We then had the 8 hour Mongolia/China border crossing! This was interesting because
Chinese train tracks are different in size to Mongolia and Russia so we went into a huge shed and the compartments were lifted up and new wheels put underneath fascinating how it's done!
In the morning on the way into Beijing we passed through a stunning gorge with dozens of tunnels. Beautiful views!
Once at Beijing station it was hectic! There were 1000s of people everywhere all pushing and shoving not fun with 2 rucksacks! I managed to find the metro station fairly easily and for a bargain 20p and one change on the smartest, cleanest (and English spoken) underground I have ever been on I was speeding to my hostel. Getting off at my stop I passed dozens of shops selling incense and the very impressive looking lama temple. I finally found my hostel down one of the little hutongs (very old traditional side streets). It was nice to arrive and find Sean there and even nicer to have a very long overdue shower!!
We then went into town and ended up at Zhongshang Park near Forbidden City, it was a stunningly beautiful garden next to the city moat. We both got excited about all the Chinese architecture and
took way too many photos of all the buildings. Deciding that it didnt look far back to our hostel we decided to walk back. Unfortunately we underestimated the vastness of Beijing and 2 hours later we eventually made it back. We did pass a very cool group of about 20 people "line" dancing in the street.
Saturday our first stop was Forbidden City. I can only describe it as huge and stunning. All the buildings are symmetrical and there are dozens of impressive palaces inside. It was incredibly hot and humid (37 degrees) so felt like we were cooking, I also managed to run out of memory card and batteries for ,y camera! The heat was somewhat tempered by our discovery of yummy ice lollies costing less than 10p and sold everywhere! After several hours there and a quick stop back to the hostel for my batteries we arrived in Tiananmen Square in time for the flag lowering ceremony where the soldiers march up to and lower the flag every evening at sunset. There were 1000s of people watching it. We didnt realise you cannot enter the square after sunset so had to watch from the other side of the
road. The fountains lit up in front of the Mao's portrait and the buildings all lit up making it very picturesque.
It was then a slow journey to the Olympic Village (3changes on the train) but so worth it to see it at night all lit up. There were dozens of beautiful kites flying high in the sky and the Birds Nest and Water Cube were brightly lit. The tower changed colours every few seconds. On the train on the way back into town a group of Chinese people grabbed us to have our photos taken with them, apparently this is common in non touristy regions certainly wasnt expecting it in Beijing!
On Sunday our first stop was the Lama Temple near our hostel. This was great as we saw dozens of monks chanting and a huge buddha. It also explained the abundance of incense selling shops as the buddhists burned three incense sticks at each altar. It smelled wonderful. Then it was out of town for the Summer Palace. Oh My God! It is huge and beautiful. We walked for hours climbing to the top of the hill for stunning views over the lake. We also got a boat
to cross the lake and walked around the little island in the middle. My photos dont do the palace justice and unfortunately I dont think my words can either! Suffice to say I loved it!! We treated ourselves to a chilli, egg and spring onion pancake from a street seller which tasted a lot better than it sounds (or looked!) And then headed to Tiananmen Square to actually walk around it this time! It is huge, I can see why it is the largest square in the world!! There are 100s of police and soldiers everywhere, I am not sure how much is to do with the recent anniversary or how much is normal but you cannot imagine any kind of problems being allowed there now!
The next day was very long and hot trying to sort out train tickets to Xi'an. I finally realised what I had been trying to ignore since arriving in the country that the Chinese are actually quite rude! They are constantly hacking and spitting in the street, on the train, everywhere. There are no such things as queues as they will literally knock people out to push to the front and volume levels are
beyond any I have heard in normal speak before! Public toilets (and most private) are squats with no privacy. In the ladies the doors to the outside do not lock and there is normally a row of 5 squats with nothing in between them! I wont even go into the smells!!!
Monday night we spent a very pleasant evening with Sarah and ger fiance Tim. It wa nice to have a giggle and we treated ourselves to a positive feast of Chinese food and a few(!) drinks in the pub before staggering back to our hostel! Somehow we didnt have a hangover but were very tired for our Great Wall trip the next day! We were picked up at 8 and taken to a Jade Factory (we knew this was coming so not too bad). Then it was onto the Ming Tombs. We only saw one of the Tombs and we were rushed through it so fast I was left wondering what we had actually seen!!
Next was the Great Wall!! AMAZING!!! Definitely the biggest highlight of my trip so far! It was well worth the cable car trip up to it and the fact that we only had an
hour there! We walked as far as we could climbing over a 1000 stairs for incredible views of the wall and the mountains it climbed! I absolutely loved it (as you can probably tell from the dopey grin on my face!) Next it was a lovely lunch before the shit started! First we were taken to a silk factory and then to a tea factory! I was seriously starting to lose my temper (we had never been told of any of this and all we wanted to do was spend more time on the wall!) Our final stop was a Chinese Medicine place, they did give us a (free) foot massage and one of the Chinese doctors gave me a electric back massage (very weird he had electricity going through his body it made my muscles jerk) Unfortuantely I got talked into buying some (very expensive) Chinese Medicine!! Should really know better!! We were then back to our hostel to pick up our bags and get our overnight train to Xi'an for the next installment!!
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Sue-Ellen & Ian
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Hiya - The photographs are absolutely fantastic and looks like your having a fantastic time. Im just so envious lol. Its a place were looking at going next year. How much weight have you lost!!!! - Soon wont beable be able to see you. Boston is still the same, but I must admit this week has been so busy. Had two deaths on one day, one foriegn national foud dead in the water near the rowing club, another found dead on gassy pad. Dont know if suspicious at the moment, post mortems been completed today. Then two got arrested for murder at Horncastle only to be released very quickly later that day because died of natural courses. Was a diabetic and alcoholic. Then on the Friday a nasty robbery at Frithville with the swan man getting a nasty beating with baseball bats and touch and go if he survives at the moment. His wife also getting a nasty beating and the two dogs. It was all go for some. I was on my way down to Kent to see friends we'd met on the cruise to turn down all this double bubble overtime, and Ian having to turn down overtime because of a double fatal. (losing nearly £3k in overtime - its only money lol). So returning to work was a nightmare. Getting sacked from one operation to do disclosure on the Frithville job. So your not missing much excitement. Know where I'd rather be!!. Spoke to Jen on Monday, she's had a lovely time in Paris and saw Toddy today looking very sauve in his uniform. Now having to call him Sgt. Cant wait for your next installment. You take care and keep safe. Sue-Ellen and Ian xx