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Published: November 9th 2007
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Beijing - China
Forbidden city - not so forbidden these days - rather rammed with coloured hatted tour groups!! So, it's been a while since I've managed to sit down and write a little about where we've been recently! Bob has been busy writing stories (now tagged as Bobanory!) which I hope you have found entertaining... I certainly have!! We have also spent time saving photos from the camera so have now been able to add images to earlier blogs including 'Moscow to Mongolia' and 'We're on the road (or rather the train)'
The journey from Ulan Baatar to Tibet has taken us across China stopping in Beijing and Xian, we have taken in a multitude of awesome sights and eaten some fabulous food along the way! We are currently in Lhasa, Tibet, one of the highest cities in the world at over 3500m above sea level!
The last part of the Trans-Mongolian train journey from Ulaan Baatar to Beijing was a breeze at only one day and night after the epic 5 day journey from Moscow to Mongolia! Beijing was indeed warmer than Mongolia which was lovely! The night we arrived we headed for Tianamen square which was crowded with people and sellers with kites that flew unbelievably high into the sky. The next day we ambled
Beijing - China
Summer Palace lake round the old Hutongs - mazes of alleyways with housing, stalls, shops, groups of old men playing cards, it felt like stepping back in time to old Beijing; new Beijing as you might imagine has incredibly wide roads crowded with cars, buses with people crammed in like sardines, bicycles and mopeds, huge shopping malls, masses of neon absolutely everywhere, cleaners working on every street keeping each inch of pavement cleaner than any city I've ever been to, vast areas of redevelopment - the hum of olympics preperations, China wants to show off it's capital city to the world as a clean, modern, efficient, safe and exciting city!
The sights in and around Beijing are quite something and the city is more immense that anywhere I've ever been - we kept getting caught out as what looked like 2 blocks on our map might take half an hour to walk, we started to use the metro and luckily it was a lot easier to negotiate than the Moscow metro! (see 'From Russia With Lost' if you haven't already read it!) We spent a day at the Forbidden City (Palace Museum), the Chinese imperial palace from the mid-Ming Dynasty to the
Great Wall of China
Heading off on a 10k hike! end of the Qing Dynasty; a day at the Summer Palace set around a beautiful lake in spacious parkland, the summer home of the emperors; a day at The Great Wall of China where we hiked 10k from Jinshanglin to Simatai - an incredible walk but unfortunately it was rather misty so the views were somewhat obscured; visited the Yonghegong Lama Temple, with its beautiful temples and calm, peaceful atmosphere - a welcome break from the buzz of the city; spent a night at the theatre where we saw a cast of child acrobats leap, contort, balance and tumble in inconceivable ways; we ate the most incredible duck at one of the famous Quanjude restuarants where they serve up perfectly roasted, succulent but crispy duck with fresh pancakes and fabulously tasty plum sauce - we even managed the roll and eat our pancakes with chopsticks after a little practice! Beijing was great but we were glad to head to the smaller city of Xian after a week in the bright lights!
We got an overnight train to Xian using the cheap option of hard seat - pretty much like UK commuter train carriages with every single seat full and
Great Wall of China
The towers ahead disappear in the mist! every millimetre of storage space utilised before we boarded the train - the other passengers had a good laugh at Bob and I trying to squeeze ourselves and our rucksacks in! It wasn't a comfortable or sleep filled night but it was an experience! Xian was calmer than Beijing and it was possible to walk around rather than having to rely on the metro. After Beijing we realised we were starting to suffer from sightseeing overload so decided to take it easy in Xian. We ambled around the city a little taking in the fascinating Muslim quarter with outside barbeques and street sellers, wandered in the local park and observed elderly residents stretching, walking and revitalising their chi, playing cards, playing drums together and generally hanging out in the sun! Much of our time was spent working out how to get ourselves a permit and ticket to Tibet without forking out a fortune on a tour - we sorted it out eventually by arranging to travel as a group of 6 with some people from our hostel. The only sightseeing we did whilst in Xian was to go to The Terracotta Army - a fascinating experience, the rows of statues
Great Wall of China
The mist started to clear as we reached our destination! were stunning to see especially the one with the very large beard!
From Xian we got the sky train into Tibet, so called because it reaches over 5000m at it's highest point! We have spent this week in Lhasa and tomorrow we leave for a trip that will take us south, past Everest Base Camp and on into Nepal. Tibet is incredible - the people's smiles are infectious, the scenery is awe inspiring, the temples we have visited have been humbling - I need time for reflection before I feel I can write more about this sensational place but it does indeed feel like the roof of the world!
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