4 Chicks on a train trip.

4 Chicks On A Train Trip
Melbourne, Singapore, Munich, St Petersburg, Moscow, Ekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Listvyanka, Lake Baikal, Ulaanbaatar, Gobi Desert, Ulaanbaatar, Beijing, Melbourne Fri 10 Jun – Thu 07 Jul

Well for several months Lisa, a work colleague and myself had been procrastinating about travelling together. We both seem to enjoy the roads less travelled and we settled on a journey on the Trans Siberian Railway. When I let my sisters know one of them, Zita ( Jane) sent me an SMS and said she would like to come to Siberia with us. As we would be traveling in a 2 or 4 berth cabin we needed a fourth companion. I phoned an old school friend, Marisa, and she agreed on joining us before I even told her what the itinerary was. We are extremely excited and cannot wait for our travels to begin.
Actually I am writing this the night before now and I haven’t even started packing – I am very excited and can’t believe I am going to Russia. I think when I was a child growing up Russia was so far away and almost taboo for tourism.

Day 1
Melbourne, Singapore Friday, 10 June 2011
Well the day has finally arrived and after all our planning with our travel agent Simon from Flower Travel in Eltham it should be smooth sailing.
Lisas hubby Peter is kindly driving us to Tullamarine where we will meet the other girls. Zitas passport has been given to me so she will be pleased that I took it out of my car and put it with mine so if she doesn’t go I don’t go either. We are on the long haul from hell tonight as our flights are going to taken us just over the 30 hour mark from melbourne to St Petersburg. At the airport lisa gave marisa jane and i a scarf each which she found in Marrakech supposedly we will easily find each other anyway it was a cool idea and they are a nice blue colour Well I am writing this from about 2hours before landing time in Singapore. This is the most comfortable longish plane ride I can remember. We are on one of the qantas new fleet of airbus the A380/800 the Reginald ansett. The seating is extremely comfortable. Even though we are in rows 55 and 56 there are additional doors half way along the fuselage to board so we didn’t have to struggle down a long aisle to get to our seats We have all watched a couple of movies. The meal was surprisingly ok and plenty to eat. It is so different to the first time I flew to Singapore with dad on our way to Ireland. I wanted to get off after the first movie and meal and couldn’t believe how long these flights take, but must say this gas been very comfortable. We change from qantas to lufthansa in Singapore and only have 1 hour 40 mins to change terminal and get ou boarding passes. ……

Day 2
Munich, St Petersburg Saturday, 11 June 2011
We have arrived at Munich airport and waiting for transfer flight to St Petersburg. I am currently now writing this at midnight, and have not slept in 40 hours except for catnap on the plane. It’s ridiculous really. We lolled about the Munich airport for 5 hours doing not much at all really. For the first time in an airport we saw these little glass cabins that you can sleep in in the middle of the airport for 10 euro an hour. Like a tiny glass motel room that you swipe your credit card and go in, pull the blinds and have a sleep. We flew from Munich along the eastern European coast line over Lithuania, estonia and Russia until final touchdown around 3 pm I think. A short wait for our bags and we were met by jon our driver who politely informed me that ” he was doing the driving ” after I tried to get in the drivers side of the car. While on the way to our hotel our tour guide for the city walk around phoned and wanted it to change from Sunday to Saturday, so we only had time for a very fast shower before she walked us for endless kilometers all over the city. We were so tired by the end we just wanted to have sleep. The city reminds me of a lot of other european cities, especially Vienna. Our hotel Hotel Vespa is small but clean with helpful staff. Free wifi and only 50 meters from their equivalent to swanston street. We walked over several waterways and canals, as st Petersburg, otherwise known as venice of the north has approximately 100 islands. Anyway after the tour we picked about the most expensive hotel to eat in as we were tired and could not decide what to eat. We paid about 40 or 5o each I think. Reece didn’t eat as we had already eaten on the plane but she just ordered 2 glasses of red wine which were about $20.00 for a 125 ml glass. Anyway it is easy to find somewhere to eat cheap and easy along the street.
Lots of tourists here at the moment for the white nights festival as the sun does not actually go down. Because we are so close to the arctic circle it is sunlight all night. We have come to our room at 1130 pm and it is bright daylight outside. Well if that hasn’t wrecked our jet lag walking along the street drinking from a stubby has made me sleepy. Yes we were advised that to fit in with the locals to walk around drinking alcohol, so as I only had a lemonade with my dinner I felt very rebellious drinking a huge can of gordons gin and tonic while walking along the street. It was a huge can and only cost about $2.00. Any we we are stowed away for the night with the blinds drawn, and the receptionist is washing our teacups. Goodnight from St.Petersburg. Better photos tomorrow
Day 3 – Art, And History,St Petersburg
St Petersburg Sunday, 12 June 2011

Today we were awake at 0700 and up for breakfast at our motel ” the vesta” at 0900. It was very hearty and plentiful. Continental plus sausage ham and eggs if you wished. We are still pretty tired from yesterday. We set out walking and after calling at a few shops walked to the ” hermitage museum ” the largest museum in the world. I followed the others around as i was busy with the camera,but one could spend days in there. Unfortunately I don’t feel the art is as well looked after as some of the other european countries do it, but it is hard to believe the magnitude of it. parts of the old palace were magnificent in both size and decoration. Also some beautiful paintings by prominent artists. Monet, Picasso, Gaugin and hundreds of others.

After spending several hours in there we tried eating In a local restaurant which was quaint,but unfortunately like all the other places we have been the service is terrible. Reece gave up and didn’t order food and mine was about an hour wait for melted cheese and ham on toast.
We walked to a tourist market near the fabulous church
of the spilt blood in the photos below with the domes on top and just looked,then quickly changed and caught a local bus to the hermitage theatre for the ballet “swanlake” which we enjoyed. It would have been easy to go to sleep in there. Today was Russian Independance Day so lots of festive things happening here. Concerts, rowing ontheriver and the like. Plenty of military about but we saw no trouble. By the time we caught a bus home and got to a restaurant with only half the meal turning up we have come home. It is just past midnight and i need sleep. We have done loads of walking the last 2 days but feeling bit sore in the legs as not used to it. Night folks. ..

Day 4 – Relaxed Pace Day St. Petersburg
St Petersburg Monday, 13 June 2011

Woke up with very sad news today that one of my best friends lost in a tragic accident in Hamburg. I had an email from him a few hours prior to his accident. Felt sick all day. Started by walking to St Peters Cathedral and Marisa and lit a candle for both Les and Mike. After we all caught up together we went on a canal tour in a water bus boat which was good. Went past church of the spilt blood, out onto the Neva River, and around “hare” island. Had lunch in the “singer cafe” which is the beautifully restored Singer sewing machine factory. Tried some russian food with the best view in town. I had cheese and ham blini, Jane had blueberry pancake, and Lisa and Marisa had a cabbage mince roll. Jane and Lisa ordered a hot chocolate to drink, which was quite hilarious. It was as thick as thick, hardly dripped of the spoon and tasted like chocolate pudding mixture. I was good and had a cup of tea. The singer building is two or three levels of lovely bookstore so we were able to buy postcards. Earlier in the day when we had done a walk to post some mail we purchased greeting cards and have no idea what was written on them. We walked via some back streets then to see st isaacs cathedral. On the way we went into a large nightclub come brewery which was really good to see compared to the usual main street stuff. Nevsky prospekt the main street is only 50m from our motel which has been great.
At St Isaacs Jane and Lisa walked right to the top for the view. I wasn’t quite adventurous as I was a little tired and it was over 300 steps to the top. I went into the cathedral which is now a museum. It reminded me a lot like the roman cathedrals, and was really beautiful. There were some lovely mosaic pieces and I took a few pictures. Pizza for dinner and uneventful train departure for Moscow 2345. Thinking of you lindy. Hope we can both get some sleep.

Day 5
Moscow Tuesday, 14 June 2011
Getting around Moscow is all about using the underground railway. We arrived in Moscow around 6.30 am after spending our first night on a sleeper train. Small rooms but clean and comfortable with less than desirable toilet facility. Train was smooth and quiet. Feeling smelly and tired we transferred straight to the maxima hotel where we left our luggage and ate a good breakfast which was cereals, fruits, pastries, eggs, and more. Most places here also offer Frankfurt looking sausage in steamers. Our guide was very very good with gat English, good knowledge and a pleasant demeanor. He was only 22 years old but lots of passion with his job of guiding us around. We quickly got used to the huge underground railway with it’s 301.2 and or more kms of track with 182 stations moving 14 million people per day. Trains are very fast and in peak hour run every 90 seconds.

The guide walked us through the main area of Moscow shoeing us very interesting shops. One looked more like a palace inside than a food shop. We spent a few hours at red square talking and will return for kremlin tour tomorrow. It was raining a little but not cold so maybe better day for photos then. My lunch was borsch, a little pot of fried mushrooms in a sour cream sauce with cheese on top and a beetroot salad. Everyone had different food at a cafeteria style food store in GUM shopping Centre

which is a beautiful shopping centre in red square. We are really enjoying seeing the onion top cathedral buildings here and there including St Basils. I was exhausted after lunch as haven’t exactly had much sleep in last 6 days so went back for sleep for couple of hours. Took ages to get into the room. Lisa travelled on the met a bit longer to see some ofnthe artwork at the stations. Tonightbit was reeces turn to have a quiet night at home and Jane, Lisa and I got the metro to a recommended restaurant for some local fare which was in a good local area to have a walk around as well.
I ordered a vodka which comes in a 50 ml glass and tonight it was accompanied by a slice of cucumber, and 2 pickled seems of asparagus wrapped in pigs fat. Awesome! I apologized to the waiter and said I didn’t think I could eat it. We all had a tiny tiny taste and it was very salty. Main course was rabbit in sour cream with garlic potatoes. Followed that with a piece of poppyseed and apricot cake. Jane had cabbage rolls and Lisa had salmon and then shared fruit dumplings. Oh we were also given different types of bread to eat with a pork meat paste which was a bit scary. Some of the bread I think was fried in dripping. I shall post photos of the food and menu tomorrow. Moscow is nothing like st Petersburg. It is a big bustling city in comparison. Time for bed and off to the Kremlin tomorrow.

Day 6 – Moscow And The Kremlin
Moscow Wednesday, 15 June 2011

After our leisurely breakfast we headednfor red square again on the subway. To get to the subway we walk to the front of our hotel and entry point is right there. We firstly went to the mausoleum and saw Lenin’s corpse. We then went into the kremlin,the fortress which contains 5 or 6 separate churches all with onion top roofs and quite different inside to each other. Lovely gardens as well. We toured the armoury museum which was quite spectacular. Gold, silver , carriages, horse and soldiers chain mail armour, costumes and crowns of royalty, the thrones of Peter the great and Ivan the terrible.
Such a lot to look at. After that we travelled quite a way on the subway to a vodka museum which was located in a market. The market was large and very old with lots of tourist stuff plus…bit like the Vic market of Moscow I imagine. The vodka museum was bit ordinary. Lots of vodka really so we had a couple of shots with gerkins and jumped back on the subway. We headed back to a suburban area where we ate dinner last night as there are heaps of restaurants there. Had a buffet style meal which was good as we got to see all the food rather than choose from a menu. We returned home by about 9pm and had quiet evening recounting the last few days here in moscow.

Day 7 – From Moscow With Love..
Moscow Thursday, 16 June 2011
after a good nights sleep and a nice continental breakfast we decided to take a boat trip on the moscow river. unfortunately when we got there the timing didn’t allow us to do. Marisa and lisa took the lovely boat ride around the city, Jane and I rode the subway for a couple of hours taking pictures.

We all made it back to the hotel on time to check out and eat a local souvlaki before being picked up by a large mini bus for our station transfer. I am currently siitting in our 4 berth carriage waiting for departure…..now 4 and a half hours into the trip. Soon after leaving the outskirts of Moscow we had silver birch forests and sometimes fir trees both sides of the train. othervdeciduous trees as well. amongst the trees close to Moscow there were occasional cemeteries with many flowers on the graves. We drank our celebratory bottle of Veuve Cliqot to mark the start of our journey followed by a bottle of red with some pretzels. We have passed through a few small villages and the first stop was about 3 and half hours from Moscow. On the platform were about 20 peddlers with wares from decorative drinking glasses, fruit, ornaments, to huge chandeliers, vases 1m in height, and stuffed animals – I think maybe ermine.

They were well dressed and trying hard to sell their wares, but I didnt see any sales. As we took off from the station a fellow traveller with absolutely no spoken English invited himself into our cabin with a bottle of vodka.
We all obliged with a small drink, and he was none too pleased when we made it clear we wouldn’t be continuing to drink with him. The others have currently gone to the dining car to see what delights are down there, and I am happy to watch our bags as the green green forest with beautiful purple wildflowers go by. They look like a huge grape hyacinth to me. Occasionally either side of the small towns there are small clearings but mostly still forest. as we left Moscow there was occasional new houses being constructed, but the further we go what we are mainly seeing from the train are very shabby wooden houses- a few are painted brightly, We are having lots and lots of laughs and really enjoying this journey. Well the girls are back from the dining car. Jane and Marisa chose to have a cheese sandwich. They each were given a half slice of bread with a piece of cheese on top, while Lisa ordered vegetables and had mainly tomato on plate with a piece of cucumber and mushroom. I took the easy way and had cup of noodle soup, a muesli bar, a le snack, and shared my chocolate and dinosaurs out to the hungry girls. at the end of each carriage is a Samovar or a very large urn for boiling water. each carriage has a lady supervisor, ours is called rema.

Day 8 – clack, Clickety Clack
Ekaterinburg Friday, 17 June 2011
Slept fairly well on the reasonably smooth overnight train. We are scheduled to arrive in Ekaterinburg around 6pm. We woke around 6 am to a lovely sunny day, possibly cold outside, our train is air-conditioned. It had been raining during the night. Today we are passing through larger and a bit more affluent towns, even though most of these still have gravel roads and old wooden houses. Most industrial things seem to be old as well ie:buildings and silos. On the fringes of the train track most houses have very big vegetable gardens and wood heaps. Have seen some reasonably modern roads and bridges, piles of scoria on the sides of the track, large silos, crop fields, but most of all silver birch and more silver birch. Fir trees of different variety increasing as we advance We are also passing/ meeting other trains, mainly freight around every half hour or so. railway is very important for all the rural industries here, especially the minerals and precious stones, ie: rodanite, topaz, quartz, amethyst, from the Ural mountains. Vodka man from last night wearing a bit of blood and bandaids this morning and the waiter in the catering car is asleep on a seat in there. we caught Rema going in to vodka mans compartment and never saw her come out u til we got off the train with him..During this morning we had a stop for about 20 mins and were able to get off and buy food from locals on the platform. We consequently had loaves and fishes for lunch. We shared 2 eggs, a salted smoked trout, 2 loaves of bread and some cheese.

Quite a picnic. Just before we got back on the train an old lady showed us some nicely packaged chicken and salad or beef burgers and salad in her basket. It looked OK but we already bought our lunch. A packet of biscuits like Morning coffee was $10.00, so we bought the bread for $1.00 per loaf. Our carriage is comfortable and clean, however there are no shower facilities onboard.
We each-had clean linen. 2 double bunks with lots of storage both above the door and under the seats. Arrived safely in Ekaterinburg after 27 hours on the train and promptly met by our guide Constantine and taken to our beautiful Hotel Checkov. our rooms are 20s style and very clean and neat with updated facilities. As soon as we showered we went to a local ukranian restaurant with some very odd menu items including horse. Everything pretty much tasted like mutton, and Reece gamely ate the liver kebab. we all slept very well..

Day 9 – Ekaterinburg – The Isolated city
Ekaterinburg Saturday, 18 June 2011
Ekaterinburg has a population of 1.1 million. our hotel is central and walking distance to shopping centers and malls, the river, and cultural points of interest. the hotel provides a substantial breakfast, after which we were met by our guide Jana. we familiarized with local shopping area, Art Gallery, and river front. Jana then explained to us the demise of the Romanoff Family ( tsar Nicholas and family). we visited the site of the killing and the church of spilt blood which now is built there. We also visited the museum of Ekaterinburg which houses the largest private collection of minerals and stones, plus gifts of shells and undersea animals and fossils which I found very interesting. a few showers of rain today but not cold. coffee in an Irish pub, and then visited the fine art museum to see a collection of mezzotint prints of the entaglio style. Quick look at the shops followed by local Vodka accompanied by Russian barbecue food and a lot of laughter.

Day 10 – The Ural Mountains
Sunday, 19 June 2011
ekaterinburg is the industrial centre of Russia, thus the importance of rail transportation. Population roughly 1.2 million. In previous times it manufactured all of the weapons of war here and was closed to outsiders until 1990. There are still military towns in the Ural mountains thAt are not for public access. the Ural mountains being rich in minerals including iron ore which was of course an important resource. Today we were collected at 0930 and driven to the countryside where we had a 2km walk to an old talc mine now fooled with water. there were also some pushbike riders out on a Sunday ride, and a couple of them swam in the freezing water. It was a birthday for one guy so we all sang happy birthday to him There was a lot of tall timber, birch and fir, and plenty of ferns, weeds, and forest flowers. We chatted briefly to a group of pushbike riders who were interested in meeting us, and we sang happy birthday to one of them. We then had a picnic lunch of bread, tomato, cheese, salami and cucumber by the lake side. the vehicle was an off road 8 seater, and unfortunately the windows were so dark we could hardly see anything. the driver was an idiot. Got lost, drove too fast, and we left him trying to untangle his roof racks from an underground car park that he had taken us, and it was way too low for his car. the towns we went past today all had gas pipes about 8 or 10 feet above ground all over the town.
We have seen it in several places. They are usually bright yellow, and are linked everywhere. The ground is all rock and not possible to lay the pipes under the ground. We also visited a war memorial and a small general store where we purchased some nice brown bread for the train trip. We got additional food from the supermarket next door to our hotel which is in a great location. We are showered and packed ready to be picked up at 9pm for the next part of the journey which is three nights and 2 days on the train to Irkutsk. ..

Day 11 – Ekateringburg To Irkutsk
Monday, 20 June 2011

last evening was a whole new experience for the train. Our first 2 trains were upholstered, with a fold down mattress, but this one has vinyl seats, no padding to speak of, and a bed roll of possibly capok. We were given fresh linen to make our beds. We are by now quite experienced in stowing away our bags. There is lots of storage above the doorway where most of Lisa and janes things fit, and the rest fits under the lower seats. The carriages are a lot older than the Moscow trains, and ride quite smoothly. It is reasonably uncomfortable, but funny as well. We all had a reasonable sleep after a couple bottles of red. There were a lot of overnight train stops, some for only 2 minutes, some for 30 minutes. initially we didnt know jow to tell, but there is a timetable on the wall of the train, so we had to get used to matching up the name of the station with the Russian writing on the timetable. we brought a lot of food with us not knowing what we were going to get on the train, but the first morning stop today there were three shops, one of which had a small dairy case with yoghurt, salamis and meat, bread, cheese, lots of tinned and boxed goods, and even a few pieces of clothing. we took advantage of the 20 min stop to walk up and down the station. There is also a restaurant car which looks to be ok, and Shortly after leaving the station a lady walked through selling meat dumplings, and boiled eggs then later came through the carriage with a wheeled cart selling drinks and snacks. That was around 10am local time, and then at about 2pm we stopped in Omsk.

It is a huge city on a very large river, with many many cranes on the river bank. Rail and rivers are very important here, and i counted roughly 20 cranes on one side of the river. We could also see lots of very large smokestacks, and there are power kinds all over the country just from what we can see from the train. The train station was large with a few kiosks and around 200 people getting on and off various trains. i dont think I expected to see such large cities out here, but they range from 700,000 people to 1.5 million in some centres. Most of these country centres are dilapidated and unkempt. The roads are poorly maintained, fences left to fall down, tripping hazards on the footpaths and so on. The countryside has continued to be green and lush, not many animals, and plenty of stands of silver birch trees.
The small country villages are every few kilometers and unfortunately they look like something out of a poverty stricken country. Russia supposedly the sixth most affluent country has left it’s ancient farming communities and small villages to self survive. Elderly folk are mainly left in these towns with little money, and grow all of their vegetables in a limited season due to the cold and snow. The houses are mostly unpainted pine or cedar and ramshackle with bits and pieces added on and falling apart. Rooves are tin and asbestos. Nearer to the larger cities are proper made roads, bridges, and huge blocks of apartment buildings, bigger than I have seen anywhere. Railway yards are busy busy busy with long trains around 70 carriages full of coal, fuel, scoria, train tracks. Today we saw some very old motor bikes from the 50s with sidecars I would say, tried to get a quick photo but a bit far away. settled down to another night on our hard benches for a second nights sleep.

Day 12 – Smelly Train
Novosibirsk Tuesday, 21 June 2011

Well by today with three days and no shower, there are some carriages that absolutely stink to walk past. On each of the carriages similar to ours we have 8 x 4 berth rooms with a large samovar ( continually boiling water) which is handy for tea, coffee, noodles and soup. Also good for hot water to sponge wash as there are no showers. Each carriage has 2 stainless steel toilets-one at each end. Ours are smelly. There are 2 attendants in our carriage that take shifts. A lady from early am to night and then a man swaps with her. The lady speaks no English and does no work. When the man is on he seems to clean the toilets. Actually the lady did do some work today. She threw open our door early this morning and vacuumed our floor while we were all asleep. The other girls got yelled at for using another carriage toilet by another attendant. We thought we would go to the dining car and play cards and got told to go away. Can’t win as don’t have a clue what they are saying. We went up to one of the cattle class carriages where there was an Aussie, 3 Russian girls, and 2 Russian guys that could speak English. The girls were on their way to a retreat for the mind. The Aussie guy was returning to Australia after traveling the world surfing for three and a half years and will make it home by Christmas. The cattle class cabin is in 9 open sections, each section with 9 bunks which are 3 high.
81 persons in one carriage with a open corridor. It was very very cosy and would have been dreadful. No privacy and nowhere to out your stuff. There were all ages and types in there. The group we chatted to were friendly and shared some nice Russian ravioli with us which was filled with egg and potato. Thayer wanted us to try some weird tea they were all sharing around with a wooden straw ro suck on but I declined. We passed the evening away playing cards and getting on and off the train to buy bits of food. Potato dumplings, and lots of other home cooked food. I tried something like a deep fried fish cake but couldn’t eat it. Ay way we are on the home run and get into bed for our arrival in irkutsk.

Day 13 – Irkutsk, Listvyanka, Lake Baikal
Irkutsk, Listvyanka Wednesday, 22 June 2011

It was nice to get off the train, an irkutsk although a large city, the further away from Moscow, the less groomed towns seem to be. The roads are definitely in need of repair. Our driver also not that good, but our guide for the day Katya was lovely. After the 70 km drive to the lake we had a hearty breakfast at our hotel o’zera. They served us porridge with butter. The porridge was a lot like farex but we couldn’t find out what it was made from. They said it wasn’t rice but that’s what we think it is. Katy a walked us about a km to the information museum on the lake, one of the better local museums we have visited. They have a lot of the lake species in An aquarium there including seals, sturgeon fish, omul fish and crustaceans. It was very interesting. We then walked up to a high hilltop to see the view over the lake. The lookout was an old hotel built in soviet times for tourists.
It was still a working hotel but extremely run down. We then walked from one end of the town to the other. We visited an orthodox church and a car museum, and wakked around the back streets of the town which was really good.

There are a few cows and goats here. The town is 7 km long built between high mountains and the waters edge, and I think we did about 4 kms each way at this point. There is a fishing fleet here, tourist boats, a few tourist markets, and lots of fruit and fish markets stalls. The fish is usually smoked or salted. We stayed in the main part of town for our dinner, and had barbequed skewers outside overlooking the beach area where a few game people would venture up to their ankles as the water is so cold. We were exhausted after the walk home as we covered quite a few kms overall today after getting straight off the train.

Day 14 – I Love To Go A Wandering
Listvyanka Thursday, 23 June 2011

This morning we go a sleep in as our private guide didn’t need us until 1030. We walked about 800 m to the local ferry and went to the other side of the lake, at this point only about 3km wide I would think as it only took 15 min. The lake is incredibly clear with 40 m visibility, and in the winter when it first freezes over you can clearly see into the depths of the lake. Once off the ferry we walked around the lakes edge along an old railway line at a quick walk for one hour. Sacha our guide built a little fire over which he grilled us some of the local fish and served it with bread, tomato, cucumber, cheese, and 2 bottles of Russian wine which was all really nice. We sat on a clearing full of wildflowers with butterflies of about 5 different types flying around us. There were horse flies also but he had some good repellant for that. It was a very pleasant few hours spent there. On the walk home about one third of the way we went to a rocky beach. Dacha built a small fire and boiled a large Billy of water from the lake and we had cups of Billy tea with buns and chocolate. While waiting for the water to boil we all tried getting into the lake with our trousers rolled up. It was so cold Jane said her legs feet were aching but everyone elses just felt numb. We caught the ferry back and got a taxi into town.

One of the big hotels there has access to wireless Internet so we sat in there having coffee using the Internet for a while to see what was happening at home. W walked further along the beach then and sat in a beach hut with kebabs for dinner again. It was really nice. We all got a bit of sunburn today. The whole trip although some days had rain, has-been t shirt weather. The air around the lake can be quite icy early morning and evening. The days are longer here but we are still only getting about 4 or 5 hours of darkness I think. We played a few hands of 500 before bed. Tomorrow is one of our only free days so Jane and I are going to do some photography hopefully.

Day 15 – Lazy Day On The Lake
Listvyanka Friday, 24 June 2011

Cold this morning. We have been fairly fortunate with weather so far. Even days with rain have been warmish or we have been on the train. Our first 2 days here at the lake were beautiful and sunny and cold at night, but today the air is cold cold cold even when the sun out. We walked into town and had a lovely morning tea. I had a pie with full of berries which turned out to be a light Cake with a smidgeon of berries on top with cream. Jane ordered chocolate croissant and was served 3 beautiful croissants which were warm and full of melted chocolate. We went to the information centre to see what to do today and went on a boat trip. It was on an old fishing boat ( clean) for one hour along the lake. $10.00. In fact we have found most prices of things to be quite cheap. Meals, wine, etc all very reasonable compared to our standard. All food places clean and busy. Lovely bakeries. Pot of tea with 5 cups is $3.30 cappuccino $4.00 here in Listvyanka. Today Reece and I shared 2 pots of tea a lovely chicken salad and a plate of potato ravioli total cost $18.80. We have been enjoying all of our picnic lunches however. Bread, cheese, cucumber, salami or fish. The bread is really nice. Fresh and brown or white, and a little crumbly. Really good toasted with the local berry jam. We were warned that the wine may not be very good but we have tried French, spanish, argentinean, Chilean and Russian and all equally palatable from $7.00
to $12.00. After the boat trip Reece and I sat on the harbor area for about 45 mins and enjoyed the sun. Also watched a wedding party taking their pix. By thebtime we gotnhome from town it was raining. The weather was bleak and stormy with thunder and lightning, in fact the weather on the lake changes frequently and rapidly which has caused boating accidents in the past. The rain cleared and we walked about 500 m to our dinner restaurant where we each tried the local fish omul different ways. Lisa had shish kebab, Jane had fish cakes, Reece had traditional Russian pie which was mushroom potato and cheese with the fish and I had it freshly grillednwhich was extremely tasty. I don’t remember a lot about the fish but I only found 4 tiny bones in the whole fish. We each ordered a dessert accompanied by ice-cream, and we ended up with 2 desserts each!! We are all too full. Lucky we had to walk home..which by now the weather is calm and foggy. ..

Day 16 – Listvyanka To Irkutsk
Listvyanka, Irkutsk Saturday, 25 June 2011

This morning we awoke to a beautiful foggy morning with the sun trying to peep through. After a light breakfast we were almost packed and ready to leave but Lisa put on her swimmers for a plunge in the icy lake. Lisa and I both jumped in the 5 deg lake supposedly to add 20 years onto our life. We made Jane jealous so she then took a dip, followed by marissa. There was quite a bit of squealing and laughs. Our driver was a little late but soon we were driven to Irkutsk which is an easy city to walk around despite it’s size.

Lenin street and Carl Marx street were easy navigation points and we walked to the river and through the main street to the food markets which were both plentiful and busy. All types of fruit and veg, meats and fish, plus seedlings of flowers and veg. Our hotel is almost on the corner of the main street which makes it very convenient. This evening we had dinner in a lovely Italian restaurant and each had a lovely pizza. This was good as I am not really looking forward to several days of mutton! Early night tonight as we are catching a 4 am train as our schedule was slightly changed. We still arrive in Ulan bataar at same ETA 0630 Monday am gobi desert time. Looking forward to our tour of the monastery there…and a dog in the street barked all night !

Day 17 – Transfer From Russia To Mongolia
Irkutsk, Ulaanbaatar Sunday, 26 June 2011

Well we slept on and off and woke to a lovely sunny morning. We had been given a packed lunch from the motel which came in handy although we gave away our slabs of curd covered in some kind of fruit conserve. We also had boiled eggs, bread, cucumber, and water. During the day we decided to play cards in the dining car. There were 2 Mongolian women dressed up as French maids with blue mini skirts and aprons and lace pantyhose. They had prepared a luncheon for some French tourists, and before we went over to the Russian border the carriage was dropped off our train, so we couldn’t even go and sit there. Luckily we knew to bring our own food and water. The train was filled with all local Mongolian people, and prior to getting to the Russian Mongolian border there were great goings on. The had boxes and boxes and boxes of what we are not sure, but hardware, food, and beverages. They were moving it up and down all of the carriages and making quite a commotion. By the time the guards got onto the train they were all seated in their cabins. It was, as our guide said, a big game of mouses and the cat Each cabin was duly searched. Not much time was spent in our cabin, but they seemed to be in some cabins for ages. Dogs were brought on board. Once our passports had been taken we were allowed walk for an hour, and expected to be back on board to receive out passports. It was so stuffy and hot we sat outside as long as we could. The whole process took around three hours. After the passports were returned to us and prior to the train leaving the station, the cargo was moved up and down the train again while mayhem ruled, but the guards now on the station took little notice. The train slowly left the station ( payakali) and advanced a few kilometers to the border.

The border area was secured with razor wire and high fences, and once inside Mongolia the train stopped briefly while guards walked around the train tapping here and there. We then advanced a few more kilometers and stopped at Mongolian customs station where once again our passports were taken. We were asked to close our curtains and blinds during this process, and this time the guards made another search of the cabins. There was a lot of raised voices in the cabin next to ours. The guards pulled a whole lot of stuff out of the compartment, not sure what they were looking for, they even pulled up the carpet in the walkway as there is a cavity under the floor.
Once again after sitting there for an hour, our passports returned, the guards sat on the station smoking with their bribes in their pockets while the passengers swapped goods, ran boxes up and down the carriages, and were masking tape up boxes half the night. The carriage attendants obviously all in on the activity, and a young policeman sleeping in the attendants room. It became extremely cold during the night and we had reasonable sleep, but we were up and ready by 5.30, an hour from Ulan bataar. The early morning sun on the hills and steppes is picturesque as we pass by many yurts, villages and camps. It is all very green but the grass is short. Quite a few small cow herds, and occasional horses. Many of the farmers are out and about.

Day 18 – My First Day On The Steppes
Ulaanbaatar Monday, 27 June 2011
The early morning sun on the hills and steppes is picturesque as we pass by many Gers, villages and camps. We also passed by an area that was occupiednby the Russians during the war, quite a few bunkers covered in grass so as not to be seen from above plus some other larger brick buildings close by. It is all very green but the grass is short. Quite a few small cow herds, and occasional horses. Grasses look sparse and sprinkled with small wildflowers. Many of the farmers are out and about. We arrived at Ulan bataar the largest city in Mongolia. Mongolia has roughly a population of 2.5 million of which 1.2 million live in the city. In the summer however most city dwellers move from their apartments to summer camps and houses into the hills where it is cooler. We were taken to a japanese bath house in a hotel for a shower and breakfast. The city is dusty with busy traffic and some poor maintenance on the infrastructure. Hazards on footpaths, unfinished projects, and road rage which is ridiculous when the traffic is so much worse elsewhere. The city has a huge central square ( easily twice the size of the fed square area, next to the parliament house, and is also surrounded by ballet theatre, art gallery, museum, and a dinosaur museum. We had a city walking tour then ate lunch at a traditional Mongolian BBQ buffet which was passable. We were then pleasantly surprised to learn that our guide ogi was going to spend the next couple of days with us in the ger camp. She has very fluent English plus other languages. We were driven 70 kms east of Ulan bataar to the site where chinges khan was supposed to have found a whip at the age of 15yo and went on to be the fearless leader and ruler of old Mongolia until the age of about 65 when he was still leading his men into battle ( died around 1228 I think.).

At this site is the incredible 30 m high stainless steel statue of chingis on his horse. It is an incredible engineering feat, and I am glad I am here to see it, as I don’t think the mongolians actually know how to manage looking after such a structure. The lift was broken down but we quickly climbed the stairs to take in the fantastic view over the steppes and mountains with cow and sheep herds, horses and ger camps. We had fun dressing up in some costumes of the day and bought some souvenirs. We backtracked a few kms and went down a rough dirt track to our camp, the elstei ger camp. Our arrival was very exciting. The driver announced our arrival by beeping the horn a few times, and about 10 staff rushed out to greet us and carry our bags into camp from the carpark about 150 m At the same time about 6 horses training for the nadaan festival rode through the camp outskirts whooping like Indians, galloping like crazy, and one young boy wielding a rope and swinging round and round.
It was like being in a western for a few moments until they rode out of sight.

We unpacked into our fabulous ger tents, and enjoyed a bottle of wine chatting to another guest from England, Susan. One of the staff brought us hot water for tea making. We were expected in the dining room at 7pm sharp for dinner and were served mutton which had been cooked in a waterproof vessel first with some water, then some red hot stones, then meat, then stones,meat and so on and a tight lid goes on for 2 hours or so over light coals. I did not think i would like it particularly as they use 4 or 5 y/o sheep, but the grassy pastires are mild herbs mainly including thyme and sage which gives the meat quite a mild flavour we also ate potato, turnip, carrot, coleslaw and rice. Hot tea was plentiful, and we even got a nice slice of lemon cake. After the meal was placed on our table to share, we were offered one of the hot stones from the meat cooking pot each to hold as a tradition to promote wellness we went for a short walk away from the camp. Quite a few mixed species of grasses, some green, some blue, and lots of small flower bearing plants like forget me nots, and othe tiny white and yellow and mauve ones Looking from the door of the restaurant or out ger, the light wind on the grasses looks quite pretty. They dont cultivate this so the word crop not generally used, they refer to the steppes as the pasture lands. It is in a lovely setting in a large valley with hills and distant mountains. There are 20 Gers here. When I returned to my ger a young man was waiting to light a fire inside to warm it for the evening, and I believe he will return here in the morning to do the same. I gave him a tip and he came rushing back with hot water for me. It is actually hot in here now as the tent heats quickly. They are canvas on the outside, a thick layer of felt made from sheeps wool, and a lining of patterned material We arrived at around 4 pm, it is now around 10 pm, and the boys on the horses are still practicing, galloping around and around with a motor bike chasing them. The boys chant while warming up the horses to excite them. Each boy has 4 horses to excercise The horses are very sure footed but must also be exhausted. Every half hour or so we hear the sound of hooves as they go tearing past the camp. Whips waving and jockeys hollering. Hopefully I will be able to get some footage tomorrow. Our beds are hard, and the pillow is tiny made from rice husks as were the ones on the train. These ones are only about one inch thick. Babies pillows here are made from used dried tea leaves. Getting into bed a light rain is now patting on the roof of the ger, and it is warm and cosy inside. What a great day we have had!

Day 19 – Meeting The Horsemen
Ulaanbaatar Tuesday, 28 June 2011

Today has turned out to be an incredible day. At 7 am a knock on the door and someone lit our stove and left a pot of boiling water to make tea. Then in the dining room we were treated to a lovely breakfast of a sweet rice pudding with homemade wild blueberry jam, savoury rice and mutton sausages( I declined that bit) hot freshly made cranberry juice, and homemade baked goods. After breakfast our fantastic guide Ogi took us on a walk across the steppes to a ger camp where the 4 young jockeys have been training their horses for the nadaan festival.

Traditional states that women cannot come too close so we kept a distance. On the walk we also saw a yak with some cattle, large flocks of sheep of several varieties, and about 40 horses were penned up in order to catch some for riding and then let go again. We had a good opportunity to watch the boys aged from 7 to 11 exercising their horses, 3 with saddle and one bareback. The older stockmen with handmade boots, and traditional farm wear, the boys with more store-bought varieties. The bridles and whips all homemade.

The older gentleman aged 80 years then had us as guests in his ger. He made us comfortable and offered us biscuits and sweets and went to make us some tea. In the middle of his ger stood a huge bowl of milk. It was yesterday’s milk which had been boiled and the clotted cream removed and then left to sit. It is used firstly as milk, secondly as curd, and then it is sometimes strained through a cloth, the solid kept for the winter and eaten for calcium and nutrition, the liquid fermented into an alcoholic drink. he returned with our tea which was basically warmed watered down salty milk – yum- nothing quite like I had before, nevertheless we were feeling very blessed to be there as his guest. AHis 7 yo grandson came in to meet us, at first nervous but then happy to have photos taken. Lisa had some sweets to give, and we all gave a little donation to the old man, I gave them some small toys to the jockeys plus a frisbee which was a real hit. They played with it straight away and even a guy on horseback joined in. I was informed later something like that would usually only be available on the black market. we walked back to the camp and had a chance to find some of the herb varieties in the grasses, with our guide Ogi chatting to us about past and present customs the whole time. She is one of the bestnguides I have encountered in most of my travel experience.

By now our shoes have a lovely herby aroma from the grasses. Lunch was a coleslaw type salad but made from colorful capsicum, carrot cabbage and onion. Very tasty, followed by some rich meat and vegetable soup and brown bread. At this point I was feeling full but we were also given 2 meat crepes of which I could only eat one. After lunch we had a rest, and then Ogi took us into a communal ger where she used a mongolian map and explained the 21 provinces, and the main attraction or strength of each province. The country is larger than I thought, twice the size of France, and has quite a few national parks which and fantastic. I would love to return here and do a longer trip with Ogi one day.

Our horseman daygi was ready with our horses so once we were fitted up with chaps and helmets we walked to the horse coral and each were fitted up with our Mongolian pony.
We had a lovely ride through the valley past the sheep, cattle, and herd of horses. It was perfect and calm weather and we all enjoyed it immensely. We saw a pair of mandarin ducks which were a lovely co our but were not allowed to use the cameras while on horseback. Our horsemen were very obliging with photo shoots at the end which was great as they wore interesting gear. They rode on very uncomfortable but decorated wooden saddles. Dinner was ready so we had to go straight to the dining room for salad, and a fresh pasta and beef dish. After dinner Ogi, ourselves, Susan, Mel duffield, and mike Oman all played a hilarious card game called spoons. Jane made a big dive under the glass table at one point and went sliding along under our feet. It was hilarious. On the way to bed Mel and mike from london lit some Chinese paper floating lantens which floated off into the night sky. Back in our cabins our fire had warmed we got to bed late again, around 1230. What an eventful and fun day.

Day 20 – From Camp To Ulaan Baatar
Ulaanbaatar Wednesday, 29 June 2011
This morning we have to pack and head on back to town. Our fire was lit at 7 am and hot water was bought for us to make tea. Breakfast is always served at 9 am so plenty of time for a last look around and to pack. Breakfast today was warm milk and honey, and similar to yesterday. On the drive back to Ulsan bataar over the terrible road, the driver had to weave in and out of the huge holes in the road. We stopped and took our photo with a huge eagle similar to a wedge tail, it was from kazmenikstan. Once in town we visited a few shops, post office and cashmere showroom. When we went to cheek. Into our hotel it was fully booked and we were transferred to ” tower b” as an upgrade. When I walked into our room it was already occupied so we had an upgrade to the presidential suite, which was huge. A small bar/ kitchen, a dining room, a living room plus writing desk, a large bathroom with gold rimmed china, and lots of storage. We attended a one hour concert at the national folk theatre. I love any type of concert and i found this one to be extremely good. Unfortunately like russia traces of communism are obvious, and the entry point to the theatre was a disgrace. Poor signage, unkempt road and parking place, we walked there and had to hop around huge puddles of water. We saw dancing of a few types, femLe and male singers, an amazing throat singer, and a gorgeous female contortionist who was incredible.
There were also instruments which i wasnt familiar with including a two stringed horse fiddle. The costumes were clean, brightly coloured and all of the dancing was very well executed. There was quite a crowd, about 200 i estimated. We went for a walk and then out to dinner at an Irish pub of all places. I had a pizza with salami – the salami is usually mutton Salami. Back in the presidential suite we packed away our gear again for our final train trip to china via the eastern gobi desert.

Day 21 – One Hump Or Two
Ulaanbaatar Thursday, 30 June 2011
Up at 0530 for our transfer to Ulaan Baatar railway station. The hotel prepared us a breakfast pack of yoghurt, pastries, fruit, salad, sandwich and water. It is mikes funeral today in sydney and being webcast for his family in uk and europe and all his colleagues as he has worked in so many countries, but i will miss it being on the train for the next 31 hours. Will be thinking of them today. Once on the train Jane and Reece having a nap. The samovar isnt hot yet so no cup of tea yet. The countryside is quite hilly. Lots of horse herds, ger camps, and grassy but stony fields. Extremely stony in fact reminds me of ” quins” one of our family farms where we picked up all of the stones in the sixties. The fences are a lot more primitive than our farms at home. There doesnt seem to be strainer posts and wire, but more of a cyclone barbed wire, with an occasional stretch of the panelled wood picket style fences that the nomads use as portable fencing. The telephone poles are all held up by concrete poles. The concrete is about 6 feet high, and the wooden poles are then lashed to the concrete ones, suppose it is because of the snow. Close to the city there is unfortunate amounts of rubbish everywhere. Occasionally we see the wishing poles, a pole around 8 feet high, covered in prayer flags or topped with prayer flags, and surrounded by stones. Traditional Mongolians believe if they place 3 stones at the base when they pass by they will have good luck. Every now and then I have seen army type accommodations and military looking bases, or ugly industrial areas, but they always seem to crop up just as another train passes. I am not sure if this is on purpose to stop tourists seeing some of these things freely. During Russian/soviet rule there were many military bases throughout mongolia which are now unused or converted into apartment accommodation. I dont know what the unused bunkers are used for any more.
The land is vast, and we often have fantastic views from the train in contrast to the occasional ugly stuff. In fact across the whole desert trip we only saw an occasional lone tree. Locals we have met advise us that they know the government is corrupt, and that a lot of investments are made in international private property. There are over 70 politicians for the 2.5 million population, and the infrastructure is sadly maintained. Today’s beautiful and sunny, and in contrast to previous trips we are. Now winding and climbing, winding and climbing. We have hardly seen any timber near Ulaan Baatar, and not sure how far wood has to be carted by nomads. Coal is also available so maybe that is also used. In Ulaan bataar most families have 2 bedroomed apartments. If two boys are followed by a baby girl, the parents move and sleep in the living space. In soviet rule families were given a medal for the fifth and seventh child in each family, and when an eighth was born another medal and some money. Contraception was illegal during communist rule. Rarely but occasionally we see new houses being constructed but Gers are still widely used city and country. It was really good seeing them everywhere we went. The wooden structure or the Gers have leather nails which we saw, I photographed but not a good one. Anyway the Gers Make for a picturesque landscape.

As we crossed the more and more barren desert we saw double humped camels, herds of horses and cows, remote ger lodges, flocks of sheep and goats, and all the while rarely any water, in fact Jane and I saw mirages across the desert in the late afternoon. Amazingly we would see a single person near the track or out in the desert miles from nowhere. Often they wore an orange shirt, which we also saw in Mongolia, the farmers wear yellow or orange sashes around their jackets. The temperature is around 30deg and when the windows are open can be quite dusty. During the heat of the day we closed the blind and had a fan in the carraige. Around 9 pm we had the Mongolian border crossing and formalities. Once again our passports were taken and stamped, and returned within the hour. Another 10 minutes on and we stopped for 4 hours or so for the Chinese border formalities. In contrast to mongolia the chinese wanted to show how much improved they were i guess by having some loud music playing at the station and a bigger ritzier station etc. We were required to stay on the train while our passports were being processed. During this time we were shunted into a large shed and each carriage was separated from each other. Each carriage was then raised above the bogeys which were all shunted away and replaced by a different gauge because of the different sizing. Once we were sat back down onto the correct bogeys, a lengthy prices took place shunting us up and back up and back along about a kilometer stretch pushing all the carriages back together. This whole process took about three hours, during which we had no power in our carriage and noone was allowed to go to the toilet. The mongolian restaurant car was removed and replaced by a chinese one. We have plenty of bread, cheese, tomato and cucumber so no need to eat in the dining car. When we were finally allowed to get off for 40 mins there was a smelly basic stand over toilet and a small supermarket which had basics plus fresh fruit. The girl on the checkout added each item up, charged it in yuen, we all paid in different currencies, U.S, Euro and she just worked out the change and handed it back in whatever currency worked out for her. She was very clever. Back on board everyone was tired as was after midnight. Nevertheless a loud ringing bell and an announcement that the train would be leaving in 20 mins, then an announcement that we we’re imminently leaving, then a loud bell ringing, and finally as we pulled out of the station very loud military style music blasting away. All this was during a light-show from a thunderstorm which helped cool down the carriage for sleep, even though we didn’t get much as there were no mattresses provided on this leg of the journey. In fact this was the least comfortable carriage we have had, and there are some better cabins on this leg of the journey but we weren’t aware of thAt at the time of booking. No wifi in the motel and haven’t downloaded fresh pix yet so some more of previous days.

Day 22 – The Sick Duck Beijing
Friday, 1 July 2011

It was a difficult night on the train. I had a poor sleep but never mind. It was a very hard seat to sleep on. We were all up around 6.30 or so and finished off the last of the food, bananas and whatever food we had. We had been advised to wake up early and watch the spectacular scenery. Unfortunately it was quite smoggy. Early on in the morning we passed by some awful slum areas, dirty rubbishy back yards and unkempt buildings. A lot of very lush crops, mainly corn or maize, grapes, cabbages, brocolli and various others. We were supposed to see 18 kms of the great wall, but due to the poor visibility only saw a glimpse so will have to wait for our excursion on Monday. We caught an illegal taxi from the station tour hotel which cost more Than a proper one, but the proper one had a waiting line about 100 m long, plus we knew we didn’t have Far to go. Our hotel is ok, rooms quiet and Some Chinese decoration in them. We found an Internet cafe nearby in a side street which will come in handy and we are only across the road from the forbidden city and tienamin square. Mel and mike from uk joined is for dinner at a world famous landmark restaurant in middle of the city called the sick duck. We shared a banquet on all kinds of food which were all parts of a duck. I wasn’t that keen on trying some of it and didn’t eat any of the duck gizzard and a couple of other bits.
At the end of the meal we were served a hot cup of hot ducks broth which tasted like fat sprinkled with salt. although we are all really tired from the train trip it was still warm so we decided to sit on the footpath up from the hotel at a local cafe which served cold drinks and BBQ skewers cooked over an ancient fire, each time a new skewer of meat was placed over the coals to grill the guy would fire it up by blowing it with an electric hair dryer. The footpath was littered with food scraps and there were lots of locals there, and we sat amongst it all having a cool drink. Bed was very welcome tonight at 1230. Sorry no photos downloaded for today

Day 23 – Exploring Beijing
Saturday, 2 July 2011
This morning we had a substantial breakfast. The offerings were continental and quite a few cooked dishes. We started the day by heading to the emperors summer palace, around 29 kilometers away by taxi. Cost was only 51 yuen or $7.00 Australian dollars. We were approached by a young local girl who wanted to take us around the inside of the palace for a price, and she said she was an official guide ( she appeared to have a government ID) any way she wanted no payment until the end of the tour, she paid for us to get in, and was a lovely girl with quite a bit of knowledge.

Unfortunately the palace may have been very grand in it’s day, it was smoggy, and the areas of the palace that were fortunate enough to hold a few relics, we could only view them through dirty windows. There were a lot of tourists and locals walking about, but lily our guide explained that in high season they can get up to 100,ooo people per day which seems to be a huge amount of people. Inside the garden there is an outside corridor which has a claim to fame that there are about 10,000 individual paintings, but it was not my cup of tea really. We declined the climb up to the main temple to see the view and see the fragrant garden as it is a big climb and the visibility was shocking. We had an unusual afternoon tea of dumplings of the sweet variety which I found a little bland. They were filled with black bean, honey, and some bean paste. Not as tasty as our cakes at home. Instead of paying for the climb to the temple she did some wheeling and dealing and put us on a dragon boat to cross the artificial lake that incidentally took 15 years to complete, to a small island, where we crossed a bridge to get to the exit. We had a funny foot massage around the corner from the hotel we went up some very steep stairs to a room with 4 couches where 4 people did reflexology for one hour on our feet.

Three of the masseurs were watching a Japanese war movie on tv which had Chinese subtitles. As the movie seemed to get more and more exciting and dramatic, the foot massaging got slower and slower, the girl doing my feet stopped altogether for a couple of minutes while the bad guys murdered the good guys. We couldn’t stop laughing. Anyway the hourlong experience cost $7.00 each which we cant complain about. We then did our emailing at our favorite cafe around the corner which has free wifi before lisa jane and i went to look for a market. Some guys out the front of the hotel tried every which way to take us by tuktuk but we couldn’t strike a bargain with them. They wanted to use 2 tuktuks for 80 yuen each. We knew we could get a taxi cheaper so we said ” don’t worry were gonna walk”. They laughed at us walking off saying it was too far to walk. Another tuktuk driver after observing this followed us and offered to fir the 3 of us on the tuktuk for 50 yuen. It was a hell of a squeeze with Jane hanging on by her knees and fingernails. The driver even started laughing about half way and said ” you see to far too far”. We gave him a small tip so it cost about 60 yuen, $8.50 and we got a taxi home a few hours later for 14 yuen or $2.00. We found the market to be very cheap. We bought a few items and went searching for a local eatery. We ended up sharing a huge meal, chicken and rice, pancakes with beef, broccoli , snap peas, beers and lemonade, more than we could eat and drink for $119 yuen or $5.60 per person. It was delicious to boot. The city lights here are very big, bold, and bright, it’s just such a shame that it is covered with dust and smog. The weather for us today was good, probably about 30 and a little humidity but quite bearable.

Day 24 – Temple Of Heaven Garden
Sunday, 3 July 2011
Today Jane Lisa and I went to the temple of heaven garden. Reece wasn’t particularly interested, as the visit to summer palace was a bit disappointing for all of us with the crowds, visibility and poorly displayed articles, hawkers etc. She decided to check out the shopping and other stuff. We grabbed a taxi and were very pleased with the beautiful 280 hectare garden, with many many groups of locals enjoying the garden. We saw outdoor groups of ballroom dancing, families playing hacky sack, Kung Fu competition, elderly men extremely fit on parallel bars, tai chi, knitting, board games, singing, dancing, yo ho diablo, kite flying, and graceful balls on rackets with a group exercising with them. A weird guy asked jane for a dance to the amusement if others, pulling faces and dressed quite strangely, and at the end he gave us his business card which said he was a famius comic star or something. We had a lovely walk through the garden which had a variety of neatly set out fir tree forest,rose gardens, and nice grasses for people to picnic.

There were areas with loud music, soft music, bird noises, and just peaceful areas. We left after a couple of hours and grabbed another taxi and went to a tea selling area, where there are 1.5 kms of tea shops. We tried a few and no one could speak any English, but we managed to sample some tea in two shops with a customary tea ceremony. I found the teas that we tried a little bland, but when in china…..we went back to the hotel for a brief rest, and then headed to the ya shou shops which was really a time wasting exercise as we had all completed most of our shopping followed by food in a local restaurant. All very tired today.

Day 25 – The Great Wall Of China
Monday, 4 July 2011I

Well we have all been looking forward to seeing the great wall of china today. The wall was built over 14000 years, over 7200 kms commenced in the 7 th century. From my observation it seemed to be built from mud brick, rocks, and shale. A capping along the top of most sections, a lot of the mortar non exsistant and crumbly. There are many towers along the wall and they were all manned by Chinese personnel to keep out invaders such as chingis khan. There is a popular section of wall that has been rebuilt for tourists, but Lisa had been doing some research and found a small company that takes groups to a more remote part of the wall. We were picked up at 8 am and driven to the north east of the city and then up into the mountains. We went through some beautiful lush areas of forest covered mountains, not tall timber but smaller varieties of trees which the guide couldn’t really help us identify. As we climbed higher into the mountains the road was fairly good 2 lanes most of the way as we passed by many hotel/ resort style accommodation, fruit stalls, running water, corn and grape crops, stone fruit and hazelnut trees. We arrived in a car park and could see the wall quite high above us. We had to walk up an extremely steep track through the bush, and it was about 30 degrees with humidity. I was already struggling to keep up after about 40 m or so but took it easy and gradually made it to the top ( about 1000 m) in about 30 mins. When we reached the wall it was a scramble up a 20 feet rock face using both hands. We could see from there some fantastic views of the wall in both directions, and our guides had chosen a section of the wall which had some shady paths along the way. About 10 mins into the hike we had to climb across a sheer cliff face for about 12 feet which was a little unnerving but ok. Off we went again, some uphill some downhill, some through some small tunnels all steepish and coming across a couple of towers in the wall. We stopped for lunch after a couple of hours in the shade shush was a nice break from the heat and sun. The next ridiculous bit was insane. In front of us it looked like a sheer unsurpassable wall of about 25 meters high. When we approached however we could see that it actually had sheer steep steps. We were all a bit disconcerted at first but Reece started up, and I followed. I went up 3 steps and couldn’t believe what we were about to do. The steps were anywhere from 4 to 6 inches deep, and 1 foot to 2 foot high. Anyway that made for a very interesting climb, and one just as steep but more crumbly on the other side. The full hike was for 4 hours, but after about 3 and half hours Reece and I had really seen enough and started the descent while the others went the last 500m or so.
It was an easy walk down on a bush track into the village where we had some cool drinks before the 2 hour drive home. We ate locally tonight. I ordered Peking duck. All of the other dishes turned up timely but we were waiting waiting for the duck. After about half an hour a big bag of takeaway was delivered to the restUrant – and that was the duck, the pancakes, the onion, the cucumber and the sauce. That was funny. It was very yummy though And we managed to eat the whole duck. We went for a walk around our neighborhood and found a little corner hotel called the alley, and we enjoyed some coffee before taking the long way home. What a fantastic day.