Notes from our round the world trip part II
May 13, 2007. Beijing. It is a little before 8 pm. We just got back from a long day of sightseeing.
Buffet breakfast in the hotel. “Full English” and more. Corn on the cob - rice porridge. Well, I has some bacon and scrambled eggs and a really nice croissant.
About 25 of us lead by “Jimmy” went first to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. That took about four hours and lots of sweat. It was hot, sunny and the air polluted. So many people everywhere we went. The buildings mostly are grand, but the grounds are bare. No trees except for the small garden in the back or north of the Forbidden city. The whole thing cries out, “Don’t com in Here! You are too small to be par of this!” I provokes awe.
A buffet lunch. We were exhausted and de hydrated by lunch time. In the afternoon to the Summer Palace. Just as hot but more shade. We all walked slower and all took the boat across the lake -Kunming Lake. Our guide knows so much, sometime he goes on too long, but he is really good and keeps us together. We follow his flag through many other groups going in all directions.
Dinner was sit down deal with eight different dishes! So Good.
We also went to a tea “ceremony” earlier. It was really a demonstration intended to sell us cups and tea - which Nancye did.
There was a martial arts show tonight, but since, it was optional, nancye and I and most of the others cam back to the hotel.
The architecture of Beijing is depressing. High rise offices and apartments that look run down and drab - grim is what the city looks like. Mostly no more than eight stories or so. There are some glass encased buildings and a few try to be creative, but mainly this is an ugly city. Incredible traffic with cars , bicycles, mopeds, huge tourist buses all driving wherever they feel like and pedestrians walking blithely through it.
A good day - exhausting.
I hope we sleep longer tonight. Last night we went to bed at 9 pm because we could not stay awake. I woke up at 2 am and tossed and turned for four hours.
14 May 2007, Monday, Beijing. A long day after a sleepless night. At least it seemed sleepless - worry and anxiety about the rest of the trip and what could go wrong.
Ming Tombs in the morning, the Great Wall in the afternoon and two fine chinese dinners, then a bad rendition of the Peking Opera in the evening back at the hotel about 9:30 pm.
The Great Wall is everything I anticipated. It is grand - so large as to be incomprehensible and so graceful running up and down over the sharp hills. Some passages so steep it felt like being on a ladder. We were at the Badaling portion for about two hours. I hope my photos will be good.
There are many people in the tourist sites hawking caps and shirts , post cards and “Rolex” watches. They are very pushy. I bought two Olympics caps for 5 yen -about $.75! I bought an “I climbed the Great Wall” t shirt for 80 yen, about $6.
They are even on the wall itself. One woman was selling steel rings that magically link together. Anyway I said, “Let me show you a trick.” And I did the pull-your-finger-off trick I learned from my dad. SHe wanted to learn how to do it - so i showed her and two other sales people crowed around. I spoke no Chinese and they only the English names of what they were selling. Very interesting.
I’ve written little about the wall here. It is too whatever for my description. It is the highlight of the trip so far.
15 May 2007 Tuesday Beijing. Slept poorly again last night, but better than the night before. After breakfast with the group we went to the Temple of Heaven. Beautiful building - but I was most fascinated with the hundreds of people exercising in the park around it. Dancing, ribbon twirling, play with paddle ball, singing in choruses. Fascinating seeing the real people in their own places.
A silk show room was the next place. Somebody is probably getting kickbacks on these visits to commercial places.
Lunch and then Nancye and I took a taxi back to the hotel Rest and regroup this afternoon . At 6:30 am tomorrow we head for the train station and the major purpose of our trip, the Trans Siberian Railroad from Beijing to Moscow.
16 May 2007 Wednesday. On the Trans Siberian Railroad between BEijing and the Mongolian border.
Another bad night of sleep. Awake much of the night. Up at 5:30 am, finished packing, checked out of the hotel. Taxi at 6:30 to the train station.
We have a two bed unit about 8 feet by 8 feet with a triangular room with sink shared with next compartment.
High sharp hills outside Beijing and many tunnels. Now it is flattening out with mountains in the distance. Few Trees, not even much grass. A Free lunch in the dining car: large meatballs with celery and cauliflower and rice.
It is hard to write while the train is moving so the above may be unreadable. We are now in a desolate part of China just before the border with Mongolia. No trees. Dust storms. Sheep. Piles of rock. Every village looks shabby and poor.
“Voolya” Thank you in Mongolian.
The train pulled out of Beijing on time at 7:40 this morning and into the border crossing into Mongolia about 8:30 this evening. We now sit and wait while they take off the wheels and replace them with Russian “boggies.” Apparently it can take up to five hours, but the scheduled stop is for two hours. We tried to change Chinese yes into Mongolian money, but for some reason they cannot do it. We bought some orange juice and a dried noodle soup to which you add water for lunch.
17 May 2007 thursday. Somewhere south of Ulaan Baator on the Trans Siberian Rail Road. They changed the boggies in a little more than two hours and we thought we were off. but then the Chinese border people came by and returned our passports.
Nancye and I prepared for bed, shut off the lights and the train stopped again. I guess we went far enough to go over the Mongolian border so Mongolian customs people came through about midnight. The impeccably uniformed woman took one of the two passports i handed to her an rifled through it, looked puzzled and asked how old I am and asked me to look at her. I joked “Don’t I look like my picture.” She said, “No.” She was looking at Nancye’s passport.
Slept some but not enough. We had OJ we bought at the station last night and some crackers. later we went to the Mongolian restaurant care and had an omelet. the car is heavily carved wood. Very attractive.
The scenery is very brown. No trees, but many small ramshackle villages. Sheep, a few horses and an occasional camel.
7:45 pm Ulaan Baator, Mongolia. We arrived about half an hour late. A driver with pretty good English took us to our home stay. Ulaan Baator has the same ragged rundown look as Beijing without the high rise apartments and of course much smaller. I wonder what it is doing here? In the midst of the desert is a million people. The apartment building where we are has a woeful aspect on the outside and on the four story climb to the flat. But the apartment is neat and clean, five rooms with a bath and shower. Mme Gladia is a retired russian teacher, very gracious and helpful. An old man lives here too, Husband? Father?
We walked across the street to a posh western hotel to change money and to the SKY department store where we bought some food for the train journey. After a bit of bourbon we walked to the center of the city. We were starred at a bit, there being so few Caucasians here. We ate at the Red Horse pub and Restaurant - spaghetti! Well, we have had our fill of chinese food. We walked back across the central plaza and back to this apartment.
Buffet breakfast in the hotel. “Full English” and more. Corn on the cob - rice porridge. Well, I has some bacon and scrambled eggs and a really nice croissant.
About 25 of us lead by “Jimmy” went first to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. That took about four hours and lots of sweat. It was hot, sunny and the air polluted. So many people everywhere we went. The buildings mostly are grand, but the grounds are bare. No trees except for the small garden in the back or north of the Forbidden city. The whole thing cries out, “Don’t com in Here! You are too small to be par of this!” I provokes awe.
A buffet lunch. We were exhausted and de hydrated by lunch time. In the afternoon to the Summer Palace. Just as hot but more shade. We all walked slower and all took the boat across the lake -Kunming Lake. Our guide knows so much, sometime he goes on too long, but he is really good and keeps us together. We follow his flag through many other groups going in all directions.
Dinner was sit down deal with eight different dishes! So Good.
We also went to a tea “ceremony” earlier. It was really a demonstration intended to sell us cups and tea - which Nancye did.
There was a martial arts show tonight, but since, it was optional, nancye and I and most of the others cam back to the hotel.
The architecture of Beijing is depressing. High rise offices and apartments that look run down and drab - grim is what the city looks like. Mostly no more than eight stories or so. There are some glass encased buildings and a few try to be creative, but mainly this is an ugly city. Incredible traffic with cars , bicycles, mopeds, huge tourist buses all driving wherever they feel like and pedestrians walking blithely through it.
A good day - exhausting.
I hope we sleep longer tonight. Last night we went to bed at 9 pm because we could not stay awake. I woke up at 2 am and tossed and turned for four hours.
14 May 2007, Monday, Beijing. A long day after a sleepless night. At least it seemed sleepless - worry and anxiety about the rest of the trip and what could go wrong.
Ming Tombs in the morning, the Great Wall in the afternoon and two fine chinese dinners, then a bad rendition of the Peking Opera in the evening back at the hotel about 9:30 pm.
The Great Wall is everything I anticipated. It is grand - so large as to be incomprehensible and so graceful running up and down over the sharp hills. Some passages so steep it felt like being on a ladder. We were at the Badaling portion for about two hours. I hope my photos will be good.
There are many people in the tourist sites hawking caps and shirts , post cards and “Rolex” watches. They are very pushy. I bought two Olympics caps for 5 yen -about $.75! I bought an “I climbed the Great Wall” t shirt for 80 yen, about $6.
They are even on the wall itself. One woman was selling steel rings that magically link together. Anyway I said, “Let me show you a trick.” And I did the pull-your-finger-off trick I learned from my dad. SHe wanted to learn how to do it - so i showed her and two other sales people crowed around. I spoke no Chinese and they only the English names of what they were selling. Very interesting.
I’ve written little about the wall here. It is too whatever for my description. It is the highlight of the trip so far.
15 May 2007 Tuesday Beijing. Slept poorly again last night, but better than the night before. After breakfast with the group we went to the Temple of Heaven. Beautiful building - but I was most fascinated with the hundreds of people exercising in the park around it. Dancing, ribbon twirling, play with paddle ball, singing in choruses. Fascinating seeing the real people in their own places.
A silk show room was the next place. Somebody is probably getting kickbacks on these visits to commercial places.
Lunch and then Nancye and I took a taxi back to the hotel Rest and regroup this afternoon . At 6:30 am tomorrow we head for the train station and the major purpose of our trip, the Trans Siberian Railroad from Beijing to Moscow.
16 May 2007 Wednesday. On the Trans Siberian Railroad between BEijing and the Mongolian border.
Another bad night of sleep. Awake much of the night. Up at 5:30 am, finished packing, checked out of the hotel. Taxi at 6:30 to the train station.
We have a two bed unit about 8 feet by 8 feet with a triangular room with sink shared with next compartment.
High sharp hills outside Beijing and many tunnels. Now it is flattening out with mountains in the distance. Few Trees, not even much grass. A Free lunch in the dining car: large meatballs with celery and cauliflower and rice.
It is hard to write while the train is moving so the above may be unreadable. We are now in a desolate part of China just before the border with Mongolia. No trees. Dust storms. Sheep. Piles of rock. Every village looks shabby and poor.
“Voolya” Thank you in Mongolian.
The train pulled out of Beijing on time at 7:40 this morning and into the border crossing into Mongolia about 8:30 this evening. We now sit and wait while they take off the wheels and replace them with Russian “boggies.” Apparently it can take up to five hours, but the scheduled stop is for two hours. We tried to change Chinese yes into Mongolian money, but for some reason they cannot do it. We bought some orange juice and a dried noodle soup to which you add water for lunch.
17 May 2007 thursday. Somewhere south of Ulaan Baator on the Trans Siberian Rail Road. They changed the boggies in a little more than two hours and we thought we were off. but then the Chinese border people came by and returned our passports.
Nancye and I prepared for bed, shut off the lights and the train stopped again. I guess we went far enough to go over the Mongolian border so Mongolian customs people came through about midnight. The impeccably uniformed woman took one of the two passports i handed to her an rifled through it, looked puzzled and asked how old I am and asked me to look at her. I joked “Don’t I look like my picture.” She said, “No.” She was looking at Nancye’s passport.
Slept some but not enough. We had OJ we bought at the station last night and some crackers. later we went to the Mongolian restaurant care and had an omelet. the car is heavily carved wood. Very attractive.
The scenery is very brown. No trees, but many small ramshackle villages. Sheep, a few horses and an occasional camel.
7:45 pm Ulaan Baator, Mongolia. We arrived about half an hour late. A driver with pretty good English took us to our home stay. Ulaan Baator has the same ragged rundown look as Beijing without the high rise apartments and of course much smaller. I wonder what it is doing here? In the midst of the desert is a million people. The apartment building where we are has a woeful aspect on the outside and on the four story climb to the flat. But the apartment is neat and clean, five rooms with a bath and shower. Mme Gladia is a retired russian teacher, very gracious and helpful. An old man lives here too, Husband? Father?
We walked across the street to a posh western hotel to change money and to the SKY department store where we bought some food for the train journey. After a bit of bourbon we walked to the center of the city. We were starred at a bit, there being so few Caucasians here. We ate at the Red Horse pub and Restaurant - spaghetti! Well, we have had our fill of chinese food. We walked back across the central plaza and back to this apartment.
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