Xian - Home of the Terracotta Warriors! And Chongching!

On arrival our guide Christina was waiting for us and we were swiftly shown to our air-conditioned van. Super - we were all looking forward to some luxury for the next 12 days! She was local to Xian and looked after everything for us whilst we were there.

We had two nights in Xian which was more than enough. The first afternoon we hired bikes and cycled the city wall. It is approximately 11km long and a couple meters wide and a great way to catch a view of the city. However yet again the visibility was very poor, and not being able to see for more than a few blocks was a constant reminder of the quality of the air we're inhaling.

We then visited a Muslim Mosque with Christina, and she brought us to a restaurant in the area where we had one of the best meals we've had since arriving in China. It just goes to show how knowing the language/a local helps immensely in ones quest for food! The cheapest item on the menu was less than two euro and everything was tasty!

The following day we visited the Terracotta Warriors - which was an incredible sight. Along the way we stopped at the factory where they make touristy replica terracotta warriors to give us an insight into the labour and skill involved when these things were first constructed over 200 years ago. Interesting enough however it was yet another tourist trap where the only way out is past the souvenir shop and whilst the lads aren't suckers for tourist tat, I am! Dave constantly convincing me I needed another fridge magnet didn't help matters. Jesus my collection is seriously getting out of control - must stop!

There are three pits of the warriors on show, the largest is the most impressive. Archaeologists are slowly excavating and assembling the broken warriors before replacing them back in the tomb. Many are broken as the grave was torched during a peasant rising. In fact the warriors were originally painted colourfully, but after the fire this turned them all black. The truly anazing thing about them is that each face is unique. The tomb was built approx. 200BC for the very first emperor during the Qin dynasty. He ordered the grave be built for him, as he was the man responsible for uniting all of China (amonsgt other things). The grave took 40 years to bulid!

This city really had nothing until some farmers discovered the site in 1974 digging a well. Since then a museum has been built and the area has flourished from the proceeds of tourism. One of the farmers still alive sits in the museum and you can buy a book and get his autograph. He's part of the attraction. Crazy. The city is constantly being developed, old bulidings knocked and replaced with new ones. You can buy terracotta warriors for your back garden if you wish and have them shipped home. You can even arrange to have your face placed on top of a life size replica model. Hilarious (ly scary).

The upside to a package tour like this is that we were being brought to really good restaurants for lunch that had huge buffets catering for Western tastes. I've a feeling what with the constant transport on offer and good food, we'll be leaving China a few pounds heavier!

We visited the Big Wild Goose Pagoda that afternoon and climbed it. Pagoda's are particular type of architecture, a type of tower, when you've seen one you've seen them all. Besides the view from the top there's not a whole lot to them. However they seem to feature a lot on our itinerary! A way to work off all the dumplings perhaps!

We left Xian pretty excited about our Yangzte River cruise. We flew into Chongching where we had the afternoon to kill before getting the boat that night. The city unknown to us before turned out to be an enormous -33 million people in the city and surrounding province. It's the only city in China where no-one cycles because it's so hilly, it also reaches temperatures of 45 degrees Celsius in the Summer. Ouch.

Having being deposited in E'ling Park for a few hours where we climbed to a view point of the city to be blown away by the height and vastness of this city. Skyscrapers stretched for miles around us. The Yangzte and Jialing rivers wound their way around the city and its countless buildings - truly a breath-taking sight.

After that we visited the Three River Gorges Museum where we got a fair bit of background on the Dan Project. Our guide had a permanent smile as she walked and talked us through the museum. The dam is being built mainly for the purposes of irrigation, flood control and navigation (apparently - power anybody? not interested int he electricity it produces??) . By raising the water they can allow ocean bound ships up and down the Yangzte. However this has resulted in 1.3 million people being 'displaced' due to whole towns being submerged!

On questioning our guide it emerged that the towns have been blasted before the river rose, and whole new towns were built further uphill. The new towns and cities have better accommodation and facilities for their residents than before apparently. However needless to say better job opportunities means nothing to the elderly, and so many are unhappy whilst the young are over the moon with new apartments and jobs. Alternatively the displaced were moved to larger cities.

One amazing case was that of a large rock which was worshipped by the local people. Not wanting to jinx themselves the Chinese have built a glass museum around it, so that when the river rises people can still go down and visit it - a murky underwater relic.

So on to the next step of our tour - the cruise.

The Olympics, boiled dog's penis, bicycles and sore bellies!

I'm tap tapping this well after the events below described, perched in an internet cafe overlooking Nanjing St in Shanghai. I'll endeavor to summarise the last couple of weeks as best I can therefore, so seatbelts fastened.



Having boarded the once weekly train # 4 to Beijing from Ulan Bator, we settled into our journey with a few well deserved beverages in the restaurant car. I must mention that those to date had been basic enough, with grumpy staff and less than happy food (although I can say it did in cases have its own personality). This however was a sweaty, lengthy cabin decorated with oranate woodwork, and less than ornate (yet thoroughly efficient!) waiting staff. It soon became apparent that these helpful bringers of refreshments were more interested in refreshing themselves from any vodka purchased than in policing their own dwindling supply of liquor. Thus presented with an opportunity to get inebriated in style and comfort on the cheap we railed against our more astute instincts and promptly got pissed.



The wildlife in the carriage was quite the variety. A group of Danish students (looking ever so civilised and self satisfied with themselves at their lucky emergence into this world as citizens of a state that pays for their education into their late twenties) were ignored in favour of a large and sweating Mongolian gentleman. He introduced himself to us about nine or ten times such was his delight with the almost free booze. His ecstacy increased each time we cut him off before he began his repetitive speal and told him that yes indeed we we aware of his name, his educational history and his imminant plans. Soothsayers.



So having informed us of his intention to go to Beijing to 'buy property' for the umpteenth time, the altitude got the better of him and the unfortunate fellow collapsed in a sweaty 22 stone heap, crashing his head against the side of the table and causing (only momentary mind) consternation. Sam arrived again and began to get himslef embroiled in a drink off with two Polish fella's who were swilling bottles of vodka like it was mothers milk. All this was enfolding as we whizzed through the Gobi, the open windows throwing in occasional clouds of dust and adding to the bacchanallian and glorious chaos of it all.



The madness was cut short with news that we had reached the Chinese border. No toilets, no water and no leaving the train for 5 hours sort of killed the buzz, and having gasped my way to the new restaurant car to get water, I fell into an uncomfortable and delirious sleep.



We arrived into the main train station in Beijing quite early. During the morning we had been chatting to an English lady who was on her way to see her daughter and nephew row for GB and Ireland respectively , and were beginning to get really excited about the games. The first thing that struck me about the city was the visibility, which was shocking. It became apparent over the next few days that seeing blue sky was a rarity. Also the humidity was pretty unbearable, and an air conditioned taxi to our hostel was most welcomed.



We stayed at the Red Lantern Hostel for ten days. Its a cozy little place, with an internal courtyard replete with fish ponds and hanging lanterns. We took in Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, a couple of city parks - called Beihai and Jingshan (which were incredible), and the Temple of Heaven. We had met two really sound Canadians (Joel and Justin) on the train to UB and had arranged to meet in the city, which we did over a dinner of Peking duck in Wangfujing. We ventured only as far as duck hearts that night, and spent the next week politely declining the various culinary delights on offer at other gastronomic establishments - dog meat, Russian dog penis, chicken feet, fried seahorse, cockroaches, live scorpions, deep fried silkworm larva etc. In fact check out this link for a description and review one of the more interesting restaurants in the city - http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/article3552377.ece

I got a dose of Beijing Belly (hitting at least 5 out of the perfect ten for those of you in the know) for the few days around the opening ceremony and spent a lot of time (much to the amusement of my travelling companions of course) dashing fretfully from one poxy public toilet to the other throughout our daily wanderings. Any temptation to sample the funkier varieties of street food were thus quashed on my part by a fear of another sudden bout of intestinal explosion. Oh dear God.

We also found our way out to the Great Wall, a part of it called Mutianyu. Having found out this particular day no buses were runnning there we had yet another interesting experience with a taxi driver getting lost. He got us there eventually and we took the cable car up to the wall. It was spectacular. We walked for as far as we could in one direction over countless hills, and in and out of guard towers positioned along the wall. For miles all around we could see the wall running along the surface of the surrounding mountains - absolutely amazing. Our minds boggled as to how the workers built this wall on such mountainous terrain. It's main purpose was to act as a protective wall for the city, however it failed in that respect. Chengghis Khan managed to bribe his way across the wall and conquer all!

A more entertaining aspect to our time there was the walk down to our taxi. This involved passing the many stands of Chinese souvenirs, and the sellers shouting persistently at any Westerners seeming to take an interest. We haggled our way down picking up a few bits and pieces as we went. Dave was haggling them up from the requested price causing great confusion, much to our and their amusement!

The buzz in the city was fantastic for the ceremony on the 8th. We found ourselves in the Heineken Dutch House (which had been masterfully acquired by a host of Dutch corporate sponsors from the Chinese and held in the Agricultural Exhibition Centre) for the majority of the evening. This place had been suggested to us by a wonderfully enthusiastic and mildly eccentric Nederlander named Anders who we had met in Tianjen the previous night at the football preliminaries.

I should mention this of course - we got the high speed train there from Beijing (220km per hour - unbelievable) and watched the US beat Japan 1-0 and the Dutch draw nil all with Nigeria. The beer was cheap at 50 cents a can and it was 90 degrees with 70% humidity. Many cans were consumed. Also there was never a queue at the bar - the Chinese were fighting amongst themselves for Coke, Sprite and hot-dogs while the few straggling Westerners crawled incredulously into the air-conditioned bars in the stadium. If Carlsburg did football matches...

We had a bit of a disaster and missed the last train though (which departed BEFORE the final whistle - terrible organisation) and had to get a taxi back to Beijing.

Anyway, after the Dutch House extravaganza (which was becoming less exciting by the minute) we headed to Sanlitun, which is a long bar street near the Workers Stadium, and saw the ceremony out. Myself and Dave got interviewed for a local network. I did my best Brian Dobson impression and managed to stutter out a few nonsensical soundbites about the ceremony.

Myself and Sarah arose relatively early the next day and rented bikes. No way was I leaving the city without getting involved - there are cycle lanes everywhere. So with Katie Melua ringing in my ears all day we pottered about ending up with a late night ride past Tiananmen Sq and home. Fantastic.


Beach Volleyball - ladies - cheerleaders. Say no more. Excellent haha! Great little venue though ahem , yes yes. It wasn't all ladies however, and the more exciting games got under way when the men stepped out (Not sexist by the way - Sarah agrees with me!). We were there to witness the mighty Latvians beat those minnow Americans in arguably one of the greatest moments in Latvian Beach Volleyball history haha! (The US went on to win the gold of course). I got on TV loads aswell - we had courside seats, so I was happy as a pig in you know what.


Of all our events (we took in rowing aswell out in Shunyi), I think the boxing was most satisfying. We were there at the Workers Stadium to witness John Jo Nevin triumph over an Algerian, and saw Kenny Egan beat a Turk a few days later. For the latter event we purchased last minute tickets in Paddy O'Shea's, from Mick, over cups of tea and toasted sandwiches. Dave took particular delight in this series of events - 'ahh the Irish network ye know!'. The place is a great pub in fairness - apart from the fact that my first few minutes in there were spent watching Cork beat Kildare in the All Ireland quarter final.

So our time in Beijijng ended. I must mention we had a few great nights out there too (Sarah managed a few press ups on a dance floor at one stage!). The next step in the adventure was to hop on a flight to Xi'an and begin our whirlwind tour of ten major cities in the country.

J

Tomroo, our driver rocked up to our ger around lunch time and after a day of organising camp gear, buying food for the next few days and getting someone to translate our intended itinerary to him we finally hit the road! We had a pictogram itinerary to give to him as back up and he seemed to understand our drawings of horses, beds etc!
Our first stop was Hustai National Park. It took about 3 hours to get there from UB. All bumpy unpaved roads, driving over mountains and through valleys (mostly in the dark). Outside UB there are no roads. It's all dirt tracks, and anytime Tomroo got lost and asked for help, the locals pointed to a mountain and he seemed to understand where to go. How anyone but a local could navigate their own way around is beyond me! It was pretty cool driving as the sun set, we drove through herds of wild horses just about making out their shapes against the horizon. It was really beautiful.
Our intentions to camp outside the park were quashed when a guy at the park entrance said this wasn't possible, and directed us to a tourist ger camp and a local family ger nearby, opting for the cheaper option Tomroo drove through the dark and somehow came across this family ger. He pulled up with music blaring, lights on and horn beeping disturbing this family who happily obliged us!
We were shown to two nearby gers which our host lit with candles. It turned out to be one of the scariest nights I've spent on this trip. I was woken by what I strongly suspect was a rabid dog sniffing and growling around the ger Jim and I were in. He circled it for ages growling viciously and loudly! I was absolutely terrified, didn't know if there was a way he could get in or not, as it was dark all around me. Dave had a similar experience in his ger. Fitzycam slept through it all, the mess. haha.
After that we were all woken again by someone pulling up to our gers and and beeping their horn, shouting in Monglian looking for somewhere to stay. Again I wasn't really sure what was happening, all a bit strange and scary. An early rise around 5am ensured that we caught the sun coming up as we stepped out of our gers which was absolutely spectacular. Everything seemed more reassuring in the morning light!

We hit the road back to Hustai, and managed to catch a glimpse of takhi, a rare breed of wild horse which come down from the mountains at dawn and dusk to drink water. We caught them mid feeding, and saw them come down in large herds from the mountains.
We tagged onto a proper tour guide and she informed us about the takhi and their special attributes and how they were declared extinct in Mongolia decades ago. However due to some found in zoos worldwide they were successfully integrated back into the wild in outer Mongolia. This was a huge conservationial success considering the logistical and political barriers in place over the years.
Meanwhile we temporarily lost our driver as he disappeared into the bush waving his toilet roll in his hand laughing loudly much to the embarrassment of the female tour guide! Not the classiest of drivers we were quickly learning but highly entertaining!
We drove to Mongol Els that afternoon which are essentially sand dunes, pulling over on the way to have a look at an eagle that was perched on a stick on the side of the road. He was tied up there. An absolutely enormous bird, Jim and Niall both tentatively held him on their arms. Later at Mongol Els we rode camels! Non stop wildlife!
We later stopped in Kharhorin, considered by some Mongolians the true capital, as it was in the past, but now only a small town, a long way behind UB. We visited a buddhist temple there named Erdene Zuu Khiid. Again found ourselves laughing at Tomroo, as he pulled up to the temple, "I just called to say I love you" blaring from the car. He showed us around demonstrating how things were done, whilst talking loudly on his mobile, this guy was a howl. We made the mistake of buying two tapes with what looked like American music, and spent the following 5 days being subjected to the same songs over and over. Beegees "How Deep Is Your Love' and the Eagles "Hotel California" forever ruined, as well as Kylie and Jason (yes it was that good). Not the most apt music for driving through the Mongolian countryside!

We drove to a view point over the town, where there is a stone penis positioned in a valley (apparently vaginal in appearance) and it was put there to help stop frisky monks from committing a sin. And it's good luck in relation to fertility for a woman to straddle the penis, and so I did!
Tomroo took us to a fantastic spot to camp whilst he snuck off for the night to his lady friend in Kharhorin. A local musican trying to make a few quid gave us a super performance playing traditional Mongolian instruments and throat singing. He arrived in a wornout Nissan Micra and popped out dressed in full traditional costume and hat, hilarious stuff. So there we sat beside a stream, whilst he entertained us. James had a go on one of the instruments and managed to play "No Limits" much to our amusement, legend!
The following morning whilst having breakfast we were joined my various animals, a herd of sheep and goat, followed shortly by horses, and then a herd of bulls, all of which just rambled around us and across the stream. Packs of dogs are a fairly common occurrence too, which I found quite unnerving.
Back on the bumpy road again for a few hours before stopping in a place called Tsetserleg - a nice spot, popped into a cafe run by an English couple and got a good meal and some English magazines - excellent. Tomroo persevered and found another excellent camping spot for us where we chilled out for the evening. Feeling very primal out in the wild we washed in the river the following morning, lay in the sun, generally relished being such lazy articles!
Day 4 brought us to Ogii Nuur where we experienced riding on Mongolian horses, not the most comfortable on Mongolian saddles which are made of birchwood, plus the horses are more like ponies.The lads looked ridiculous precariously perched on three small horses! My horse preferred eating more than walking so I didn't get very far. We did a short trek on the lake front before setting up camp. Beautiful views over the lake as the sun set. We met a French fella (for the third time om the trip so far!!) who has cycled all the way from Paris - mad mad young man ( he's only 20!). His website is www.maxvelomonde.com.

We arrived back in UB Friday evening eager to shower and sample the nightlife. Unfortunately our attempts were futile, one nightclub was closed, the other was surrounded by cops and letting no one in and the other didn't appear to exist. We ran outta steam at that point and gave up!
The following day we had a general wander, visited the National Political History Museum, had a beer outside it - as you do!

S\


Mongolia prides itself in its status as the 'only democracy in mainland Asia', and the museum gave us a glimpse into its recent political history. We walked around the burnt out Communist Party headquarters - the result of the recent riots there - and were reminded that people power is still well and truly alive here.


The overall impression of UB is that it's a bit of a kip - a dustbowl with no real planning to it at all. The countryside we saw was amazing however, and the people were fabulously warm and generous. The nomadic culture seems to imbibe them with a real sense of kinship, a genuine friendship that was really refreshing, and that provoked a questioning of the pompous label we Irish sometimes attach to ourselves as the worlds most welcoming nation! The landscape was stunning, the airag (fermented mares milk) was disgusting, I got sunstroke at one stage and puked my guts up, tha Chinghis Vodka was very smooth, my tan is getting there, haha...oh and I got on a camel for the first time - fantastic. Now on to our last leg of the Trans- Mongolian, and our last big train journey. Its hard to take in just how much ground we have covered, and all of the incredible people we have met along the way. It will sink in eventually I suppose, but at the moment it just feels like a whirlwind!

On to China and the Games!!!!

Mongolia!!!!!!

The journey out of Russia and on to northern Mongolia, crossing the border after a four hour lay-over was relatively uneventful. Not so unexpectedly the process was wildly inefficient and yet another demonstration of the remnants of artifically created full employment.

Daveski and Fitski set off on a mission to burn the last of the Rubles and returned victoriously with 2 litre bottles of 'beer' and biscuits. We met Joel and Justin from Canada, and an Irish couple who were more than willing to toast this wondrous nonsense with us. Excellent.

The contrasting demeanor between the Mongolians and their ever so friendly Russian counterparts was a breath of fresh air. Having being welcomed to their country (imagine that!) we sped off into the night towards Ulan Bator feeling less like refugees and a little more like tourists. I woke up in time to get some footage of the last few kilometers into the city - a smoky mass of concrete and metal seemingly having plonked itself uncermoniously in the middle of unsuspecting nowhere.

We were met at the train station by a smiling Bayraa, who Dave had met at home through Bayraa's girlfriend, Baikal. He took us on a whirlwind Gran Tourismo spin around the city (up to the Zaisan Memorial for a great view down onto the city and then Sukbataar Square). Before a big, dirty and immensely satisfying full Irish in the Grand Khan Byraat he brought us to the Gandantegchinlen Khiid Monastery for a quick karma session. We ambled through the Temples, stopping in one to gawp at a 27m tall golden statue to Migjid Janraisig (full of herbs and a whole ger tent complete with furniture!). Stalin again gets a mention - his boys decided to melt down the original statue in the 30's and use the metal for bullets -true visionaries.

Anyway, post aforementioned feed of grease and after some unsuccessful haggling with an overpriced tour company we hit the road towards Terelj National Park where Bayraa had arranged for us to stay in a Ger camp owned by Baikal's family. A welcoming bottle of Chinngis Khan vodka was cracked in the restaurant/bar (a giant wooden ger shaped structure) and we whiled an hour or two with our host until he had to leave.

Full of dutch and excitement about the sheer beauty and vastness of the countryside around us we trekked up to the nearest vantage point and peered down onto the steppe and valleys below. Dinner, more beers and vodka with Bayraa who reappeared with two of his mates (just as we were skipping back into camp and shouting the Sound of Music at the hills - haha). As soon as they disappeared back to UB we discovered a karaoke shack attached to the restaurant,..say no more. Now at this stage one would imagine a rest would have been in order..maybe a few hours kip before an active day of exploration. Naaaa.

Birthday party in full swing in the restaurant. A local cattle herder was asked to hop up and give a 'long song' for the guests. He stood up, all four and a half foot of him, threw back his shoulders, tipped his cowboy hat in our direction and proceeded to emanate the most amazing piece of solo vocal contort I have ever witnessed. The famous art of Mogolian throat singing. Simply incredible, its fair to say that we were all blown away (and a little ashamed of our Take That antics a few minutes earlier!..shhhhh).

I got up and warbled through Monto and the Fields of Athenry at their insistance of a response but I felt like a spindly legged fecking Swedish first capper tryin to face up against the Haka. The guitar came out to my rescue and the night proceeded along by now customary grounds. We had arranged a driver to pick us up from Terelj the next morning, and left for UB once again to organise a camping expedition into the countryside/semi desert for the week. More anon.

Ulan Ude - last stop in Russia

Ulan Ude is the capital of the Buryat Republic, and the centre of Buddhism in Russia. It was a real highlight for us all, lovely friendly people. There was a very relaxed atmosphere to the city. On arriving Fitz and I were sitting on all the bags whilst Dave and Jim went searching for somewhere to stay.

Two or three people came up to ask us where we were from, just so intrigued by our presence in the city, and were very helpful offering to show us where things were. It was very refreshing after Irkutsk. Also very hot! The city is renowned for having the largest Lenin head statue in Russia. It sits on the main square, looks pretty ridiculous. It's enormous.

Only a fifth of the current population are actually Buryats, but it's believed that the head was put there as a form of revenge after they resisted Sovietization. However they say they got the last laugh as Lenins eyes appear slightly Asian. On that note since we passed the Europe-Asia marker at Yekaterinburg it's amazing how the locals appear noticeably more Asian. Of course it makes sense but within one country it's interesting to see the transition.



The lads successfully found what we reckon to be student accomodation. 10euro a night - perfect. The only things of interest to do in Ulan Ude are to stare at Lenins head and visit the Tibetan Buddhist Monastery, the Ivolginsky Datsan, which is 35km outside the city.

Day 1 we saw Lenin's monstrous head. Day 2 the buddhist monastery; no need to over exert oursleves! Such monasteries were in abundance before Stalin but almost all were closed by him and the monks sent to gulags back in the 1930's. Later in the 40's when Stalin sanctioned greater religious tolerance this site was selected to build a new monastery. And now it is the centre of Russian Buddhism. It stands on a large plain outside the city. Beautifully painted temples, and stupas. We walked clockwise around it as is custom with all Buddhist temples and objects. I spotted two monks on mobiles which would have made a great picture but not very appropriate timing methinks! Students from all over the region come to study Buddhism here.



In the evenings there was almost a Mediterranean feel to the town, we sat on terraces drinking beers, lots of people around, lively atmosphere. The food wasn't bad either. We managed one or two decent meals. We found an old Soviet style canteen where you take a tray and join the queue, worked perfect for us, you just point at what you want, and everything was really cheap. It was a bit like a boarding school canteen, but full of people having lunch and going about their day. It was in the basement of the back of a building, odd little spot not like anything we have at home.

Ul Lenina (yet another city centre street named after the man himself) is the pedestrianised high street, and we found an Irish bar (Russian owned, and virginal to Irish punters - my how special we felt). Had a vodka platter, or was it two, and met a Canadian woman and British guy over working for Land Rover - tough life organising sponsored rallies throughout Asia and beyond. Off to bed looking forward to stage 2 of our own wee rally into Mongolia.

"Russia - best of luck with that"

S.