Hiring a pair of bikes was a great way to travel around the city and get a taste of everyday Beijing life. The junctions are slightly hazardous though; even when you’re on green other traffic can still turn right into your path, so when in doubt we got very close to the locals and followed exactly what thy did. We saw lots of smaller temples, bell towers and Hutongs (small residential alleyways) that you could never see in a car. This architecture is under threat as they modernise the city however. Foreign architects have built some really exciting work here (see photos of ‘The Egg’ performing arts space and CCTV headquarters) but it would be a real shame to loose any more of these traditional areas. After 4 hours our bums had had enough so we traded the bikes for beers.
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Since being in China we have had some fantastic food and you begin to realise that the Chinese takeaway menu we know in the UK really doesn’t exist here. Generally the food is either much simpler like enormous watery soups with delicate flavours or really weird like feet, stomach and intestines of any animal you care to mention. Obviously when in Peking we had the obligatory duck, but also enjoyed delicious BBQ fish, dumplings and an interesting hotpot which we shared with our new friends Caz and Asa.
The small round cake you can see is called a moon cake and this is what everyone eats during the Mid-Autumn festival which we celebrated last Sunday. It was a time for families who live apart to either get together or if that’s not possible then to at least eat these cakes whilst looking at the same moon their loved ones looked at. Some were disgusting and Mark summed it up perfectly when he said it tasted as though they were filled with ear wax. Others however we delicious and filled with dried fruit and nuts.
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We visited a very famous Tea House that all the visiting politicians and celebrities attend. The walls were plastered with their photos and one of the focal ones at this time was of a group of women who were big wigs with the Olympics, Mark thought it looked more like the Spice Girls. We shared a table with a Chinese family and watched the performance of Chinese art; silhouette puppet show, man balancing plant pots on his head, dancers with tea pots, magician, singer and comedy duo. They were all very high quality but the best of the lot was the face changing lady who with the blink of an eye her mask had changed. Throughout the 2 hours we had our green tea continually topped up. It’s an acquired taste and a far cry from Tetley.
Later in the day we had a Mahjong and Manderin lesson from Bonny, the lovely guide at our first hotel. The Mahjong I now get, it’s just like rummie but the language leaves me totally cluless although Mark is making a valiant effort at every possible opportunity.
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We were really lucky to get tickets to the Birds Nest to watch the Athletics on Tuesday as they were nearly all sold out. At £4 per ticket including all of your transport I am not surprised and the place was packed giving an electric atmosphere. The journey there was interesting on the underground; usually a fantastic service but today totally rammed. They actually employed staff to push people into the carriages. The only reason I didn’t faint was because the Chinese are so small that Mark and I were head and shoulders above the rest so although our bodies were squashed we could at least breath.
The whole site was really impressive, the Birds Nest and Water Cube especially. We arrived as a British guy was being awarded his Silver medal and then no other Brits appeared so we began to cheer for the home team. They seemed to win everything, most importantly the relay, so the crowd were going wild.
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Though impressive, the temples in Tiantan park play second fiddle to the masses of retired Chinese folk gathered there to take part in social events. With ballroom dancing, Tai Chi, fast Tai Chi with rackets and balls, Chinese chess, cards, music, singing, ribbon throwing, calligraphy, knitting, and many more we spent the morning walking from one group to the next. One game had group of people kicking a weighted shuttlecock between them. Mark was asked to join in and all went well until he hoofed the thing into a nearby tree. It sat there firmly stuck until a man got it back with the aid of his shoe and lots of throwing.
Later in the week we took a tour out to the Great Wall and after being herded through the obligatory tourist shops we got our first glimpses. Despite seeing many pictures of it back home it was more spectacular than we had imagined and much steeper too! The Disney style ride we had to take to get up and down slightly ruined the authentic feel of the place but nevertheless it was a fantastic experience. Some sections were very busy but on other more strenuous sections we had it almost to ourselves.
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We arrived in Beijing at a great time, by luck rather than planning. With the Olympics and Paralympics taking place the city looks at it’s best with clean streets, flowers everywhere, helpful English speaking staff, less traffic and far less pollution. Tiananmen Square looked spectacular with amazing floral displays and hundreds of fireworks set up for the closing ceremony. It was a far cry from the grey, political image we were presented with in the 1989 demonstrations.
Skirting around Mao’s mausoleum we headed for The Forbidden City which was as impressive as we had expected and seemed to go on forever. Although packed with tour groups you couldn’t help but be impressed by the architecture and colours of the place. The photo where Mark has his eyes closed is taken under a 300 year old tree that is two trees grafted together. It is supposed to bring a long and happy marriage to newlyweds… so far so good!
4 days in the wilderness without showers or toilets made us eager to get back on our first class carriage of luxury heading for China. Where our last train was old fashioned and classic this one was ultra modern with TVs for every bed and our own toilet in first class. The scenery on this leg was even more spectacular than before with the Gobi desert full of camels and wild horses leading to the mountainous border with China where old sections of the wall still stand.
When we crossed the Mongolian-Chinese border late at night they had to change the bogies (wheels) as they run on different gauges. Consequently they had to lock us on the train and close all the toilets for about 6 hours because the debris would fall on the work men’s heads! Unfortunately we had been drinking lots of beer earlier with some friends in the bar and not realised. After an hour I had to give in and wee into a bottle! Not my finest moment and god mum your ‘She Pee’ would have come in handy then!
To get a flavour of the sound of Mongolia take a listen to this. It’s by a famous Mongolian composer called Jantsannorov and when we listened to it after climbing down the steps of a Budhist temple in the snow we were super-chilled.
Although we loved our first leg of the Trans Mongolian Express, after 5 days we were ready to get off and experience the beauty of the Mongolian countryside.
We had a slightly disastrous start when our tour company for our horse trekking didn’t turn up. We soon booked another one however and in the space of a few hours we were heading off on a packed bus into the wilderness. Our guide spoke no English, was quite aggressive and loved to drink Vodka so the trip had it’s ups and downs. We trotted past amazing scenery, interesting monasteries and Mark had his first gallop!
That night we stayed with a real nomadic family in their Ger (village of felt yurts). The old man and woman who lived there spoke no English either so we just smiled a lot and drank vodka. Our evening meal was a lovely soup but the main feature was, we fear, a goats willy which we somehow managed to swallow with smiles on our faces. In the evening we herded cattle on horse back and watched the killing and skinning of a goat - an impressive and fascinating skill with not a drop of blood spilt. At bed time the old dears tucked us in with a bowl of vodka and then we were lulled to sleep by the sound of the lady using her bed pan. All the other travellers we later spoke to stayed in tourist Gers with the luxuries of electricity and toilets but not us! As a result we became very proficient at pooing in the bushes!
The second day was a national holiday in our guide’s home town. The Mongolian boxing gold medalist grew up there and was on show for the crowds. After he arrived we saw some bouts of Mongolian wrestling, which Mark later tried and lost to our bus driver Sanja. There was also a 25km horse race for kids aged between 3-12 and we saw them thunder past the finish line. Unfortunately the rest of the day was spent waiting for our pissed guide to finish drinking vodka with his mates.
For the following 2 days we visited a different National Park and the scenery became even more stunning. We hired a lovely guide called Hogi who was from a nomadic family and taught us loads about Mongolian history and culture. On the final day we hired horses again and unfortunately what turned out to be a beautiful trek ended badly when Mark’s horse got spooked, reared and galloped off with Mark still attached. He bravely held on for ages before making a planned exit in style and is still today sporting some very impressive bruises. Like the saying goes though he got straight back on the horse and finished the ride. Although we ended the trip a little shaken Mongolia was nevertheless a must see.
Five days of getting up late without washing, drinking all day and existing mainly on instant noodles was like re-living our student days. The private 1st class cabin was certainly plushier than my old room, though both were a similar size.
We spent the days trundling across Russia into Siberia and finally Mongolia. As we watched the scenery change we stopped every few hours to stock up on locally cooked cakes and bread. For the most part these were very fine though some liver filled doughnuts left a pretty foul taste in our mouths.
The size of the towns and cities along the way was a real surprise. We often saw large blocks of soviet-style flats and factories seemingly isolated in the middle of Siberia.
Our evenings passed with lots of drinking and games in the trains dining car with other guys we met on board. With the old style decor and uniforms we often felt like we were in the middle of a Poirot mystery as we passed between the carriages.
