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.
After jetting off on our business class flight, we arrived in Moscow and trekked across town to our hotel using the metro and buses only to find out they provided a complimentary chauffeur. Seems like backpackers aren’t their usual clientele and we have much to learn about living the high life.
The metro is great for getting around the city and the stations look like museums with chandeliers, artworks and sculptures. They were also nice and warm - a good place to hide from the chilly winds. Generally it was freezing cold, we’re glad we weren’t visiting in winter. The deafening noise and exhaust fumes also have a pleasant lulling effect and we often dozed off to and from the city.
We saw the Kremlin and other usual sights but Red Square was closed off because of a forthcoming music concert. Amazingly the guards let us sneak in for a minute to take some pictures of St. Basils. We considered making a run for it inside but weren’t really up for a free holiday to a Siberian gulag. We also took a trip out to a really surreal Communist exhibition park, sort of a World Fair for the USSR. The elaborate buildings must have been impressive in their day but now sit largely empty and it reminded us of an abandoned theme park.
Helen was a bit concerned that we’d be suspected of being spies since her parents also came to Moscow for their honeymoon in the middle of the Cold War. Unfortunately we weren’t even asked “show mee yur papeerz” by stern looking militsia and so boarded our train to Mongolia slightly disappointed we didn’t get to live out our James Bond fantasies.
On the 25th August 2008 at 11:00 my sister and Jon got married in Edinburgh after their engagement on an Alaskan cruise in June. The family knew it would happen privately but didn’t know when, although Pauline and I had secretly sussed their plans…no-one has their hair, eyebrows, manicure and pedicure done just for the Fringe Festival!
Today we had a lovely family wedding breakfast with parents and siblings and afterwards a screening of the 6 minute service, a little shorter than our 2 hour epic wedding DVD. They both looked fantastic and we couldn’t be happier for them.
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Last weekend Mum and I took part in our Swimtrek challenge in the Lake District; a weekend of open water swimming and walking combined. The distances had to be changed slightly to the planned route because of adverse weather conditions, so the jury is out on how far we actually travelled. We think that the swimming was 7-10km and the walking 10-12km.
It was absolutely fan-bloody-tastic! We were both petrified but once we were in the first lake we were hooked. We swam across Buttermere and Crummock Water on day one with a walk up to Scale Force Waterfall in between. Day two was a steep walk up to Easdale Tarn but so worth it, like our own private pool, the best of the weekend. Mum persuaded me to do it without my wet-suit and although very resistant at first I loved the sensation once my skin had stopped burning. Last swim was Grasmere which was the longest and hardest but we had our own private cheer leaders in the form of my boss Janet and her family - thanks for your support again!
Not only was the swimming and walking fantastic but the company and leadership couldn’t have been better. We hope to swim with you all again very soon.
We are really close to our £1000.00 mark for sponsorship which we’d love to reach as that is the cost of keeping the Mary Ann Evans Hospice open for just one day! Thanks so much to everyone who has already sponsored us and if anyone still wishes to you can do so securely on our Just Giving site:
http://www.justgiving.com/helenandjackie
Mark and I are off on our world trip next Sunday so keep checking the blog and posting comments, it’s lovely to hear from everyone when you’re so far from home.
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The Swedish need no encouragement to celebrate any occasion. They make a really big deal out of Mid-summer’s Eve and on Saturday we were invited to another great Swedish tradition…a Crayfish party. This celebrates the time that they harvest the seafood and seems as important a part of Swedish tradition as Christmas is to us.
Rowan and Marcus hosted the party at there flat and put on a wonderful spread. Our starter of quiche was delicious and washed down with a lovely punch that was a violent combination of various alcoholic spirits. The way to dissect, suck and peel our crayfish was demonstrated beautifully by Marcus. We all got stuck in making sure we slurped loudly and of course remembering to chop off the heads of each crayfish consumed as a trophy. Not wanting to blow my own trumpet, but at 13 I think I was officially the winner! Every now and then we sang a traditional song and necked a shot of snaps (Swedish tipple.) We also had home-made sushi, not a normal addition to crayfish celebrations but delicious nonetheless.
The party went on into the wee hours where we entertained ourselves with face Art and playing unrecognisable tunes on a tiny piano for everyone else to guess. On our return home the club night in the basement of our hotel was in full swing, so we joined in dancing on the smallest, sweatiest dance floor in the world. A great night was had by all and despite really deserving it we didn’t have a hang-over!
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On Saturday we took a trip across the Öresund (the Öre Strait) on the bridge and Tunnel that connects Sweden with Denmark. A bit like going from Bristol-Wales across the Severn bridge but this took a bit longer and the difference on the other side was more pronounced. The Swedish accent is quite strange, but I guess we have become acclimatised to that, the Danish however sound like a tape in reverse when they speak. We had been on holiday here before so were not particularly bothered about seeing the sights, we just meandered around, drinking beer, eating food and enjoying the sun as last time we visited it was snowing and freezing cold. After our delicious tapas meal we bought ourselves a Danish for pudding, but here they just call them pastries. In the main square there was a basketball tournament going on so we sat and watched several games. The competitors varied greatly in ability, some were like a bunch of old dads doing it for a laugh and others looked like the Harlem Globetrotters. One Scandinavian team were very entertaining to watch and what they lacked in height they made up for in showy dribbling and over-sized clothes.
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