Okay. So the ferry departure time was 8pm and being the careful lad I can be sometimes, I booked a "taxi" in the morning for 630pm that night. We had to be at the ferry a bit before 715pm to pick up tickets, pass through customs and passport control - so we had given ourselves plenty of time ... the sea terminal wasnt that far away ... riiiiight.
Our "taxi" driver rocked up a bit before 630, all good so far. Turns out that the "taxi" driver was probably a relation of the hostel owner. Whatever. A taxi is a taxi is a taxi(ish) - at least it is when the price has been agreed up front. Piled into the car and off we went. Now, I would've thought that as we were at the end of Nevskii Prospekt (st) we would've just headed down there, followed it to the end, crossed over the Neva River, turned left after the bridge and that would've been about it. We headed in the opposite direction. Okay. This guy is a local. Give him the benefit of the doubt (is that a saying?). Traffic not too bad so far, until we started heading in the right direction. Gridlock St Petersburg style. Slowly our taxi driver began his descent into madness muttering things in Russian, waving his hands, abusing other drivers, cutting in front of other cars.
After about 5 minutes of this he decides to try another street. He turns off of the one we were on and heads to the other one, only to get there and be greeted with the same mess of cars. He mutters something else in Russian, wave his hands and heads back to the street we just came from.
He turns around and asks us what time we need to get there (at least we think that is what he asked). We gesture 7pm which brought a shake of the head, more muttering and more waving of the arms. At this point we have already blown 10 minutes and hardly moved anywhere. The awareness of our deadline caused our driver to shift in to top gear in the mania stakes. Turning back TOWARDS the hostel he beeps and swerves his way back towards the main street (Nevskii).
By this stage I am starting to get a little worried. It is about ten to seven and we have got about 2% of the way there.
We make it back to the main street and start heading in the right direction. At least the traffic was actually moving on this street, albeit slowly. But I wasn't complaining. At this stage any progress was better then swerving from one street to another making no progress at all!!! So the madness continued all the way down Nevskii Prospekt. At one point the driver broke out into a huge guffaw when we passed a police car with its siren and lights going, stuck in traffic also. He turned around to us and with two index fingers raised above his head, twrling them around, he tried to explain the joke. Yep.
We finally made it to the end of Nevskii Prospekt at about ten past seven. At this point there was a small growing hope that we might actually catch the ferry. The odds had certainly shortened from the 300-1 odd I would've offered you about 20 minutes before.
The traffic was much better once we crossed the bridge over the Neva River and headed towards the sea terminal. Not to say that the erratic driving didn't continue : more cutting across lanes, frantic muttering and the odd curse at other drivers. Hitting the last leg of our taxi ride we could see the ferry at the end of the road. Just as we got right near the drop off point we had to take a huge detour (okay 750m or so but at this stage anything was a huge detour!!!) before we could then turn back and enter the terminal.
The detour behind us, the taxi driver pulled up about 100m from the terminal door and let us out. We grabbed our bags, handed the driver the cash and ran to the terminal. About half seven by this stage, maybe a little earlier. Entering the terminal, looking worried no doubt, a guy pointed us to the ticket desk and, thank god, they gave us our tickets. As our tickets our handed to us the man behind the counter says, "Hurry up, checkin has closed.". We jog past the closed x ray machines and up to passport control. There is one family and one old man in front of us, but other than that was it. We were the last ones through. Yep, the last two on the ferry. One or two more minutes and that would've been it!
Russian passport control turned out to be rather painless, probably because we didn't have any time for them to hassle us! No customs forms, nothing. Worse still, no time to buy some cheap cold beer before we left Russia :-(
Through one last door, outside, up some stairs, over the gangway and on to the boat. Damn it felt good to be on that boat. In the taxi I had had visions of having to return to our booked out hostel, organising a bus ticket to Tallin before our visa expired the next day and then a 12 hour bus trip to Tallinn.
I don't think I want to go in the Amazing Race after all. "Detour: Make your way to Tallin by ferry and find the Beata Hostel in the Old Town. The last team to arrive may be eliminated ...."
(I must say in defence of the taxi driver, we probably should've given ourselves a bit more time and the traffic was incredibly bad! Without his desperate attempts we probably would be on a bus right now ...)
Lets Get Organized
After another rather frantic attempt to find accomodation in Tallin (our next destination) we have decided to try and book the rest of our accomodation for the trip. All 30 nights of it!
We spent about 30 mins in a cafe sorting out our itinerary and a further four hours in the internet cafe trying to book hostels in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and the Czech Republic. Reasonably successful. Some of the smaller towns don't have facilities to book online so we still have a few phone calls to make.
We had met a couple on the train who had prebooked all their accomodation and we had thought they were mad!!! Turns out accomodation can be (a) expensive if cheaper places are full and (b) the cheaper places tend to fill up quickly!!! I stand corrected.
We catch the ferry tonight to Tallin in Estonia. Should be an interesting experience. The room we have has no windows so I might finally get a decent nights sleep. Nearly every morning I have woken up with the sun at about 4:30 !!! Not to mention going to bed with the sun at 11:30 - a grand total of about 5 hours a night. Those of you who know me know I like to sleep :-). Arrive in Tallin about 930 in the morning.
We spent about 30 mins in a cafe sorting out our itinerary and a further four hours in the internet cafe trying to book hostels in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and the Czech Republic. Reasonably successful. Some of the smaller towns don't have facilities to book online so we still have a few phone calls to make.
We had met a couple on the train who had prebooked all their accomodation and we had thought they were mad!!! Turns out accomodation can be (a) expensive if cheaper places are full and (b) the cheaper places tend to fill up quickly!!! I stand corrected.
We catch the ferry tonight to Tallin in Estonia. Should be an interesting experience. The room we have has no windows so I might finally get a decent nights sleep. Nearly every morning I have woken up with the sun at about 4:30 !!! Not to mention going to bed with the sun at 11:30 - a grand total of about 5 hours a night. Those of you who know me know I like to sleep :-). Arrive in Tallin about 930 in the morning.
St Petersburg Take II
Yesterday we went to the State Hermitage Museum. We got there just before 10:30 which is opening time, to be greeted by a line about 75m long! Luckily it moved reasonably quickly and we were inside the museum within about 1/2 an hour.
The museum is largely housed in the old Winter Palace of the tsars which makes opulent seem like an understatement. Some of the rooms were works of art in themselves, if somewhat unsubtle !!! Massive staircases, columns lining the walls, gilt ceilings, massive chandeliers - you name it.
We spent about 4 hours wandering through room after room with paintings lining the walls and sculptures providing obstacles in the middle of the rooms for the huge crowds. Out of the window I counted about 30 tour buses parked outside!! Trying to go against the flow of the tour groups lining up for a DaVinci painiting was quite an onerous task!
The collection was impressive but unfortunately I'm not the biggest appreciator of art so most of the artists/periods/styles etc elude me. There were a lot of Monets, Picassos, Matisses, Van Goghs, Cezanne, Gauguins - a lot of which were plundered from private collections during world war II.
St Petersburg has been a completely different experience to Moscow. Very scenic and a bit more relaxed. That said, I am willing to start up a fund for another Metro station at the end of Nevskii Prospect (the main drag). I walked that stretch a little too often in the few days we have been here.
The museum is largely housed in the old Winter Palace of the tsars which makes opulent seem like an understatement. Some of the rooms were works of art in themselves, if somewhat unsubtle !!! Massive staircases, columns lining the walls, gilt ceilings, massive chandeliers - you name it.
We spent about 4 hours wandering through room after room with paintings lining the walls and sculptures providing obstacles in the middle of the rooms for the huge crowds. Out of the window I counted about 30 tour buses parked outside!! Trying to go against the flow of the tour groups lining up for a DaVinci painiting was quite an onerous task!
The collection was impressive but unfortunately I'm not the biggest appreciator of art so most of the artists/periods/styles etc elude me. There were a lot of Monets, Picassos, Matisses, Van Goghs, Cezanne, Gauguins - a lot of which were plundered from private collections during world war II.
St Petersburg has been a completely different experience to Moscow. Very scenic and a bit more relaxed. That said, I am willing to start up a fund for another Metro station at the end of Nevskii Prospect (the main drag). I walked that stretch a little too often in the few days we have been here.
St Petersburg
St Petersburg has proved to be a welcome relief from Moscow. Such a beautiful city. Admittedly I haven't been making the most of it ... first day was spent catching up on sleep after the "sleeper" train, and most of today was spent sleeping off a hangover after going out last night.
It is 11:30pm at the moment and it is only just starting to get dark outside. It is a very wierd feeling. It doesnt do wonders for the body clock !!! Sun is back up at 4:30.
One thing I did manage to do today was go on a bit of a Crime and Punishment (Dostoyevsky) walking tour courtesy of the lonely planet. Saw the streets where the book was set, as well as the stairwell and flat of the main character in the book (whose long Russian name eludes me at the moment ... Raskalnikov or something like that). Very cool.
It is 11:30pm at the moment and it is only just starting to get dark outside. It is a very wierd feeling. It doesnt do wonders for the body clock !!! Sun is back up at 4:30.
One thing I did manage to do today was go on a bit of a Crime and Punishment (Dostoyevsky) walking tour courtesy of the lonely planet. Saw the streets where the book was set, as well as the stairwell and flat of the main character in the book (whose long Russian name eludes me at the moment ... Raskalnikov or something like that). Very cool.
"Sleeper" Train
Arrived in St Petersburg early (well 8am is early isn't it?) this morning after about 8 hours on the "sleeper" train from Moscow (yes that's catching the midnight train. Train stations aren't the most salubrious places at the best of time. Capitalism was flourishing in park just down the street from the train stations ....) As for "sleeper", well it got light at about 4 in the morning and I think I woke up every 10 minutes. We had a Russian couple in our 4 sleeper cabin which is the first time we have actually shared with locals. Was pretty sweet though, no hassles and they even wished us well in the morning!!! (Yes it is saying something if that makes a big impact on your day!!)
I think I was quite ready to leave Moscow last night. It has been fun and it was great to see all the sights but was a bit like hard work at times. Hmmm - now I just sound like I am whingeing so I will shutup.
That said, did get to see a very cool photo competition (entries from Muscovites of various day to day subjects) at the Moscow House of Photography before we left.
We are currently trying to work out our plans to get to London. It looks like the overland route mught get the ass due to it being about 200 quid more expensive than a 2 hour flight from prague to heathrow. Sad but true. (And russia is a lot more expensive then I had bargained on. A cup of coffee in Moscow costs about $6. Yikes.)
I think I was quite ready to leave Moscow last night. It has been fun and it was great to see all the sights but was a bit like hard work at times. Hmmm - now I just sound like I am whingeing so I will shutup.
That said, did get to see a very cool photo competition (entries from Muscovites of various day to day subjects) at the Moscow House of Photography before we left.
We are currently trying to work out our plans to get to London. It looks like the overland route mught get the ass due to it being about 200 quid more expensive than a 2 hour flight from prague to heathrow. Sad but true. (And russia is a lot more expensive then I had bargained on. A cup of coffee in Moscow costs about $6. Yikes.)
MoscOw .. part II
Well have been in moscow foUR days now and .. well .. as much as i wouLd love to say I love the Place, I cant make up my mind. It Is pretty hard work trYing tO make Yourself understoOd and even the simple act of trying to buy an icecream can turn intO a frustraIng experience when theY cant change that 500RubLe nOte (~$25).
YesterdaY I trIed tO go tO visit the Kremlin but the whOle area was off limits (One cOp everY 10 metres OR so around the perimiteR. Net! Net!) NOT sure what Is going on bUt I think there iS a 60year anniversarY of wOrld war II cOming UP (red squaRE Is all decked oUt with a large stage at one end) so the whOle red sqUare/kremlin visting thing has been a bIt hit and miss.
Did manage tO see Lenin this morning though. After waItign fOr about an hOur In line we fInallY made It to the front on the line (literally, not one or two back, but the FRONT Of the line) when the gUard sUddenly started indIcatIng "closed" (at least that is what I thInk It was) and moved the barricade acrOss the entrance.
EverYOne in the line was looking a little peeved when suDdenly the gUY decIded tO let the whOle line thrOUgh. What the ! On to the next check point where we had tO check any cameras in at a baggage point (whIch meant losing the Place in line - thanks for the mercy dash alex!!). Don't try and sneak those mobile phones in eIther ... theY are wise to that One !!
FInally about 10 minutes before 1 (when it closes) we made it IntO Lenins tomb and it was ... well ... bIzarre I guess. It does look like the real deal thoUGh. To some extent. I guess It takes a lot of chemicals to preserve a bOdy that long (as in tIme ... Lenin was shOrt .... !)
I guess Moscow has been fUn (nOw It has stOpped raInig), but It can be pretty frustRatIng. NOt understanding when things go even slIghtly wrOng Is Par fOr the coUrse. DOn't get me wrong ... I dont mInd travelling in non_english sPeakIng coUntrIes .. but anY attempt at even trYIng tO fumble thrOugh is typicallY met with a prettY familiard word by nOw ... net (ie no !!!)
We leave for St Petersburg tOmOrrOw nIght on the tRAIn (11:55) so it shOuld be InterestIng tO comPare the twO.
Anyway .. better go. Hope I'm not boring you all whOever you are ...
YesterdaY I trIed tO go tO visit the Kremlin but the whOle area was off limits (One cOp everY 10 metres OR so around the perimiteR. Net! Net!) NOT sure what Is going on bUt I think there iS a 60year anniversarY of wOrld war II cOming UP (red squaRE Is all decked oUt with a large stage at one end) so the whOle red sqUare/kremlin visting thing has been a bIt hit and miss.
Did manage tO see Lenin this morning though. After waItign fOr about an hOur In line we fInallY made It to the front on the line (literally, not one or two back, but the FRONT Of the line) when the gUard sUddenly started indIcatIng "closed" (at least that is what I thInk It was) and moved the barricade acrOss the entrance.
EverYOne in the line was looking a little peeved when suDdenly the gUY decIded tO let the whOle line thrOUgh. What the ! On to the next check point where we had tO check any cameras in at a baggage point (whIch meant losing the Place in line - thanks for the mercy dash alex!!). Don't try and sneak those mobile phones in eIther ... theY are wise to that One !!
FInally about 10 minutes before 1 (when it closes) we made it IntO Lenins tomb and it was ... well ... bIzarre I guess. It does look like the real deal thoUGh. To some extent. I guess It takes a lot of chemicals to preserve a bOdy that long (as in tIme ... Lenin was shOrt .... !)
I guess Moscow has been fUn (nOw It has stOpped raInig), but It can be pretty frustRatIng. NOt understanding when things go even slIghtly wrOng Is Par fOr the coUrse. DOn't get me wrong ... I dont mInd travelling in non_english sPeakIng coUntrIes .. but anY attempt at even trYIng tO fumble thrOugh is typicallY met with a prettY familiard word by nOw ... net (ie no !!!)
We leave for St Petersburg tOmOrrOw nIght on the tRAIn (11:55) so it shOuld be InterestIng tO comPare the twO.
Anyway .. better go. Hope I'm not boring you all whOever you are ...
Train train ...
Well i fIgUre i probably should dO at least One post abOut the train ride considering we sPent so much time On there.
That said, the trIP from Irkutsk to VladImir (jUSt outside of moscow) was quite uneventful, no 12 hour bOrder crossIngs or working OUt wether or nOt bOoks were "printed materIal" as far as RussIan cUstoms were concerned!!!
There was the fUn of trYIng tO buy things In the dInIng car thOUgh. The ladies rUnnIng the thing had hairdOs which made them seem lIke extras from the Rocky Horror Picture show. The service was interesting to say the least. Basically yoU wOUld gesture for them to cOme over and then maybe 5mins later they wOUld wander over. All very bIzarre!
Three nights on the traIn, leavIng 4:30pm the first day and arrivIng abOUT 1Pm on the last day. TIme spent maInly eatIng, readIng, cards and drinking (baltika - a fIne russian brew). The odd drop Of vodka.
Strangely enough it was quite sad to get off the train. Had settled into quite a relaxed rOutIne.
So that was the Trans MOngOlIan .....
That said, the trIP from Irkutsk to VladImir (jUSt outside of moscow) was quite uneventful, no 12 hour bOrder crossIngs or working OUt wether or nOt bOoks were "printed materIal" as far as RussIan cUstoms were concerned!!!
There was the fUn of trYIng tO buy things In the dInIng car thOUgh. The ladies rUnnIng the thing had hairdOs which made them seem lIke extras from the Rocky Horror Picture show. The service was interesting to say the least. Basically yoU wOUld gesture for them to cOme over and then maybe 5mins later they wOUld wander over. All very bIzarre!
Three nights on the traIn, leavIng 4:30pm the first day and arrivIng abOUT 1Pm on the last day. TIme spent maInly eatIng, readIng, cards and drinking (baltika - a fIne russian brew). The odd drop Of vodka.
Strangely enough it was quite sad to get off the train. Had settled into quite a relaxed rOutIne.
So that was the Trans MOngOlIan .....
Moscow
FInallY made It tO moscOw after 3 nightS On the traIn and a night In a small place juSt OUtside of MOscOw called SUzdal.
The weather here is q bIt of q shOcker qnd the keyboqrd is zierd so forgive ,e
aaaarrgggh .... bqck lqter: dInner tI,e :::
The weather here is q bIt of q shOcker qnd the keyboqrd is zierd so forgive ,e
aaaarrgggh .... bqck lqter: dInner tI,e :::
Bolshoe Goloustnoe
Well we made it in to Russia after a 12 hour border crossing from Mongolia, most of which involved sitting on the train scratching our head wondering what was going on !! Luckily no hassles with the visas after all the stress when organizing the trip.
We got off the train in a town called Irkutsk and then got driven to Bolshoe Goulostnoe on the shore of Lake Baikal. FYI Lake Baikal is the largest/deepest/oldest freshwater lake in the world. It is also very cold as we found out when we tried to go for a "swim". Our swim consisted of mad dashes into the water, a quick dunk and then a mad dash back out before our feet went completely numb. Very refreshing! I think the water was about 5 or 6 degrees. Not the warmest.
We stayed in a local's house and ate local food - borsch, potates and lots of fish (omul) from the lake. Oh yeah, we also drank lots of vodka (pepper vodka - pretty firey stuff) and raw frozen fish from the lake. The village was quite small and most of the houses were traditional Siberian wooden houses. Was a great place to relax after a couple of nights on the train.
Weather has been great, 25 degrees yesterday and almost feels warmer today. It has been staying light until about 11pm. Quite wierd. Is going to be even worse (better?) in st petersburg where they celebrate "White Nights" at the end of June where it hardly gets dark at all, only for an hour or so. Should be great fun, quite the party apparently.
Am catching the train to Moscow in about two hours which involves being on the train for three nights, nearly 4 whole days. Should be interesting. Should get a bit of reading done! Have bought a Russian-English dictionary to try and learn to read some Russian before I get to Moscow. It is quite strange getting used to a Cyrillic Alphabet.
So far Russia has been great. Pretty much what I expected, very, well, ... Russian I guess. Moscow and St Petersburg should be great. There has been a change in plans in that we are now contemplating going all the way overland back to London instead of flying from Prague. Sounds like more fun than "cheating" halfway through!!
Anyway, there won't be any updates for a few days while I am on the train ....
We got off the train in a town called Irkutsk and then got driven to Bolshoe Goulostnoe on the shore of Lake Baikal. FYI Lake Baikal is the largest/deepest/oldest freshwater lake in the world. It is also very cold as we found out when we tried to go for a "swim". Our swim consisted of mad dashes into the water, a quick dunk and then a mad dash back out before our feet went completely numb. Very refreshing! I think the water was about 5 or 6 degrees. Not the warmest.
We stayed in a local's house and ate local food - borsch, potates and lots of fish (omul) from the lake. Oh yeah, we also drank lots of vodka (pepper vodka - pretty firey stuff) and raw frozen fish from the lake. The village was quite small and most of the houses were traditional Siberian wooden houses. Was a great place to relax after a couple of nights on the train.
Weather has been great, 25 degrees yesterday and almost feels warmer today. It has been staying light until about 11pm. Quite wierd. Is going to be even worse (better?) in st petersburg where they celebrate "White Nights" at the end of June where it hardly gets dark at all, only for an hour or so. Should be great fun, quite the party apparently.
Am catching the train to Moscow in about two hours which involves being on the train for three nights, nearly 4 whole days. Should be interesting. Should get a bit of reading done! Have bought a Russian-English dictionary to try and learn to read some Russian before I get to Moscow. It is quite strange getting used to a Cyrillic Alphabet.
So far Russia has been great. Pretty much what I expected, very, well, ... Russian I guess. Moscow and St Petersburg should be great. There has been a change in plans in that we are now contemplating going all the way overland back to London instead of flying from Prague. Sounds like more fun than "cheating" halfway through!!
Anyway, there won't be any updates for a few days while I am on the train ....
Mongolia
Am currently in Ulaan Bataar, the capital of Mongolia, with half an hour to go before we have to be back at hotel before catching the train. UB isn't the most beautiful city on earth (and it has been raining today and quite cold), but the Mongolian countryside made up for that.
Spent 3 nights sleeping in gers out on the steppe. First two nights were in a tourist camp so was relatively comfortable. The last night we did a homestay which was great fun, but nuts at the time!!
While at the homestay we spent most of the time riding horses which was a bit of a trial for someone like me who has never ridden before. I could barely walk last night!!! I swear we spent a least 6 hours within 24 in the saddle. Was quite lucky that we got to ride out to a mini festival which started with a Buddhist ritual at the top of a hill. Monks chanting and then an offering of food (including a whole sheep). I kindly accepted the piece of small intestine I was offered, and then proceeded to accidentally drop it over the side of the hill. After that we rode to a tent where the rest of the festival took place, which included Mongolian wrestling and a horse race run by the kids. We were the only two westerners there so it was quite bizarre.
We also went horse riding at night. There was virtually no moon and we were meant to be out guarding the horses from 11 until 2 in the morning. We only made it until midnight. It was quite scary riding at night, especially when your horse is going a little nuts and braying rather eerily every 5 minutes. We had a lot of trouble finding our ger in the dark and managed to ride through someone elses ger camp and got chased out by some scary sounding dogs. It was officialy nuts. Cool in hindsight but at the time is was "What the f... are we doing out here?". Especially considering my huge horse riding experience of a couple of hours the day before!!
Wish I had time to upload some photos as the scenery was amazing. Herds of sheep, goats, cattle and horses roaming the fenceless countryside. We stayed in the herdsmans ger and ate the same food as them which involved mutton in various forms. No more small intestines (or any other offal for that matter) thankfully.
That is about it for now. Gotta go catch the train to Russia. Next stop Irkutsk.
Spent 3 nights sleeping in gers out on the steppe. First two nights were in a tourist camp so was relatively comfortable. The last night we did a homestay which was great fun, but nuts at the time!!
While at the homestay we spent most of the time riding horses which was a bit of a trial for someone like me who has never ridden before. I could barely walk last night!!! I swear we spent a least 6 hours within 24 in the saddle. Was quite lucky that we got to ride out to a mini festival which started with a Buddhist ritual at the top of a hill. Monks chanting and then an offering of food (including a whole sheep). I kindly accepted the piece of small intestine I was offered, and then proceeded to accidentally drop it over the side of the hill. After that we rode to a tent where the rest of the festival took place, which included Mongolian wrestling and a horse race run by the kids. We were the only two westerners there so it was quite bizarre.
We also went horse riding at night. There was virtually no moon and we were meant to be out guarding the horses from 11 until 2 in the morning. We only made it until midnight. It was quite scary riding at night, especially when your horse is going a little nuts and braying rather eerily every 5 minutes. We had a lot of trouble finding our ger in the dark and managed to ride through someone elses ger camp and got chased out by some scary sounding dogs. It was officialy nuts. Cool in hindsight but at the time is was "What the f... are we doing out here?". Especially considering my huge horse riding experience of a couple of hours the day before!!
Wish I had time to upload some photos as the scenery was amazing. Herds of sheep, goats, cattle and horses roaming the fenceless countryside. We stayed in the herdsmans ger and ate the same food as them which involved mutton in various forms. No more small intestines (or any other offal for that matter) thankfully.
That is about it for now. Gotta go catch the train to Russia. Next stop Irkutsk.
Bye bye Beijing
Well a week in Beijing is already up and we catch the train to Ulan Bataar (spelling?) tomorrow at 7:40 am, which will be the earliest start we have had in a while. We have a day and a half on the train which should be fairly interesting. Leave from main beijing station, passing through the outskirts of beijing, glimpses of the great wall and then eventually out on to the Mongolian steppe.
Have been pretty slack with the updates while in Beijing, been pretty tired by the end of each day.
Have done all the usual things : Tianamen Square, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven Park, visited the Great Wall, ate duck, nearly run over crossing the road (the roads are nuts) ... pictures one day I promise.
Next post from Mongolia hopefully !
Have been pretty slack with the updates while in Beijing, been pretty tired by the end of each day.
Have done all the usual things : Tianamen Square, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven Park, visited the Great Wall, ate duck, nearly run over crossing the road (the roads are nuts) ... pictures one day I promise.
Next post from Mongolia hopefully !
Beijing
After collapsing in bed for about 8 hours we headed out to get a taste of Beijing. We walked down to Tianamen Square (excuse the spelling ...) which took about an hour and had a wander around. Strange to see it in person with the iconic painting of Mao. Spent a bit of time walking around the first few courtyards of the forbidden city (the ones before you have to pay - another day) and then headed to the square itself. Quite cool.
Got some cool photos. Unfortunately some of the good lighting was courtesy of an approaching thunderstorm which we left it a little too late to escape from. Resulted in a last minute bolt for shelter, huddling under the eaves of a temple with a few of the locals for half an hour or so. Even hailed for a bit!
Next stop was dinner. Using the lonely planet map again we managed to get ourselves completely lost in the back streets (some rather narrow little alleys!), with darkness quickly falling, as we searched out a recommended duck restaurant. We gave up and managed to find a different duck restaurant on a main street rather than buried in a maze of alleys. Very cool.
That was pretty much the end of our first day in Beijing. Bit of a shock to the system after Singapore which was quite straightforward (and people spoke English). The language barrier is huge ... very few signs are in english and hardly anyone speaks more than a few words. Makes for some entertaining gesturing when things get confusing. Really should've learnt the basics of the language before I came !! Maybe if I come back ....
Got some cool photos. Unfortunately some of the good lighting was courtesy of an approaching thunderstorm which we left it a little too late to escape from. Resulted in a last minute bolt for shelter, huddling under the eaves of a temple with a few of the locals for half an hour or so. Even hailed for a bit!
Next stop was dinner. Using the lonely planet map again we managed to get ourselves completely lost in the back streets (some rather narrow little alleys!), with darkness quickly falling, as we searched out a recommended duck restaurant. We gave up and managed to find a different duck restaurant on a main street rather than buried in a maze of alleys. Very cool.
That was pretty much the end of our first day in Beijing. Bit of a shock to the system after Singapore which was quite straightforward (and people spoke English). The language barrier is huge ... very few signs are in english and hardly anyone speaks more than a few words. Makes for some entertaining gesturing when things get confusing. Really should've learnt the basics of the language before I came !! Maybe if I come back ....
Can You Read This
It would appear that I can't access my own blog from here so if you can, lucky you!!
Beijing Arrival
I am so slack at this. But anyway, I will do a bit of catching up now.
We arrived in Beijing last Tuesday (31st May) after a rather bad flight from Singapore. The flight itself was okay but the attempt to sleep overnight on the plane was rather unsuccessful. Not to mention painful. I think chiropractors must have shares in airline companies forcing them to keep their seats uncomfortable. Anyway, I digress.
Okay, rant aside. We arrived in Beijing at about 8am and cruised through customs and immigration. Thinking we would do it the local way we caught the airport shuttle in to town. (12Y, about A$2). This was all good until we got dropped off in the middle of town not having a clue where we were !! Unfortunately swarming at the drop off point was an army of rickshaw drivers waiting for some fresh newbie backpacker blood. We spent the next 20mins walking around trying to find street names that looked something like those on the lonely planet map in the back of the Beijing book, while trying to shake off a rather persistent rickshaw driver who had his own ideas on where we should stay.
Eventually we found a street name that looked familiar and headed off towards our hotel, in exactly the wrong direction. This diversion lasted about 10 mins before we realised the error of our ways. Considering we were carrying our full back packs around, we had had next to no sleep on the overnight plane, it was smoggy & hot and we were continually getting stared at I think we did quite well not to break down and cry on the spot ! About 40 minutes later we finally found our hotel (which was a very cool old style courtyard hotel). It turned in the end our hotel was only about a 10 minute walk from where we got dropped off.
Helpful Hint For The Day: Bring a decent map of Beijing with you and perhaps even a compass !!
We arrived in Beijing last Tuesday (31st May) after a rather bad flight from Singapore. The flight itself was okay but the attempt to sleep overnight on the plane was rather unsuccessful. Not to mention painful. I think chiropractors must have shares in airline companies forcing them to keep their seats uncomfortable. Anyway, I digress.
Okay, rant aside. We arrived in Beijing at about 8am and cruised through customs and immigration. Thinking we would do it the local way we caught the airport shuttle in to town. (12Y, about A$2). This was all good until we got dropped off in the middle of town not having a clue where we were !! Unfortunately swarming at the drop off point was an army of rickshaw drivers waiting for some fresh newbie backpacker blood. We spent the next 20mins walking around trying to find street names that looked something like those on the lonely planet map in the back of the Beijing book, while trying to shake off a rather persistent rickshaw driver who had his own ideas on where we should stay.
Eventually we found a street name that looked familiar and headed off towards our hotel, in exactly the wrong direction. This diversion lasted about 10 mins before we realised the error of our ways. Considering we were carrying our full back packs around, we had had next to no sleep on the overnight plane, it was smoggy & hot and we were continually getting stared at I think we did quite well not to break down and cry on the spot ! About 40 minutes later we finally found our hotel (which was a very cool old style courtyard hotel). It turned in the end our hotel was only about a 10 minute walk from where we got dropped off.
Helpful Hint For The Day: Bring a decent map of Beijing with you and perhaps even a compass !!
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