Christmas Vietnam Style

Dodgeball Vietnam style

China had been a draining experience and so Hanoi was meant to offer respite and relaxation having covered nearly 12,000 km on trains over the previous 5 weeks!  Our Christmas present was to enjoy three nights in a nice hotel on the west lake where we put our exploring on hold and spent three days eating, drinking and enjoying the sauna! Arriving on Christmas Eve I panicked as for the first time in 30 years I would have no stocking.  To rectify this we walked into the old quarter of the city and explored the narrow streets, hunting for Christmas.  Each street sold a different product from gravestones to Chinese tea but eventually we found Christmas Street.  The competition then began to fill the stocking with presents that would be a) useful and b) fit in our rucksacks.  Separating for two hours whilst we shopped the pressure got to me and half of my shopping time was spent nursing a cold beer whilst I contemplated what to buy (and tried a different beer for consumer research). 

Unsurprisingly when Christmas Day arrived Hannah had been far more successful and my panic buys when walking up and down what I had dubbed Vietnamese Junk Street tested the theory of ‘it is the thought that counts’ to the limits!  The highlight of the rubbish local hand crafts that I bought was a solid handmade wooden box filled with chopsticks that weighed about 3 tonnes but at least we were able to open something on Christmas day!  In the afternoon we headed off to a hostel for a traditional three course Christmas dinner with other backpackers.  Feeling like an old man surrounded by 18 year olds that were drunk following 2 beers we found the only other three people equally horrified to be spending Christmas listening to the Back Street Boys. Logically deciding that if you can’t beat them join them (and with free rum at the bar) the rest of Christmas is a little hazy but with our sauna to help us recover on Boxing Day all was right with the world when we headed back into our usual standard of accommodation the following morning.

The temple on the West Lake

Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum

Hanoi itself was an interesting city to explore as old French colonial buildings with an Asian twist concealed small temples and courtyards.   The hum of scooters at every traffic light sounded like an angry swarm of wasps and crossing roads around the city was like a high speed game of Dodgeball! We were told to keep walking at a slow and consistent pace, regardless of what looked like it was about to hit us! Ho Chi Minh dominates every area of the city and we visited his mausoleum, complete with a very catchy tune describing his greatness that played through each speaker.  We also took in the Ho Chi Minh museum and learnt about ‘Uncle Ho’ and the defeat of the French and Americans (with just a little element of propaganda thrown in!).   As a single party communist state the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is one of the fastest growing economies in South East Asia.  Following Marxist – Leninism the Communist Party of Vietnam follows a far more traditional form of socialism than China with the government purporting to represent the interests of the working class and govern the nation through democratic centralism. This year’s 11^th Party Congress saw a change with younger ministers being promoted after questions about the direction the ruling elite had pushed the country in but despite calls of corruption it is hoped the more flexible approach taken this year by the CPV will lay foundations for sustainable development in Vietnam for the future.

We also took in two shows during our time in Hanoi, a traditional water puppet show and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.  Having applied for jobs in Hanoi for next year we were pleased to find that we could find western comforts in the city as the most futuristic shopping complex we have ever visited was housed underground, just outside the city centre.  Below the 40 story apartment block was an ice rink, water park, cinema and shopping centre!  The water puppets were not quite as futuristic as little wooden dolls appeared from behind the curtain, accompanied with traditional Vietnamese music and singing.  The puppets were operated from sticks below the water and dragons with firecrackers in their mouths (although sometimes they were too wet to light!), fish and swans performed dances.  Although a great thing to see it was very weird!  After the performance we boarded a 30 hour bus to Luang Probang in central Laos although we are heading back to Southern Vietnam to explore more of the country in March.

A 'Genuine Chinese Tourist Experience'

Disney Land China (Guilin)

Our last stop in China was to visit Guilin, a city in the heart of the unique karst topography that surrounds the Guangxi province.  The incredible geography was created as the sea bed was pushed up above the ocean by the colliding tectonic plates.  The now exposed soft sea bed was then eroded and washed away to leave thousands of limestone pinnacles that rise out of the surrounding flat landscape.  The scenery was like nothing I had seen before, at least it might have been had it not been for the low cloud and rain that stopped us looking out across the city!  Guilin itself is set on the Li River and we were able to stroll around the city and and climb one of the pinnacles to look out to the hazy outlines of the rock formations that surround the city.  Walking along the river we got a surprise when we saw the local fisherman using cormorants to catch fish for them.  This ancient tradition involves the fisherman tying a snare around the birds throat so they cannot swallow the big fish and so instead they return to the canoe for the fisherman to remove it for them.  At night the city is lit up with thousands of LED's around the small lakes and newly built pagodas giving the impression we had entered a Chinese Disney Land. The main reason for our stop though was to venture up the the emerald coloured Li River to see the unique rock formations and paddy fields.  Unfortunately for us it did not quite turn out how we had imagined!

Along the Li River

Cormorant Fishing

We left the hostel at 8am and spent the forty minute journey to the river being ‘talked’ at by our guide who had clearly gone to the Chairman Mao School of oratory training as she shouted incessantly about all the wonderful things we could buy to make our day even better. Mao’s granddaughter did at least give us great amusement when we read the message on her hat which proudly declared, ‘We have had a beautiful night, I can’t ride on you though!’ - I love Chinese translations! In a state of shock we emerged from the coach to board our boat, sheltering from the lashing rain and numerous tour guides all shouting through microphones at the cowering tourists.  The river cruise itself offered tantalising glimpses of the incredible landscape around us as strange pinnacles loomed out of the thick clouds that had engulfed us.  Having eaten our greasy vegetables and unknown meat dish we were given our free gift of a pair of nail clippers (that also functioned as a bottle opener) and having clipped our nails we headed off into Yangshao, a small town geared for backpackers that is set around the rock pinnacles. 

At this point we were told we needed to pay more to head off to have a ‘genuine Chinese countryside experience’.  Through our admittedly short excursion in China the word ‘genuine’ seemed to have a different meaning when translated from Mandarin and with alarm bells ringing we refused to pay the additional fee to go on a genuine bamboo raft (now made of blue plastic tubes).  We were instead treated to a show of watching a local fisherman repeatedly throwing a dead fish into the river for his cormorants to bring back to him and a walk around a derelict village.  The highlight of the afternoon came when three bus loads of people got to line up and feed a local farmers buffalo a piece of grass whist posing for photos.  At least the buffalo was happy!  Thankfully the other non – Chinese tourists were able to see the ridiculousness of the day and we spent two hours heading back to the city having at least experienced a Chinese tourist trip.

China has been a country that has provided so many mixed emotions and experiences during our short trip.  With a country that has 1.4 billion people it is impossible to see all the different cultures and regions but it is safe to say Europe and China are worlds apart.  I found it very difficult to get used to the constant spitting, chain smoking and apparent lack of respect or thought to other people and the world around them.  Having said that the people we met in restaurants and hostels were very friendly and helpful and made our stay much easier.  Criticism of the government and the tight restrictions and censorship are easy to question but having seen the rate of expansion and development would it be possible to govern such a project in a massive country whilst continually facing the inevitable opposition to such an overhaul?  The human rights violations that David Cameron recently praised are however not condonable and Tibet, as well as Tiananmen Square are taboo subjects across the country. China seems to be transforming at a rate of speed unheard of in human history and although it has been a challenging visit of highs and lows I am pleased to have at least got a taste of the world’s new power.   I am also pleased to be fleeing for the Vietnamese border on a 400km/hr bullet train though!

Trekking across Central China

The Pandas at Chengdu Research Base

Around Xi'an

We left the red level smog alert in Beijing behind to explore two cities in central China, the ancient capital city Xi’an and Chengdu, home of the Panda Research Base.  Due to our race to reach Hanoi for Christmas we only had a few days to explore Xi’an, a ‘small’ Chinese city of nearly 9 million people.  Xi’an contains an entire 9-mile rectangle of 14th century walls, watchtowers and gates that stand 40 foot above the city.  Walking the walls gave us great views and showed us the contrast of ancient temples and huge high rise blocks in the city centre.  We then explored the bustling Muslim quarter of the city with its narrow streets and vendors cooking all manner of food on fires that spewed from open gas pipes on the side of buildings.  An even bigger threat to our safety however was avoiding the array of mopeds and rickshaws trying to plough us down every 5 metres and that red lights are regarded with as much respect as no spitting signs on trains.  Unfortunately whilst exploring the Muslim district I experienced my first Chinese nappy - also known as a hole in children’s trousers to allow them to defecate wherever takes their fancy!  Staying in the ironically named Facebook Hostel (there is still a Chinese ban on google and Facebook - and my blog!) we managed to negotiate the local buses with the staffs help, although with sometimes limited success. Having failed to reach the History Museum we were successful in seeing the unique Terracotta Army, 8000 life size pottery warriors buried with Shi Huang, the "First Emperor" of the 3rd century BC Qin Dynasty. The statues were buried with him to help him conquer the after world and were only discovered in 1974 when locals were building a well.  Watching the archaeologists working to uncover more of the huge site and seeing the warriors lined up in their ranks was a breath taking sight and helped to lessen the pain of the train ride we took that evening.

The ancient city walls at Xi'an

We set off with low expectations for the train following our last journey but we clung to a small hope that it might be a little better and could surely not be worse.  How wrong we could be.  We had accepted we would be squashed on the top tier of the bunks again but unfortunately we were above a 300 year old women that resembled a wrinkly testicle who coughed and spat phlegm with such ferocity and frequency it sounded like gun fire in a trench.  Thankfully her husband gave her some old newspaper to hock into but that did not stop others who gleefully spat all over the train.  Taking refuge above the grime and chaos on my bunk I was berated by an incensed lady because my feet were above her head (a mark of disrespect as feet are dirty and a taboo subject in China). Unfortunately I didn’t have the language skills to point out to her that I was on the top bunk and as she was about a metre tall I therefore had little choice about my feet being above her.  Even taking the culture difference about feet aside I would have been far more concerned if I was her with the seed husks, spit and cigarette ends littering the floor than my feet!   I huddled further onto the bunk to avoid offending more people and took solace in listening to the blaring French accordion playing through the speaker just above my head, trying to imagine being on a boat punting up the River Seine rather than the smoke filled carriage of a Chinese sleeper train.  After a surprisingly decent night’s sleep we were woken at 7am to bright spot lights and a deafening crescendo of music from the speaker that played a mix of Chinese rock ballads and love tunes.  As the morning dragged by the train attendant kept delving into his battered suitcase containing assorted junk and fake electrical products to try and make a little extra money, roaming the carriages trying to flog his wares.  A particularly ridiculous demonstration with an electric razor to his trapped audience would have made Del Boy proud!  We mercifully arrived in Chengdu praying that the Panda Sanctuary was worth the journey!

Thankfully we had a great time in Chengdu which just emphasised the highs and lows of travelling in China.  Arriving in the afternoon we went to the Wenshu monastery, an oasis of tranquillity in the heart of a bustling city.  The smells of the incense drifting through the beautiful wooden temples helped us to recover from the previous night’s experiences and were exactly what I had hoped to see in Asia.  We walked back to the hostel past a huge statue of Mao overlooking the most expensive collection of western clothes and jewellery shops I have ever seen.  I am sure he would have been delighted!  The following morning we set off early to the Panda Research Centre just outside of the city to see the Pandas being fed.  It was easy to see why Pandas were not doing too well in the wild when we learnt a little more about them and watched them in action.  The beautiful animals are very playful and social as cubs, in sharp contrast to their adulthood when they live a solitary life in huge areas of jungle so they can find enough food when they have to eat 25% of their own weight every day!!  Due to not getting enough energy from their food the bears lounge about like stoned teenagers, munching on bamboo whilst occasionally scratching themselves or having a little wrestle for entertainment.   A Panda fight resembles a stand-off in a pub that takes place at about 4am, where the antagonists are so slow and uncoordinated they eventually just fall over exhausted after about 30 seconds of action, much to our amusement!  The research centre has successfully rescued and bred 140 Pandas for the endangered species and is a very important site in the fight to help them survive the destruction of their habitat in the region.  After spending a great morning we hurried back to the city to catch our final hard sleeper train in China, praying for a better journey than the last!

Beijing: From the Sublime to the Ridiculous and Most Things in Between!

The Forbidden Palace

I am writing this whilst lying on the top bunk of three on a Chinese sleeper train, listing to the animal like sounds of the young and old coughing up phlegm whilst an odour of coal fires, cigarette smoke and shit has engulfed the carriage… it is safe to say Beijing has been an experience.  To portray the city in such a negative light however would be a disservice to an incredibly diverse city that manages to mix modern technology alongside ancient temples, rampant capitalism with communist power and smiling faces next to stern soldiers.  Arriving the day after the highest air pollution warning in the history of the city we prepared with n95 face masks and trepidation.  No positive spin can describe how disgusting the air quality was during our stay.  Hazy brown skies in the morning were replaced in the early afternoon with visibility of less than 150 metres and what started as a joke wearing our masks soon became a necessity as both of us were needing to use an inhaler to control our coughing.  Criticising a nation too harshly for creating the same environment we had a hundred years ago in London seems hypocritical but to look at other nations and the difference in the standard of living must anger the local population.  Still, during our four days in Beijing we saw some amazing temples, cycled around the chaotic back streets, ate Peking duck and saw a wonder of the world… I have had worse city breaks!

Walking around Beijing I can imagine what it must feel like to be a minority ethnic group in Britain, with people often looking at you just a little longer than they might otherwise.  Thankfully for us these looks held no animosity, rather just a curiosity of somebody different among the 23 million inhabitants of the city.  Arriving in Tiananmen Square, the scene of horrendous blood shed that is highly censored in China (so much so google sites are banned in China due to their refusal to remove certain results from searching ‘Tiananmen Square’) we were greeted by a huge portrait of Chairman Mao.  As it turns out it is impossible to escape his face anywhere in China as it is emblazoned onto any tacky plastic item imaginable.  Arriving late we happened to see the lowering of the Chinese flag in the square where some impeccably coordinated soldiers marched out across the square to perform the ceremony.  The area was heavily policed with police scanning ID’s in the crowd and guards were each armed with a fire extinguisher in case of Buddhist monks attempting self-immolation.  As the blood red sun set through the shimmering pollution over the square we headed back to our hostel on the underground to plan the rest of our stay. After a long day of sightseeing we enjoyed our evening meal in a local restaurant whose menu included ‘Old Kitchen Cabbage’ and ‘Dancing Chicken’.  Despite the lunacy I was beginning to enjoy Beijing!

Tiananmen Square

We spent our first day exploring the Forbidden Palace in the centre of the city which was closed for centuries under the Ming Dynasty but opened up for the public in the twentieth century.  Reading the sign it turned out that anybody under 1.2m gained free entry to the site.  Looking out across the sea of people I felt this was probably just a way of making sure only foreigners had to pay to enter as the occasional blonde head poked out above the queue!  We spent hours exploring the maze of small courtyards and temples that make up the immense complex.  The wooden temples were surprisingly well preserved (although a little dirty from the pollution) and have small carved sculptures of dragons that ordain every roof and archway.  My highlight was gazing across Tiananmen Square from where Mao delivered numerous national addresses, gaining a sense of the power you must feel from addressing thousands of people in such a vast square. From here we braved some exercise in the city and breathing heavily through our masks we walked up the hill in the park behind the Palace to a small temple which offered views over the city (at least the small section visible through the now thick smog).  It gave us a great perspective on the size of the Forbidden Palace and the pollution problem that Beijing currently faces. 

It is impossible to escape the seemingly bizarre cultural differences and every day we laughed at the amazing translations, whacky behaviour and sheer chaos that unfolded before us during our stay.  The park provided some particular gems with a couple in their 70’s attempting to ballroom dance to some modern Chinese rap music and a women singing so passionately (and badly). We had to stop and watch just to gain a sense of perspective on the absurdity of the performances.  We then walked along Wangling Street to see the local markets.  It turns out there is nothing the Chinese will not grill on a stick.  Whole baby sharks, frogs, insects, scorpions and more were all on sale but although fascinating it was not one of my favourite differences between our cultures.  Desperate to enjoy Peking Duck in Beijing we had been recommended where to eat but entering the exclusive restaurant and being handed a tourist menu with prices double that of the locals we quickly left.  We ended up down a side street with a huge portion of duck and a beer with locals trying to show us how we should be making our amazing duck pancakes, a far more enjoyable experience!

As we were heading further south into the warm climates of South East Asia it was important that we posted our collection of weird souvenirs and giant coats home.  The hotels tour organiser, Jack helped us to organise this.  Insisting that business was slow in the morning he came to the post office with us to help translate, only for us to be turned away due to a fear that our polyester coats might have bird flu from a feather lining??!!!  Unperturbed we headed back to the hostel to get on push bikes for the ‘short’ journey to another post office branch.  Weaving in between motorised push bikes, dodging traffic that ignored traffic lights whilst trying to breathe through our face masks turned out to be great fun!  Although technically in a bike lane, any vehicle small enough travelled in it.  Everything from mobility scooters to one seater cars hurtled up and down it loaded with as much as they could carry.  We rode down small alleys filled with strange smells and sights whilst being gawped at by old men but it was interesting to see Beijing behind the huge high rises and modern shopping centres.  Having reached the post office we were finally able to send our parcel, although we gave up trying to describe the contents which by this point contained items ranging from animal bones to Communist propaganda.  We will find out how successful we were in three months when our package is due to reach Sheffield!

One of the 'vehicles' we had to dodge!

The Summer Palace

In the afternoon we explored the less visited but very interesting site of the Emperors Summer Palace just out of the city centre.  Set in enormous grounds a man-made lake was dug out and the earth used to make a hill, on top of which was a five story high wooden tower.  Huge corridors decorated with paintings of traditional Chinese stories connected the different buildings and when we were suitably frozen (now missing our winter coats) we set off back to the city in search of dinner.   We ended up in a hot pot restaurant where a coal chimney surrounded by boiling water was placed on our table for us to throw in food to cook.  After the waitress had shown us what to do (our water was now full of chillies and ginger) we decided against ordering ‘Jews Ears’ or ‘Pigs testicles’ and stuck to more traditional food.  Fishing for the food in the boiling water proved to be a challenge and with the waitresses laughing at my unconventional methods of retrieving my food, dinner proved to be a long affair.  My chop sticks skills require refining and by the end of dinner everything around me was covered in ‘local sauce’, if nothing else it had been an experience!

No trip to Beijing would be complete without visiting the Great Wall and we left early in the morning with our guides YoYo and Mr Ding.  Expecting Tinky Winky, LaLa and Po to appear at some point during the day we visited government run tea and jade companies as no guided tour in China is complete without some enforced shopping.  We were followed at every turn by our designated sales assistant who quickly grew despondent with our lack of interest (some jade statues were upwards of fifty thousand pounds!).  The highlight was of course the Great Wall although Hannah had not exactly sold it to me, describing it as ‘a wall on a hill’.  Although an accurate description I was very impressed with the Great Wall, despite only seeing a small section.   Even at 900 metres altitude and nearly 1.5 hours from the city the smog was initially thick but thankfully the wind came and by the end of our walk along the wall the sun was out and there were only a handful of other tourists!  It is deserving of its status as a Wonder of the World (we have now been to 4) just for its size but also for where and how it was constructed as it is built along sharp ridges. Looking out across the incredible mountain range from the watchtowers and seeing the wall winding across the summits was breath taking.  We headed back down into the smog to catch our sleeper train south towards Xi’an and I suppose we should not have been surprised to discover the conditions that awaited us on the train following the roller coaster ride that had been Beijing!

The final leg of the Trans - Siberian

Sunrise over the national park

The last leg of the Trans – Siberian turned out to be the best, and not just because it was the end of 8000 km on a train!  We met two friendly Mongolians, a man named Enkhochir and a women called Ariuna who had embarked on a series of dubious sounding relationships around the world with ‘friends’, but who spoke very good English and translated for us.  Disappointed to have discovered I had lost my Mongolian money to add to my collection the pair kindly gave us some small bank notes and were happy to tell us a little more about Mongolia.  Enkhochir eagerly shared his homemade meat filled dumplings (‘it is not a meal without meat!’) and with Ariuna translating he told us he was excited as it is the Mongolian year of the monkey.  He explained that this normally meant it would be a very cold winter.  Initially confused as to why anyone would want it colder than -30 Ariuna explained that the herdsman on the plains slaughtered their animals rather than risk them freezing to death and so the price of meat across the nation was very low! 

As we left Ulaanbaatar behind the sun rose over the snow covered peaks of the national park and the new high rise buildings were soon replaced by villages of yurts with smoke rising from their chimneys.  The train could not have been further removed from our previous experience of Chinese trains and was the most modern and comfortable leg of our journey with limited spitting and a cleaner coal burner.  The mountains soon disappeared to be replaced by a relentless plain that was only broken by the occasional modern mine that contrasted wonderfully with the traditional yurts of the workers that surrounded it.  The only other buildings we saw were small domestic train stations although quite who they were serving was a mystery to us and probably the one attendant that dutifully stood outside each one waving as our train passed them by. 

The time passed quickly as Hannah sat poised at the window all day like David Attenbourgh, hoping to photograph some of the amazing wildlife we passed on the train.  Groups of the incredible vultures we had previously seen lined the tracks, feeding on the frozen solid remains of one of the hundreds of Gazelle.  In the afternoon the scenery changed from the flat snow covered plains into the Gobi Desert and the ground was now a scene of frozen muddy sand with just the occasional Yurt to be seen.  We saw a pack of wolves stalking one of the herds and groups of semi-wild camels seemed to appear like a mirage in the barren desert.  The journey was punctuated by ‘oh shit, I missed it again’ from the young Attenbourgh but after hundreds of deleted photos and a little editing we had managed to photograph most of the wildlife we saw.  As sunset fell we arrived at the border for what proved to be a four hour ordeal as the entire train had to be lifted up and the wheels replaced on each carriage to fit the Chinese rails.  After being thrown around until 2 am by this ordeal (why not just swap trains??) we eventually set off into China.

Waking up I thought we had entered the set of World War Z as huge abandoned factories and tower blocks with smashed windows and crumbling concrete walls flanked either side of the train.  As it turned out it was a standard Chinese city!  Thankfully we soon left and enjoyed a spectacular three hours of Chinese countryside as we hugged a cliff face and travelled through beautiful red rock mountains and past huge frozen lakes.  Unfortunately this was not to last long as we soon entered the suburbs of Beijing which, on first appearance looked like a foretelling of the apocalypse.  Giant smoking chimneys pumped plumes of black smoke into the sky.  Surrounding these were row upon row of depressing high rise buildings that stretched in all directions as far as the eye could see.  The rate of expansion in the city is incredible and has to be seen to be believed.  Cranes dominated the murky blue skyline constructing more and more blocks of flats, shopping centres and offices as we travelled into the central station.  Leaving the station behind we were hit with crowds of shouting people pushing and shoving whilst armed guards raised on plinths oversaw the chaos below them.  The magnificent Chinese symbols flashed from every shop sign and left us disorientated and bemused as we scanned the chaos for something that resembled an underground.  Eventually we managed to find the subway and buying a travel card we headed off into the city, trying to avoid the balls of phlegm flying in all directions!

Two 'Ruurst Bif' and a Frog visit Mongolia

Sunset over the Russian border

Boarding the early morning train to Ulaanbaatar three clues all pointed to the fact we were now aboard a Chinese train rather than a Russian train. Firstly the carriage was full of smoke from the coal fire.  Secondly there was the morning chorus of people seemingly trying to cough up phlegm that had the consistency of a raw potato and finally the most obvious clue was the male Chinese attendant in our carriage rather than a blonde Russian.   We were greeted into our dirty cabin by a very friendly (and randy) Frenchmen called Morgan, who was trying to become the first person to tour the world visiting Judo centres.  Sounding like Inspector Clouseau he informed us with a dismissive shake of his head that the Chinese were a very ‘urrrgly people’, wearing an expression of such distain that only a Frenchmen could manage.  Carrying only one pair of trousers and three pairs of pants for a two year trip Morgan blended into our dirty carriage seamlessly. He had some interesting stories from his trip, involving Olympic Judo gold medallists in Russia, exploits in Amsterdam and locked train cabins as well and surviving ‘meeenuz zirty’ temperatures in Kazakhstan.  As the train hugged the lake we were treated to the most dramatic views of our journey as the morning sun burnt the water off of the lake to create a thin mist as far as we could see.  I was delighted to discover that we were known as ‘ruurst bif’ in France and we struck up a good friendship with the charismatic frog.  ‘Zee Howerz’ passed by quickly and we finally left the lake shore and headed south from Ulan Ude, where the sunset lit the snowy plains orange and pink as we passed the final Russian wooden houses before Mongolia.  The border was a very easy affair as we did not have to leave the cabin and our doubts about visa free entry into Mongolia were quickly dispelled, much to our relief.   Sleep soon came and we woke up in Ulaanbaatar to be embrace the most intense cold we have ever experienced!

The pollution over Ulaanbaator 

Central Square in Ulaanbaator

Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, is a city of 1.3 million people living in an average January low of -33ᵒC that would make the city seem almost uninhabitable had it not been continuously inhabited for centuries. Nobody walks unless they can help it, but with our aversion to taxis we obviously broke the rule and walked all over the city wearing three pairs of trousers, five tops and our lovely huge coats!  The city is experiencing a huge boom in its population as nomadic people seek better urban wages.  As the heating does not extend to the city’s edge however they burn anything they can for heat.  Coupled with the insane traffic, Ulaanbaatar is one of the most polluted places on earth in the winter months.  Some days you could not see the bottom of buildings in the distance but could make out the top poking through the brown layer of pollution that hangs above the city.  Needing to get a Chinese visa in just four days we spent our first few days printing endless documents and visiting the Chinese embassy.  In the end we successfully got the visa with far less stress than we thought (having been warned for weeks that our plan was ridiculous).   We were therefore able to relax and enjoy the city and hostel for our short stay.  We were lucky to meet some great people including a lovely French couple (it would appear the French are secretly invading Mongolia) who were at the end of their own round the world adventure and a budding Spanish film producer who had been out in the wilderness for the past month filming tribes using Golden Eagles to hunt.

Terij National Park

Genghis Khan

I had never met anybody from Finland before but a bearded man called Pete with a crazed glint in his eye told us we could hire a driver for the day for $30 if we wanted to join him on a trip to the national park 55 km outside of the city.  Desperate to see a little of the lifestyle outside of the city and the traditional gers/yurts of the nomadic tribes we set off with him and the former editor of Ulaanbaatar’s leading newspaper (now a tour guide) for a day out.  As we rose up into the mountains the visibility dropped to less than 20 metres in the thick snow clouds and we crawled along the old Soviet road (made from separate blocks of concrete that made for a bumpy journey) disappointed that we could only make out the occasional local who appeared out of the gloom walking alongside the road.  Our first stop was at the Genghis Khan complex on the outskirts of the national park.  At the complex is a museum to his empire that is underneath a 40 meters tall statue of Genghis Khan that has been wrapped in 250 tons of gleaming stainless steel!  A fitting monument to a man who created the largest land empire in the history of the world!  After visiting the museum we left and found two local Kasack’s with a Golden Eagle and a Cinereous Vulture that has a huge 3.1 metre wing span.  The locals use the birds to hunt for them although we were unsure whether these had been captured or were used in traditional hunting techniques. They were without doubt the two most regal birds I have ever seen.  Our guide said they have problems with the Eagles as they have been responsible for hunting children in the more remote parts of Mongolia (which we assumed was everywhere as it is the most sparsely populated country in the world)!   We then headed into the Terij National Park for the afternoon to see the famous ‘turtle rock’ and walk through the deserted valley to a Buddhist monastery on the mountain side.  Thankfully the clouds cleared and we were able to see the white peaks of the mountains and the yurt villages that littered the valley floor.  On the way back to Ulaanbaator we saw a local with his camels along the icy river and we arrived back in the city listening to Pete’s new idea to set up a Finnish Embassy in the city (he was at this stage drinking). 

Gandantegchinlen Monastery

On our final day in Mongolia we visited the largest Buddhist monastery left in the country, the Gandantegchinlen Monastery. At the turn of the nineteenth century nearly 100 Buddhist temples and monasteries could be found in the city but Gandantegchinlen is one of the few Buddhist monasteries that survived the communist purges of the 1937. We were fortunate to see both young and old monks chanting in a number of the temples after we eventually plucked up the courage to go in having stood and debated the idea for five minutes.  Having never been in a Buddhist temple it was a very interesting morning and another moment that made me realise how lucky we were to be having so many different experiences this year.  The biggest temple held a 50 metre high gold painted statue of Buddha inside a five story high traditional wooden temple!  After having sausage rolls for lunch (who knew they had made it to Mongolia) we spent the afternoon in the National History Museum before buying a traditional game that is played with ankle bones from the four spiritual animals of Mongolia.  The problem with travelling is that the more you see the more you add to your list of places to come back to. We are already planning our next holiday to Mongolia one summer to see the famous Nadaam Festival having had a taste of what this unique country has to offer!

A Winter Wonderland in Siberia

Listviyanka

Excited to be heading into the Siberian countryside we jumped off the train in Irkutsk and headed straight for the village of Listviyanka on the shores of Lake Baikal.  Unsure of exactly how to get from Irkutsk to the lake we gambled and jumped on a trolley bus heading into the centre of town, having read we should be able to catch a minibus from the central market.  With a little luck and a friendly Russian who kindly drew us a scribbled map we eventually found ourselves heading off at breakneck speeds on icy roads out of the city.  Passing towering fir trees and wooden houses we ran alongside the Angara River and its frozen inlets before Lake Baikal opened up in front of us… or at least the first 100 metres of it that we could see through the heavy snow did!  Arriving in the little village we began the 2 km walk up the hill along the snow covered road.  By the time we reached our chalet Hannah had nearly collapsed with exhaustion and I had nearly frozen to death!  We were rewarded though with a beautiful log cabin room and a balcony over looking the village and the lake below.

The fish market

We soon headed back down the lane towards the lake for lunch and as we reached the water front an excitable local sold us two smoked fish (omul from the lake) and sent us off into the restaurant behind his market stall to sit and eat. We ate our omul with some Russian potato cake (imagine a scotch egg but with a mash potato filling and a sweet bread crust – yes, it was shit) on a paper plate in the near deserted restaurant wooden hut.  As the hut blared out Russian folk music that was accompanied by a flashing disco light we felt as if we had arrived on the set of Phoenix Nights! Feeling not entirely full we left and set off along the shore of Lake Baikal in search of a second lunch.  The facts about Lake Baikal are mind blowing.  It holds a massive amount of water—approximately 20% of all the liquid freshwater reserves on earth! If you were able to “pull the plug” on the lake it would take all the water in all the Great Lakes to fill it again!  Although not the biggest by circumference it is the world’s deepest and oldest lake, plunging to more than a mile below the water’s surface in some areas.  As we walked along its shore we could not see the far side through the snow clouds and so after a second, more successful lunch we headed back to the chalet to shelter and rest before our big day of dog sledging.

Preparing for the off!

Although breaking our budget to go we could not visit Baikal without going through the forest on a dog sled.  We arrived at the centre mid-morning where a local family breeds and races Kamchatka Husky dogs.  They have nearly 60 dogs on site and the noise was deafening (and a little intimidating) when the owner went out to set up our sledges for the three hour tour into the woods.  Expecting to be sat on the sledge we got a shock when Hannah was placed at the back of the first sled, standing up whilst the musher (what a job title!) sat down.  The sledge had barely been untied when it shot forward around the corner of the hut and with a loud yelp Hannah had disappeared.  I followed shortly after expecting to see her in a heap but it took another 5 minutes before I saw her face plant into a snow drift (much to my amusement – and of course deep concern for her well-being).  The dogs can travel up to 50 km an hour but soon slowed down (luckily as you are not strapped onto the runners) and we travelled for about an hour.  My experienced musher, Nicholay, spoke no English but he pointed for me to tilt the sledge in the right direction and shouted at the impeccably well trained dogs when he wanted them to follow one of the tracks through the beautiful fir tree forest.   We were both exhausted from trying to steer the sledge by the time we stopped for lunch and rested whilst the instructors made a fire and cooked some Russian dumplings for lunch.  The heavy snow had stopped by the time we had eaten and our journey back allowed us to glimpse the imposing mountains on the far side of the lake as the cloud rose.  We walked back from the centre gazing across the lake at the most dramatic view of our trip across the immense lake.  The mountains cascaded into the water from all sides and were very sharp in the cold winter air.  The scene grew more dramatic as the blanket cloud turned orange and pink over the lake at sunset and we headed back to our cabin having had one of the best days of our trip so far.

Sunset over the lake

Before boarding the train we headed back to Irkutsk for an afternoon to explore the city.  Despite the previously mentioned flaws from Yekaterinburg we discovered another line to follow around the city sites, which by now consisted of the familiar statue of Lenin, Marx Avenue and monument to Russian workers.  The city cathedral had been knocked down by the Soviets and replaced by a giant grey government building but the huge frozen river through the city centre made up for the drab looking city.  As we dodged the falling snow and ice falling from the sloping roofs the freezing temperatures began to bite.  In the end we were only able to last a few hours outside before heading back to the hostel to spend our last evening in Russia before we crossed the following morning into Mongolia.

The snowy beach at Lake Baikel

The Greatest Train Journey in the World

Just looking at a map we were instantly overwhelmed by the distance we had to travel. From St. Petersburg to Beijing is nearly a fourth of the way around the world, just over 8000 km!  The journey really impresses on you how big the world is and the scale of Russia; it is nearly twice as big as the next biggest country and it was not hard to imagine it from our train carriage.  The longest (and therefore most arduous) leg of our journey was between Yekaterinburg and Irkustk, some 72 hours of staring out of the window with no shower and a hell of a lot of super noodles to consume (there is free boiling water in each carriage).  The scenery is undoubtedly beautiful and we were delighted to see Russia as you imagine it; covered in snow and fir trees with small villages made of wooden houses dotted across a vast landscape.  By the third day the trees and mountains had grown significantly and we crossed huge frozen rivers (some with semi – permanent buildings on) and some very industrial looking cities.  There is however a limit to how long you can stare out of the window before needing a new source of entertainment. 

One of the numerous villages we passed

Devastating news arrived early on our journey when I discovered that the power sockets were 110 volts only. My dreams of winning the Champions League with Nottingham Forest on Football Manager had been ruined before they had started!  Entertainment on the train therefore came from a number of other means and it was surprising how quickly the journey passed in the end.  One of our favourite sources of entertainment were the cabin attendants. They spend their lives on the trains going back and forth between Vladivostok and Moscow. To say that they tend to be a little strange is an understatement. They usually have a side business going where they sell beer, instant noodles and snacks.  If they were not found in the restaurant carriage drinking vodka with travellers they were outside at stops building snowmen.  We had two attendants for our carriage; the honey monster was friendly enough during the day but at night a women with more make up on than Lilly Savage prowled the corridor looking for anyone to shout at when she wasn’t hiding between carriages smoking.  Train life passed by surprisingly quickly and we also played chess in between reading the Communist Manifesto as we meandered through Siberia.

The staff building snowmen watched by the honey monster

Smoked fish at the station

As the days passed we had learnt what to do and not to do on the train.  Timing going to the toilet between stations was important as they could be locked for an hour or so at stops and in towns as the toilet is just a hole in the floor (you get a very cold arse on the train in Siberia!).  Each stop can be up to 40 minutes (for the larger towns) and so over the course of the three days we estimated we had been sat in stations for some 12 hours! The stops were useful to get off and stretch your legs, as well as seeing what local produce you could buy.  At one station we managed to get dinner from one of the numerous old women selling smoked, raw fish.  Although our smell offended everyone in the restaurant cart the fish was amazing!  I also learnt that changing in the carriage when you pull into a station can lead to a lot of flashing.  One poor kiosk worker who had stepped out for a cigarette was greeted by my naked backside arriving into the station, although things only got worse for her when I turned around just to make sure she had got the full show.  We also realised that the worrying clangs from the train were people knocking off the ice from the wheels and brakes that had built up although they became the bane of my life waking me up all night every two hours.  

Dinner in the restaurant

We were lucky to meet some fantastic people in our carriage, all of whom thought we were mental to spend so long on the train.  We met an 11 year old junior national champion for ballroom dancing our first night who acted as a translator for her mother.  Her dad was a fisherman who travelled across to Alaska from Vladivostok (is that even legal??)  and who had supposedly killed a bear recently.  After they left us at Omsk we had the luxury of an empty carriage until around 3 am when a Russian engineer joined us for 12 hours.  He was going to the north of Siberia via 3 trains, a plane, a helicopter (which had crashed the week before killing 10 workers) and snow cat to the gas fields.  He told us that his gran remembered the Trans – Siberian being built by all of the prisoners from the gulags.  She also described the resettling of anti - communists who arrived by being thrown off of a ship into the river to survive with nothing.  If they survived the winter by living in homemade caves underground they often came to the villages to seek work in the local towns, in which many of their descendants still live today.  In the compartment next to ours a smiley young lad and his sister were kind enough to save us from another super noodles meal by giving us boiled eggs and chicken his gran had cooked them before they left.  Yet again the people of Russia and been as amazing as the country!  We also met a group of 12 backpackers who were on a tour one night in the restaurant and played speed dating with them (whilst apologising for the smell of our fish).  To my amusement they had been on the train for three nights without working out how the taps worked in their carriage and as such had no water to wash with!  All of a sudden we didn’t feel as bad about our own odour.  After three days however we were very pleased to arrive into Irkutsk early in the morning to head across to Lake Baikal and see the world’s oldest lake.

A Red Line Around a Red City

A man setting up camp to go ice fishing on the lake 

Although Yekaterinburg was not Russia’s answer to Paris it was good to see the country outside of its more touristy areas.  Having so far seen the nation’s two major cities which are apparently the most western in their outlook Yekaterinburg lies just across the geographical border separating Asia and Europe.  Having arrived late at night we initially checked into a dorm inside the train station to avoid the cold and taxi drivers but soon left the next morning and checked into a very nice hotel (it was 50% off) to recover from the last few days travelling.  Discovering they offered free laundry (but not for ‘private’ items) the crestfallen cleaner was promptly handed 2 full bags of ripe clothes.  The hotel was clearly for businessmen and we had to expand the hotels list of items it would wash (it only had shirts, blouses and suit jackets, none of which I own) but not wanting to appear cheeky we stopped short of using the free ironing service.  The hotel on their behalf were clearly unfazed by our slightly dishevelled appearance and seemed delighted to have two native Brits.  They asked us to be filmed for their new website describing why we picked the hotel (we omitted that it was because it was cheaper than the rest) and we enjoyed a nice change from sleeping on the train for a few nights.  Much to my delight we also got to see another ice hockey match as well!

To our shock the line was real!

Despite the weather being -24 (when factoring in wind chill) we braved a walk around the city having read that there was a red line marked on the pavement that tourists could follow to see all the main city sights.  Russians might be good at a number of things but the red line proved about as useful as a fish with tits.  The main problem was that the 4 inches of snow covering the ground and the inch thick ice on the pavements made seeing the line a little difficult.  As snow can lie in Yekaterinburg for nearly half the year the red line will not be featuring on Tomorrow’s World any time soon.  The other problem was that some of the highlights that the line took in included the Central Post Office, a boy’s gymnasium and the Head Mining Directors House.  Awestruck at the city’s splendour we sat down at one of Russia’s fantastic self-service restaurants to warm up before heading off to discover more new and inspiring sights in the city.  Thankfully Yekaterinburg did have a number of more interesting sights and we enjoyed walking through the snow covered parks and across the frozen lakes that cover lots of the city. We sat and watched the locals drilling holes through the ice to fish and children running amok in the parks with some fantastic sledges .  

Site of the exucutions

The city also marks the scene of Nicholas II (the last Tsar of Russia) and his family’s murder by the Red Army.  The basement where they were executed has since been destroyed and now a huge church stands on top of the spot that marked the end of the Romanov dynasty.  Having seen the splendour of other sites linked to the former royal family Yekaterinburg seemed an ignoble setting to meet their end and the church now sits next to a large main road with little fanfare to highlight the importance of the area.

The end of the rally

One of the most interesting things about the city was the clear ties it has with its Soviet past.  As the principle mining town in Russia Yekaterinburg unsurprisingly was a heartland for Bolshevik support. As we walked down Lenin Street towards the huge statue of the leader of the revolution a small rally was being held in support of the Communist Party.   Men walked around with Lenin, Marx, Engels and Stalin on their clothes whilst people collected copies of a propaganda newspaper which displayed the hammer and sickle proudly on its cover.  The city also boasted an Engels and a Marx street (although we have seen this is most towns since Yekaterinburg) and on each kiosk the shutters still showed communist propaganda images from before the collapse of the Soviet Union.  I even saw car bumper stickers supporting the Soviet Union around the city.  I was not entirely surprised at this as the Communist Party is still the second largest in Russia behind Putin’s United Russia and the people seem very proud and nationalistic rather than hiding from their recent past.  Although not necessarily a beautiful stop Yekaterinburg was a world away from Moscow and St Petersburg where far more statues and street names have been changed (and that of the city in St Petersburg’s case) and showed us a different perspective of modern Russia.

‘It is important that you visit Russia before Russia visits you!’

Statue of Lenin at the All Russian Exhibition Centre

Like most capital cities we had been forewarned that Moscow was different to the rest of the country: Expensive prices and unsmiling people with a haughty attitude was the warning given to us by a lot of people. We felt well prepared for this however having spent time in Laandaaaaarn (cockney for London) before we left!  In a city of 15 million people our guide explained that although Muscovites do not smile it is not due to unfriendliness, how would you feel in a hectic job following a long commute from the city outskirts in freezing temperatures?  A fair point we thought having not worked for nearly 5 months and remembering my bouts of rage in Mexico City rush hour.  She turned out to be right, as the people were overwhelming warm and helpful around the city.  With one of us reading the metro station names… ‘P, backwards N, funky star, C, box with legs, K, A , backwards R, funny 6’… and the other looking often despairingly for the station we managed to negotiate the incredibly ornate underground and spent an amazing 5 days in Russia’s gigantic capital.  

Lenin's Mausoleum in Red Square

Starting out as always with a walking tour, the guide (Irena) opened by congratulating us on coming to Moscow as she told us ‘It is important that you visit Russia before Russia visits you!’  She continued with a dry sense of humour for the next three hours of a very enjoyable walk around the city centre.  Moscow is a city full of strange rumours and legends, unsurprisingly for the capital of a nation that is reported to have high levels of censorship (so say the ‘free nations’ whose press are all owned by the government and their elite friends).   Irena told us that despite these rumours, Russia did have freedom of speech telling a Russian joke that described an American and Russian having a beer.  Discussing his country the American stated that he loved American freedom of speech as he was able to criticise Obama if he so wished when stood outside of the White House.  The Russian replied that he to had freedom of speech and that he could also criticise Obama outside of the Kremlin in he wanted!  Standing in the Red Square underneath the soaring walls and towers topped with the red stars it was easy to imagine that most Russians felt a little intimidated by their strong government.  Irena said Russians found it strange that foreigners did not know the result of their presidential elections before the process had started but with 9 out of 10 Russians supporting Putin he must be doing something better than David Cameron in the eyes of the nation.  One thing that has surprised us is the number of police and military officers on the streets which are apparently present in huge numbers even when the security alert is not high.   Police lined the entrances into Red Square and were present on most street corners in Moscow but as they were mainly very young and clean shaven they were about as intimidating as Dads Army!

St Basils Cathedral

Take Off!

Moscow’s blend of heavy industry, Soviet monuments and giant roads and buildings left us in no doubt about its past but mixed among them were beautiful churches and parks that made it a very eclectic city.  Red Square is so called not because of communism or the colour of the bricks but because it means 'beautiful' in Russian.  Standing in the centre gazing at the iconic image of modern Russia, St Basils Cathedral, it was easy to see how it got its name.  The church has ten different chapels inside and it was very different to any other church we have been in before and we found it intriguing. As we got lost in the catacombs several times Hannah felt as if she was like Alice down the rabbit hole - especially as a one eyed man with metal teeth started talking to us enthusiastically in a language we couldn't understand in one of the fresco covered rooms . Set alongside the Kremlin wall in the square were the graves of former Soviet Union figures such as Stalin, Brezhnev and Yuri Gagarin as well as Lenin’s Mausoleum where we went to see the great mans preserved, wax-like body.  We spent another day walking from the square alongside the river, through a park containing hundreds of old Soviet Union monuments and a snow covered wood with friendly squirrels to the imposing Moscow State University.  Gulag prisoners constructed parts of the university which perversely later saw severe repression of the intelligentsia under Stalin.  The university was built under Stalin alongside seven other architecturally similar buildings as symbols of victory and a new era of Soviet power after WW2. The colossal ‘Seven Sisters’ skyscrapers across Moscow are visible alongside huge smoking chimneys that dominate the skyline of the city.

Dynamo Moscow v Torpedo Moscow

Model Sculpting contest round 2

One day in Moscow had to be spent exploring the Soviet history of the city so we visited the All-Russia Exhibition Centre, an outdoor area filled with different pavilions showcasing the economic (or lack of) achievements of the Soviet Union.  At the centre of the enormous grounds was The Friendship Fountain with its golden dancing maidens each dedicated to a Soviet republic.   The park came complete with speakers blaring Soviet music, full size models of Russian spaceships and a giant statue of Lenin making the afternoon one of the most bizarre of our trip.  Next to the park was the Cosmonauts Museum which sat below a 100m tall rocket blasting off from the roof!  Inside we saw Sputnik and loads of other memorabilia from the space race as well as tributes to the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin.  My highlight though were the stuffed remains of the first two dogs to survive a trip into space !!   I also cashed in a few of my hard earned brownie points from the ballet to go to an Ice hockey game between the Moscow Dynamos and the Moscow Torpedo’s.  Costing just 300 roubles each (3 pounds) the arena was only 6 months old and filled with enthusiastic fans accompanied by drums which created a fantastic atmosphere.  The match was very fast paced and following a 2-2 draw we were treated to a golden goal 20 seconds from the end of over time. We both left as new fans of the sport!  We also followed up the marzipan sculpting contest when we stumbled into a bar that gave each table in the bar four coloured pieces of plasticine to add to the floor to ceiling 'art' covered walls.  

Squirrel feeding in the park

We left Moscow on the second part of the Trans – Siberian to Yekaterinburg, a 26 hour journey covering nearly 1500 km and two time zones.  Thankfully in our cabin we made friends with three Russians with Alexei particularly keen to show us the photos of his self-made wooden home and family. Jokingly he said he has failed in his duty as a Russian male; despite building his own home and planting a tree he did not have a male heir having two young daughters with his wife. Inside the train was unbearably hot, so much so that everyone was walking around in shorts and flip flops as we passed the snow covered fields.  The train was not quite as modern as the last, with no sockets in our cabin and old leather bunks to sleep on.  We passed the time attempting to play chess (with our other new Russian friend Dimitri guiding us) and looking at the stunning scenery as we crossed wide frozen rivers and passed through huge white forests.  The lady in charge of our carriage paraded up and down with rollers in her hair and a bright fluffy dressing gown looking like she had just walked off of the set of EastEnders much to our amusement.  Despite the 'no smoking' signs, one old man kept sneaking into the toilet for a fag every 20 minutes, creeping out and standing in the corridor playing innocent despite stinking of smoke.  As the day progressed just ourselves and the master criminal remained on our carriage and by 1 am we were both relieved to have finally arrived into the capital of the Ural Mountains.