The Train - Beijing to Ulaan Bator

Set off at about 6:30 for Beijing station - a scence of considerable activity. Got on our train - no 23 to Ulaan Bator. We had booked a twin. Luckily, this meant that we go a compartment for two, with a shower room shared with the adjoining compartment. Compartment was all faux wood, but was quite comfortable.

We saw the Great wall in a number of places as the train rooled through China. We soon discovered that a coffee cost 10Y and a beer 5Y, so we made a sensible choice. Food oin the train was good - we ate in the restaurant car and also had our own noodles and soup.

Around 9 p.m. we came to the Mongolian border. Chinese border control were efficient and then we were shunted into a shed where the carriages were separated. Each was jacked up and the bogies rolled away to be replaced by the broader gauge bogies of Mongolia and Russia. Then we moven on a couple of kilometres to Mongolian border control, who dutifully inspected passports, vusas and forms. Finally, by about 1:30 pm we were on our way - altogrther about a 4.5 hour border crosssing. This is about normal.

The compartment was comfortable and we slpt to wake to the Gobi desert. The train roled through hours of flat, dry and largely vegetation free country. We saw the odd wild horse, goat or camel.

The landscape improved and we started to see encampments. These were nomads living in gers (round felt tents). This continued to Ulaan bator, which we entered at about 4:30; about 3 hours late.

Off to our hotel and then to dinner. UB is a city of about 750,000 people, numbers of whom live in gers in the city. Others live in ugly Soviet apartment blocks. The city isn't pretty but it has it's own charm.

Mongolia is an interesting country. it remains a nomad society - 43% of the population are nomads.

Beijing

Leisurely start, with a 9 am departure to the Temple of Heavenly Peace. This is a beautiful peaceful park in central Beijing. originally reserved for various Imperial worship ceremonies, it is now a public park and a meeting place for many locals. We found groups dancing, others playing forms of racquetball (based, apparently on Tai Chi) and many playing cards or Chinese Chess. The park itself is green and beautiful, with some spectacular Imperial temples.

Then to Tiananmem Square for a look around. Mao was closed today, so we had to pass on paying our regards.

The afternoon was free, so we and one other group member (Shirley) went to Benhai Park and had lunch there. Following that, we do a great tour of the hutong areas, by bicycle rickshaw. The hutongs are the older Beijing accommodation. Streets are narrow and most houses are enclosed and centered around a courtyard. The house might accommodate a number of generations of a family, or in one case that we visited be a larger quadrangle housing 20 families. We also saw the "house" of Soong Ching Ling, who was the widow of Sun Yet Sen (and who was revered in the Communist era). She lived in a large and magnificant former palace (the last Emperor of China was actually born there many years before). Set in beautiful gardens, the house itself was quite exquisite - large rooms, beautifully laid out and quite simple in design.

Off now to buy supplies for the train.

Beijing - The Great Wall

Arrived Beijing late on Saturday night. Flight from HK had few passengers, so had plenty of room and good service. Got a taxi without problem and headed into Beijing. Had the fun of a minor taxi collision - out driver back-ended another car. So, we watched while our driver shared a smoke with the other driver and while the other driver had a long conversation on his mobile. After 15 minutes, our taxi driver patted the other driver on the back and we were away. I think that accidents are common in Beijing - probably because road rules are seen as "suggestions".

Hotel is OK; but it is three star, so we can't look for a palace. Met our tour leader - a nice young bloke called Franco. He's from Camberwell and is doing a PhD in Criminology at Melbourne Uni, who is taking time off to lead some tours.

On Sunday, we were off to an early start with a 7 am departure for the Great Wall. We had a breakfast bag from the hotel, which contained a dubious boiled egg, a runny yoghurt and a soggy tomato and brown lettuce sandwich. The drive was planned for 3 hours, but took 4.5, largely due to diversions and accidents (see comment above regarding Beijing road rules). We arrived at Jinshanling, about 110 km from Beijing. We had a steep climb up to the wall. We walked about 4 km along the wall, which is quite spectacular. The Wall snakes across the landscape, largely following the ridge line, with towers every 150m or so. The Wall has been restored in places and in others remains in its original (somewhat crumbling) state. The views are great and the countryside around is hilly and green, with little sign of habitation.

The climbing isn't easy. It is either steep slopes or steps. We decided to limit ourselves to the 4 km out and the return. Others continued on (a total of 12 km) to Simatria.

We took the bus to Simatai and had lunch at a "farmers restaurant". Food was fine; beer was great (and well earned). Meet the others who had treked there and bussed back to Beijing.

Peking Duck dinner that night with the tour group.

The group currently consists of a couple from Forest Hills, a lady from Christchurch (actually returning from a stint in Japan), a guy from Switzerland. A couple from Canada joined on Monday morning, with two more (from NZ) to arrive later.

Lantau Island

We've spent the day looking at Lantau Island (the HK airport is on this island). The island is mainly mountains and forests, with a few small settlements. We stopped at a beach (very warm water) and a fishing villiage(Tai O), where we wandered through the stalls. These sell mainly fried fish products.

Then on to Po Lin monastery (means Precious Lotus), which boasts the largest outdoor seated Budda statue. Note the qualifications - apparently there are larger seated Buddas indoors and larger standing Buddas outdoors. Anyway, it was pretty big, though the pictures were somewhat spoiled by the fog/mist that was rolling around. We had a vegaterian lunch at the monastery, which was quite reasonable.

Then back to the comfort of the Cathay lounge to wait for our flight to Beijing. Getting tired and it's time to leave the lounge.

Hong Kong Airport

There is an "airport god"! Our flight out of Melbourne was delayed by over an hour. When we got to the gate, we were told that we had new seats. Yes, that magic word - UPGRADE. So we flew to HK in Business Class (not bad, given that our original booking was frequent flyer seats). This meant better seats and something a little closer to sleep.

So now we are in HK. Giant airport, but seems very efficient. Have booked a tour of Lantau Island to spend our time, as our flight to Beijing doesn't leave for over 8 hours. Not sure what we will see, as it's pouring rain outside.....

Off we go....

Isn't it strange that you plan for months, pack for days and then have stress getting away (where did I put my...., have we got ....).

Then there's the consistent joy of airports. We arrived at the ticket counter and got the "could I please have your tickets" question. Problem is that we thought that we have electronic tickets and Qantas was pretty insistent that they sent us paper tickets way back in October. Simple resolution ... wait in another queue and get some paper tickets. OK, done. At least we had this problem in an English-speaking country.

Now the outstanding problem is the "your flight has been delayed by the late arrival of your aircraft" (not a great example of getting to the root cause of the problem, but that's all we are likely to get). Looks like a delay of an hour or more. Thank heaven for the Qantas Club....

Ready, Set, .........

Right - we are ready to go (well almost). Now is the time to remember those things that we have forgotten and to remove the junk that we really shouldn't be taking. Chances are that we'll do neither and only be wiser at the end of the trip. Question is - what clothing will take the journey and never be worn; what books will travel and return unread. We leave on the evening of the 24th........