Saturday-Finally Back

So now we are home again and almost unpacked...

In the last day and a half in St Petersburg we counter balanced all of the opulence and grandeur of the palaces and churches with a trip to the museum describing the 900 day siege of the city in the 2nd world war

 

 

 and just walking around, watching the city at work and play.

 

There were fishing boats out on the river getting good catches of herring or something similar.

And a big crowd out tidying up the local park,



 

But you are never far from the water and pomp

 

But it is now all over. A great trip, and we have enjoyed all of it and learned a lot, particularly that while cities are interesting we can only do them in small doses.

 

All that is left is to plan where we will go next.

Thursday St Petersburg...2 days of seeing the sights and more snow.

Woke up today to snow again, so you will understand that this is really quite extreme sight seeing we are doing. We have walked about 30 km in the two days in the cold, and are feeling the strain.

The Hermitage , Peter and Paul Fortress, Churches of St Isaacs, Spilt Blood and Nikolsky, field of Mars, Nevsky street, Birzhevaya Place...We have seen them all, and it is clear that the Russians are masters at creating magnificent buildings and filing them full of beautiful things.

But probably the most impressive thing is that the city is here at all, given that in started as a huge swamp and the buildings are build on a foundation of logs.

One incredible coincidence is that we have bumped into two Australian ladies we met on Siberian train. They stopped in Yekaterinasburg, when we went to Moscow, and then we passes them on Nevsky Street and had a chat. Small world.

One more day...

Tuesday St Petersburg..... The Sea at Last,

Just had our last and fastest train ride (220km /hr) to get us back to the salty tang of the sea. Very refreshing.

The last days in Moscow were an eclectic combination of culture and commerce. We went to the State History Museum and the Gallery of 19th and 20th Century Art to see some great old and modern pictures,  as well as the GUM store (big old ex-communist building like a mammoth Braehead ) and a wander down the Arbat shopping street. It was snowy and cold so we did not bother with a trip to Gorky Park.

So a few photos'

Red Square, disappointingly grey and not very red at all!!!!!

Fiona in the GUM store (full of big brands and Fiona said she needed Paula as I was no help, we only bought chocolates)

John with another bear

Random street art you come across. It must be a famous story so who can tell me about the Russian in a boat with horses? Or is it an opera?

 

 

Still not bought a furry hat....

 

 

Finally, our hotel here is the best yet , with a free glass of wine when we arrived, and 10 pillows on the bed. A new record I think.

 

 

Off to do the sights tomorrow.

Sunday Moscow... A surprising  city

We have now had our first 24 hours in Moscow and it has been a journey from one astonishing thing to the next.

From the gigantic Stalin's 7 Sister in the dark, to the magnificent churches in the Kremlin, to the giant Teddy sitting next to me at dinner, Moscow is not what I expected.

There are the predictable things, like the soldiers in big caps in Red Square, the scary Lubyanka,  lots of vodka, and snow, but really Moscow is now a bustling cosmopolitan city that proudly displays its long and rich imperial history like London, Paris, Vienna , or Rome.

And the fascinating thing is that both the communists and current government have added to the grandeur of the city with immense buildings that enhance the whole impression of classical beauty.

Stalin's Sister

Red Square

Cathedral of Christ the saviour (built this century!)

St Basil's Cathedral

So tomorrow we  are off to explore the subways, get some exercise in Gorky Park, and not buy a furry hat!

For the atmosphere  (88 Mb so be warned)

Here is a 1 minute video that is typical of the 8400 minutes of the journeyfrom Beijing.

Now don't get me wrong , this is a great trip for the mind and the body, and will give you a new perspective on the world.

Friday

17 April 2015

04:55

Today is another big   day that we are both very excited about.

First, at km 2102 we leave Siberia ( stop me if I am boring you), and then at km 1777 we finally leave Asia and enter Europe again…

 

 

 

This of course means we are now crossing the Urals, and as you see from the picture below, they are more like the Jura than the Alps. But they are geographically significant and I am glad I am not having to walk over them in the middle of the 2000mile march to exile in Siberia.

 

And only a day and a half to go to Moscow . Fiona has started packing.

 

I am getting rather anxious as well. Will I be able to leave the security of our little compartment /womb after 5 day and  re-enter the big world ? I need to do some deep breathing

 

Finally, it is good to see that the train is well maintained , and the wheel tappers were at work again in Yekaterinaburg. Not sure what they do but it is reassuring.

Thursday - Kilometre 3932

16 April 2015

05:25

 

Big  day as we are now passed the half way point from Beijing to Moscow, and here is the kilometre marker to prove it.

 

As we expected we are seeing a lot of trees interspersed with  small scruffy communities of wooden  houses, and large scruffy communities with blocks of flats and big factories. But the immense scale of the place is difficult for us small island people to grasp. On the map you can see  that the nearest sea is 1500 miles away , but I find it hard to accept that the rolling hills I can see 20 miles away on the horizon are different from the Kilsyth hills I can see on the train to Edinburgh. We have been traveling for 3 days from Beijing and we still have 3 days to go to Moscow…It is just an enormous, vast, massive lump of land  and that is what is worth experiencing , even if it is too big to see and comprehend.

Wednesday -May be 9.55

15 April 2015

02:19

Now on the train to Moscow, and time is very strange.

I thought that crossing 5 time zones by train slowly would be easier than the brutal single hop in a plane, but oh no it is not that simple.

Let me explain

The train set off at 15.22 China time, and at 16.22 Mongol time (which is 1 hr ahead of China as it uses day light saving time) , even though it is geographically behind China.

As we crossed the border the time on the train clocks leapt back from 23.15 china time to early evening  18.15 Moscow time, even though it was still pitch black midnight local time.

So we are left with the conundrum of whether to go to Moscow time ( and delay all our meals), stay with China time ( and risk being late for meals) or run our own moving time zone, and eat when we fancy.

For instance, my watch ( still on Beijing time 1500km to the east ) tells me it is 14.52 , while the train thinks it is 9.55 (but that is the time 4500km to the west) , … so Fiona I are 'discussing' (arguing over)whether we should have an early Chinese dinner, late Russian breakfast or just a Mongolian snack.  Or is the other way round?

I think we are condemned to spend the next three days in a sort of limbo, drifting slowly back in time , and wondering what time we can have the first beer without feeling guilty and decadent.

Tuesday - Gers and the train
15 April 2015
03:03
Today was a very lucky day, as I managed to stand in a large and sticky cow pat, and was told that in Mongolia this is a sign of good luck. Nothing like making a blessing out of an adversity.
This happened at the ger of a famer we visited. It was a winter site with a byre made of wattle and daub, and some enclosures to hold the animals. At one level very basic , but he also had a tv and electricity , so a blend of worlds.

After a quick trip to check out the wonderful Mongolian boots and hats (which I was dissuaded/forbidden to buy,) we found our train and settled down for our 5 days on the road.

Monday- to the Terelj National Park

Today our guide Zulaa took us to see some of Mongoia ,in the form of the Terelj national park .

 

This is an area of hills about 1500-2000 m high to the east of UB. The part we are in is granite and has very 
 spectacular rock outcrops and tors, so I have been prowling around looking for lines and making Zulaa 
very nervous.

It is great to get out into the country and walk again. We have done 4 walks ,visited 1 meditation centre, 
done  2 scrambly climbs ( including exploring the innards of Turtle Rock) and a demonstration of the 
Gay Gordon, so now we are chilling out in our ger (like a yurt).

Dinner was buuz ( mutton dumplings) , washed down with mongolian beer and tea , and we talked with
 Zulaa about longer treks and trips we can plan. He ( and I) are keen on a horse riding trip across the steps
 but Fiona is not so sure. So tomorrow we are off to a farm to find a horse for her to try.

 At the moment Fiona is reading a book and trying not to think about it.

Now 10.30 and pitch dark, so off to bed.

Oh yes…almost forgot to mention… found some dinosaurs

Sunday and now 1168 km from Beijing in Ulaanbaatar

So free of the Chinese web police and have added some photographs to earlier postings..

The 27 hours in the train was uneventful and bodes well for the next 87 to Moscow. The lady attendants lived up to expectations and were functional in the extreme.

The high point was the border crossing where the gauge of the tracks changes, but they are very efficient and it only took 3hrs to change all the bogies to the Russian line. But is was all done at midnight so, with passport control taking the passports (twice) I did not get to sleep until 2am.

The views of Mongolia from the train were fascinating as the country is just coming out of winter and is all brown and white. Lots of horse , cows , sheep and Fiona claimed to have seen two camels. It was also good to see some bright blue sky without the Beijing haze.

We are off tomorrow out into one of he national parks and a night in a gur, so probably no more posts until Moscow.

AND BACK AGAIN....

The good news is that we have not lost our tickets,but the bad news is our train has been cancelled and we are stuck in Beijing for at least 5 days !!!!!😱

No just kidding, we start our trip back tomorrow morning after a great stay out here.😉

Today we had a delightful and uneventful visit to the Summer Palace. Walked round the lake ,took some photos...and the one remarkable thing was to see an old Confucius like man with sellotape holding up the folds of skin that would otherwise flop over his eyes. Not sure what he does when it rains.

Off out tonight for some duck, and I can think of nothing amusing to say about that...

Then... We head west !!!!!😃

Later Thursday.... Today has been one of the most varied day and challenging day of the holiday so far.

It started with an unexpected  treasure hunt across Beijing for our tickets to Mongolia. We were told they had been delivered to the hotel we had been staying in, but when we got there ..there were no tickets...so mild panic and some more phone calls . Plan A had not worked , and neither had plan B.... So we were left with plan C which involved a drive across town to pick up the tickets from the issuing company.   So Chris got his local driver well briefed  and he got there with no problem...and we found the office .. hiding on the 5 th floor of an office block.. And they were open... And they had the tickets...so success and we could relax ..

All we have to hope for is that we have less of a problem on the next part of the treasure hunt to get the tickets to Moscow...  

Another high point was a trip to the Pearl market to do some shopping... and as this type of shopping also involves some hard bargaining it was more exhausting and stressful than your average trip to Tesos. Chris was in his element and despite saying the Chinese traders were cheating (they were pretending to get angry... Which is evidently bad form), he got us some good deals . 3 silk dressing gowns down from 620 y to 120, but he still thought he was cheated.

In the evening we had a meal   in a pub/restaurant that had the great idea of putting bicycle seats on the wall above the urinals, so you had somewhere to rest your head as you had a pee. I did not have to use them, but had to give it a go...very restful. Is Glasgow ready for this?

Finally finished off the evening with a trip to an acrobatic show that was, and I use the words advisedly, truly awesome. The  usual juggling and strong men acts that were all exceptionally well performed, but the acts of men in high spinning hamster wheels (needs to be seen) and 8 motorcycles riding at 30 mph around inside 8 meter diameter ball were very special. Scary and impressive.

So a different days with lots of excitement both good and bad, and now looking forward to a different tomorrow.

 

Thursday ..early..

Now back in Beijing after a day down in Xian with the terracotta army and a visit to the Wild Goose Pagoda. The Army is as impressive as expected with pit 1 being the biggest and most impressive. The other pits are big , but not as extensively excavated so there is less to see.

We also visited a Chinese art gallery and had a guided tour round some of the modern and ancient paintings. It was very interesting to see the different styles, from the modern, posters style to the older ink scrolls of bamboo, horses, mountains and people, each with their own symbolism. We finished with some Chinese calligraphy lessons , and now have some fine black figures on rice paper to show off.

All this was with a local guide called Jennie who we booked at short notice as arrangements we had made in the UK did not turn out quite as we expected.

On Tuesday we had the tour of Central Beijing, with Tienanmen square and the forbidden city. Again the scale and grandeur is impressive , and I was surprised to see pictures of Mao prominently displayed on the palace walls.

Still not managed to master the manipulation of photos on the iPad but will try again tonight.

 

Monday ... And still there....

Today was an adventure to the Wall. A bit like Hardians ... But with a bit more oriental attitude.

The was bright and cool as we headed north to the remote village of Xizahazi ,which is just North of the wall. From there we set off up, heading for the very obvious line of the wall on the sky line. Charlie, Chris's authority on all things Chinese, assured us it was a simple matter of going up and following the empty drinks bottles.... But no map of course..

In addition we had three different descriptions that all agreed in saying that it was about an hour to the wall, but were different in very other part of the description. Still, with a positive attitude, how difficult could it be?

Well we got to the wall , in about 90 mins, and the first and last 5 mins were on good , wide paths, but the rest of the time was a bit of a bush whack on overgrown trails through the oak and cherry scrub. I thing we followed all the routes...and so we followed none ... In a very Hutchinson way.

But it was worth it as the views were stunning and the wall magnificent.... I hope to sort out posting the photos soon...A less scratchy walk, with considerably more people got us to the flesh pots of Mutianyu in 2.5 hours  pleasant hours where we were met by our driver and whisked back to the big city for a bath and curry.

Great day out in a beautiful place.

Tomorrow, is Tian an men Square then a train to Xian.....

Off to bed now ....

THERE.   Beijing Sunday...

At last I have beaten the system and am back into the Blog. It has taken a while to find a way of beating the Chinese security that views Blogger and all of Goggle as the work of the devil, but after a number of false starts I think I am up and running.

It must say something about my belief in free speech or vanity to make me spend the time I have to get back on line...but here I am.

Yesterday we fought the desire to sleep and went round the Drum and Bell towers , had lunch in a great little restaurant in a huton, then went to the Lamas Temple. So a fantastic first day in this great city.

This is all so different from our usual holiday when we rush through the cities to get to somewhere else, and it is quite enjoyable when you put your mind to it. Chris is a great host and it is fun to spend time talking and learning about the city from him. He also has enough of the language to chat and joke with the rickshaw and taxi drivers...very impressive.

The high point was our last driver who sang Chinese Opera to us as we drove to the hotel. Fascinating stuff...if an acquired taste...

Today is a quiet day with a leisurely Easter lunch watching the expat community at play and now chilling before an evening out at a games hall with friends.

As I said, different but enjoyable .....which is good..