Confucius says...

Today I write from the Trans-Mongolian Railway, bumping along the tracks between Irkutsk and Zima, relaxing on my incredibly narrow top-bunk as we slowly make our way past small, ramshackle Russian towns, two days into the five day non-stop journey to Moscow. Crossing the Mongolia/Russia border in the early hours of this morning, the day has been spent eating, eating, and eating a bit more, as the train snaked around the shores of the humongous Lake Baikal, the world’s oldest and deepest lake (average depth 744.4m), and some of the most amazing scenery Russia has to offer. The five-day non-stop journey to Moscow is sure to be a great adventure – with no shower, no opening windows, and no English speaking Provinitzas adding to the fun. The journey from Beijing, a roughly 8000km trip, takes around 7 days from end-to-end, however stopovers in Hohhot and Ulaanbaatar have reduced the levels of filth between showers, and provided some life-changing experiences (just ask the horse I decided to ride with my 100kg+ self!).

It has been a while since my last update, which ended in Wuhan, China, but with 6000km left to travel, I am sure to catch up on the train!!!

Leaving Wuhan, I boarded China’s most crowded, and worst ever over-night passenger train bound for Xi’an, finding my way through the smoke-filled carriage to my own 20cm patch of hard wooden bench in which I was lucky enough to get to spend the night. Settling one cheek onto the limited seating space available, coughing and wheezing from the constant plumes of cigarette smoke floating through the cabin, and fighting a constant battle with the rude locals to maintain my half-seat worth of space, I realised very quickly I had a long night ahead of me. As the night grew late, and the train continued to fill with passengers (many of whom only had standing tickets – and I would have to repeatedly ask/mime/cherade to get off of my lap/seat/luggage/floor space), it became clear that any thoughts I had of sleeping during the night were no longer a reality. With my large backside half perched on the wooden bench, lungs filled with days of pollution, ridiculous amounts of passive cigarette smoke, and the loudest, most melodramatic card playing Chinese men in the seats surrounding me, the sun was soon rising, and 17 hours after getting on board, I found my grumpy self traipsing through the railway station of Xi’an, a small (over 8 million) inland city, home to China’s famed Terracotta Warriors, and some one of a kind St Patricks celebrations!

Checking into by far the best hostel I have stayed in anywhere in the world (Han Tang House, Xi’an), I set about seeing the sights of Xi’an, meeting a group of people at a local ‘dumpling party’, and organising a sightseeing tour of the city streets, Xi’an Museum, and the amazing Xi’an Fountain Show – a brilliant choreographed water display to the tune of well known classical pieces. The morning was great, meeting people from all over the world, comparing travel stories and ideas, life stories, and of course learning all about the many confusing dynasties, provinces and stories of China. Second place (not too bad considering our team was Chinese-less) in the weekly trivia night at another local hostel brought the day to a successful end!

Day 2 saw me headed to the Terracotta Warriors with Anji and Matt from the UK (two hilarious hangers-on from the day before), where we caught the local bus to the warrior site, before hiring a guide to give us the low-down on the warriors, life in China, and of course, the drastic differences between KFC and Dico’s. The Warriors are about an hour out of Xi’an, in a complex greatly resembling a collection of airport hangers, and was nothing like I expected whatsoever. The Warriors themselves are just like you see in photos, however the inside of the complex – which is completely tiled, air-conditioned and protected from the elements – is reminiscent of a large Westfield Shopping centre, complete with shops, cafés, photo booths offering creepy photo-shop-your-face-on-a-warrior services, and a desk where the man who discovered the Warriors in 1974 sits, signing books and merchandise, and looking like the most miserable, sour faced person I think I have ever seen. The Terracotta Army was built to protect the afterlife of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, buried alongside his mausoleum in 210-209BC, and consisting of an estimated 8000 soldiers, 130 chariots, 520 horses, and 150 cavalry horses (thanks Wikipedia for the details!).

My warrior enjoys a Crumpler satchel...

Our own Terracotta Army

The Army is incredibly impressive, and is a huge tourist draw-card for China, however I couldn’t help but spend my visit thinking about how truly devastating their story really is. The construction of the mausoleum, and the army, was started just after Emperor Qin Shi Huang took the throne – at the age of 13! On completion of the entire army over 30 years later, the estimated 700,000 remaining workers, and the wives of those workers who had not produced a son, were all buried alive within the huge pits, keeping the location and details of the army a secret for the next 2000 years. 700,000 people were killed to protect the details of the burial spot of someone who had already died… I’m not sure I understand!

Xi'an City Walls

I spent the rest of my time in Xi’an wandering the streets of the city, walking the impressive 13km’s of restored city walls, devouring copious amounts of local street food, and participating in China’s version of St Patricks celebrations – complete with a Chinese cover band – think Eagles, Adele, Jackson 5, U2 and Elton John music sung with absolutely no pronunciation of consonants, or diction, accompanied by harpsichord and pan-flute, and a green-lycra-body-suit-covered-in-sequins dance duo, who absolutely blew the crowd away with their traditional Irish dancing, and unaccompanied tap-dance performance. Just how St Patrick’s day should be celebrated!!!

Shopping for glasses in Xi'an

Me with my baby warrior... Anji

Tiananmen Gate, Beijing

From Xi’an, I boarded yet another overnight train for Beijing, splurging on a first class sleeper ticket (which thanks to the generous locals I was sharing with, included a large selection of unidentified and somewhat questionable food), and settled in for a durrie-free night of decent sleep. Arriving in Beijing, I found my way to my hostel (indulging in a Macca’s coffee on the way to avoid the crowds on the metro!), and set about seeing the sights of China’s largest city. Grand boulevards, squares and gardens, open malls, streets and markets, business people, crazy drivers and scammers, and countless small alleyways, tourist attractions and potentially nasty food stalls are all haphazardly mixed together, creating China’s largest, and busiest city. Roughly the same size as all of Belgium, Beijing is definitely a shock to the senses!

Recovering from yet another cold/passive smoke overdose, I spent my first day in Beijing being lazy, wandering Wangfujing Mall, various markets and food stalls, enjoying the hustle and bustle of life in the city centre, and the many strange and varied delicacies on offer – think fried sparrow foetuses, live scorpion skewers and crispy sea-horse. MMMMMM!

Day 2 saw me up bright and early, meeting up with a Canadian guy called Andrew (thank goodness he was motivated to do something!), and heading off together to explore the suburban transport systems of Beijing, on an adventure in search of the Great Wall. The Great Wall of China, built in many stages throughout the last two centuries, is an 8852km wall, stretching across China from Shanhaiguan to Lop Lake, separating the ancient Chinese Empire with a range of nomadic and military groups of the north. We decided to avoid the tourist crowds, and venture well out of the city, heading to Jinshanling, a 3.5 hour local bus ride/haggled taxi fare out of the city, offering tourists both restored and original sections of the wall, and hoards of local ‘farmers’ keen to show us their quality souvenirs.

Braving the elements – it was snowing when we got there – we walked 4km toward Simatai (at which point the rest of the 10km tourist walk is currently closed for repairs), absolutely blown away by the sheer size, beauty and history of the wall, and the endless photo opportunities along the way. The wall from Jinshanling starts with a restored section, providing a smooth, hand-railed and hazard free stroll, however drastically changes as the restored sections finish, and the real wall becomes obvious. With the snow falling, and the wind blustering around us, Andrew and I pushed ahead as the intrepid travellers we clearly are, stumbling over exposed rocks and pavers, blown almost sideways in sections where the walls of the wall have collapsed, and struggling down near vertical staircases, with steps barely half the length of my shoes – yet with rises almost up to my knees. We spent almost five hours walking the wall, stopping in watchtowers along the way for brief respite from the weather, and to thaw our frozen hands and ears, yet never tiring of the views, the changing landscapes and the unbelievable size, magnificence and unimaginable hard work and effort which went into the construction of the wall. The journey out to Jinshanling was the longest and the most confusing of the three common options taken by tourists, but the variety of the wall, the scenery, and the fact we only bumped into six or so tourists in our entire five hour walk made the effort well worthwhile.

My shoes were twice the length of the steps!

The Temple of Heaven

The rest of my time in Beijing was spent leisurely wandering the parks, gardens, temples and tourist sites of the city, meeting up with Alicia and Kat (two Aussie girls who appear to be stalking my itinerary through Asia and Europe) to take on the hoards of red-hatted tourists in Tiananmen Square and Mao’s Mausoleum (we decided not to go in… as tempting as seeing a varnished dead man is), and to wander the lakes and parks of the Summer Palace and the Temple of Heaven.

The line up to see Mao's Mausoleum

The Beijing Zoo offered a horrific insight into the treatment of animals in Asian zoos, with the Panda exhibit (the draw-card exhibit) offering the animals a completely concrete enclosure, with no greenery, and an interesting mix of bread rolls and carrots as the only food on offer. Interesting. The rest of the exhibits provided a similar menu to all creatures great and small, and we were fortunate enough to come across one enclosure which was overflowing with greenery and vegetation… and the occupants who were crammed into small cages hanging from the roof, completely unable to reach the greenery, yet could enjoy it from a distance. The monkey exhibits were creatively built directly underneath the Beijing metro line, a brilliant idea as far as space saving goes, yet not the best idea when you consider that during the day trains pass overhead probably on average of every 90 seconds… which means that every 90 seconds, the whole enclosure shakes and rattles, including the animals within.

The big cats are housed in open dirt enclosures, surrounded by a large concrete moat in place of the usual high fence to keep the cats in/people out, however providing ample opportunity for locals to throw an endless selection of litter (and dangle their kids over the edge, Michael Jackson style), cheered on each time they hit the animal with their rubbish, yet getting no response from the cats – obviously used to this constant onslaught of filth. However, probably the most confronting exhibit was the elephants, housed in cages not much bigger than my own bedroom at home, with no natural light, no greenery, and a wet concrete floor in which to walk, sleep and bathe. Much to the delight of the hoards of tourists – obviously impressed with this enclosure set up – was the pane of glass which has been attached to the front of the bars, providing an ideal surface to bang on constantly, as the elephants inside either rock back and forth for hours on end, or pace their tiny enclosure, with the banging, cheering and camera flashes of the tourists less than a metre away. Overall, not the nicest zoo I have been to!

Anyway, it’s time to try out the dining carriage, and no time is a bad time for Jungle Speed (however the continual rocking of the train may challenge this idea!), so I’m off to enjoy my journey! More updates to come!!!