Merry Christmas!

So much to say, so little time, so to summarise-

Since we have left the home comfort of Shanghai we have
Seen a 71m Buddha carved into a cliff
Been photographed by more Chinese Tourists than the Buddha has been
Seen the Terracotta Warriors
Learnt Chinese, from 'get lost' to 'I'm a poor student'
Climbed to 3070m only to find we were still in the cloud and had visibility of about 20m
Stayed in a Monastery
Been sick
Cycled through incredible karst landscape through rice paddies and orange groves
Taken a bamboo raft down the Li River
Travelled over night in both soft and hard sleeper (after the cockroaches, snoring and cigarette smoke in hard sleeper I relented and allowed one journey in soft and I can confirm it was lovely)
Enjoyed the sunshine in Dali
We are currently looking forward to turning all our train videos into a film (yes Suzannah makes a guest appearace singing in Dutch), looking at our photos, having clean underwear every day and, most of all, telling you about all of the above.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The case for eating vegetarian in Mongolia

This is slightly belated as we have left the subzero temperatures long behind and I write this in my t shirt having eaten breakfast outside. But Mongolia was one of our highlights- here goes:

We took a 9 day tour to the west of Ulaan Baatar- sleeping in yurts and travelling in a van. Off roading in lava fields is a rather bumpy experience, but we still managed to survive up to 5 hours a day. There was the odd hairy moment as we slid down icy hills etc...

We stayed in yurts, mainly with nomadic families. They move every 3/6 months in search of new grazing for their hoses/ yaks/ goats/ sheep. It was easy to see why- the ground was barren and, where there was vegetation, is was dry and brown.

We’d already had snow and some impressive icicles in Russia. However when we arrived in Mongolia the cold went up a level. As we left for China at 6.30am it was -25°C. Some days it was sunny and got above freezing, but we did have frozen water bottles inside our yurt overnight. Thermal leggings every day- thanks Trish.

Food in Mongolia was one of my fears of the trip- which mainly proved unfounded but we did have one rather scary incident. We passed a restaurant, but when we went in the stove wasn't lit so they couldn't feed us. It was, however, the last restaurant for a few hours, so we called in at the family next door. The porch had a carcass of an ambiguous species hanging up, with a bucket of sheep legs next to it (complete with hair and feet- this seems to be normal). These sights didn't prepare us for the overwhelming smell of mutton that hit us as we stepped inside. The smell coincided with our view of a goat's head next to the cooking pot.

We sat on the sofa shaking while a cup of mare's milk was passed round (vile- a bit like drinking sour cream). Thankfully we had hired a guide and managed to communicate that we wanted to be vegetarian, so the goat's head nightmare was over. We went outside to milk the mares while our rice and potato were cooking over the fire.

The Mongolian scenery was stunning- lots of snow and plains surrounded by steep mountains. We rode ponies to a volcanic crater, trotting for miles over lumps of lava. The view from the top was spectacular- with snowy hills stretching to the horizon. We ached a little the next day though... The highlight of the trip has to be the White Lake, which at this time of year is completely frozen. The cracking ice echoing in the hills makes the lake sound as if it is singing. We devised some ice games such as bowling with lumps of ice. We also found a Mongolian boy with a rather flat basketball and had a game of three on three. The resulting bruises were a sight to behold.

Suzannah at the Great Wall

Greetings from the Great Wall of China

:-)

On the Great Wall

What an extraordinary undertaking to build this wall. Iconic.

Moscow

This detail is from the Kremlin in Moscow.

Sunset in Suzdal

A picture for the discerning eye. The domes of this Russian church give its location away.

Travelling companions

Also in Suzdal in Russia, Rebecca and Suzannah were glad to leave these travelling companions behind. They just gossiped and chattered all the time - like a bunch of mother hens.

On Russian soil

This photo is from Suzdal in Russia.

Krasnoyarsk

OK dear readers... where, precisely, is Krasnoyarsk?

Getting colder...

Rebecca and Suzannah in front of a frozen waterfall. Location unknown!

Lake Baikal is very cold

This time there's no way to overlook the cold at Lake Baikal.

Lake Baikal is cold

Suzannah braves the cold water of the Lake Baikal - though not for long...

Anyone for fishing?

These fish are also from Lake Baikal.

Lake Baikal

Don't you just love the calm stillness in this image of Lake Baikal

Anyone for lunch?

Thankfully, Rebecca and Suzannah didn't get to eat this for lunch, though there was a time they thought they might...

Travel plans

Before I go into our Mongolian adventures I thought I'd update you on our travel plans (though I may get onto the adventures too - it's 10.30am and my travelling companions show no signs of waking up, but don't worry they're not normally allowed such a luxury...).

We came up against a problem that I'd been worried about - we needed a second Russian visa to get back into Europe, even though we didn't actually want to get off the train. I have failed in that mission and was finally persuaded I'd spent enough time battling the system and could accept that we're going to have to fly. Once we'd accepted that fact, there are no limits - we just need a flight from somewhere in Asia to somewhere in Europe in time for Christmas. So on the bus home last night I was (more easily) persuaded to be impulsive and abandon Kazakhstan plans, which was no doubt the right decision.

So the plans don't really go beyond this afternoon, but we intend to stay in Southern China, going wherever takes our fancy. Xi'an, Chengdu and Kunming are the largest places on our agenda, but we intend to visit some more rural areas too. The danger is that we are having too much fun and too much of a relaxing time here in Shanghai (and we've all been ill - particularly Suzannah) but we will get round to moving on soon...

Hope you're all well!
Becky

PS In my 'important things' folder there are pages of hand written blog posts that Suzannah did on the train - maybe they'll find their way onto the internet...

Mongolian monastery

Mini Gobi Mongolia

Don't you just love this image of the Mongolian landscape?

Rebecca captured this as the "Mini Gobi Mongolia".

Around the campfire in Mongolia

This time there's no mistaking them - Rebecca and Suzannah around the campfire in Mongolia.

Mongolia

The Mongolian landscape unfolds.... but no sign of Rebecca and Suzannah...

Is it Rebecca?

After using their technology to verify that this photo is indeed from Mongolia, police in the search for the missing travellers were disappointed to find that the figure in the photo is not Rebecca but a Mongolian monk.

Is it Suzannah?

Journalists returning from Mongolia reported a suspected sighting of Suzannah and handed photos to the police for verification.

Police, using high technology apparatus to verify the sighting have been delayed after detectives were found to have been mapping images of the camel in lieu of its rider.

A spokesman said: "We are aware that many young people enjoy nasal piercings and this led us to make an error. We apologise for the delay and hope to be able to verify the image soon".

Warsaw welcomes Rebecca and Suzannah

Can you see Rebecca and Susannah waving from their hotel window?

Hah! An early sighting...

Finally, news is beginning to filter through of the missing travellers.

Here is a photo of Rebecca and fellow traveller. Destination unknown.

The disappearing travellers

Now, when you go on these travelling thingies you expect all sorts of things to be blocked - routes to your intended destination, toilets, worse still, I could go on... but your blog?

This morning I picked up an e-mail from Rebecca asking me to post a note on her blog letting readers know that she hasn't been able to access her blog and and asking me to post an update. I'll be letting her know I can post a full blog posting as soon as she sends it to me. Meantime, I thought you might enjoy the following from her e-mail:

We are safely installed in Shanghai- where it is cold and grey and we have colds to match! We've been having a good time and seen lots and eaten lots. Mongolia was definitely a highlight - we went on a 9 day tour, staying in gers, riding horses to a volcanic crater, and playing basketball on a frozen lake. It was a relief to be in mutton-free civilisation though... Then Beijing- we had a stunning walk along the great wall, in the sun with snow all around. [Rebecca's cousins] David and Chloe are excited to have us, as you can imagine. We've been on the trampoline and on the bikes, and played some badminton.

Oh! And who am I? That's entirely immaterial :-)

Mistakes

Please forgive any mistakes- I have problems of too little time, no spell check and horrid key boards

Minsk

Minsk, capital of Belarus, was somewhere we knew very little about. As visas ae expeseive and confusing we only had a transit visa which allowed us just 24 hours from the moment we crossed te Poland-Belaus border to the moment we left into Russia. When our train pulled up in Minsk station we encountered a problem that would plague us regularly- people often don't believe in signs.So as we stepped onto the platform we were only 90% sure we were in the right place. Mins was our 1st experience of not understanding a word anyone was saying. It didn't help that road signs were in cyrillic but our maps were in roman script. We spent a lot of time lost.
The city was destroyed in WWII and its population halved, but much has been rebuilt iin its original style. The imposing city gates which baoque style architecture set the scene for the city. You wouldn't know that teh buildings were modern replicas unless you look round the back- where they are plain brick with tatty windows and balconies. Our time in Minsk was wet but we couldn't help feeling that it was a more attractive city than Warsaw. The 'old' buildings were more widespread and, although accomodation was still in modern tower blocks, they generally weren't as grey. There was plenty of open space including some squares. Under one of there we found a shopping centre visible from the square only as a seriesof glass domes, some with statues on top. Subways, often with shops in, are the way to cross the road and are light and clean.
The problem of not understaning menus was mitigated to some extent as we found a canteen so cold point to food. Potato, stews and cheese sauces all suited us well. I also had hat seemed to be a deep fried burger...
Thankfully the metro was very easy to navigate as it has only 2 lines. However we were dripping wet by the time we reached our 'hostel'. The online reviews had left us slighty confused and we didn't know what to expect. As instructed we rang a bell outside a tower block in a continuous maze of tower blocks. The door as opened and we walked up to the second floor and along a dark and ominous-looking corridor. Tania let us in and the 'tired' look continued inside. We entered with trepidation. It was everyting we'd imagined the inside of the flats to be, with very dated decor including fake-tapestry wall paper.The sockets looked rather supect and wires dangled. We sat on the sofas that would become our beds while Tania told us about her trip to Thailand. We didn't really work out what was going on until she left and we realised that the whole flat was ours. We didn't dare leave because the system of keys she showed us was rather complicated and it was raining anyway. So we ate jaffa cakes and had a much needed early night.

Our lives in a backpack

Three months travelling has the problem of having to pack everything we will need into backpacks- one for our back and a smaller oe or our front. We can't drink the tap water and arryong bottled water adds to the weight. We are skiled backpack packers. Suzannah regularly reorganises hers but I haven't explored all of mine yet (the cold weather gear is still packed away). It also means that our accomodation budget has go along way so we're almost always in dorm rooms. Travelling outside peak season has the advantage that dorms are often empty, but we have had to share our rooms with up to 6 stragers. This has required a certain level of organisation- we often pack our bags the night before so we don't disturb anyone in the morning. Thankfully I sleep through most things but Suzannah has reported amusing snoring and lights going ion in the middle of the night. Washing isn't a common occurence. W are averaging a shower every three days and hair washes a little less. There are no showers on trains and hostel bathrooms can be unispiring and there can be a queue. Anyway, washing is over rated. I am proud (and slightly relieved) to say that our first load of washing is on as I write.
The hardcore travellers we meet make us seem like obsessive organisers- trains and most hostels booked before hand and all that. But we still have some booking and organising to do. Added to packing, eating, talking andjournal writing is has often made for busy evenings. Suzannah pointed out that the super-organised hypohesis didn't stand up yesterday- we didn't know the day of the week, how long we were stayong in Krasnoyask, or that our next journey included 2 nights. We have now recified those situations.

Orthodox churches

Many places we've been have a huge number of Ortodox Churches, which in cities are a welcome relief from tower blocks. From the outside most are painted white and they normaly have between 1 and 5 domes. Gold is very common but you also see domes in silver green and blue. On top of each dome is a cross, normally gold and ornate.
Our first gimpse inside an Orthodox chuch was in Minsk and it was one of the best. A service was going on so as soon as we opened the door we were hit with a wave of incense. It seems that beautiful singing is wide-spread in this part of the world- chanting was led by a priest and followed by a choir. There is never any accompaniment. Oneof the strangest thingsabot this and other services is that people come and go as the please. They al know when to bow but wother than that they do very little.There seem to be an extraudinary number of priets- at least 5 per service. They dress i gold and ofte have beards that Edward can only aspire to. The churches themselves are ornate and often very gold. The cenral piece is the iconostasis which appears to cover the whole of the eastern wall. However in services smal dorrs are someimes opened to reveal an altar beyond. As its name suggests it is covered in icons, of Jesus, bibical characters and saints. Icons are often surrounded by gold. Sometimes only the persons face and hands are visible behind an elaborate front made from gold. All ave halos. The room is often painted in frescos and have icons hanging on other walls too. In some churches there is no plain wall- any that isn't covered in frescos is has detailedpatterns, usually styalised flowers joined by green swirls. The churches have small, plain windows and are lit by extravagent chandeliers. There are always tall, thin candles burning which worshipers light.
Sadly walking boots squeak terribly as we walk around churches but, unlike in catholic churches, in Orthodox churches we usually stand by the door. I am prfficient in taking photos without anyne knowing.

Warsaw to Minsk train

Our first sleeper experience was luxury and we were quite prepared for northing else to live up to it. On the Warsaw to Minsk train we were proved right- no sinks in the rooms, four bunks instead of three, no breakfast in the morning. Worst of all- no temperature control in the cabin. We were served tea but it cost 500 Belarussian Roubles, which we hadn't been able to get hold of in the UK. However a kind lady on the bottom bunk who spoke the odd word of English footed the bill. She then went to bed under a blanket with the door closed so we retreated to the corridor where a window was wide open. We spent the whole journey in the dark and there were very few lights to be seen, just the odd level crossing. In the corridor our accents attracted attention- we met a nice man who told us a bit about Belarussian history (a subject that we knew shamefully little about, but it was extremely affected by the war, and the Jewih population is now almost non extistent) and showed us photos of his children and their horses. His collegues tried to get us to drink vodka, but they had had more than enough already so we declined. I did, however, accept their offer of sausages- higs tubs of meat seemed to be their train staple. It was deicious.
We were just retiring to our cabin at midnight when the door was opened and the light turned on- it was the border crossing. It took nearly 2 hours and as far as we could tell we first had the Polish officials then the train moved a bit and we had the Belarussians. It's a bit intimidating to have tall men in uniform at your door when you're in your pyjamas. However the border experience wasn't complete after passpost control- they also needed to change wheels- the tracks are different widths in the two countries. So the early hours of the morning were full of violent jolting and loud bangs. Thankfully I was so tired I was oblivious to most of it and by the time I woke up we were in Belarus and all was smoothe again.

Warsaw day 2

Today we eventually mastered the public transport system. The people who tried to help us made no sense in Polish or English but we found the tram and bus. At only 2pounds for a 3 day ticket, however, we can't complain. We went to Wilanow Palace, on the outskirts of the city. This is a Baraque Palace filled with painting of lavishly dressed polish nobles throughout the ages. It lacked the grand ballrooms of English palaces, but many rooms had scenes painted on the walls and ceilings. The journey also gave us a chance to see more of Warsaw- the suburbs were actually very similar to the centre. Rather than housing becoming low rise there was just more space between the tower blocks.
We have now returned to our hostel exhausted and will soon be in bed. An advantage of travelling outside the peak season is that we have the dorm to ourselves tonight, so none of the entertaining snoring that amused Suzannah last night. We have also both had what passed as a shower.

Berlin to Warsaw

On Sunday Suzannah's alarm went off at 4.30am so that we would get to the Berlin-Warsaw Express in good time. Thankfully our room-mate was still jet lagged from her flight from Beijing so didn't mind. We made it to the station in good time and bought some pastries for the journey. It was dark and raining when we set off at 6.29am. The train was very Hogwarts Express with six seats in each compartment. When it got light our first views of Warsaw were grey and misty. The landscape kept us occupied for hours- there were no field margins just narrow strips of different crops. There were a few small dairy heards often about 5 cows. The question of the morning was if you have 5 cows how do you milk them? Thoughts welcome.
The grey weather hadn't improved when we got to Warsawat lunchtime, adding to the grim impression produced by the tower blocks. Many of the office blocks are swish but the flats are generally ugly and plain. The highlight of our afternoon was going up the tallest building in Warsaw: The Palace of culture and sciences. The city was not nearly as sprawling as Berlin, and tower blocj\ks were visible right to the edge of the city. As we were up there the visibility decreased and the wind picked up. The rain turned into snow. However the snow, which had melted by the time it hit thr\e ground, was short lived and was followed by a rainbow.
PS does the text come out the right size?

Two days in Berlin

On our first day in Berlin we visited Berlin zoo and zoological gardens. The gardens are lovely woodland, looking decidedly autumnal, and are very extensive. At the centre is a monument and we climbed the 271 steps to the top of the tower. There were amazing views of Berlin stretching to the horizon in all directions.
Yesterday we went on a walking tour of Berlin's historic sites. It was nineteen years ago to the day that Germany was reunited, which is the first political event that I remember. The tour was a very intensive history lesson and brought it home quite how recently wars were fought, and also what changes Europe has seen within my grandparents' lifetimes. The memorial for the murdered Jews of Europe was an interesting structure- 2711 concrete blocks at different heights, many taller than me. I still can't quite decide what to make of it and nobody's quite sure what the blocks represent. There are plans for a nearby equivalent for the homosexuals murdered by the nazis
Berlin was already cold- there's a lot more to come...

The first leg

On the day of our grand departure we spent a mad morning at Rothamsted sorting out last minute details of hostels and trains. We bought our last English meal (sandwiches in the canteen) and boarded the train at Harpenden. We were severely over-loaded: 65 litre backpacks on our backs, and Suzannah had 35 on her front and I wasn't far behind. Smooth journey to St Pancras. Apart from the hassle of stripping ourselves of bags, belts, purse belts etc through security everything went well at the Eurostar and we set off on time. Our destination was Paris where we had just under an hour to walk from Paris North to Paris East, overheating because we only have warm clothes with us. So all we saw of Paris was the restaurants and sex shops surrounding the station.
The sleeper train from Paris to Berlin was the closest I will ever get to flying first class! We had the top 2 bunks in a 3 berth cabin. Our cabin had a sink in a cupboard but the toilet and the shower were at the end of the corridor. The train was relatively smooth but still the idea of a shower wasn't appealing. I slept very well, though Suzannah felt like she spent most of the night awake. It didn't help that our cabin mate was getting off at an earlier stop and had locked himself out of the cabin when his alarm went off. An hour before your stop the alarm by your bed rings then a few minutes later breakfast is delivered to your bed by the attendent. We arrived in Berlin at about 9am and as we looked at the map on the platform someone came and told us which train to get to our hostel. The hostel was cheap and cheerful but had the added bonus that we were the only ones in the dorm on the 1st night. It also had a shower, so we have both washed our hair and had a shower.

Who we are

For those of you who don't know both of us, I have just finished an Ecology PhD and Suzannah has just finished a geography degree. We have both found our callings- 'next David Attenborough' for me and 'kept lady (in luxury)' for Suzannah- but they haven't yet found us. Therefore we're going to make the most of the brief time before they do.
When I was 6 I joined Mrs Drummond's class at The Abbey School Tewkesbury. Henry, Suzannah's brother, was in the same class. The rest, I believe, is history...

The adventure

So, I am finally responding to all the requests of 'can I have an itinterary', here goes:

1st Oct Eurostar to Paris, sleeper to Berlin
4th Oct Berlin to Warsaw
6th Oct Warsaw to Minsk sleeper
8th Oct Minsk to Moscow sleeper
12th oct Moscow to Vladimir
14th Oct Vladimir to Yekaterinburg (24hr journey)
17th-19th Oct Yekaterinbury to Krasnoyarsk on the train!
21st Oct Krasnoyarsk to Irkutsk, then a few days at Lake Baikal
26th Oct (21.50)-28th Oct (6.20) Irkutsk to Ulanbataar
8th Nov Ulanbataar to Beijing (arive 14.04 9th) meet Morwenna!
Then fairly soon to Shanghai- meet Auntie Hilary and family :-)
Then it gets a bit hazy- Xi'an is the only definite.
6th Dec to Kazakhstan
Russia, Ukraine, the Poland for Christmas

We have tickets as far as Beijing and accomodation as far as, er, Berlin. That's our tast for tomorrow...