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 :-)