Guilin to Yangshuo

Guilin is located in the southeast of China and is one of the country’s smaller cities with a mere 5 million inhabitants. It is also one of the main areas of tourism, famed for it’s beautiful karst formations wound with idyllic rivers.

We arrived in the late afternoon for a very brief stay before we were to travel down one of the most famous rivers, the Lijiang, to Yangshuo County. Having been sat on train for nearly 10 hours from Dujiangyan we were desperate to stretch our legs and after checking in to our city centre hotel we headed straight out to see what Guilin had to offer.

Karst hill in the background

Riverside tunnel

Pagoda

City west gate

Bridges over the river

The city is built around two rivers and four lakes and the skyline is dotted with karst peaks. At night, the waterfront is colourfully lit and there are several features, most of which we doubt are authentic or original. Lakeside pagodas, fancy circular bridges and floating fairytale pontoons, all offer extensive photographic opportunities. There are also riverboats offering short cruises around the four lakes and the highlights of the nighttime lake-scape are the Sun and Moon twin pagodas set in Fir Lake.

Sun and Moon Twin Pagodas

River tour boat at night

We had a very pleasant and authentic Indian meal, a bit of a walk and then headed back for a sleep, travel having left us distinctly tired. We couldn’t say that we were there long enough to be eligible for an opinion but we don’t feel we missed out by leaving again so soon.

The next morning we were up early, had a quick breakfast and were being transferred to the tourist wharf on the Li River. When looking at this area it was clear that a river cruise of some sort was essential and we also had to get from Guilin to Yangshuo, so what better way than to travel by boat. We arrived at the wharf, located our boat amongst the 15 or so moored there and sat down to enjoy our favourite pastime, people watching.

Preparing tea in the first class cabin

Space for a lunchtime buffet

Relaxing on the back deck before departure

River cruise boats parked 5 deep

We left soon after and by we I mean ALL of the boats, at the same time, in convoy.

3 boats in convoy, another 9 up ahead!

The trip was around 80km and took 4 hours when pushed along by the fast flowing river. We shared the river cruise boat with approximately 50 domestic tourists and 2 professional photographers noisily plying their trade on the sundeck.

Sadly, we didn’t have the picture-perfect blue sky and it was especially cloudy for the early part of the journey. But we did have an excellent view of the karst hills as we cruised between them and it was a pleasant way to spend a morning.

Local bamboo raft operators washing up after breakfast

Limestone karst formations loom over the Li River

Limestone karst formation known as the twelve horses

Passing another boat as it heads upstream

Water buffalo grazing

When we arrived in Yangshuo the weather had improved and we went in search of an ice cream and our taxi to take us to our next destination.

Long Tou Shan is one of the hundreds of karst hills in Yanshuo County and it holds a commanding position overlooking the Li River. We stayed right on the very top at the Long Tou Shan Retreat where we were booked for 8 days to study Tai Chi under Master Dahzu.

View south west over fruit orchards

View north east over the Li river valley

Front courtyard of the Long Tou Shan Retreat

Long Tou Shan Retreat perched on the hilltop

The location was perfect. We wanted somewhere to get away from it all and enjoy the tranquility of the Chinese countryside and we had found it. Our fellow students were a mix of Europeans and, like us, mostly starting out as beginners here. We studied each day from 8 until 12.30 then had the afternoons to relax, practice, go for walks or head down in to the town of Yangshuo.

Yangshuo itself caters for tourists and West Street is reputed to have the highest population density of Westerners in all of China. This is not necessarily something to recommend it, but we liked the town and its sense of history. West Street has been a market street for over 1000 years and the whole area has a rich past as well as being set in beautiful countryside.

We took the opportunity of a Sunday off classes to explore around Yangshuo by bicycle. These we rented for 30 Yuan and headed out of town. Our route took us along the banks of the Yulong river, a tributary of the Lijiang.

Freshwater crayfish

Waterwheel used to irrigate crops

Giving a Water Buffalo a wide berth!

Bamboo rafting down the Yulong River

This river is popular for rafting. The rafts are made from eight pieces of Bamboo which are lashed together and two metal chairs strapped on top.  These rafts and two paying customers are propelled downstream, and down several weirs, by a gondolier rafter who stands at the back. It all looked like a lot of fun, but we had planned this as an activity for another day so we continued on down the path, heading for the famous Moon Hill.

View from car park below

View from top to the north

The Moon Hill hole

View to the south

Moon Hill is a limestone karst hill where the forces of nature have conspired to create a circular hole close to the peak. As always in China there are different ways to enjoy this natural feature. You can stand in a car park over the road and have your photo taken there or you can climb the 800 steps to the top and enjoy some beautiful views. Of course we climbed! It was another humid day in southern China so we sweated our way up the hillside but the breeze and amazing views from the top made the fluid loss worthwhile. After the obligatory photo ops we carefully descended the slippery steps before cycling back to town to enjoy a well-deserved German beer.

Eight days passed quickly in a comfortable routine of morning classes and afternoon activities, or resting, all punctuated with the homemade vegetarian food served at the retreat. We discovered a Chinese doctor in Yanshuo and made use of the acupuncture and massage skill available there. We also enjoyed hanging out; writing blogs, editing photos, looking at the stunning views, practicing Tai Chi or Yoga and indulging in afternoon naps.

After 5 weeks on the road it was a perfect way to ground ourselves again and before we knew it we were packing again for the last time on this six-week epic journey. Going home when you live on an island paradise is never hard but of course you should never finish a trip without having the next one planned. We had also used our time in Yangshuo, and the Air Asia annual sale, to get two more expeditions penciled in the diary. For now we are sitting on an aircraft enroute to Kuala Lumpur, very much looking forward to getting back to Bali.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dujiangyan, Sichuan Province

Du Jiang Yan literally means Crossing The River and the river in this case is the River Min. This is the longest tributary of the Yangtze River rising in the Min Mountains of Sichuan.

At around the time that the Terracotta Warriors were being prepared for their 2000-year guard duty at the Emperor Qin’s mausoleum, floods plagued the area around the Chengdu plain. These inundations were regular and disastrous for the local agriculture at a time of the country’s history when war was common and armies needed feeding. Fortuitously the Governor of the time, Li Bing, was a hydrologist and irrigation engineer and set to the task of taming the floods.

Looking upstream towards the Min Mountains

Passing through the town the banks are lined with restaurants

Our hotel sits beside one of the channels filled with surging waters

The result was an ingenious arrangement of weirs and channels that kept the flow of water within a predictable range, protecting against flood whilst keeping enough water flowing downstream to move the Emperor’s armies by boat. The system is still in use today and partly because of it the area has UNESCO World Heritage status. Li Bing cannot have foreseen that his incredible engineering would have affected so many people over more than 2000 years, creating fertile and well-irrigated lands around the city of Chengdu (pop- 18 million) now known as the “Land of Abundance”.

Stele confirming the World Heritage Status awarded to Dujiangyan for Mount Qincheng and the Irrigation System

We had originally planned to come to the area of Chengdu because Sichuan is the home of the Pandas but took one look at the sprawling metropolis and decided we could do better. So we started to look at one of it’s satellite cities, Dujiangyan, (pop-680k) and realized it had a lot to offer.

It seems that foreigners don’t stay here much. We found an excellent modern hotel called Jiang Shang Ming Du at a good price that was just 10 minutes walk from the center of the Irrigation System Scenic Area and so immediately after checking in we went to explore.

It was a nice walk; unfortunately it was also a Saturday afternoon that meant that there were plenty of domestic visitors. But we went with the flow 🙂 and crossed the Min twice via cable suspension bridges, doing as much people watching as river watching. There were a couple of nice temples and some pretty scenic points but in true Chinese fashion the best spots had been claimed by commercial photography operations, churning out prints of the same shot, 1 every 10 seconds, for the queuing tourists. We elected to pass on the photo and continued on our way, enjoying the scenery, the cool breeze and the fresh country air.

Entrance to the Irrigation System overlooked by the Fulong Temple

Cable suspension bridge over the River Min

Crossing the cable suspension bridge

Looking up at the Yulei Pavillion

Looking down at the “fish mouth”

Across the waters to the Fulong temple

Water surges down through the town

We finished in the old part of the town where red lanterns hung over cobbled streets and fancy restaurants had their frontage before heading off to find some food and beer.

Dujiangyan’s old town

Buying cherries

Arabic flatbreads

We had booked a tour for the next day . We don’t do these as a rule, but had little choice, as we could not book any other way. We were going to see Pandas! Our excellent guide, Micah, picked us up and took us to the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Dujiangyan where we would be volunteer Panda Keepers for the day, A.K.A. Panda Poo Picker-Uppers!

Panda Poo

We have never seen pandas before and we also don’t do zoos so were never likely to. However, this felt like we were supporting the Giant Panda conservation and breeding programme that is starting to reintroduce them in to the wild.

We sure picked up a lot of poo and it came in different colours depending on what they had been eating. We swept up the old bamboo then broke up the new to make feeding easier and help to preserve their teeth. After that we made some ‘Panda cake’ and, best bit, did some hand feeding of the big black and white teddy bears with bamboo, carrots and cake, all very up close and personal.

Picking up Panda poo with a smile 🙂

Sweeping up the enclosure

Preparing the next meal

Out with the old and in with the new

Laying out breakfast

“Our” Panda Bing Bing seemed to appreciate the nice tidy enclosure, promptly pooed on her clean floor and settled down for breakfast!

Panda Bing Bing tucking in to breakfast

In our downtime we wandered around the research centre and met every one of the dozen pandas in residence ranging in age from the cute 7-month-old twins to the 19-year-old, 3-legged Dai Li who was rescued from the wild after attacked by predators.

We learnt a lot about the individual pandas, the breeding programme at the five centres in Sichuan and the attempts to reintroduce these animals back into the wild, it was a really worthwhile and fun day.

Panda cooling off in a pool of water

Tai Shan sleeping in the heat of the day

Shu Lan eating breakfast

Nothing cuter than twin Panda cubs

Included in the UNESCO World Heritage Status  of Dujiangyan is Qingcheng Shan, the ancient birthplace of Tao philosophy in China. The dozens of temples scattered across the mountain have been preserved and are still used as places of worship today. Most visitors, and there are plenty, are just tourists like us who appreciate the beauty and tranquility of these sacred Chinese mountains so often swathed in cloud.

The day we climbed the mountain it was weeping. The humidity was high and water dripped from the massive trees so that we we didn’t know if it was raining or if we were simply in the clouds, maybe it was a little of both. It was relatively cool though and we set off up the path that so many had travelled before seeking enlightenment. We walked mostly up hill for three hours, enjoying the mountainous forest and the sound of birds filed the air.

As we faced the bottom of each set of steps we were put in mind of the Kung Fu Panda movies, the hero Panda sweats and strains up mountains as part of his training in Taoist Kung Fu. This is particularly appropriate as we are in Sichuan, home of the Panda and the front gate of Mount Qingcheng features as a backdrop in two of these movies.

The Chinese tourism people have replaced 1000-year-old narrow muddy tracks with a concrete path and (mostly) wide and safe steps but it is still a strenous and sweaty hike. Of course there is a cheat, a ski resort style gondola to take the less committed close to the summit, but we were determined to walk and we were surprised at the number of local tourists who also undertook the climb on foot.

Steps up to a temple

Bridge to Tianshi Cave temple

More steps

Paths cut in to the rock

We stopped at several Taoist Temples, the most important being the Tianshi Cave temple. According to legend the Celestial Master Zang, the father of Taoism in China, preached in a cave on this site around 1,800 year ago.

Steps up to the temple gate

Tianshi Cave temple

Taking a break

Tianshi Cave temple

We eventually reached the top and contemplated our options; a 35 yuan ride down in the gondola or a 3 hour climb down again! Of course in the interests of research and variety of experience we opted for the gondola!

We stayed in Dujiangyan for 3 days and we agreed that it was a much better option than staying the big city of Chengdu. We would also like to give a shout out to Bernie and his wife, owners of Jungle pizza restaurant in Dujiangyan. After an extended diet of rice and vegetables his artisan pizza really hit the spot with the imported Italian cheeses!

Bernie at work!

mmm, Cheeeeeeese!

It was so good we got take out for our long train journey to Guilin the next day!

The Terracotta Warriors & Han Yanling Museum

There is nothing as synonymous with China as the Terracotta Warriors (Bingmayong). We grew up with the images of the life size pottery figures as they were released from China, followed by the first world tours. Such is the importance of this site that it was awarded UNESCO World Heritage status in 1984 and continues to amaze with a new exhibition recently opened in Liverpool. The collection comprises over 8000 unique pieces of sculpture, intricately painted and armed with replica weapons. These were buried as a form of sacrifice with the Emperor Qin Shi Huang circa 200 years B.C.E.

As if the scale of the task of creating such an army was not enough every separate warrior was individually finished. Each had unique facial features as well as detailed and accurate armour and weapons.

An archer kneels to prepare his bow

Middle ranking officer of Emperor Qin’s Terracotta Army

High ranking officer of Emperor Qin’s Terracotta Army

A charioteer leads his Terracotta Army horse

The finished warriors, horses and chariots were placed in pits, ranked in accordance with the military practices of the day, then covered with wood and buried. Then Huang’s army laid undisturbed until it was rediscovered in 1974.

Obviously, this all took a lot of time. In preparation for the inevitable, Emperor Qin Shi Huang actually started work on this, his necropolis, at the age of 13 years. The man himself was buried close by but to this day his mausoleum remains hermetically sealed and unopened due to concerns about the preservation and protection of the relics it contains. It was reported that the highly painted Terracotta Warriors had retained their colour until exposed to the dry heat of Xi’an and the ancient paint began to curl within 15 seconds, most flaked off within 4 minutes.

Paint still evident on this Terracotta Warrior

We arrived armed with a plan. We would see the documentary movie in the cinema that would provide us with lots of good information to pave the way for our visit. Sadly, this was not to be as the authorities were preparing a new one.

So, we headed to the pits which are the actual archaeological digs housed in large buildings up to aircraft hanger size. Following advice from our friends at Lonely Planet we went to Pit 3, the smallest, first. Then on to Pit 2 whilst saving Pit 1, the most impressive, for last.

To be honest, we were a little less impressed than we wanted to be.

It wasn’t that the warriors were not amazing because they are. The scale of the project, the detail, the age and the content is incredible! But it is just not presented well. A very few examples of the warriors, one of each type, have been placed in glass cases but these are usually 10 deep in iPhone wielding domestic tourists. The pits themselves are quite distant and viewed from above and we ached to get in there and take some photographs.

Pit 3, believed to be the command station of the Terracotta Army

Pit 2, much still yet to be uncovered by the archaeological team

Pit 1, ranks of infantrymen and horses, the wooden chariots have rotten away

Pit 1, showing the sheer scale of the main pit

In his book Under the Flightpath our good friend Simon and his wife Sofie gave details of a little known site with many similarities and from the same era, called the Han Yangling Museum. They called it the highlight of their trip and so we resolved to follow their footprints 20km out of the city on bus number 4 to see what the fuss was about.

The site is based around the mausoleums of Emperor Jing and his Empress Wang of the Han dynasty who ruled during the 1^stCentury BCE. As with Emperor Huang both Jing and Wang have been left undisturbed. However, their burial pits surrounding the massive mausoleums (one each) contained more than 50,000 miniature terracotta figures portraying all aspect of life from Emperor Jing’s court.

As with the Bingmayong each figure is around 2000 years old (Huang was the last of his dynasty and the Qin dynasty followed immediately after) and was highly decorated. The greater volume of servants, warriors, horsemen, slaves and livestock meant that each could not be individually unique but the scale of the undertaking was every bit as impressive.

The terracotta figures here have no arms, they were added later and fashioned from wood

Slaves and livestock to serve and feed the Emperor and his wife in the afterlife

Warriors to protect their Emperor

Examining the horses

Throughout the Emperor’s life there would have been monthly and annual “sacrifices” in which sets of figures were ceremoniously interred in the pits around the unoccupied mausoleums. The Emperor himself would have attended the most important of these ceremonies. Each figure would have had wooden arms, now sadly rotted away, and have been richly dressed in silks and painted.

An example of how the pottery figures would have looked when they were interred 2000 years ago

The first thing we noticed on arriving was the quiet. We went to the cool, calm exhibition hall and viewed the relics at our leisure. We then strolled down a deserted road and past huge fields of flowering Rose bushes and Ginko trees planted on the site of the refilled pits.

The pits, long since emptied of artefacts now refilled and planted with China Roses

The site has plenty of beautifully landscaped grounds

Eventually, we came upon the underground museum where we donned blue foot coverings and entered a superb exhibition where we walked on glass floors directly over 21 of the pits.  We were having a fantastic time, reading the excellent multi-lingual displays and photographing relics still half buried in 2000-year-old mud. Then it got even better when the corridor descended between pit 20 and 21 and we could actually walk beside the relics at eye level.

This model at the entrance shows the position of the museum on the site

Looking through the glass at a pit

Eye-level view of the livestock

Eye-level with the pottery

Looking down through the floor

We finished in another exhibition that very nicely rounded off our visit before we exited via the obligatory museum shop and promptly boarded the wrong bus!

Pottery exhibition

A model of a Han Dynasty warrior

Horses and chariot

The wrong bus!

It would be wrong of us to discourage you from visiting the Terracotta Warrior site. For us it was the realization of a dream, a must-do on the China list! But make time for the Han Yangling as it complements the experience and offers much more in the way of a pleasant experience and interesting information on the burial practices of the time.

Just make sure you get the right bus home again!

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Xi’an

For many hundreds of years Xi’an was the capital of ancient China. It is still an important city but the centre is enclosed within the old walls giving the impression of it being much smaller. We stayed in a traditional district of narrow, paved streets close to the south gate. This delightful area was full of art and calligraphy shops selling everything from horsehair brushes and carved jade stamps to massive artworks on scrolls. Until recently, the iii House had been a house and the facade retained many original features although the inside was artistically modern and the service faultless. They get the highest of recommendations as a result of real coffee being delivered to our room every morning!

Arch by our house

Calligraphy street

Local Temple

Art School

iii house

The city walls stand 12m high and wide and make a great vantage point from which to view the city. A complete circuit is around 14km and after days of walking around Beijing we opted to rent a couple of bikes and give our poor feet a break. As so often in China, this historical feature has been beautifully restored and maintained; it is lined with traditional red lanterns hanging from decorative posts and the four gates still have traditional gate houses and barbicans. Set every few hundred meters between the gates are watchtowers and even the excellent public toilets have been built in character. In the north-east corner you can look down on the golden roofs of the Tibetan Buddhist Monastery with its prayer flags fluttering in the courtyards. Touring the wall by bike gives a unique view of this modern city with such strong historical roots and is a great way to pass a few hours.

Cycling on the wall

Watchtower

Tibetan Buddhist Temple

Skyscrapers outside the wall

The ancient city of Xi’an was the beginning of the Silk Road and has always been a melting pot of cultures. Arab traders moved here over 1000 years ago bringing their religious beliefs and today Xi’an has a large Muslim population. Of course, after the passing of so much time the modern Islamic Chinese, known as Hui, are fully integrated with the traditional Han people and are identifiable only by the wearing of headscarves and white hats. The Muslim Quarter is almost in the geographical heart of the city and was somewhat of a surprise to us. One moment we were in a modern Chinese city, the next we felt as though we had entered a souk in the old city of Baghdad! The noise and energy of hundreds of vendors at the food stalls was seemingly at odds with the quiet reserve of the Chinese as locals as well as tourists queued for the Arabic delicacies on sale along the streets.

Silversmiths at work

Pomegranate

Nuts

Ground Chili

Vibrant Muslim Quarter

The centre of the Muslim community is Xi’an’s Great Mosque, recognised as one of China’s most important historical religious sites. We visited on our last afternoon and it was a surprise highlight. The Mosque is distinctly Chinese, set in a series of picturesque courtyards and gardens. We spent much longer than expected wandering through and as we finished our visit the familiar Call to Evening Prayer sounded over loudspeakers and the men started to arrive. They  wore traditional Chinese smocks but with white hats and called out to one another with the traditional Arabic greeting “as salaamu alaykum“. Being residents of Indonesia, this was familiar, but at the same time so very foreign with its strong Chinese flavour.

Great Mosque – Exit door

Great Mosque – Wooden Memorial Arch

Great Mosque – Phoenix Pavilion

Great Mosque – Five-Room Hall

Call to Prayer

Great Mosque – Stone Memorial Gateways

Great Mosque – Minaret

Great Mosque

Close by is the Drum Tower and a little further is the Bell Tower surrounded by pretty gardens and lit up colourfully by night. As in Beijing, these were the historic time keepers of the city but what was interesting here was that each drum on show marked the traditional agricultural seasons of the Chinese year.

Drum Tower at night

Exhibition of drums

Each drum is a season

Bell Tower

Overall we enjoyed our time in Xi’an and were grateful that the Terracotta Warriors had brought us there. We were surprised to see very few foreign visitors as we felt the city had so much to offer and was a much nicer experience than Beijing.

Bare-Minimum Beijing

When planning our trip we had decided to dedicate only 48 hours to the metropolis of Beijing because we expected it to be crowded, stiflingly hot, humid and smoggy. To mitigate these effects we chose a sanctuary of cool tranquility in which to stay; a beautiful courtyard hotel in a quiet, tree-lined hutong. It was way out of our normal budget for this trip but it was our gift to ourselves and, as it turned out, worth every penny as the city lived up to its intense reputation.

The lounge at the Shichahai Sandalwood Boutique Hotel

Courtyard at the Shichahai Sandalwood Boutique Hotel

Our room at the Shichahai Sandalwood Boutique Hotel

Afternoon tea at the Shichahai Sandalwood Boutique Hotel

The vibrant hutong are, literally, the narrow streets of old Beijing, barely wide enough for a car, the traditional heart of the city. We spent many hours walking these alleys with their hidden courtyards and cool shaded squares. It is here that the senior members of the community gather in the afternoon to play mah jong, cards and one or two other games we did not recognize. Other areas of hutong have become trendy, pedestrianised shopping areas and another had a craft brewery with great beer. However, for us the aim of walking the hutong was to find the hidden gems of a bygone China.

Hutong cafe

Many ours walking the streets

Playing Mahjong

Hutong life

Located in one of the hutong and not far from our hotel was Prince Kung’s mansion. This museum is a beautifully preserved 18th Century palace with exhibition halls, buildings, pagodas and shaded gardens. Kung himself was a favourite younger brother of Emperor Xianfeng who gifted the mansion to him in the mid 1800’s.
This seems to be a popular stop on the tour circuit and even at 8.30am the gardens were busy with tour groups. However, we managed to find a few spots to enjoy the shaded flowerbeds, rockeries and fountains. The exhibitions in the buildings were all in Mandarin so we breezed through those before heading back out to the hutong.

Ornate buildings, beautifully restored

Probably a not original fountain

Shaded bamboo garden belonging to Prince Kung’s wife

Covered walkway

The Lama Temple is the only Tibetan Buddhist temple in the city and is a busy place of worship as well as a tourist destination. It is an incredibly photogenic place, set in a series of courtyards and it is hard to believe it is right beside one of the city’s main ring roads. Once inside, the temple boasts traditional painted curved roofs, intricate embroidered drapes, strings of colourful prayer flags, stone architectural arches, copper-coloured prayer wheels and two of the largest temple lions you are ever likely to see. The whole temple is constantly enveloped in a cloud of incense lit by the praying faithful, making it an authentically atmospheric place.
The highlight is an 18m carved effigy of Buddha standing tall and proud, reputed to be made from a single piece of White Sandalwood (and impossible to photograph!).

Temple Lions watch over those praying

A monk reads quietly

Shaded courtyard

Decorative wall hangings

No trip to Beijing would be complete without visiting the infamous Tian’anmen Square. It is the world’s largest public square and is a remarkable space, vast, imposing and incredibly busy. Despite the square being bordered by imposing buildings on all sides, the best known of which is the mausoleum of Chairman Mao, the gardens were colourful. We decided not to visit the great man having had our fill of pickled leaders in Red Square some weeks before! We took a few pictures of our own and then watched, fascinated by the Chinese mass tourism machine in action. Efficient and professional photographers stood stationary and rotated members of the tour groups around them north, south, east and west so that everyone had the same four shots.

A detachment of Police enter the square

The gate of Heavenly Peace to the north

Colourful gardens border the grey and austere square

Monument to the People’s Heroes

From here we headed into the Palace Museum, otherwise known as the Forbidden City. It is so called because it was off-limits to normal people for over 500 years but, ironically, it now is the most popular museum in the world, with an incredible 16 million visitors in 2017.
It is, without doubt, an amazing place. Two dynasties of Chinese Emperors ruled from within the famed walls and everything about the structure speaks of Power and Wealth. Approaching supplicants could see the golden throne from several hundred meters away. No doubt palace courtiers and guards would have lined the route and it must have been a very intimidating and grand place filled with riches. But to be honest we didn’t really like it. Perhaps it was the fact that it was very hot and we felt the oppressive weight of the city’s famed smog for the first time. Perhaps it was because we felt like we were on a conveyor belt of people passing through. Or perhaps we were burnt out and tired after several long days of hiking and sightseeing. The only respite from the heat and crowds were some of the outlying buildings such as the opera house that offered a chance to enjoy the architecture from a shaded spot with only a hundred or so other people around us.  We couldn’t wait to get out!

Looking over to the Hall of Supreme Harmony

Crowds at the Hall of Middle Harmony

A gate near the Treasure Gallery

A clock on display, part of a huge collection

The Nine Dragon Screen

More Temple Lions

An intricately carved single block of Jade

A traditional round doorway

A pagoda in the Imperial Gardens

The final stop on our bare-minimum tour were the Drum and Bell Towers. These lie directly north of the Forbidden City on the south-north axis line of Beijing and were the timepieces of the ancient city. The sound of the drums and the bell would resonate throughout the hutong and down to the palace. Nowadays, the bell is silent but there are still impressive performances on the huge drums and there is an excellent exhibition of the ingenious timekeeping practices of the ancient Chinese.

The Bell Tower

The Drum Tower seen from the Bell Tower

The Bell

Drums

The South-North Axis Line

Timekeeping exhibition

Later that night we gratefully shut the door on our Deluxe Soft Sleeper compartment on the Beijing to Xi’an train, pleased to be leaving the capital behind. Even our bare minimum tour had been taxing.

Boarding the Z19 sleeper to Xi’an

The Great Wall

We disembarked the Trans-Mongolian train and entered a hot, crowded and crazy Friday afternoon in Beijing. It is always a shock to see just how many people you can get into one space in China. Fortunately we had planned to leave the city directly so navigated our way across Beijing on the excellent Metro system. We soon found ourselves at one of the city’s major transit hubs with literally hundreds of people, all waiting for the no.980 bus to Miyun! We were convinced we would never get out but, with usual Chinese efficiency in dealing with huge numbers of people, the 980 buses came immediately one after another and we boarded the sixth only 20 minutes later.

Friday afternoon in Dongzimen Bus Terminal

980 Express service to Miyun

Our objective was to travel about 130km north east of Beijing to a small town called Gubeikou, located at the base of the Great Wall.  When planning our time here we were concerned that we were visiting one of the biggest tourist attractions in China on a weekend. Therefore, we had deliberately chosen the least developed section of wall furthest from the city. We hoped that we wouldn’t be drowned in domestic tourists, and this seemed to work.

Wohushan towers above the railway station

We stayed at the Happy Pang Song guesthouse at foot of Wohushan. The Wall behind the village here is known as the Crouching Tigers, although we could not see any claimed resemblance to two big cats.  Ina, the owner of the guesthouse, assured us that there would be no-one else on this route because it was in its ‘original’ condition. With instructions in hand we walked through the village and crossed the railway line. Looking up we could see the wall perched on the steep ridge of the mountain towering above us and the real reason no-one else would be up there was suddenly clear! With a synchronised deep breath we headed up the path, determined to make it to the Wall.

As it turned out it didn’t look too bad when you were actually up there and less than an hour later we were on the Wall itself. As promised, we were the only two and the views were breathtaking. We followed the wall up hill for four towers until the views were just a little too breathtaking for one of us and the other pushed on for just one more tower alone. The view from the top of this tower, over miles of mountainous countryside was stunning, but enough, so we headed back down. As we descended we encountered two Chinese lads also on the way down, one of who coincidently was Ina’s husband, named J.C.

High on the ridge of Wohushan

Sitting in the watchtower

Scenic views down the mountain

One of the watchtowers

View from the watchtower

After a brief rest and fuel stop at the guesthouse we asked Ina to book us a taxi. We wanted to hike another section of Wall called the Coiled Dragon. This was a more touristy area, Ina warned us, but we were okay with that. Honestly, it wasn’t that far to walk to the head of the trail, maybe 40 minutes, but having conquered the Crouching Tigers we felt we deserved a ride to the head of the Coiled Dragon (or was it the tail?) and a car was soon standing by.

Map of the Coiled Dragon at Gubeikou

The shorter hike from the far end of the Coiled Dragon in to the town took us around two hours. We saw quite a few more tourists, domestic and foreign, but only at the start and it was very manageable. It seems that the domestic tourists are not inclined to actually go anywhere when they walk on the wall. They just want to make it to a nice tower, take some photos (quite a lot of photos, mostly of themselves) and then walk back. Therefore, we soon were on our own and only passed a group of American youngsters with backpacks who looked like they had been on the trail for days. Impressed, we asked the red faced and panting stragglers how many days they had been hiking to which they replied “just over an hour”!

The Coiled Dragon Section of the Great Wall at Gubeikou

Walking the Coiled Dragon at Gubeikou

View of Wohu mountain from the Coiled Dragon at Gubeikou

The end point of the Coiled Dragon at Gubeikou

Whilst soaking our feet back at the hotel we reflected that the day’s walking was really enjoyable, very worthwhile and highly recommended.

 

The Trans-Mongolian Railway

After our Siberian adventure we boarded the train for the trip down to Ulaan Bataar, the capital of Mongolia. From there we would later continue on to Beijing and we were excited to be on the move again. The actual mileage was quite small but the journeys included long stops at both border crossings.

Ready to board the Trans-Mongolian Railway

The journey south and east took us on a beautiful lakeside tour. This was our final chance to say goodbye to the remarkable Lake Baikal as we hugged the shore of its southernmost point before turning away to the final, Russian city stop in Ulan Ude.

The ice breaking up on Lake Baikal

We had decided that we would live a little and booked a second-class compartment for the trip down to Mongolia; after all what is travelling if you isolate yourself from people and experiences in a private compartment.

As it turned out our roommate didn’t actually board until we reached Ulan Ude and then she turned out to be a lass from Ireland, via Scotland. After four days alone in that remote Siberian city she was pleased to find English speakers to finally talk to!

Photo by Tony Willis via http://www.seat61.com

It was good to compare other experiences of the trip from Moscow as we continued down to the border. Our new travel companion told us about Ulan Ude and, frankly, we were relieved to not have stopped there ourselves. Along the way the male conductor (Provodnik) came around with his souvenir sales, we waved him off with a smile and he moved along the carriage. Some two hours later one of the ladies also working the carriage had clearly decided that he hadn’t done a good enough job and she came back with the hard sell. We are now the proud owners of a deck of 36 Lake Baikal playing cards.

Lake Baikal Souvenir

We arrived at the Russia-Mongolia border in the early evening and discovered the joys of a land border crossing by train. Not for us the miles of marching down airport corridors and standing in lines at Immigration and Customs. Oh no! The officials all came to us in the comfort of our compartment. A glamorous young Immigration agent checked us out of Russia. Her pink gel nails flicked through our passports and we were somewhat disappointed to note comfortable flat shoes. A tall burly customs agent in army fatigues then asked us to vacate the compartment whilst he searched for contraband and we were relieved that our roommate was no smuggler. We could then take our seats again whilst sniffer dogs passed up and down the corridor and mysterious bangs and clanks could be heard from below the carriage.

No photos, we didn’t want to get arrested!

Finally we moved off and stopped again at the Mongolian border post where the process was repeated. This time our Customs agent was a short plump young lady who had trouble clambering to the top bunk to search the spaces above and we were warmly welcomed to Mongolia by a smiling Immigration agent in a big hat.

Mongolian Flag in Chinggis Square

Finally we could get some sleep and the next thing we knew our Provodnitsa was waking us early the next morning for arrival in to Ulaan Bataar.

Ulaan Bataar Station

At the same place 10 days later we boarded our second Trans-Mongolian train for the conclusion of the journey. Our compartment was first class and we were amused by the plush red velvet finish. Smiles turned to laughs when we saw that it even included an armchair and an ensuite bathroom with shower!

 

Red velvet bunk beds

Reading in the armchair

Ensuite WITH shower! 🙂

The day was taken up with a long, slow, meandering journey south through the now-familiar landscape of the Gobi Desert, a much nicer way to do the journey than by car. Camels and other livestock munched on the sparse vegetation, barely sparing us a glance as we chugged by and railway workers waved as we interrupted their work.

Because karma is a bitch we paid for our previous border smugness when crossing in to China. The Chinese use a different rail gauge to the rest of the world so it was necessary to change the “bogies” of the carriages and this we had expected. However, we had understood that we could remain on board whilst this process happened. Oh no! We had to take all our bags off and through a full immigration and customs check in their fancy new terminal. We then had to sit there for a further three hours until our train arrived with shiny new wheels at 1am. It was as if they had built this large waiting area and they were determined that it should be used!

 

Erlian Border, Customs and Immigration Hall

Waiting area- 3 hours

Sign for the bar, sadly closed

Next morning it was as if we had transported to another world. Gone was the Gobi desert and we woke to green trees, rivers, gorges, mountains and even some urban flooding! We chugged past pastoral villages, donkeys in fields and sheaves of straw leaning against mud and clay walls.

Some hours later we disembarked on a hot, crowded, crazy Friday afternoon in Beijing and so begins the next chapter. We were in China and we were ready to explore!

Beijing Main Station

 

Gobi

The Gobi Desert is a vast area spanning both sides of the Mongolia-China border. It is the coldest desert in the world with an annual temperature variation of over 80°C, reaching +/- 40°C or more. The endless desert steppe, or plain, is at an average of 1500m above sea level and this pushes up in into rugged, rocky, peaks of over 2000m in some areas. With an annual rainfall of only 50mm this is a harsh and inhospitable environment for those living here, but its stunning scenery and unique features make it a big draw for visitors to Mongolia.

A Ship Lizard

Gobi Camel

360 degree desert view

The first day we expected the desert views and even the cool temperatures, but the first time we got out of the car we were surprised by the wind. From the comfort of our Toyota Landcruiser there are no clues that it is blowing incessantly from the northwest. There are no trees to bend under the force of the gusts and no leaves or other debris flying around, therefore when we stepped from the vehicle to stretch our legs we were taken aback by the sandblasting we received, then continued to receive for the next four days! The wind is a big factor of life here, it is dry and desiccating, seeming to suck the moisture from the skin and dust devils and small sand storms were common. We were pleased to not get caught in a bigger storm.

Dust Storm

Dust Devil

We travelled a couple weeks before the season started. The advantage was that we were almost the only tourists around. On the other hand we had to drive the 700km to and from the south of the country instead of using a scheduled domestic flight, meaning two full days in the car. Until only four years ago the road trip to the Gobi was a two-day affair involving dusty dirt roads and an overnight stop. But now we drove along an endless tarmac road, passing the construction site of the new International Airport and on down in to barren nothingness.

The long road south

Our Toyota Landcruiser

Spring was in the air so our guide, Serjee, and driver, Khurlee, sang us a medley of traditional Mongolian songs to bring us good luck with the weather. Singing is a big thing in Mongolian culture and guests are also expected to sing. Being English it took us until the next day to break the reserve and belt out the traditional sing-along tune Hotel California, it was the only one we managed to remember whereas the Mongolians seemed to have an endless supply of beautiful songs about nomadic way of life. We have written more about the Mongolian nomadic life in our blog on Kharkhorum.

The first rains had fallen the week before and there was a surprising amount of green. There were grasses and a chive-like plant that the goats seemed to particularly enjoy. So much so that a passing goatherd often brought a strong smell of onion with it, we hoped from their breath!  The livestock were all producing young; kids, lambs, calves, foals and even baby camels! We came across an unlucky herdsman in charge of a bad-tempered camel and a handful of goat-kids lollygagging behind the rest of the herd. He looked like he needed a hand.

Hi!

A goat herder with his hands full!

Our driver helping out

Andrina playing with a kid

As part of the circle of life we also noted a large number of carcasses of every livestock species littering the roadside. Serjee explained it had been a poor year for rain in 2017 and then a hard winter with over 700,000 head of livestock lost. Many of the animals were still weak, in the Gobi the weak die and the scavengers such as Vultures and Wolves feast.

Carcass of a cow in the Gobi

A goat skull in the desert

We were pleased to reach our ger camp by sunset and were ready to go exploring the next day.

Ger camp sunset

Our luxurious ger

Our ger home for three nights

Over the next couple of days we experienced many facets of the area.

Bayangzag, commonly known as The Flaming Cliffs,were made famous by the American adventurer and naturalist Roy Chapman Andrews. During an expedition in the 1920’s he discovered a huge cache of dinosaur fossils here. These included complete skeletons of new and endemic species and even clutches of eggs, some containing embryos. A number of his finds, including some eggs, have recently been returned to the Mongolian state and are on display in Ulaan Bataar. We hiked across the valley and climbed the cliffs. The landscape itself looked prehistoric and we had visions of encountering a 70 million-year-old toothy lizard as we rounded the rocky outcrops.

Dinosaur Rocks

Dinosaur Rocks

Bayangzag, Flaming Cliffs

The Gobi is not your stereotypical Lawrence of Arabia desert but there are a few places where you can see sand dunes. They appear as though a giant dump truck has just unloaded a pile of perfect, yellow sand in the middle of nowhere and with the constant wind direction the sand doesn’t shift at all. The sun was shining so off came the boots and socks and we all played like kids for a while!

Gobi sand dune

Our driver launching himself off the dune

On the crest of a dune!

The Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park is located south of the Flaming Cliffs in the eastern foothills of the Altai Mountains. It is known for a gorge, Yolyn Am Canyon, where the winter snow is packed to blue ice like a mini glacier. This ice takes a long time to melt after the rest of the snow has receded and it is sometimes even July before the last of it disappears. We took the opportunity to hike down this gorge between the sheer cliffs, often slipping and sliding on the ice and even occasionally stepping through sections in to the melt water below.

We enjoyed our packed lunch in a grassy alpine-like valley, shared with a small herd of cows, beside a melt-water stream. Then we hiked back, eyes always on the craggy cliffs watching for the shy but nimble Ibex and shaggy Yaks that live here.

Mongolian horses drinking from the meltwater stream

A butterfly feeding on the flowers

A stop for fuel in a small town offered the chance to visit a local school where we were warmly welcomed by both teachers and children. Such opportunities offer an insight into the local community and we were impressed with the level of work displayed on the walls. We met the gym class and sang the alphabet song with year 1 before saying our goodbyes.

Interrupting the gym lesson

Singing the alphabet song

Impressive quality of displayed work

When Roy Chapman Andrews came to Mongolia he was investigating a hypothesis that this might have been an Asian cradle of human civilization. He was never able to prove this but fortunately for him found dinosaurs instead! However, humanoids have lived here for millennia and some have left their mark.

Our last stop on our Gobi tour was to see some Petroglyphs carved by some early civilization and dated at 3,000 B.C.E. We have been lucky enough to see examples of Neolithic art in several places around the world, but never such drawings including Camels and Ibex as featured here.

Petroglyphs in the Gobi

Petroglyphs in the Gobi

Petroglyphs in the Gobi

We hit the road the next day to head back to Ulaan Bataar, very pleased that we had come and looking forward to finally getting the Gobi dust out of our eyes, ears and noses. Our road trip back to the city took us through the same changing landscapes but with a new appreciation of the greenness of the land and the wonder of melt water lakes as we moved north.

 

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Kharkhorum

Kharkhorum was the capital city of the Mongolian Empire, as decreed by the mighty Chinggis Khan in the 13^thCentury.  His was the largest empire in the history of the world and covered land from Japan in the east to Bulgaria in the west. The city had few solid buildings so there is very little left and unfortunately the current town is a bit of a dump.

 

Town of Kharkhorum

Residents of Kharkhorum

Town of Kharkhorum

As we arrived we saw the Erdene Zuu Monastery and a local museum just outside of the town located south of the site of the old city. The museum had an excellent presentation on the Kharkhorum and the entry fee included the cost of an English-speaking guide who showed us around. There were similar exhibits to the National Museum in Ulaan Bataar but here there was more focus on the ancient city.

The highlight of the tour was actually the relics from a 7^thCentury tomb that was unearthed in 2011 some 200km from Kharkhorum. This was the burial site of an unknown Turkish nobleman and he was buried with gold coins, jewelry and clay effigies of his servants and warriors to serve and protect him in the afterlife.

Clay effigies of the slaves

Clay effigies of the horseback warriors

The Erdene Zuu Monastery was another excellent example of Buddhist temple architecture, some of which dated back to the 1600’s and had been added to in subsequent centuries. Sadly, the monastery suffered badly in the Communist religious purges of 1930’s otherwise it would be even more impressive than it is today. Monks still maintain the site and each morning they gather to chant prayers in one of the main temples.

The other reason to come to this town was that it is the gateway to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Orkhon Valley. This cultural landscape was given status because it represents the evolution of nomadic pastoral traditions spanning over two thousand years.

Unfortunately, when we arrived we found out the valley had been closed to visitors because of concerns with mad cow disease.  We still wanted to experience the nomadic lifestyle first hand so as a contingency plan we travelled to Mongol Els where there is a 40km stretch of sand dunes. We were welcomed into a family ger for lunch. They were very accommodating and made us fried dumplings stuffed with mashed potato, cabbage and carrots. They were delicious but we weren’t sure how impressed the family was to be eating a veggie lunch with us!

Tending to the stove

Cow dung fire

Ger Family Portrait

Cooking traditional fried dumplings

We then climbed on some camels and the father of the family led us on a 2-hour trek. We crossed the sand dunes, passed an unexpected melt water lake and through a valley to our destination, a ger camp at the foot of a small range of rocky hills. We would spend the night here with another nomadic family.

Camels in Mongol Els

Camel Trekking in Mongol Els

Camel Trekking in Mongol Els

It is perhaps time to talk about the nomadic lifestyle of the Mongolian people. It is still very much in evidence throughout the country with more than 1.5 million people tending to over 70 million head of livestock. The conditions in this vast country are harsh and the families move their ger along with their herds in search of food.

The “Ger” is central to this lifestyle. At its most basic it is a Mongolian traditional round home made of wood and covered in felt. However, the ger represents much more than just a dwelling to the Mongolians; it is their safety, warmth and ability to live their nomadic lifestyle. It is a fundamental part of their culture and even those that live in a city house usually have a ger on their property and move in when the weather gets cold. (A “Yurt” is what the Russians call them.)

With more than half the population now living in the capital this traditional existence is now threatened by a modern life. In response, the nomads have begun to incorporate 21^stcentury elements into their lives. The herdsmen use motorbikes or even cars to herd their animals; the gers have solar panels and satellite TV and they often use trucks to move camp.

A 21st Century ger

After a chilly night’s sleep we awoke around dawn in the stunningly beautiful Khogno Khan Uul Nature Reserve. One of us (hmm, which one?) braved the cold to build a cow dung fire in the stove before heading out to catch the first rays of the sun, noting that the family were already up and had tended to the goats.

The sun crested the horizon, bathing the granite rock in the hills behind the camp in its warm light and we were able to fully appreciate the beauty of this landscape. The hills around us seemed to be constructed of these huge granite boulders, piled high to the sky, and the gnarled trees dotting the area were really the first wild trees we had seen in the country.

Sunrise at Khogno Khan Uul

Sunrise at Khogno Khan Uul

Sunrise at Khogno Khan Uul

Sunrise at Khogno Khan Uul

We took an early morning walk through the valley to a ruined Buddhist site called Lama Erdene Monastery. There are a few temples still intact, and once or twice a month the Lamas visit to perform ceremonies here. Legend has it that during a war between rival kings in the 17^thcentury one of them cut the head off the Lamas at this monastery, but the story we heard was that he actually cut off their balls!

Lama Erdene Monastery

Lama Erdene Monastery

View from Lama Erdene Monastery

Lama Erdene Monastery

This was one of our favourite spots in the whole country and a nice way to end our time in this beautiful country.

 

Ulaan Bataar

Mongolia is a country of around 3 million people (half of whom live in the capital), 12 million horses and 45 million goats all sandwiched between Russia and China. The land is harsh and unforgiving, the continental climate brings freezing conditions for much of the year with extreme heat for the remaining months. It is a rugged and hard life for the people who traditionally live a nomadic existence with their livestock, moving from area to area chasing the meager grass and water supplies.

Ulaan Bataar (called UB by the locals) is the coldest capital city in the world with winter temperatures regularly at -25 centigrade. A cold day in winter here is -45! We seemed to arrive with the spring and the city was mild and sunny so we immediately took to the streets to explore. Walking around UB was an experience in itself. After the rule-abiding drivers and pedestrians of Russia we had certainly arrived back in Asia! Crossing the crowded roads was nerve wracking to say the least. Even venturing onto the zebra markings with a green “walk” signal meant taking your life in your hands. We proceeded with care at all times, determined not to have an untimely end to our trip courtesy of a Mongolian driver.

 

Other than the roads the city is rather odd but has a nice feel. There are some lovely Buddhist sites with traditional architecture set amongst shining glass and steel towers in the downtown area; quiet oases of history in the midst of a city trying to catch up with western counterparts. The seven former temples of the Choijin Lama are now a museum and a perfect example of this. They were closed down during the communist era, but the buildings have now been restored.

Choijin Lama Museum under skyscrapers

Choijin Lama Museum

Choijin Lama Interior

Choijin Lama Interior

Further west the beautiful Gandan Monastery is still in use and Buddhist monks chant prayers each morning. Visitors can make a donation to have their own prayers chanted although we refrained.

UB has some diverse and, fortunately, small museums. The new Dinosaur museum was opened as a result of the repatriation of some dinosaur fossils from the USA in 2011. These bones and the famous fossilized eggs had been taken out of the country by the American paleontologist Chapman Andrews in the 1920’s and the Mongolians are clearly very pleased to have them back. Some of the species represented have never been found anywhere else in the world. The small collection was fun to view although we cant think of anywhere else where dinosaurs are displayed with green lights in quite this way!

National Museum of Mongolian Dinosaurs

There is also a rather good National Museum with a comprehensive history of the country and it’s peoples.

We stayed near the center in the Zaya Hostel, which we are happy to recommend, the guys there were very helpful with advice and tours. Their location just off the main road of “Peace Street” meant we could walk to most places within 20 minutes and we did.

On the recommendation of the owner we took in a little local culture, as presented by the Tumen-Ekh Dance and Singing Ensemble. This group specialises in traditional Mongolian songs, singing techniques and instruments. Their songs evoke the natural environment of the Mongolian steppes and are usually based on stories about the herdsmen and their livestock. We were drawn to see the show by the promise of seeing Mongolian throat singers who completely lived up to expectations.

 

We don’t usually talk about food but this time it was in the forefront of our minds and we nearly didn’t get off the Trans-Mongolian railway here at all. Mongolian cuisine is famed for being very meat-heavy, until recently being vegetarian was not realisitic in a country that grows barely any vegetables. However, after some research we discovered that the city actually has some rather good veggie restaurants these days. We also discovered the State Department Store. This is the center of UB’s western ambitions, 5 floors of food, good coffee, fashion, electronics and cinema where we stocked up on fruit and veg for all our excursions out of the city.

Did we like UB? The simple answer is yes, although we were pleased to leave and experience the countryside as well. Watch this space for further blogs on our adventures in the Mongolian desert!

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