Good Morning Vietnam!

Gooooooooooooooooooooooood Mooooooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrnig Vietnam!!!!!

The last news from me was that I was getting the train from China to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. The train journey was OK, but I had to wait six hours for a connection from Nanning in China, to the border town of Pingxiang as I got into Nanning at 02:00 AM! As I was boarding the Pingxinag train I met a couple of German girls, Trini and Maike who asked me if I was going to Vietnam and if I wanted to share a taxi from the border. Upon arrival at the Chinese-Vietnamese border we also picked up a British guy called Oli and a local Vietnamese girl, all headed for Hanoi. To clear customs we had to pass a health check, which, instead of seeing a nurse, meant we had to simply pay 2,000 dong to receive a certificate saying we were healthy! When I later calculated this, it worked out around 6p! We also saw a large glass cabinet full of opium, marijuana, heroin, ecstasy, coke (the real thing) etc, mostly stuffed into plastic drink bottles and plastic bags! One of the doors looked like it was slightly open, as if trying to allure tourists into 'borrowing' the seized contraband.

The other four cleared customs into Vietnam without any problems, while I was quizzed for a few minutes by the officials.

'How are you today?'

'Not bad thanks, yourself?'

'Good. What are you doing in Vietnam?'

'Just traveling.'

'Have you had lunch yet?'

'Sorry?'

'I SAID - 'Have you had lunch yet?'

'Erm...not yet...'

'Are you hungry?'

(Wait I don't remember this question on the immigration card....I look at my watch...it's only 11am)

'Erm.....yeah....I'm waiting to get into Vietnam....to try the delicious food there...'

'Aaaah weery good!'

'Um...yeah, can I have my passport back now?'

Finally the five of us were in a minivan bound for Hanoi, after the local girl in or group had negotiated down the price by 80% (tourist prices). We heard Hanoi long before we reached it, the sounds of a million horns rising above the roar of motorbike exhausts. If there are nine million bicycles in Beijing, there must be at least nine million motorbikes in Hanoi. After maneuvering our way though the dense traffic and past three! roadside accidents, we checked into a quiet guest house on a side street and headed for a drink to steady our nerves. Being a pedestrian in Hanoi is no easier than a passenger as the Vietnamese 'Green Cross Code' seems to be influence by the movie Fight Club; 'The first rule of driving - there are NO rules for driving'. Motorbikes whiz down both sides of the street, regardless to which direction they are traveling in, abandoning the use of indicators or obeying any traffic signs! Eventually we stumbled across 'Beer Corner' where four small cafes situated at a crossroad served beer to both tourists and locals, all seated on small plastic children's chairs similar to those in a kindergarten, with the words 'Bia Hoi' scrawled in chalk above our heads. Before we even sat down, the old woman sitting next to a keg was filling some glasses from a long rubber tube attached to the keg, using her finger to block the end. While the view wasn't the best (passing motorbikes pumping out exhaust fumes), the garden hose served beer was cool and refreshing, and certainly went down well, especailly after my 26 hour journey from Guangzhou. After four beers each, the bill came to just 40p, (10p per glass!)

Perhaps 'book' is a common name in Vietnam, as, everyday, many vendors braved the lines of motorbikes to get to my side of the road and shout 'Hello Book!' their huge boxes filled with rows of replica Dan Brown novels, Lonely Planets, and 'American War' literature, all of which you can bargain down to about $2. Once one spotted you, hundreds more would descend like vultures 'Hello Sunglasses? Where you from man? England number 1! David Beckham! Football man! Arsenal Chelsea yeah! Where you go, you need taxi? Nice hotel cheaper?' Declining their offers only led to them lower their voices, offering yet more services. 'How about smoke man? You like marijuana? Has for you mate? Opium? Tell me what you looking for? I find you nice young girl for boom boom?'

After just a few hours we already needed a break from the city, so the German girls and I booked a two day trip to Halong Bay, famous for its limestone cliffs jutting out from the sea. After a nice French baguette, we headed out early morning, meeting another British guy, Richard en route. We checked into our spacious cabins equipped with shower and toilet, the two girls in one, and me and the other guy next door. As soon as we left the harbour we could see that the trip was not going to be a disappointment! Despite the grey skies, the limestone cliffs were clearly visible all around us, the sun toasting our bodies as we lay on the deck. We were sharing the boat with an Indian guy, a British man with his Chinese wife, and two German couples, one of which were complaining they got the cabin next to the generator for refusing to give their passports to our guide. Later that day we took out the kayaks to row ourselves around the cliffs, ours capsizing and we tried to tie ourselves to the German girls kayak to make them row us around! After that, a few of us jumped off the boat for a swim as we were already wet from the kayak. The evening past lazily, with the four of us playing drinking games on the deck long into the night, culminating in a British invasion of the German girls through their cabin window. The next day we stopped off on an island for a bit of sight seeing, then back on board for lunch. After lunch we picked up a couple of French people who we tried to make conversation with but they weren't very polite (there's a surprise!) On the way back we stopped off in a factory shopping producing paintings and embroideries, with some suspiciously young employees. I asked one how old he was, to which he replied 'fourteen' before the supervisor came over and said he was sixteen. I saw an even younger looking kid (perhaps between eight and ten), but when I asked his age the supervisor interrupted saying he was also sixteen but looked so small because of something to do with the radiation from the war....hmmmm. Upon arrival back in Hanoi, the French people walked off without a word, despite my earlier attempts to make small talk with them.

We spent the next two days back in the capital to see the sights. We went to the Temple of Literature, Ho Chi Ming's mausoleum (apparently he has a two month holiday to Russian for maintenance, whilst skeptics say it's actually to Madam Tussuad's as the body is no longer real). In the centre of Hanoi there is a large lake where a giant turtle once appeared to claim the sword used by Le Loi to drive the Chinese out of Vietnam, and return it to it's divine owners. Next to the lake is the Water Puppet theatre, which uses techniques from over 1,000 years ago invented by the workers in their rice fields. The 50 minute performance was absolutely amazing, all the puppets were controlled from under water, and the only humans you could see where the choir playing traditional instruments and using vocals to produce the sound effects. Probably the bet $2 as have ever spent on entertainment!

On our second trip we took an overnight train to Sapa, the mountain region of Northern Vietnam, our group consisting of the two German girls, two Swiss and me. There we met some minority people and each person was assigned a personal guide. As we trekked along the rice terraces with the most amazing views, our guides made us grass animals from the plants, and although they didn't speak much English along the way, when we stopped for lunch they tried to sell us postcards, and handmade t-shirts, jewelry and bracelets. I brought a bracelet for my girlfriend to thank the guide foe helping us. We spent the night in a village with local people who cooked us a delicious meal, sleeping in a wooden hut with mosquito nets. There we bumped into the French from our earlier tour and the main guide, Zi, asked them if we minded if they stayed in the hut with us. After a couple of minutes of silence the French man said, 'I don't think we are wanted here' and stormed of, much to the delight of our group. Zi stayed up to play cards with us. She is a very humorous guide who insists on calling me 'Buffalo Man' and loves trying out her colloquial English such as 'I'll kick your arse' or 'Speak to my hand', as well as laughing at the Vietnamese English 'Same same but different' - much to the amusement of all us. The following day we carried on with our trek, visiting a local school and seeing many wildlife like pigs, buffaloes and chickens along the way. As we waited fr the train back t Hanoi once more, we played cards, using my bottle of snake wine (with a small snake still inside) as the forfeit for the losers.

We arrived back at 6am, collected our bags that we had stored in the guest house, and left for Nimh Binh where we stored our bags temporally and ired bicycles for the 15KM to Tam Coc. This area of Vietnam is known as the 'Dry Halong Bay' which has similar scenery but here the limestone cliffs rise above rice fields rather than the sea. The girls and I shared a boat to ourselves, enjoying the beautiful views and warm sunshine as we drifted downstream. The women rowing us down the river did quite a good job, so I brought them a drink each from a passing boat. Then they open a trunk full of bags ans t-shirts and the sales pitch came. The German girls brought a small bag each, thus given he two women a nice little profit, but they still tried to demand a tip when we left the boat! We then cycled back to the town, taking a detour past woman with conical hats leading water buffaloes through saturated rice fields. We climbed a big hill next to a scenic lake where we were the only Westerners for miles around, and were rewarded with breathtaking views of the paddy fields on one side, and the tourists being rowed down the river on the other.

That night we boarded the night bus to Hue where the girls would get a connecting bus, and I would stay for two nights. It was supposed to be a soft sleeper but it was overbooked, so we had to have the hard sleeper for the same price (no refund), and two Dutch girls didn't even have a bed and had to sleep on the floor! After leaving the Germans, I hooked up with the Dutch girls and we went on the city tour to see the Forbidden City (great, but not as magnificent as China's) and the Royal Tombs which are elaborate buildings and gardens, each created for just one Emperor when he passed away. We took a boat back to the city to have dinner, then I was forced to introduced the two girls to Long Island Iced Tea as they had never tried it! The bar and restaurant staff here, after asking where I'm from, would shout, 'Lovely jubbly mate! Diamond Geezer!' in their best Cockney accents, and one even welcomed me with Ali G's trademark, 'Boyakshar!'

When I came to check out, the bill for the two nights in the guest house, bike hire, the tour, the onward bus to Hoi An and a couple of beers came to just $30 (fifteen pounds), can't get much better than that! After the five hour journey to Hoi An, (central coast), a tout took advantage of my lack of sleep and brought me to a hotel where he would get commission, but at least it had a swimming pool. I hired a bicycle for the day, and after trying out a motorbike on the beach that night, I upgraded myself the next day. I drove down to China Beach which has beautiful white sand and blue sea, and Marble Mountain (similar scenery to Halong Bay). I also did a tour to My Son the old Cham runs of Hindu Temples, where all the Westerners were afraid of a snake in the rocks, and a local boy casually approached it and started poking it with a stick!

My next stop involved another overnight journey (to save on accommodation), to the coastal city of Nha Trang where I am currently. Here I have a nice hotel room overlooking the beautiful beach for just $8 per night. Nearby there is a monkey tied to a chain who amuses tourists by play fighting with the dog he lives with, I booked a boat trip to four islands of the coast of Nha Trang, where we could feed deer and ostriches and saw a show with an elephant and two bears who could ride bikes and even motorbikes (not the elephant, fool!) Our guide's name was 'Funky Monkey' and was always making jokes about he nationalities of everyone on board, 'Hey man, your Scottish, where's the whiskey?' or 'Hey Miss Holland, have you got some marijuana? Why not?' as well as being able to sing a song of all seven languages represented on the boat. Apparently the tour guides go to a special school where they learn about us, our jokes, what we eat etc, and was able to reproduce the usual Vietnamese jokes, '$5 me make you holler! Me love you long time!' There was loads on delicious food on the boat, way more than we could eat, and we even had a free 'floating bar' for one hour. 'Pissing twenty metres from the bar', Funky Monkey orders as we enter the water, 'Ladies on the left, men on the right, lady boys in the middle! Hold on to the bar otherwise you get free trip to Singapore, no visa needed!' There we lay in the sea in our rubber rings being served as much pineapple cocktail as we could handle - (just me and a German man left when the booze ran out!)

Yesterday I went to see the Big Buddha who watches over the city from the hillside, and them to a place with mud baths and mineral pools in the afternoon to sooth my sunburn. Today I rented a motorbike and drove down to the harbour to get a boat to Monkey Island, where many monkeys (similar to the one near my hotel) where fighting each other to get the food from the tourists - great fun!

So we reach an end of my news so far in 'Nam and my epic email draws to a close! I won't be online for a few days now as I'm taking a motorbike tour from here (Nha Trang) to Mui Ne (closer to Saigon) through the central highlands to see coffee production, silkworms, wildlife and local people.

Enjoy the photos!

Phil :-)

Hanoi

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=44958&l=9f40b&id=752105943

Sapa Trekking

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=45095&l=c555b&id=752105943

Sapa Trekking 2

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=45202&l=c9eab&id=752105943

Tam Coc - The 'Dry Halong Bay'

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=45282&l=90a77&id=752105943

Hue

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=45283&l=e70bb&id=752105943

Hoi An

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=45287&l=e638b&id=752105943

Vietnam Markets

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=45289&l=95a76&id=752105943

Goodbye Guangzhou!

It has now been over a year since I last saw you and time has flown since then! After the New Year I quit my job at EF to travel around China with my sister, Katharine. After a couple of days sights-seeing in Guangzhou we flew to Beijing as trains were all booked up due to the approaching Chinese New Year. Beijing was fun as always. We stayed at Leo Hostel where I stayed last time (really recommend this place if you ever go to Beijing as staff are really friendly and helpful, and hostel is central located and well set-up for travelers). Spent a few days doing the main sights (Forbidden City, Tianamen Square, Temple of Heaven, and of course the Great Wall), all of which I have written about in another email on a previous trip, so will spare the repetition here.

We also visited the Summer Palace, where ironically, the lake had been frozen solid by the winter weather allowing us to walk across it. We also went to the silk market, which in addition to selling silks, sells everything from pirate DVDs, to fake North Face trekking gear. It is really hard to walk through this market as hundreds of arms reach out and grab you -'Hello where you from? You buy bag for girlfriend! Nice T shirt for you mister!' - while others block your path with LV suitcases or pairs of Levis, none of them taking no for an answer. In the end I brought a strong green laser whose beam is visible for over 1KM, which is proving great fun to play with on nights out! :-) After a few beers at the hostel with an old colleague from when I used to work in Beijing we got a taxi to San Li Tun, Beijing's bar street but the driver tried to charge us double the price shown on the metre so I managed to make good use of my stock of Chinese swear words, before entering the bars so sample some 4RMB (28p shots!)

We wanted to take a night train to Xian, home of the Terracotta Warriors, but everything was booked for the Chinese New Year so we had to pay eight times more for a flight. Xian is a well designed town with a North - South grid system making it easy to find your way around. We stayed inside the city walls next to the South Gate which is a massive ornate gate marking the entry/exit of the city and looks beautiful at night when all lit up. The key attraction of Xian is the Bell Tower which houses a massive bell - exciting huh? - and the Muslim Quarter which has lots of tasty street food. We did a tour to the Terracotta Warriors, but like most Chinese tours, there was a lot of waiting around and pressure to buy touristy things, taking up four hours off our day! When we finally got to see the warriors we realised that we couldn't get very close to them at all. We were kept several metres back and several metres higher which made getting a decent photograph almost impossible. Apparently you can go to see a third excavation pit where you can get close to them but this was under restoration due to the forthcoming Beijing Olympics. Nevertheless it was great to be able to witness such an archaeological sight first hand like this, something I will never forget. A better photo op was at our hostel which had some replicas decorating the bar, all painted in their bright original colours, unlike the real ones whose paint has disappeared over the centuries.

We managed to get a night train to Shanghai, saving us from forking out for another flight, but the conditions were very cramped and unhygienic. The whole journey we could hear the constant Chinese soundtrack of men clearing mucus from their throats and spitting from every window and door, and toilets were so bad you did not want to touch anything! One even had a used nappy lying on the floor! There was six beds (three sets of bunk beds to a cabin) which made sitting up, (or even turning over) impossible, while men sat i the corridors smoking beneath the non smoking signs and spitting under the 'Do not spit' signs - yes they really have them! On arrival in Shanghai we decided to book our onward train journey straight away to avoid paying for another flight. We queued up for nearly an hour at a local ticket office, full of people spitting on the floor and just about everywhere! This office must have had a policy forcing everyone to smoke too, as we were the only people there not sucking on an 'oxygen stick'. Also people kept walking into the office and straight to the head of he queue, ignoring the 30-40 people shouting angrily behind them, (this si a VERY common practice in China). When we finally reached the window, and asked for our destination (Xiamen), we were met with a stare - 'No Tickets!' 'How about the next day?' 'No Tickets!' 'The day after?' 'No Tickets!' How about straight to Guangzhou?' 'No Tickets!' We then went to the bus and train stations where I tried to use my Chinese to buy a ticket from one of the many touts. (Chinese people like to buy up lots of tickets prior to peak travel periods and resell them for profit). The best offer we got was for an overnight bus which cost almost the same as the airfare would have done, so we had to cut our losses, book a flight at eight times the price again, then make the most of our remaining time in Shanghai.

I had heard from many people that there is not much to see in Shanghai and we found that to be true, with the exception of the Bund (European colonial style buildings), and Shanghai's tallest landmark, the Oriental Pearl tower. We paid about four pounds to ride the lift to the viewing platform, only to find out that we couldn't see anything due to the fog. It wasn't just a case of not being able to see a lot, we could not see ANYTHING, just grey for miles and miles, not even a silhouette of a building in sight. (Apparently the ticket seller didn't think this was important when she took our money). One redeeming feature of Shanghai was the traditional gardens we found, and the fantastic decorations for Chinese New Year that were displayed around the entrance. There were many larger than life fabric creations of people, lanterns, money and of course the rat (the animal for this lunar year). The display was amazing and I took many photos! On the way back to Guangzhou I noticed that Shanghai's airport had a 'delayed flight lounge'. Apparently flights there are delayed so often they have a special lounge! Fortunately we didn't need to use it.

We spent Chinese New Year in Guangzhou, with a visit to the flower market which appears once a year, then I had all the Westerner's and Chinese away from their families for a pot luck dinner. After that we went to watch the fireworks on nearby Shamian Island at the house of one of my student's family. The police were blocking off most of the main roads due to the crowds (and China does crowds REALLY well!) but I managed to blag our party through the blockade with my charm and white face. :-) The fireworks were great, some of the best I have ever seen. (Pictures on the links below).

After the new year we did one last trip, this time to Hainan Island, south east of the main land. It is China's biggest island and also the agricultural centre. We stayed a couple of nights with a friend in Haikou (Northern tip of the island), before going to Sanya (southern tip where the beaches are). Unfortunately for us, all the hotels had been book by enterprisingly travel agents and ticket resellers so we were forced to join a tour group who had prebooked some of the rooms. If there is ever one piece of advice I give you about travel in China, its DO NOT join a tour. Under any circumstances DO NOT DO IT! I had experience the Chinese idea of a 'tour' and 'tourism' on a previous trip to Yunnan province in South China, and had sworn never to do so again, but without any available hotel rooms, this was our only choice.

Tours always start early in China, so generally that means meeting for breakfast around 6.30 - 7am, to eat warm(ish) rice, boiled eggs, sweet bread, and other 'delicacies', not forgetting a few lungs of cigarette smoke! After hanging around for a while, we would board the bus and sit for around two hours while our guide shouting at us in Chinese through the microphone. The bus would make several stops each day, the first usually being some short of shop where we could buy clothes, jewelry or tacky souvenirs at inflated prices, from which the tour guide would obviously make a commission. Then we would be taken to see some sights, stopping for an hour then then travelling for a couple more hours to the next sight. The problem is that you do much more travelling then sight seeing, and the time at each place is very limited. In addition to this, your guide shouts in Chinese through a megaphone the whole time, as he is trying to be heard above the 30+ tour directly in front, and the 30+ tour directly behind. Basically all tours go to the same spots and look at the same things at exactly the same time, which really spoils the idea of being on holiday! This tour was no exception, with regional specialties such as Hainan coffee warehouses which we were taken to see. Even the 'deer park' we were taken too was just a scam to sell us 'deer penis wine' (supposedly good for the men). Other than that it only housed five manky deer in very small cages, not at all a good tourist attraction. We were also taken to a 'South Mountain' where hundreds of willing Chinese tourists stood in their 30+ groups looking at a group of rocks whilst being verbally harassed through megaphones and physically harassed by the hawkers. At this point we wandered off on our own having long decided that we would ditch the tour group once we arrived in Sanya and had located our hotel (the only reason for joining the tour). We spent a night en route to Sanya at a hotel with a hot spring swimming pool. The idea was we were supposed to join the guide to see a show and pay an extra 10 pounds (all tours try to force you to do extra and pay additional costs to the tour guide). A lot of people complained about this and were first told that we had to go as he had already booked the tickets, then that we could go and pay afterwards if we enjoyed the show. Eventually we managed to get away and spent some relaxing time away from the guide (and most of the group) in the hot spring whilst drinking fresh milk out of the coconut. The next day we arrived in Sanya early in the morning (thanks to the early starts and breakfast rituals) and were taken to a beach and told we needed to pay 20 pounds to go diving. After we protested that all we wanted to do was get to the hotel and we didn't want to keep paying out for the extras the guide acted very surprised and told us we could sit and wait for them to come back. Finally we asked him to give us the name of the hotel so we could go and check in and get on with what we wanted to be doing and he acted surprised again and insisted that we couldn't leave the group as we were 'one of them'. It was as if he couldn't believe why we wanted to leave such a great tour, and kept asking us why we didn't want to do all the 'amazing activities' he had lined up for us. After a lot of arguing on both our parts, with him trying a lot of tricks to make us stay, like the hotel was very far and too difficult for us to find, or he was going to take us to a great place, etc etc, he finally agreed to let us go, but only after one more 'lunch' with the group.

At last we were free! We then spent the next two days relaxing on the beach and enjoying the end of our holiday together. At night children gathered to sell cheap Chinese fireworks and tourists and locals alike lit up the night sky with giant explosions of sound and colour. One firework cost just 3RMB (21p) but contained so much gunpowder that it was a big, loud and beautiful as those used in professional displays! Children as young as five were playing with these giant fireworks, using their parents cigarette to light them! (I don't think social services exist in China!) One child was even giving me instructions as to he best way fire them!

After Katharine left China I spent a couple of weeks to say goodbye to my friends, flatmate, and of course my girlfriend, so naturally lots of festivities took place culminating with a goodbye party in my apartment where the police did the usual visit at 23:01 to inform us that no music is allowed after 23:00 (the Chinese national bedtime). However this is not goodbye for good as I am flying home out of Hong Kong after I finish my South east Asian Adventure, as Oasis have some good deals from Hong Kong to London and I can also leave some winter clothes and books in my apartment to avoid carrying so much on my travels.

So I will leave you with some pictures of my China experience which you can browse at your leisure. I have uploaded them to my facebook account, you can view them even if you don't have an account, although I recommend you sign up as its a very good site!

Back in Beijing

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=41375&l=da0c7&id=752105943

Xian & The Terracotta Warriors

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=41516&l=02631&id=752105943

Shanghai

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=41613&l=ca1bc&id=752105943

Chinese New Year!!!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=44091&l=1fdaa&id=752105943

Hainan

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=44108&l=04acd&id=752105943

Qing Ping Market

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=44114&l=18ee4&id=752105943

Six Banyan Trees Temple

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=44191&l=402aa&id=752105943

This is Phil signing off for SE Asia!

Wish me luck!

Phil :-)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year (Both Chinese and Western) ;-)

Howdy Everyone!

Some people have been complaining that its been a long time since my last email, so you can blame them for this. I'm not sure if I told you but I moved into a new apartment a couple of months ago with an English guy, former EF colleague, and drinking buddy, Tom. Our apartment is very nice, just a few minutes walk from the CBD where the tallest building in Guangzhou is, which can be seen from my bedroom window. We like on the 12th floor in a small complex overlooking a swimming pool and a small tropical garden with a fish pond. We have three bedrooms, the guest bedroom is constantly occupied by two girls, Vivian and Lucky, who have all but moved into our house.

As our apartment is quite big, we often host parties and as a result have many decorations hanging up like the giant spiderwebs and spiders which I stole from our school's Halloween party. Now we are preparing for a Christmas or New Year's party so we have been busy putting up a Christmas tree, fairy lights, tinsel etc. All of these things and so much more can all be found at a giant wholesale market a few stops away on the metro. Everything stylish or tacky, festive or plain is all there. Scary masks, Santa outfits, fake snow, flowers, toys, household decorations, candles, pictures, wall hangings, etc, loads of stuff that we have in the cheap shops in the UK is all made and sold right here. I brought an all-body gorilla costume complete with mask, hands and feet for less than 15 pounds and I wore it to work's Halloween party. It was great fun scaring people on the metro, as people in China have never seen such a thing as a crazy man dressed in a gorilla costume chasing strangers down the escalators, but eventually the security guards came and asked me to remove the head. Security guards have visited our apartment on a couple of occasions when we have had parties as there seems to be some sort of law whereby you are not allowed to play music after 11pm, and they even brought the police with them on one occasion, not that the music was particularly loud, but then again, this is China!

I have just got back from travelling around Yunnan province. I went with Queenie to Shangarila which was very beautiful town surrounded by snow-capped mountains which we climbed in a cable car. The Chinese people on are tour were so excited to see the snow (the first time for some of them), that when it started snowing they made the bus driver stop so they could all get off and take pictures of the sky! We visited some minority villages and saw some traditional dancing and ate some strange food, a lot of it was meat on these over sized bones and a strange disgusting tea. We also visited Kunming (the capital of the province), and the most beautiful, bluest lake I have ever seen. The most amazing part of the trip was a visit to Lijang, a very traditional town with ancient Chinese style architecture, complete with the obligatory red paper lantern, and no building over two stories high. At the centre of the town is a large water-mill and a small river with many streams originating from it, and weeping willows either side of the river. At night the old town transforms itself into a very cool nightlife spot. Many interesting bars line the small stream and people sit on the windowsills with their feet dangling down from the second floor, singing and drinking the night away. Other people move from shop to shop buying interesting handicrafts, floating paper lanterns and candles down the streams or just simply standing under the willow trees watching all the merriment and singing from the bars above.

Now I'm back in Guangzhou finalizing the Christmas preparations and doing some last minute shopping for tomorrow. Tomorrow I will go with my girlfriend Queenie and some of the teachers from EF to an Irish bar for a traditional Christmas dinner and drinks, then it will be time to start making the plans for New Year, and my birthday. Talking of which, its not too late to make the post for my birthday - January 3rd!!! Or for any Chinese new year gifts you'd like to send - (February 7th).

So keep in touch (address is below), or send me an email over the Christmas period.

Merry Christmas and a VERY drunken New Year!

Lots of Love

Phil x

Travels in a Distant Land

Hi there! I thought it was about time I sent you an update on my life
here in China.

As it turned out I only spent two weeks working in Beijing (as opposed
to six), as the school I transferred to closed for a three-week
renovation. On the last day in the Beijing school I only had lessons
in the afternoon, so I decided to skive off my office hours in the
morning and go to see some sights and make the most of my time there.
I went to the Temple of Heaven which is where the Emperors used to go
and make sacrifices, the temple itself is a lot smaller than I had
imagined, but spectacular nonetheless. After my stay in Beijing China
had a national week-long holiday for the beginning of May, so I went
with some of my Guangzhou colleagues to Guilin and Yansuo in the
neighbouring province of Guangxi. We took an overnight bus from
Guangzhou as part of a tour group with a company that Iris, (one of my
colleagues) used to work for. The group insisted on playing some
strange games which I and the other three westerners couldn't
understand as they were in Chinese, but they kept shouting excited
through the bus' PA system until about 1AM in the morning!

As soon as we arrived in Yansuo we were greeted by tall limestone
cliffs covered with vegetation, and paddy fields on either side of us
full of peasant farmers working in the hot sun. We took a boat down
the river to enjoy the beautiful scenery (accompanied with the
obligatory beer, naturally). After that we went to crammed into some
very unsafe looking buses and went to watch a traditional show feature
some of the Guangxi's native people. We had to wear some strange hats
made of grass and have our faces streaked with a white paint-like
substances, and say some local words before we were allowed to enter.
The show was very entertaining, with a lot of dancing, sword ship and
playing with fire, (one man even put a burning torch underneath his
loincloth!) They let some of us take part in the festivities then
toured the rest of the camp where some of the braver ones of us had
our pictures taken with a real bear! In the evening we visited
Western street (so called as it is always filled with Western tourists
haggling in the shops and outside stalls which line the road.

The following day we hired some bikes to ride along the side of the
river but some of the Chinese girls didn't know how to ride them, so
some of the others hired tandems so the girl could ride on the back.
However, there were not enough tandem bikes so one of the leaders of
our group asked me if it was OK if me and Yu, (the girl I was with),
knew how to ride a scooter. I said it was no problem even though I
wasn't too sure how to ride it, but I wanted to show off to the other
teachers who had already gone on ahead. So we sped along the road
overtaking the others and laughing at them, with Yu taking photos
while I tried to control the bike. Eventually we got to a place in
the river where we were going to hire some bamboo rafts, so all of the
bikes were strapped to the rafts which held two people (plus the man
to steer them). Some entrepreneurial people at the bank of the river
were selling makeshift water pistols, which lead to a impromptu water
fight before we had even boarded our rafts. We had an hour floating
down the river with the magnificent cliffs looming up around us. This
area is very famous when you see read any tourist guide to China, and
there were many postcard-perfect photographs to be taken. As others
floated ahead or behind, all that me and Yu could hear was the splash
of the bamboo oar and the sounds of the birds in the treetops
overhead, all in all a very serene experience. Serene until another
raft came near that is. As soon as some other people were in range,
the water fights would continue, with the people on each raft
desperately pumping water into their weapons to soak the enemies,
(also soaking our driver in the process).

In the evening we boarded our bus once more and drove high into the
mountains, twisted around many hairpin bends with the dirt track
crumbling away beside us. I have no idea what would happen if another
bus happened to be coming in the opposite direction. As we climbed
higher and hire, the bends became even more precarious, and many of
the Chinese started to reach for the sick bags. Eventually we
reached our destination, a purpose-built wooden village for tourists
to stay. The village had a couple of hotels, a bar/disco, some
restaurants and souvenir shops, all built out of wood. For dinner we
ate rice cooked inside pieces of bamboo, and I even tried a fried pigs
tail! Then we played some drinking games with the Chinese, drinking
long into the night, even after the bar had closed. When we ran out
of beer I went to a restaurant that had already closed, but they were
so impressed with my rubbish Chinese they decided to sell some to me
anyway.

The next morning we woke up at 5AM to view the sunrise. It was quite
surreal watching the sunrise from the hilltop with about half of the
Chinese tourists from the village, smoking, spitting etc. Then we
headed into Guilin for lunch, which is similar to Yansuo albeit
significantly more built up. After lunch we had the option of
exploring the city or taking another boat trip down the river. The
scenery before had been so stunning that most of us opted to take to
the water again. We passed by many locals carrying out their daily
tasks on the banks of the river before we reached 'Elephant Mountain'
which is so-called as there is a cliff that has been eroded by the
river which resembles the trunk of an elephant. Finally we had
another look at 'Western Street' before taking the night bus back to
Guangzhou, where an annoying man kept stroking my legs and face while
his wife sat opposite asking me if I was afraid of her husband!??!?!.

I then took a trip to Maccau with my Swedish colleague, Bjorn. It is
an ex-Portuguese colony (like Hong Kong to the British), and the only
place where you can legally gamble in China. We visited some old
ruins and a casino before heading off to Hong Kong. After some
shopping Bjorn went back to Guangzhou and I took the boat to Lama
Island about half an hour from mainland Hong Kong. One of the
American teachers, Jenny, who works at the other school has a house
there where I have stayed before, so I stayed there with another
teacher, Nikki, and spent two days making Long Island Iced Tea and
lazing by the beach. Lamma Island is a big contrast to Hong Kong as
there are no high rise buildings, crowds of people or even cars. The
population consists mainly of British, Australian and American expats,
many of whom fall into one of two catogries; yuppies or hippies. The
island has a very relaxed feel to it, with a walk through the hills to
the wind turbine which supplies the island's power, to the small sandy
beaches and blue waters scattered with fishing vessels, (the island's
main source of income). There are many shops selling clothes,
candles, incense, beach ware and other souvenirs as well as many sea
food restaurnts, and Turkish, Thai and Indian restaurants.

The island is so beautiful and peaceful compared to both Hong Kong or
Guangzhou, so I decided to go back there this Monday with my
girlfriend, Queenie. We spent the day there together by the beach,
before heading back to Hong Kong and taking a tram to the peak where
we could see a brilliant view of the Hong Kong skyline lit up in the
night sky. Then we had a romantic view in a restaurant overlooking
the harbour with the skyline in the background, before returning back
to the city where we stayed the night at another student's house who
has family in Hong Kong. The next day Queenie and the other student,
Wing, went on a shopping spree with me in tow as chief baggage
handler. Later that night Queenie and I returned to Guangzhou happy
but very tired.

So well done if you actually managed to read right through to the end
of this email. Drop me a line when you next have time (I'm a poet),
it would be great to hear from you!

That's all folks!
Phil :-)

Taking the Piss!

G'Day from Guangzhou!

Everything here is pretty cool, although the temperature is pretty warm, temperature is around 16 degrees now and will rise to 24 on Saturday! As soon as I arrived I had to shed my thick coat and jumper and now it feels very strange to be working around in just a t-shirt. The school is in a central location, and has its own escalator that runs from the underground station directly up into the school. I am currently staying at a hotel about three minutes walk from the school for about two weeks until I find an apartment. The school is paying for this so its pretty good. They have also given me a welcome pack containing a metro card (like an Oyster card in London), with plenty of money on it, and a Sim card for my mobile with some credit. At the moment I am just getting registered, filling in forms, opening my bank account etc, and sitting in on a couple of lessons. Tomorrow we have a 'team building' exercise, basically a picnic at the top of a local mountain, so that should be fun.

Today we went to the 'foreigner' hospital to have an extensive medical check in order to apply for our visas. First we had to give a blood sample and pulse reading and were weighed and measured, then we were ushered through to another room where I had to lay on a bed and have a strange liquid smeared on my stomach and was poked and prodded with an ultra sound device connected to a computer monitor. I asked if my baby was OK, but they didn't laugh. Either they didn't understand or more likely, were just choosing not to. In another room I lay on another bed, but this time some metal devices were strapped to both of my arms and legs for a BCG reading, looking like a scene from a prison in Guantanamo Bay. I asked how many volts I was going to be given, but my joke was met with the same response as before. In another room, and yet another bed, my chest was listened to with a stethoscope then I was sent to a different room where they checked my ears and teeth! Then we had an eye test where I was given numbers obscured by coloured dots, (like those magic eye pictures in the papers), coincidentally the first number I had to read was 69. ;-) Another eye test had back to front and upside down versions of the letter 'E', so I started reading, 'E' 'M' 'W' '3' then was told, no, it has to be up, down, left and right. It was like a strange logic game from an IQ test, with the chart behind me, and reading from the reflection in the mirror in front of me, quite bizarre. Lastly I had a x-ray, and had to provide a urine sample in a little pot. Talk about taking the piss! I have to go back on Thursday to collect the results, hopefully I won't be diagnosed with anything more severe than a bad sense of humour. ;-)

Well that's it for now, I have to get some sleep before our field trip tomorrow. If the mountain won't come to Mohammad....

Bai bai

Phil in Guangzhou :-)

Chuck Another Snake On The Barbie!

There is a saying in Guangzhou, - If something has its back to the sky, people will eat it. From a look at the menus in the city's many restaurants, this is something I have definitely found to be true. The first question people ask when you visit these restaurants is not what would you like to eat, but 'Rice or Noodles?' This is considered to be the most important thing, and then you choose which meat, fish etc, as if it were the side dish. Most of the restaurants near to the school where I teach are pretty cheap, (most less than a pound) so we can choose one for lunch and for dinner every day, where the staff are standing outside shouting 'Come and Eat' at every passer-by. The more exotic restaurants, or those situated in the central business district may have higher prices, but still usually under 10pound per person, including a couple of drinks, so we can go there on special occasions.

I visited a restaurant named 'Snake Water World' with one of my students the other day to try some snake. As we walked through the restaurant into the garden eating area, we saw many tanks filled with snakes, fish, and turtles. The waitress brought us the menu so we could choose which kind of snake we wanted, and whether we wanted one that was already prepared, or to go and choose a live one from the tank and have it caught and butchered for us. We opted for the former method. The student, Vivian, also ordered us some side dishes. Knowing that I wanted to try something different to conventional 'Western' food, she ordered some plates of snails and beetles! When the beetles arrived, she showed me how to eat them, picking them up with her chopsticks, popping a whole one into her mouth, then spitting out the head and wings. I tried the same method but it wasn't so easy, so she suggested I used my hands to rip off the head legs and wings, use the chopsticks to put the remaining carcass into my mouth. They were not as bad as I had expected, but they smelt horrible, not unlike a blocked drain. Next the snake arrived. It had been chopped up into small pieces, with the bone still attached, (very common in Chinese restaurants). For this we had to use the chopsticks to select a piece of snake, then pull the meat of the bones using our teeth. It had been fried so the texture was a little dry, a little like the dried fish I had been given with the beer for breakfast in Russia. It did not have a distinctive taste, slightly like chicken, (though I hate to use this cliche), but not as flavourful. To eat the snails we were supposed to pick them up with the chopsticks, then suck the bodies directly from their shells with our lips. I could not bring myself to do this method, so I used a toothpick to prise them out before eating them. Finally, under the impression I had not eaten enough weird things, Vivian decided to order a plate of chicken feet, and we had to suck the flesh off the claws, hmmmm. The whole meal cost about 11 pounds for two us us, including a couple of beers. The grand finale to the evening occurred as we were leaving and a giant sized rat run across my path from the direction of the kitchen. (Most rats run into the kitchen, not out of it, so I half expected it to be pursued by a knife-wielding chef, preparing yet another Cantonese Dish.

Chinese people take food very seriously. In fact a popular greeting in China is Ni Chi Le Ma? - Literally - 'Have you eaten? Every living creature, and indeed, every imaginable part of every creature, being used to feed China's enormous population. Earlier that day I had snacked on a bowl of cows insides for lunch. This consisted of liver, lung, heart and intestines, all chopped up into tough leathery pieces mixed with a sort of gravy and eaten with chopsticks. It wasn't all that bad, but not something I would want to eat again in a hurry, plus it smells pretty horrible.

On one of my days off I visited Qing Ping Market which supplies some of these restaurants. I saw many shops packed full of strange items; piles of strange looking mushrooms, sea horses, star fish, squid tentacles, exotic herbs and many other items, unidentifiable to the Western eye. Live turtles sat in bowls next to cages of frogs or snakes. Sad looking dogs were squashed in next to fluffy rabbits, and sleeping cats were stored under cages of squawking chickens and other poultry. On the shelves of one shop just above the deer horns, were bottles of 'viper wine', each with a giant pickled snake curled up inside the glass jars. Outside on the streets people counted, chopped, sliced, skinned and sold man different wares. I tried to take a sneaky photograph of a woman skinning some snakes but the flash went off and she saw me. A minute later she was chasing me down the road, and trying to whip me with a bunch of dried snake skins, while the onlookers watched with amusement. Perhaps a little different from the everyday scenes of Oxford Street.

I also went to another restaurant with a different student. We wanted to try the Thai-style frog but having waited for about 15 minutes our waitress came back and told us it was unavailable. As an alternative we choose to eat a pigeon, (now I know why there are so many Chinese around Trafalgar Square). When it arrived it had been cooked whole and the shape was exactly the same as a normal pigeon, with its head still intact, with eyes, beak etc. We used our hands to pull it apart and our teeth to pull the flesh off the bones until only the head and neck were left. My student, Richard, insisted I eat the head, so I had to rip off the flesh from around the eyes and beak with my teeth, whilst holding the neck, before scraping out the squidgy brain and eating that too! (Eat your heart out KFC!) It was a little like the duck I had eaten in Beijing, only not as tasty. Richard then asked if I liked spicy food to which I replied yes. A few minutes later a plate of cooked chillies arrived. Nothing else, just a big pile of chillies on a plate. Needless to say we had to have a couple of beers to help us wash them down. The whole meal including vegetables and the beers cost around 8 pound for both of us. Next week we will return for the frog.

So next time you are in a restaurant in China Town, just think to yourself, is this REALLY chicken?

Phil :-)

There are nine million bicycles in Beijing

That's a fact. Well, according to the song anyway, but despite that fact, and the city's population of over 15 million(!) there have been some amazing coincidences. On my second day in Beijing I was walking through reception in my hostel and I saw an Indian guy who had been staying at the same guesthouse as me in Mongolia! It was pretty strange to see him again in this huge city so we had a quick chat before I headed out for the Forbidden City. The price of entry there around 60 years ago was death, now its 40 yuan (about 3.50pounds) so its a fair bit cheaper! The architecture there was amazing, everything is designed right down to the last detail, and all in perfect symmetry so that yin and yang can coexist peacefully, side by side. At the end of the Forbidden City I heard my name and turned around and saw a Dutch couple that I had met in Irkutsk in Siberia! We went out for dinner together and exchanged email addresses as they would be travelling to South China soon, so we could maybe meet in Hong Kong.

In China it is quite easy to spot a foreigner , as nearly everyone here is Chinese. At the mausoleum of Chairman Mao, just before the entrance to the Forbidden City, I some Australian's who adopted me into their group. There was a huge line of people which moved quite quickly until we were inside the mausoleum and staring at the body of Chairman Mao, wrapped in the national flag. After out designated viewing time of three seconds, we were ushered outside again where we were told out ticket includes a lesson on Chinese medicine. One of the Australian woman was complaining that our it was included in our ticket price and she had spent 30p unnecessarily. We were then taking into a classroom with more complaints from the Australian woman, 'I'm sorry what is this? Whats going on? I don't have to put up with this!' and were given a cup of tea while someone in a white coat gave us a overview of the usage of traditional medicine. Then a doctor came in to take out pulse, examine our eyes and tongue before telling us our Yin was weak compared to our Yang, and he could write us a prescription to increase our energy and give us better skin and brighter eyes! The older people got a variation on, do you take Western medicine? Oh thyroid tablets? I can give you Chinese medicine that will work much better and less side effects etc. At this point the Australian woman stormed out, while the rest of the group were given prescriptions for our Yin's costing around 40pounds each, so we quickly left too. Then our impromptu and entrepreneurial guide who had taken us to the Chinese medicines lesson offered to show us a good restaurant. After following her a short while she took us to her 'office' where she told us we could book some tickets to a acrobatic show. This was the last straw for the Australian woman who had no difficulty speaking her mind. :-) and we eventually lost the guide and found some food with a drink for a little over 2pound (no commission necessary).

The third strange coincidence occurred on my last day in Beijing. I had booked a trip to the Great Wall of China, (about 2 hours from Beijing), and was talking to a guy from Liverpool. He looked quite familiar to a Liverpudlian who had been on my course in Essex University, when he started speaking about being a bouncer at Essex. I asked did you go to Essex Uni and he said yes and asked if I did computer science?. It turned out we were on the same course, but he had repeated the first year so I didn't see him that much, although he lived on the same road as me! Its really amazing to think that you can come all the way to China, and climb a remote part of the Great Wall, away from any other tourists, only to meet a guy who lived down the road from me in Colchester! The Wall itself was great, with amazing views of hills and valleys on either side, with the crumbling wall sloping off into the distance. The common misconception is that the wall can be seen from space, a claim that has been disputed by NASA for a long time. The first Chinese astronaut was asked if the wall could indeed by seen from space and his words? "Erm, no". Technically it is long enough, just not wide enough, (despite being made with giant stones and the dead bodies of the prisoners who collapsed whilst making it).

In the evening I got the train from Beijing to Guangzhou, the last stage in of my trip for the time being. It turned out I was sharing my compartment with three German guys from my hostel. At 21:30 all the lights were turned out, so we all moved into the corridor between the carriages and drank my supplies of Mongolian and Russian vodkas, whilst playing music through the speakers of an Ipod. This caused much surprise to any Chinese who happened to be passing through and a couple of them even joined in our impromptu party. When the train stopped at a station I had to jump off and buy some beers and Chinese rice wine to replenish our supplies. Needless to stay, our 22 hour journey passed very quickly and pleasantly! :-)

Attached our some photos of the wall, the scenery from the train to Guangzhou, and us converted the safety equipment into a party room! :-)

More to follow....
Phil :-)

Peking Fried Dog

Ni hao from Beijing!

I am now in China in the Imperial City, (I wonder if the national Mint is located here? :-) I arrived here on Monday evening after a 28 hour train ride from Ulan Bator. On the train I met up with a few other 'Westerners' for beers in the restaurant car, which was decorated in the style of some native hunters, (quite appropriate as we were traveling across the vast emptiness of the Mongolian steppes with only the odd tent or wandering camel in the distance). When we reached the Mongolia/Chinese border we had to submit our passports, immigration forms etc, and wait while our compartments were searched for stowaways, weapons and drugs, the whole procedure taking about two and a half hours. During this time the toilet doors are locked, so we had to stay off the beers for a while. When we starting moving again we were allowed ten minutes of toilet use, before they were locked again and we repeated the procedures with the Chinese immigration and customs officials. After this the train was moved into a shed and we were lifted up about five foot in the air and the wheels were changed to meet the requirements for the Chinese track gauge. (In the old days the Russians/Mongolians decided to use a different track width to stop people invading overland by rail). When we finally started moving again it was 2:30 in the morning so we went to bed, having spent 7 hours getting from Mongolia into China). When we woke up we had missed the free breakfast, (7-8am) which we decided they had coincided with the 230am border crossing so most people would sleep in and miss it. On arrival in Beijing a tout met us at the station and took us to a hostel situated in the old part of the city. On the underground we passed an old man playing a strange instrument which sounded like a cat fighting. 'He's blind' , said the girl from the hostel, 'and deaf?' I asked. Its a very nice hostel with extremely helpful staff, book exchange, free pool, free play station, DVD rental, cheap restaurant, and beers for 30p! Plus loads of other services like laundry, Internet, phone calls, tours etc.

I had lunch with an American from the train in a local restaurant. We had to point at some things on the menu and they brought them over to us and we cooked them ourselves with a little stoke on our table, using chopsticks to drop pieces of meet and vegetables in the boiling oil, great fun. After a bit of wandering round the backstreets and getting stopped by every hawker, ("You wan' buy DVD? Good for you mister, good for you. Chairman Mao watch, nice book, come and look, buy a hat, nice dragon chopsticks take to England, give me best price?") we decided to buy some food from a street vendor out side our hostel. The woman was cooking vegetables in a big wok on the pavement, and many strange kinds of meats including the heads of some birds. We brought a massive portion for 7 yuan (about 50p) that was so big we could only eat half of it. We weren't sure what the meat was as it was a strange pink colour, and we kept joking to each other that it was probably dog.

I spent the next morning exploring some more of the city, walking down streets that looked like they were out of a Jackie Chan/Bruce Lee movie, and others with big flashing neon signs, flash shops and Chinese script, reminding me of my trip to Tokyo. I also visited Tienanmen Square, the scene of various celebrations and demonstrations including the mass execution of thousands of student protesters in 1989, (although the official number is less than 10). In the afternoon I met an old friend who studied at Essex University with me, he had said if you ever come to China....so I called him up to say I was in Beijing. For lunch we went to the best Peking Duck restaurant in China, where many famous politicians have eaten here, including former UK prime minister Edward Heath. If its good enough for Edward Heath..... They carve the duck up at your table, then you use chopsticks to dip it in plum sauce and put it in a wrap with some spring onions. It was delicious but again, too much for us to eat. In the evening, back at Tienanmen Square I met a Chinese girl called Lucy who wanted to practise her English and she showed me some very modern trendy streets in Beijing. Then we went out for dinner and eat some sweet chicken and peanut combination with rice foolwed by some strange green eggs, (like in Dr Zeus, although no ham).


The food here is generally very nice, but it can sometimes be difficult for foreigners, or 'white devils' as they like to call us. For example, I was near the Forbidden City today when I heard my name. I turned around and there was a Dutch couple who I had met in Irkutsk, back in Siberia, very strange meeting up with them in a totally different country! We went out for dinner, in a small local place away from the main tourist centre. When the bill came it was 208 yuan which was expensive and we noticed there were more things than we had actually ordered, so we called the waitress who, after our complaining, crossed it off our bill. Then we noticed that some of the other prices were not right, so we asked for the menu and showed her the prices of the dishes. 'Ah mistake', she said and quickly changed the prices on our bill. Then I asked why our 6 yuan beers were 12 yuan each, double the menu price. 'Ah mistake' she said and changed them too, before taking the menu away again. 'Its OK you pay 175', she said, but it still want the right price so I asked for the menu again. This time she couldn't speak English, so I translated it the word 'menu' with my phrase book. She reluctantly brought it back and we wrote down everything we had and the prices, the total cost was 68 yuan. 'OK you pay 68', so we did then left, making sure we didn't leave a tip. An important lesson for us to check the prices the next time we eat out in Beijing. Another thing is that the menus are often mis-translated into really bad, (often very humorous) English. One restaurant boasts a menu advertising 'Wire up stem corruption'??? 'Three wire explosive beans' hmmmm, and 'Wire up its potatoes', alongside a competitor advertising even more bizare dishes such as 'The garlic burns the belly one' and even 'Mushroom rape'??? or 'Fine and soft rape of dish'??????? Talk about lost in translation!!!!

I have two days left in Beijing to explore the Forbidden City and to climb the Great Wall, before I leave for Guangzhou, (where I'll start teaching) on the evening train on Friday, (about 28 hours away). So far my journey from London to Beijing by train has taken three weeks to the day and I have traveled 5071 miles (8161 km).

In the Steppes of Ghengis Khan

Greetings from Mongolia!

I have been here for 3 days now and its pretty cool. Its a lot different from Russia, (people smile, cars sometimes let you cross the road etc), and there is sunshine, very very bright sunshine. Its still a little cold, but warmer than Siberia! Since arriving in Mongolia, I have also been reintroduced to an old concept - advertising! Everywhere I look there are signs (mostly in English), directing me to 'Bar Pub', 'London Pop', 'Cafe Internet', 'Traditional Mongolian Fast Food' etc. In Russia everything was hidden away with almost no signs, and when there was a sign it was in Russian Cyrillic. Even at train stations or on the underground in Moscow, the station name was barely ever visible, so it was always a bit of guess work to understand where you were.

Ulan Bator is a fairly small city, wedged in between a couple of mountain ranges, which can be seen for various points in the city. A couple of years ago they decided to drop the Russian style street names, 'Karl Marx Ave' 'Lenin Street' etc, which were so popular throughout Siberia, in favour for more Mongolian personalities 'Genghis Khan Ave' etc. In fact Genghis Khan features a lot here; he has been reincarnated as a street, a beer, an expensive vodka, a bar, a restaurant and a hotel, as well as statues of him outside the national government building etc. It is still a soviet style town however, and looks and feels (in some aspects) like a Russian city. Mongolia became independent from China in 1911 and was then taken over and restructured under Russian influence. Ulan bator actually means 'Red Hero', a hangover from the communist times, and has only been a fixed city for about 60 years, (before this it was a groups of Ger's [tents] which moved around every few months).

I have visited the main monastery, the square and the natural history museum, (many dinosaur bones and eggs have been found here). Yesterday I took a trip out to the countryside and stayed in a traditional Ger, (a round white tent made of wood and sheep's wool for insulation), and have eaten some traditional foods. We visited a local family who had a colour TV, video and fridge inside their Ger, something we had not expected. This morning we woke up in our Ger and after breakfast we went horse riding round the Steppes, with mountains on each side. We stopped halfway and visited another Ger were we were given a series of drinks. The first was hot yam's milk, followed by cold fermented horse milk, then a strange bright orange beer with bits floating in it, then a shot of Mongolian vodka. The horse milk was so disgusting, every time I placed the cup on the table, the Mongolian man would say 'Drink Drink!' and pass me back the cup! After this we wrote our horses back to our Ger to collect our stuff. On the way mine slipped in some ice and fell over. I had to try and hold onto a wooden fence, while trying to free my leg from the saddle in case the horse ran off. We then road the horse to the bus stop, and changed into a mini bus that would bring us back to Ulan Bator, leaving me the rest off the day to do a little more sight seeing, and to purchase the compulsory bottle of Genghis Khan vodka!

In a Mongolian restaurant today I met a couple of Russian's who took me to Strings, the local nightclub where a live band were playing covers of any songs people requested, they were very good. I returned to my hostel for a few more beers with some other travellers, and now I should go to bed as its 4:00am and I have to be up at &am for my train to Beijing. So the next time you'll here from me will be when I'm in China, a 30 hour train journey from here!

TTFN
Phil :-)