Chongqing City

Well, from the lovely Xi'án we took the 20hour K653 to Chongqing. I was once again in the top bunk and would have slept well if it hadn't been for the loud and sporadic squeak and rather aggressive breaking that occurred as we traveled through the night! Arriving in Chongqing, we jumped on the bus (as to the hostel instructions) and headed on. This was all going well until the bus reached about the 5th stop and people just kept getting on! I ended up sat with my backpack on my knee just about able to see past it and more or less able to breathe...the feeling in my foot went after about 40minutes...not good! It turns out that Chongqing is quite a big place - only 4.3 million people in the city.
It is home of the Yangtze and although we were offered many boat trips up the river we don''t have the time,  just one night here and then back on the train to Guilin!

It is quite a fun place to explore and is hugely industrial, everything seems to be a shade of brown or grey. The city is very smoggy, although having spoken to a local they have informed us this is nothing, when it gets really bad they forbid drivers from going out on the roads?! Having booked our next set of train tickets - Sharon is now a pro - almost fluent in Mandarin! We take the Skytrain to have a better look at the city!

I took a few photos, had a coffee and wrote a few postcards, it was good to have a day chilling as we have quite a bit further to travel over the next week...

An alternative to the bridge...crossing the very muddy Yangtze, with the rather sparkly gold Sheraton behind.

The Mountain

Not far from Xi'án is Mt Hua Shan, having read a little about it and with a lot of trekking planned for Nepal we thought a day in the mountains would be great. After a couple of hours on the bus there all I wanted to do was get out and stretch my legs. It is 6km to the North Peak - one of the five and although you can take the cable car to the top this kinda felt like cheating. We Could have taken a more vertical and precarious route - but having booked a trek in Nepal already I decided I'd like to live long enough to be able to do that.

The route we chose begins quietly along side the river - which all sounds lovely until it heads quite violently up hill. Clearly I was aware that this was going to occur, but it was still quite hard work. 4km in and you reach the stairs - it is then literally 2km of steps going up and up and up!! In some places the steps were huge and clinging on to the chain either side of the path was the best way to find your way up! On one very steep and narrow section we ran into a few people heading down - no passing places had been built in so rather precarious leaning and holding tight were the best plan!

Yes, this is me.. and yes, I did make it!

3 1/2 hours later and we were at the summit of the north peak! I would like to tell you this was a quiet and enjoyable moment to take in the views, but as it turned out this was where the many Chinese tourists had clambered out of the cable car! I dont think they had the same feeling of achievement as I did'... definitely their legs did not ache in quite the same way!

The view was very impressive...and I had made it! I would very much have liked another 4-5 hours to visit the other 4 peaks. But the many many stairs and lack of time meant that we had to begin the descent in order to catch the last bus back to Xi'án - we almost missed it, but managed to flag it down from the side of the road!

If you ever get to Xi'án you really should go here! 

Watching the sunset in Xi'án

Xi'án is a 20 hour journey on the overnight train or a 9hr journey on the high speed train, we wanted to opt for the cheaper option and hard sleeper is not really too bad at all... but unfortunately it was hard seats only. Having heard from at least 5 others of the sleepless discomfort of the hard seat we had whimped out and gone for the day train.

Xi'án is a great place! I think the blue skies may perhaps have helped sway me towards it, or perhaps it was the Starbucks on the corner - i'm not sure but we spent a few days exploring and sampling a few local dishes.
One fairly entertaining moment here, was when we tried to stop for lunch and struggled to find any menus with pictures. Pictures sometimes help when ordering.. and sometimes you still have no idea what you are getting. But no pictures and several lines of Chinese characters leads to option 3... try to see what someone else is eating and try the rather unsubtle point and gesturing at another persons dinner! However, before we even got that far the lady in the little place arrived with a bowl and a bread type thing for each of us, clearly there was no need to order here? We had to break the bread up into pieces, place the bread in the bowl and then watched as they were whisked away. A few minutes later a sort of noodle soup returns - it turns out we were tucking into the local specialty yangrou paomo! A good result :)

After lunch we head out to find the Old City walls. They forms a fairly imposing perimeter and were first built to protect the city in 1370. They are 12 meters high and  an impressive 14km long, you can walk around the top, but seeing as how they are about the width of a main road you can cycle! So, just prior to sunset I stole (rented) a bike and set off with my camera to  circumnavigate the walls - watching the sunset from the wall was beautiful! After sunset however things do get a little more tricky, especially as the bike had no lights and a number of other cyclists going the other direction kept appearing out of the darkness. 

Having negotiated our way on to the train to Chongqing we had just one more day to explore. Xi'án is the home of the Terracotta Warriors. We decided that this would be a good last day and that there would be plenty of time to visit them and make it back in time for the train. Unfortunately, this was also the day of some very big anti Japanese demonstrations. Road were closed, hundreds of Chinese marched waving flags and pictures of Mao whilst chanting loudly. This made things a bit tricky. However, we hailed a motor tricycle and weaved through the traffic and made it to the bus to the Warriors! The Terracotta Warriors are impressive, I took a few photos (as usual!) and although I quite liked the idea of taking one away with me found that my bag is already too heavy!

Blogless in Beijing!!

I made it! Admittedly I made it sometime ago, but having arrived I discovered that China's was a blogless realm. I have however snuck my way around this dilemma and now hope to be able to blog as I go!

So Beijing was a lot warmer than I remembered it; perhaps this it due to the fact that last time I was here it was in fact a snow covered realm. Instead it was a humid, bustling hive of activity, beeping horns and street venders. I found the hostel and sadly it too was not quite as i remembered it, but Sharon was there and coffee and breakfast seemed like a good start.

We have made a rough plan for the next few weeks and have managed to book ourselves a flight to Kathmandu. Tibet is a no go at the moment, so this was our only way in! We will therefore be taking the train southwards to Hong Kong between now and the 27th September. Hopefully something like this  - Beijing, Xian, Chongqing and Wanjiinglou and then few days in Hong Kong.

So, other than planning the next few weeks we have done a little exploring. Our hostel is situated on the edge of a Hutong, which is like a rabbit warren of narrow streets that wind their way around and around until you have no idea which way to go to get out! We ventured in and explored only a small corner but can easily see how you could be lost for days in here - one of the guys at the hostel said he had, in fact, been lost for over two hours and had to find a police officer to help find his way back to the hostel!

We also visited the Summer Palace, a regal affair, built as an escape from the city for the Emperor Qianlong sometime in the 18th century. We enjoyed a walk along the lake before heading up the hill in search of the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity! It reminded me a lot of the Forbidden City and I may have taken one or two photos! I have included just the one!

Before leaving Beijing there was just time to meet up with a friend for dinner! This was definitely a lot of fun especially as Peter could actually read the menu! (Point and shoot dinner choices do not always work out so well - although we have now identified the Chinese character for meat ...not sure what kind of meat it will be though!)  We caught up over a feast of dishes and for once I managed more or less to get the chopstick thing working! A fun evening out!

So, in the morning we take the high-speed day train to Xian. 

Booking train tickets here is quite tricky... 

Packed and on route...

I finally finished packing and got a good 10 minutes sleep before flinging the backpack into the car and heading to Heathrow. Here I will clearly have a coffee, wave goodbye to mum and dad and then search for my passport which has a nasty habit of not being in the pocket I thought I put it in.
I cant quite believe I'm off ...it's gonna be amazing!!

See you in China :)

(Beijing 7+ hours ahead of sunny Northampton.)

The one who might keep me out of trouble - I said might!

Quite a few people have asked me "Are you travelling on your own?" 
Whilst I have previously been on a few adventures on my own, this time I will be travelling with my friend Sharon. We travelled together over Christmas 2009 when we took the train from Moscow to Beijing via Ulaanbaatar! That all went pretty well and having had a number of crazy conversations since then we decided that perhaps we could head back to Beijing and see what sort of adventure could be found!
So, I thought it would be good to introduce her as I'm fairly certain she will feature in this blog, find her way into photos and possibly gatecrash the blog to say hello to her mum.
She was flying out to Beijing today.. in fact she may already be there... guess I'll find out soon enough! 
I should possibly think about sleeping too...

The Plan - well a sort of plan.

Now that I have my Passport back and in it the all important visas I am pretty much ready to go. (Obviously I still have to pack - I wouldn't want to get ahead of myself or anything like that!)
Anyways, whilst talking with a couple of friends they suggested it might be worth outlining the plan - the itinerary for the adventure.
A good plan, Yes... if I knew where I was going!
I do however have a basic outline, but as with most things I think it will be fairly flexible!
So..

1. September 8th - London to Beijing
2. By about October 1st - Nepal - Starting in Kathmandu (Trekking hopefully, so maybe taking a few pics!)
3. Sometime after that - Northern India.. not sure where, Hill Stations, Darjeeling..beyond.
4. Mid Novemberish - Thailand (probably landing in Bangkok - perhaps onwards to Chang Mai)
5. Not entirely sure.
6. Early December - Malaysia - probably by train from Thailand, stopping off in Kuala Lumper.
7. A few days later - Singapore.
8. December 14th - Singapore to Perth, Australia!!
9. Haircut - in order to be able to see where I will be going.
10. January 5th - Perth to Sydney - For a little East Coast time.
11. January 12th - Sydney to Auckland - New Zealand
12. Maybe a bit more time here.. can't quite decide!!
13. February 3rd - Auckland to Nadi, Fiji - Island time :)
14. February 9th - Nadi to Los Angeles - The American Adventure, from LA to New York..somehow.
15. February 24th - New York - Home
(Arriving 25th February, some ridiculous hour of the morning!)

Or something that looks a bit like that... I may change the last few flight dates, but we will see!
If you know of anywhere that I should definitely visit, or can recommend anywhere to stay/eat/avoid...let me know - Thanks!