The Tibetan Plateau is shown below; our route to Nepal would take us from Lhasa, through Gyantse, Shigaste, Everest Base Camp and down through the border to Kathmandu.

Day 1: Lhasa to Gyantse

At 8:42 am, we departed Lhasa in a blue Toyota Landcruiser driven by our Tibetan driver; Tassi. There were four of us in the car, the other 2 people were a Belgian couple at the tail end of their 14-month round the world trip.

Setting off from the courtyard of the YAK Hotel in Lhasa.   

Today's itinerary would take us to the town of Gyantse; 263 kilometers away from Lhasa.

Our first three hours of steady driving was a surprising smooth ride on freshly paved roads. The first main break in our journey was at the top of Kampa La Pass - 4,990 meters high - overlooking the majestic lake Yamdrok. We piled out of the jeep to admire the stunning turquoise waters of the sacred lake only slightly distracted by a light falling of snow. Our viewpoint was shared with fellow tourists and a circus of yaks, dogs and clinging children.

Dark snow clouds loomed overhead, as we admired the lake.  Local herdsman brought their saddled yaks and surrounded the jeeps in an attempt to entice the tourists to pay for a ride.

Soon after, the paved roads were replaced by dirt roads winding up and down and around the snow-capped mountains passing tiny settlements and icy flowing rivers.

We stopped for lunch in a small Tibetan town where our driver directed us to a local restaurant. The $5-a-head tourists' buffet did not appeal, so using our Tibetan phrasebook we managed to obtain some hot water for our personal supply of instant noodles. Whilst eating we were closely watched by a very scruffy 4-year-old Tibetan boy who gratefully accepted our leftovers.

Outside the restaurant the word that foreigners were in town had clearly spread and while our driver tinkered with the jeeps engine we were surrounded by a cluster of school children eagerly shouting out the few English phrases they knew. Eric reciprocated the enthusiasm with his own line of questioning using the ever-useful Tibetan phrasebook.

Eric orchestrated a group photo of our attentive audience.

During our final stretch to Gyantse, we paused to admire another impressive lake. This one having the most beautiful turquoise hue. A brief hailstorm ensued before our late afternoon arrival in Gyantse.

The lake glistened in the sun amongst the high surrounding mountains.

Day 2: Gyantse to Shigaste

After a hearty breakfast of banana pancakes, we strolled into town on our way to see the famous Kumbum Monastery. Gyantse is an attractive, relaxed town offering the visitor a very Tibetan feel.

The wide cobblestone streets are almost car-free; instead, the locals rely on horse and tractors to transport themselves and their goods around town. An overnight snowfall had blanketed the tops of the surrounding mountains, and whilst there was no snow in the town itself, we still wrapped up warmly against the icy temperatures.

Young boys played in the sidestreets whilst we admired the traditional Tibetan houses.

The 14th-century Kumbum monastery was our favorite monastery we have visited so far. Not only is it the best preserved monastery in Tibet, it also exudes an air of spirituality that is unheard of in the more museum-like Buddhist temples we saw in China. The word 'Kumbum' means '100,000 images'; the colorful murals and the beautifully adorned statues inside, certainly do not make this an overstatement.

The beautifully preserved temples of Kumbum  Monastery are still in use today.

A view from the hills behind the monastery provides a great vantage point of the town.  In the background, the Gyantse Dzong, a 14th century fortress towers over the rooftops.

On our way back to our hotel, we paused at a street vendor to purchase 2 hand-made Buddhist monk scarves - a much-needed addition to our wardrobe in these colder temperatures.

A 90 km 1.5 hour drive took us to the city of Shigaste. The drive to Shigaste would be the shortest scheduled travel day of our trip across the Tibetan plateau. This city portrays a far larger Chinese presence as Chinese restaurants and hotels line the main boulevard and advertisements for Chinese products dominate the streets.

We checked into the Fruit Orchard hotel located directly opposite the monastery. After a brief lunch we paid a visit to another one of Tibet's glorious monasteries. The Tashilunpo Monastery is a large complex of brightly painted buildings and golden roofed temples. Amongst its maze of alleyways and courtyards are various chapels and shrines including an 8 million-dollar gold-leafed Buddha, the final resting-place of the 10th Pachen Lama.

The walls of the huge monastery were lined with colorful murals depicting religious tales, symbols, and the many forms of Buddha.

Whilst we explored the monastery the monks continued with their daily chores - which included prayer-flag making and religious teaching.

The next day would be the longest leg of our journey, a 10-hour stretch taking us up to 5,200 meters.  With our driver coming to collect us at 7:15 am, we decided to make it an early night.

Day 3: Shigaste to Shekar

We departed in our jeep early enough to catch the morning sunrise over the barren brown mountains. After 4 hours of driving along the partly surfaced friendship highway, we climbed to the 4,500 metre mountain pass of Tsua La. Then we steeply descended down a windy dirt road to the nearly deserted plains of the plateau. On our way, we passed small Tibetan settlements consisting of mud brick houses; also visible within these hamlets were local farmers sifting grains and preparing hay bales for the upcoming winter.

Dry-mud hillsides, sand dunes, and rocky mountains - the main features of the Tibetan Plateau. 

We stopped for lunch at the truck-stop town of Lhatse. The town's only road was a hive of activity with tractors and buses loading and unloading both people and goods. Clouds of dust also filled the air from the passing Chinese trucks rumbling down the dirt road. We had lunch at a road-side Chinese restaurant; whilst waiting for our food, a large black cow casually strolled by the restaurant's open doorway and paused for lunch at the bakery next door. It was a good five minutes before the baker noticed and shooed the cow away from the bag of flour it had been enjoying. With the cow dispersed, the baker scooped up another handful from the sack of flour and continued baking.

Tibetans pile into the local taxi-tractor. 

After Lhatse, the Friendship highway became diabolical, as we spent the next couple of hours ascending up steep-snaking roads carved into the mountain face. We reached what would be the highest point of our trip: the Lhakpa La Pass (mountain pass) at an altitude of 5,220 meters. A photo session quickly ensued of the spectacular views of the surrounding mountains.

Eric lines up the local children at the mountain pass to hand out candy, but then has to make a quick escape when the bag runs out.

The road continued and gradually descended a good 400 to 500 meters before reaching the small town of Shekar. Along the way, we managed to get our first glimpse of Mount Everest in the distance.  The 'one-cow' town of Shekar consisted of nothing more than a handful of Tibetan guesthouses and restaurants. This town provides very little of interest for the sightseer: it's simply a welcome stop during the arduous trek to seek out Everest.

A lone cow wanders down the town's only street... 

Day 4: Shekar � Everest Base Camp

We left Shekar at sunrise for a grueling 4-hour drive to Everest base camp. For the first hour, the road zigzagged steeply up to the Pang la Pass (5,150 meters), where we were given a taste of what awaited us - a clear magnificent view of the Himalayan range. The snow-topped mountaintops were complemented beautifully by blue skies.

The mighty Everest dominates the Himalayan Range.

From the mountain pass, we continued on another long, bumpy, spellbinding 100 kilometers to the Everest base camp. The base camp (5,200 meters in altitude) is a collection of wind-beaten white canvas tents and a lone teahouse, serving yak-buttered tea to those in need of warming up.

Everest Base Camp.   

We stopped just beyond the base camp at the foot of the mighty Everest four our one and half-hour photo shoot.

Mt. Everest - 8,840m. 

Everest tourists!!

Happy to have made it..!!

The photo shoot went on for ages....no pose was left out...

At such a high altitude, symptoms of altitude sickness can quickly develop, so it is imperative to keep a watchful eye on your companions. Soon after the photo shoot, Nikki announced to Eric that she felt 'drunk'. She was giggling continuously and staggering about complaining of dizziness, nausea and headache. Eric promptly grabbed Nikki by the hand and guided her back to the base camp (at this point, Nikki felt so drunk she expected to see the bouncers and bars of London streets along the trail). Eric realized the potential severity of the situation having previously read that signs of drunkenness indicate the person may be hours away from unconsciousness. Upon reaching the base camp, he quickly negotiated with the driver to get a ride back down to a nearby hotel at a lower altitude. After a short rest and some food at the hotel, the 'drunk' symptoms had subsided but it was felt that it would be wise precaution for us to spend the night at an even lower altitude.

The three-hour drive down to the nearest town was far from smooth; the extremely bumpy ride was a further test to Nikki's nausea.  Within an hour of arriving at Tingri, we changed into our thermals and were soon cocooned in our sleeping bags under musty blankets. We went to sleep very early that evening; not only due to tiredness, but also because there was little to do in our crumbling, mud-brick constructed room. It was too cold to explore the town and the electricity sourced from the guesthouse's petrol generator made our light too unreliable and weak to read by.

The 'quaint' Tibetan hotels lacked certain home comforts.

Day 5: Crossing the Himalayas

During our seven-hour trip to the China-Nepal border, we traversed across starkly contrasting landscapes. We began in the brown barren mountains of the Tibetan plateau and advanced up mountain passes into the snowy Himalayas. The temperature had dropped dramatically and it was definitely below freezing... our woolly hats, gloves, scarves and many layers barely kept us warm in the jeep ('comfort stops' were kept to a minimum!!).

Making the steep acsent up to the snowy himalayas.

Prayer flags and icy roads adorned the mountain passes.

As we descended down the Himalayas, the landscape changed again - from snow-covered mountainsides to forests - exuding an almost jungle complete with magnificent waterfalls.

The road carved down jagged ravines, following a fast-flowing mountain river to Nepal.

Upon reaching the border town of Zhangmu, we negotiated the lorry-filled streets and came to a stop at a small teahouse. There we arranged for a ride to take us from the boarder to Kathmandu. Having rid ourselves of our remaining Chinese Yuan via the black market touts, we began the confusing multistage border crossing process.

The view from 'Friendship Bridge' - a 65-meter bridge spanning across a ravine marking the natural border between China and Nepal.  Visible in the distance is the Chinese border town of Zhangmu.

How to cross the Chinese-Nepal border:

1.  Load bags into Chinese taxi.
 
2.  Walk through Chinese immigration and customs department, receive exit stamps in passport.

3.  Rejoin waiting Chinese taxi and descend 8 kilometers down mountainside to meet up with Nepalese taxi.

4.  Unload bags from Chinese taxi and reload them into Nepalese taxi.

5.  Walk behind Nepalese taxi across 'Friendship Bridge'.

6.  Proceed through the Nepalese immigration and customs and receive entry stamp in passport.

7.  Rejoin taxi and drive 3 and half-hours down mountain roads to Kathmandu.
 
8.  Change clocks back 2 hours and 15 minutes to Nepalese time.

The difference between Nepal and Tibet is immediately apparent - not only through the different-looking houses, roads, street life, sounds, smells and ethnic people, but also through the sudden abundance of plush plant and animal life. On the way to Kathmandu, we were surrounded by people wearing saris and tending to rice paddies... as well as many banana trees, huge fast flowing rivers, cows, chickens, goats, exotic-looking birds and even monkeys and snakes.

Nepal - a stark contrast to the landscape of the Tibetan Plateau where we began our 6 hour drive the same day.

 

 

Our alarms rudely awakened us at 4:00 am, giving us just enough time to finish our packing, check out of our guesthouse and board the shuttle bus to the airport.  A trip to Tibet requires purchasing an expensive permit in addition to a valid Chinese visa, as Chinese authorities strictly monitor all passage to the Tibetan plateau - another controversial issue in the historically turbulent Chinese-Tibetan 'forced' relationship.

Our 8am flight was near capacity, filled with a mixture of Chinese, Tibetans and tourists.  The two-hour flight took us from Chengdu - altitude 500 meters - to the capital of the Tibet, Lhasa - altitude 3,700 meters. 

The Himalayas peaked out through the clouds as we approached Lhasa.

From the Lhasa airport a one-hour bus ride took us to downtown Lhasa where we managed to find a room at the YAK Hotel.  Lhasa is a sprawling city pouring outwards from a central tree-lined boulevard and ringed with snow-capped mountaintops.  The Chinese influence amongst the population of 200,000 is very apparent, with 2 Chinese businesses for every Tibetan one, a ratio similar to the population make-up.

Golden Yaks proudly survey the central boulevard.

Rickshaws and cars pass colorful shops selling a variety of goods...including blenders!

Our first few hours were spent exploring the streets surrounding our hotel before we were forced to return to our room to sleep off the early signs of altitude sickness.  At altitude the body does not absorb oxygen efficiently causing mild symptoms such as: exhaustion, headaches, shortness of breath, sleeping disorders and nausea; relaxing for the first few days and drinking plenty of water can help dissipate these symptoms.  To combat AMS (Altitude Mountain Sickness) you must remain at the same altitude whilst your body adjusts, ignoring the mild symptoms and ascending to higher altitudes too quickly can have serious consequences.  Luckily we both only suffered minor symptoms - light headaches and fatigue, which were easily cured by a good nights sleep and drinking plenty of water.

The most famous attraction in Lhasa is the Potala - which has served as a government building, monastery, fortress and most importantly, home to several Dalai Lamas.  Perched on the top of the 'Red Mountain', the palace rises a dramatic 13 stories high and creates an imposing landmark in the middle of the city.  In the morning, pilgrims from all over ethnic Tibet can be seen prostrating themselves in prayer and making offerings in front of the revered building.

The Potala looms over the city rooftops. 

The Potala is an overwhelming architectural sight. 

Outside the Potala, many locals asked us to pose in photographs with their children....the curse of having blonde hair and blue eyes!!

In an attempt to counterbalance the authoritative presence of the Tibetan palace, the Chinese government erected a monument to mark 'Tibetan Liberation' opposite, a statement probably resented by the Tibetans..... since British rule has merely been toppled and replaced with Chinese rule, the Tibetans feel far from liberated.

The 'Tibetan Liberation' monument stands against an amazing backdrop of mountains. 

We also paid a visit to the Sera monastery - one of the last great, functioning monasteries; previously home to 5,000 monks, now only a few hundred are permitted to reside within its walls today.  By chance, whilst exploring the darkened corridors of the monastery’s primary temple, we stumbled across a ceremony attended by several monks and pilgrims.  The worshippers were saying prayers and lighting yak-butter candles in front of colorful and intricate representations of Buddhist gods. 

The monks quarters inside the monastery were decorated with colorful paintings.

Outside the temple, devout Tibetans spun prayer wheels and burned incense.

Upon exiting the temple, we entered a walled, shady courtyard, where we witnessed dozens of monks assembled in small-animated groups.  This fevered activity was the result of monks debating religious theory which involved much posturing, clapping and raising of voices as they drove their points across.

The debating ensues...

A monk listens carefully to his colleague's arguments.

Our sightseeing ended with a tour around Barkhor Square - a highly Tibetan enclave of the city.  The square is laid out in front of the Jokhang Temple - considered to be the holiest temple in the Tibetan Buddhist world - which provides a magnificent route for the visiting pilgrims to march through. 

The Jokhang Temple awaits pilgrims at the end of the square.

An elderly Tibetan woman prays at the temple gates. 

Surrounding the square and the temple are a maze of picturesque cobblestone alleyways, each lined with stalls selling everything from fruit to saddles, jewelry, carpets and religious artifacts.  Wandering the streets the senses are bombarded with flashes of colorful clothing, the sounds of prayers outside the temple and the smell of yak-buttered tea wafting out of local teahouses.  This was truly the most authentic Tibetan experience we could find in Lhasa. 

The streets of Barkhor are lined with colorful stalls and prayer flags.

Dried fruits and spices are for sale alongside spinning prayer wheels.

Tomorrow morning we depart for Mount Everest!!!  Our route will take us across the Tibetan plateau over the course of the next seven days.  We have organized to travel in a jeep with a Belgian couple we met in Lhasa.  Today will be spent stocking up on essentials such as woolly hats, sleeping bags, gloves as well as food and water.

 

 

A 17-hour sleeper train journey brought us to the city of Xian.

Xian
Location: Capital of the Shaanxi province; central China.
Famous for: Terracotta Warriors.

Our primary reason for stopping in Xian was to see the world famous Terracotta Warriors, while the city itself was also great to explore.  Still in existance today is the original city wall first built when Xian was the imperial capital of the Chinese empire; these city walls are some of the best preserved in the world and provide an impressive 14km ring around the center of the city.

We rode bikes along the top of the city wall.

The following day we got up early to visit the Terracotta Warriors.  Our day started at 7:20am when we sat patiently waiting for a tour bus to pick us up at our hotel.  After 45 minutes we were led by the hotel manager two blocks down the street in the pouring rain where we waited for a further 15 minutes before the bus finally arrived.  We had departed later than expected but at last we were on our way.... or so we thought.  Our optimism was quickly crushed when 10 minutes later we pulled up alongside a dozen other tour buses.  A barrage of shouting ensued between the Chinese tourists, and we were shuffled between three different buses utterly confused as to what was going on.  After two hours of going no-where we had had enough and demanded our money back, then hopped into a taxi with two American college students (also in the same bewildered state) and headed off on our own. 

The Terracotta Warriors proved to be an impressive sight!  The rows upon rows of soldiers lined up side by side were discovered in 1974 by a peasant digging a well and are still being excavated to this day along with an entire 'modelled' city rumored to be somewhere under the soil.  The ranks of soldiers - which were designed never to be seen - guard the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of a unified China.

The scale of the army of soldiers that has been excavated is breathtaking.

The figures remain amazingly intact, each soldier measures 1.80 metres tall.

The soldiers bodies were mass-produced... while each head and pair of hands were individually modelled - giving rise to the theory that they reflect the characteristics of each of the Emperor's actual soldiers. 

Our departure from Xian was trickier than expected as all beds and seats on out going trains were sold out, leaving us only with the option of a 'no seat' ticket - which would have meant spending the 10-hour overnight journey standing in the corridors of the train.  Instead we opted for a long-distance bus ride to the city of Lanzhou.

Eric waits patiently for our bus.

The bus journey started off well, albeit 30 minutes late, but rapidly went downhill.  The driving was shared by two men both of whom had their own vice; the first seemed unable to drive for more than two minutes without honking the exceedingly loud horn for no apparent reason; the second was far better with his restraint at using the horn but found it hard to travel further than 10 km without leaning out of the window to clear his throat and lungs by releasing a massive gobule of spit (a widespread habit amongst the Chinese).  Three hours into the journey and half-way up a mountain, we were forced to turn back due to a head-on collision between two buses further up the road which had effectively blocked the route over the mountains.  The news of such an accident came as no real surprise to us given that both of our drivers appeared happy to perform overtaking maneouvers on blind hair-pin bends at speeds of 90 km an hour, and the news of the accident certainly didn't curb this practice.  Our drivers announced that they would have to go the long way around, adding a further 5 hours to our journey time and that this would cost each passenger an additonal $5 (which no doubt went straight into their pockets).

Twelve hours later we finally made it to Lanzhou where we crawled into bed at a nearby hotel.  Our stop in Lanzhou was only temporary as it was a springboard to our next destination, Xiahe.

Xiahe
Location: A small town on the edge of the Tibetan plateau in the southern Gansu province.
Famous for: the Labrang monastary, the most important monastary outside of Tibet.

A 6-hour bus journey took us from Lanzhou along windy mountain roads to the tiny rural town of Xiahe, 3000 meters up amongst the rugged Gansu mountains. 

The narrow roads snaked perilously through the mountain range.

The town is a mixture of Budhist monks, nomadic herdsman and Tibetan pilgrams.  The town seemed to be split in two; the eastern end being very Chinese in terms of advertising, people and commercial preoperty; the west, in stark contrast, was more Tibetan and had a poorer and far more rural feel; in the middle was the Labrang monasary, home to some 2,000 Yellow-Hat monks who dominated the streets on both sides with their bright red and yellow robes. 

Xiahe was a contrasting mix of old and new.

We spent the day walking amongst the monks and local artisans enjoying the fresh mountain air and the strange feeling of having left the China that we had been experiencing up until now. 

A group of young monks play football in the alleyways.

The next day we explored the monastary following pilgrams as they spun the prayer wheels that surround the vast complex of temples and monks dormitories; and exploring the religious buildings and skyline-dominating pagodas. 

The Labrang Monastary. 

Mountains and prayer wheels circle the monastary.

Views of the monastary compound.

Monk robes don't hinder young boys from playing on the monastary walls. 

After our second night in Xiahe we took the bus back to Lanzhou with the aim of boarding the train to Chengdu the following morning.

Chengdu
Location: Capital of Sichuan province, southwest China.
Famous for: Giant Panda Bears and spicy cuisine.

An exhausting 22-hour train ride brought us to Chengdu, our final city in China before we depart to Tibet.  After securing a room at the best guesthouse we have found in China, we soon organized our trip to see the Giant Pandas the following day.

The Giant Panda Breeding Research Base (or the 'Panda brothel' as Eric calls it) was a great setting in which to view these amazing animals.  There are less than 1,000 pandas left in the world, so their protection and reproduction is a high priority and one which the Chinese government seems to be taking very seriously.  We arrived at the center early to see the Pandas enjoying their breakfast of bamboo and were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a one-month old baby as well as watching many of the adults enjoy the expanse of the park.

Giant Panda munches on his favourite dish.

The park provided plently of room for the pandas to play.

The pandas seemed to be very social animals.

The best way to escape school kids on field-trips!!

The center is also home to the Red Panda - which looks like a very mischeivous cross between a panda and a raccoon.

The red pandas were extremely cute and always on the lookout for spare cookies from tourists.

The rest of our time in Chengdu has been spent organizing our trip to Tibet, buying thermals and other essentials.  Our acting skills have improved greatly over the course of our travels, to the point where we can now successfully mime 'decongestant' to amused chemists - a bid to rid ourselves of a lingering cold before heading to the freezing heights of 5,000 meters in the Himalayas in 2 days time.

Our plan is to cross the Himalayas over the course of two weeks from Lhasa, Tibet to Kathmandu, Nepal.

Our next destination was the town of Suzhou; a 12-hour overnight train ride away.  Being our first sleeper train experience in China, we braced ourselves for the unexpected... we would soon discover that the toughest part would be boarding the train itself.  At first glance, the designated waiting lounge for our train appeared to be a calm and orderly queueing area; however, at exactly 30 minutes prior to departure time (when the boarding gates to the platform opened), the civilized crowd transformed into a stampeding mob, every child, businessman and grandma were determined to be the first on the train!!  After months of honing our train-boarding skills in Russia, our 'crowd-management' instincts quickly kicked in, we strapped on our 20-kilo plus backpacks, hoisted up our handluggage, stuck our elbows out and plowed through the throbbing masses...proudly showing the locals that the laowai (foreigners) should not be underestimated. 

The Chinese sleeper train turned out to be very clean and well-run.  Our 'hard-sleeper' carriage contained 20 compartments, each in turn containing 6 bunks (3 on either side of the doorway).  Luckily for us we were the first to arrive in our compartment and soon filled up the prime overhead luggage space with our bags - much to the disappointment (and swearing) of one of our fellow passengers who seemed annoyed at having to store her small handluggage under a bed.... another score for the laowais'!!! 

Twelve hours and a rather bumpy sleep later we arrived in Suzhou.

Suzhou
Location: Eastern China, Jiangsu province; 1-hour from Shanghai.
Famous for: Classical gardens and silk trade.

We planned to make a brief stop in Suzhou on our way to Shangahi in order to see its famous classical gardens, renowned to be some of the best examples in China.  The town is criss-crossed with canals and tree-lined streets which along with it's gardens make it a pleasant town to stroll through.

 
Suzhou's romantic canals.

 

We spent the majority of the day visiting two gardens - the Wangshi Yuan garden and the Zhuozheng Yuan garden.  Chinese garden design concentrates on achieving a harmony between architecture, art and nature, which in reality means they consist of small wooden buildings, rock sculptures and a central water-feature. 

The Wangshi Yuan garden was small but full of detail.

The Zhuozheng Yuan garden. 

The Zhuozheng Yuan garden had a massive lotus plant pond and colorful flowers.

Chinese gardens encourage people to view nature and art from all angles.

After our garden visits, we wandered back through the town to our hotel.  Along the way we came across an animated queue outside a bakery where people were excitedly buying some buns being freshly cooked before the crowd.  Curiosity (and Eric's stomach) got the better of us, and we too purchased some buns.  They turned out to be quite tasty and seemed to be filled with a mixture of meat and red bean paste - we'd love to recommend them but we still haven't worked out what they're called.

Suzhou was a tranquil town and a great place to spend a day or two; however, there appeared to be a shortage of quality brakes when we visited, as every vehicle on the road from small bicycles to large thundering trucks all emitted ear-piercing shrieks everytime they had to slow-down. 

Our trip to Suzhou lasted one day, the following morning we boarded the 7:10am train to Shanghai.

Shanghai
Location: Eastern China.
Famous for: Currently undergoing one of the fastest economic expansions the world has ever seen; recapturing its position as east Asia's leading business city.

We headed to Shanghai to meet up with some of Eric's best friends from L.A. - Matt, Daniel and Greg - who are living and working in the city.  Upon arrival at the hectic and bustling Shanghai train station, we quickly jumped into a taxi and headed to Matt's apartment.  Eric soon struck up a banter with the cab driver who seemed in awe of Eric's hairy legs - to the point where the driver reached to stroke Eric's knee much to the astonishment of Eric.  The driver then proceeded to pull up his own trouser leg to expose his knee - apparently in a proud gesture of showing-off his 9 or 10 hairs.  While the cab driver and Eric continued to bond over their 'good-fortune' at having hairy knees, Nikki could hardly contain her hysterics in the back seat. 

Our stay at Matt's was a heavenly escape from our backpacker experience... laundry (using a real machine!!), an endless choice of DVD's, use of a kitchen, an expat supermarket next door selling 'treats' such as cheddar cheese as well as the use of a private telephone where we called home for the first time in our trip.  Matt guided us through the nightlife in Shanghai - a city with an abundance of roof-top bars and Western restaurants; for a few days we ceased to be backpackers and became normal people.

The impressive and ever-growing Shanghai skyline.

Eric, Nikki, Greg and Matt enjoy a drink at a popular rooftop bar. 

Bar games were played throughout the evening...Eric and Nikki team up for a game of shuffle-board.

Cheers!! 

We also escaped the city on a roadtrip to the nearby towns of Zhouzhuang and Hangzhou.   

Zhouzhuang
Location: Jiangsu province; 120kms from Shanghai
Famous for: The 'Venice' of the East, a pleasant mix of stone bridges and tree-lined canals.

Our stop in Zhouzhuang began with a break for lunch in a local non-english speaking restaurant.  Despite Matt's good grasp of basic Chinese we were unsure of exactly what it was we were ordering.  Most of the dishes that arrived at our table turned out to be quite good, however, the 'chicken soup' was a little more extravagant than we expected....

The 'chicken' soup came complete with head and feet.

 

Zhouzhuang itself was an impressive network of waterways and small alleyways, lined with artisans and workshops.  We spent a few hours wandering the quaint streets and enjoying a boat ride along the canals. 

Eric guides the boat through Zhouzhuangs waterways.

Local shops sold goods such as baskets and dried teas.

We couldn't resist the expandable wooden hats sold locally.

Hangzhou
Location: Capital of the Zhejiang province.
Famous for: the stunning lake of Xi Hu, silk, tea and paper-making.

We arrived late in Hangzhou where we spent the night.  The following morning we strolled around the shores of its famous lake and scrambled some slippery rocks to see the 7-storey Baoshu Ta pogoda, which presides over a great view of the city. 

A light drizzle impeaded the views but not the crowds.

Unfortunately our visit coincided with one of the three biggest Chinese holidays of the year - National week - which meant the banks of the lake were teaming with people.  Our fellow tourists seemed to view us laowais'as a bonus attraction and many stopped to ask us to pose in photographs with them - much to our amusement.  Our new-found fans also included a stalker who found it far more interesting to follow us around for two hours rather than taking in the sights of the city.

Eric and Matt relax after a busy weekend of sightseeing. 
 

After our 5-day visit to the east coast of China, it was time to get back on the train and head west to the city of Xian. 

 

We arrived in China at 7:30 in the morning; our first stop was the northern city of Datong. 

 

Datong
Location: Northern China, Shanxi province.
Famous for: The Hanging Temple and the Yungang Caves.

 

Within 20 minutes of our arrival in Datong, we managed to book ourselves a room in a nearby hostel, to secure a place on a tour leaving within the hour, and to be put in a taxi heading for the nearest ATM so that we could withdraw some local currency.  There was certainly no chance of easing ourselves into China gently!!

 

Our tour began with fifteen Western tourists being squeezed into a mini-bus designed for Chinese tourists; the previous jostling for luggage space we were all used to was swapped for the struggle to fit fifteen pairs of long legs in between tightly packed seats.  Our first stop was the “Hanging Temple”; an extraordinary sight of a temple clinging perilously to a precipice on one of China’s five holy mountains of Taoism. 

 

The Hanging Temple.

 

 

The temple is located 14 meters up a sheer cliff face, propped up on long-wooden stilts anchored to ledges; it was originally built as a place of worship to the Gods to protect nearby villages from a ‘dragon’.  The valley in which it is situated was prone to flooding (before a dam was built); floods are a symbol of a resident dragon and hence the source of the locals need for religious protection. 

 

Exploring the temple.

 

Long narrow wooden walkways and staircases connect the various tiers and rooms which make up the temple. 

There are two Chinese symbols painted on a stone below the temple, meaning ‘great sight’; the understatement left by an eminent Chinese poet.

 

The temple jutting out of the cliff.

 

 

Our second stop was the Yungang Caves; a maginificent set of Buddhist grottoes carved into the side of a sandstone cliff.  Built around 400 A.D., the caves contain over 51,000 depictions of Buddha and are reported to be the grandest and best-preserved grottoes in China. 

 

This 27 metre high Buddha casts an imposing figure in his cave.

 

From the outside the grottoes are an impressive sight.

Some of the carvings were extremely well preserved despite their exposure to the elements. 

 

We spent the better part of the afternoon admiring and strolling through the impressive caves before returning to our hostel for a much-needed rest, shower and a change of clothes (our first since leaving Mongolia).  We dined that night in the closest and most accessible restaurant we could find, the ‘California Beef Noodle Bar’.  This is actually a chain of restaurants which borrows heavily from Mcdonalds and KFC branding - it has a logo that looks suspiciously like Chinese Colonel Saunders (aka KFC).  Ordering from the printed English menu was an adventure; attempts at getting rice dishes resulted in a loud ‘NO!’ from the waitress.  Eventually we worked out that after she had said NO about four times, she would then accept our order.  After our meal we gladly retired to our bed after an eventful first day in China, alarm clocks were set for our 8:50 train to Beijing the following morning.

 

Beijing
Location: Northern China (Bei - Jing literally translates as Northern - Capital).
Famous for: Capital of China, Tiananmen Square and Peking duck.

 

We arrived at the Xi Zhan station around lunchtime and were soon swept along with the bustling crowds; we took a taxi to a central guesthouse conveniently located 200 meters from Tiananmen Square.  We ventured out to explore the city and soon purchased a city map and an essential Chinese phrasebook.  The city center is a mix of wide busy boulevards and narrow crowded side streets (known as hutangs); on both, bicycles, cars and buses jostle for position whilst trying (or not) to avoid the mass of pedestrians who seem to appear from all directions. 

 

Night markets sell a variety of delicacies from frogs legs to starfish to goat's testicles; while Nikki opts for a simple bowl of dumplings!

 

The city has an extremely modern feel, with new buildings and skyscrapers towering over surprisingly clean streets.  There is a definite air of preparation for the forthcoming 2008 Olympics which we have no doubt will be a great time to be in the city.  Beijing streets are exceptionally noisy - and at times overwhelmingly so after the quiet deserted plains of Mongolia - but this adds to the feeling of energy and vibrancy which the city exudes.

 

We found a refuge from the bustling streets in the form of the Temple of Heaven - a garden area containing the altars and temples used by generations of emperors to worship the Gods and pray for good harvests.  Like our fellow tourists we tried out the famous ‘echo wall’, a perfectly built circular wall which allows you to have a conversation with someone fifty meters away as if they were standing beside you. 

 

Eric explores the temple and tries out the 'echo wall'.

On a misty gray day the Temple of Heaven provided some colorful scenery.

 

Our Beijing highlight was most definitely our trip to the Great Wall.  We elected to travel three hours outside the city to a less-visited section where we embarked on a 10-km hike. 

 

The Great Wall snakes it's way along the mountain ridges. 

 

 

Recommended as the best area to view the original wall as it climbs up and down the spectacular mountain ridges that once formed a border between the mighty empires of Mongolia and China. 

 

Great Wall as far as the eye can see!

 

 
Proof we climbed the wall... 

 

“Today’s surviving sections, placed end to end, would link New York with Los Angeles, and if the bricks used to build it were made into a single wall 5 meters high and 1 meter thick it would more than encircle the Earth.”

 

Our 10km walk took nearly 4 hours with almost no other tourists or people in sight.

 

 
The wall was very steep at times.

 

Our sightseeing in Beijing was put on hold for a few days after Nikki was hit with the first bout of ‘tummy troubles’ of our trip which left her in bed with a fever for two days.  Eric performed his role of nurse-maid very well, though being stuck in a room for three days with only one English language TV channel which seemed to show the same news in a continuous one-hour loop, he was glad Nikki recovered before he had exhausted our supply of reading books. 

With Nikki back on her feet (albeit for only a few hours at a time to begin with), we paid a visit to the Forbidden City.  This moated complex is filled with numerous courtyards, halls and palaces which were closed to the public until the turn of the 20th century.   The Palace was home to 24 emperors and their entourages.  

 

The murky gray skies didn't keep the crowds from flowing into the Forbbidden City's main square.

 

The emperor's adorned the palaces with various sculptures; the crane to symbolize 'long life', and the dragon-lion to protect the Palace gates.

A huge moat surrounds the Forbidden City. 

 

Our last day of sightseeing took us to the stunning Summer Palace; the summer retreat for the emperor and his court.  Strolling around the grounds was very peaceful despite the many tourists, we also enjoyed a ‘speed boat’ ride around the lake (speed boat in shape, not in speed). 

 

The Summer Palace.

 

Beautiful bridges provided access to islands on the lake.

The 'Long Corrior' provided a colorful, artistic promenade along the lake shore. 

The Empress' 'Marble Boat' was permanently docked and used as a splendid dining room.

 

The morning of our departure from Beijing, we queued up alongside hundreds of Chinese to view the preserved body of the late communist leader - Chairman Mao Zedong.  Unlike Lenin, Mao is preserved through refridgeration not embalmment - personally we thought Lenin looked far better, but don’t tell the Chinese that!!!!  Having passed silently through the solemn memorial hall of one of the worlds most famous Communist leaders under the watchful eye of many soldiers, we then exited by a long row of souvenir stalls manned by loud, aggressive merchants flogging cheap Mao trinkets in every shape and form…… Communism and Capitalism can be found side by side in China!   

 

Eric stands before one of the most famous sights of Tiananmen Square.

 

Tiananmen Square and Mao's resting place.

 

We had two days left in Mongolia in which to prepare ourselves for our train journey to China and to spend our remaining Togrogs (Mongolian currency). 

The first day we plodded around Ulaan Baatar sporting flipflops, t-shirts and sunglasses; buying much needed English novels for the train, writing our postcards, catching up on emails, and enjoying some 'normal' food.  The following morning we awoke to an unexpected sight which was shortly followed by Nikki's loud cry of "Oh My God!" which probably woke up the peacefully snoozing dormitory of fellow backpackers next door.... Ulaan Baatar was covered in almost a foot-deep blanket of snow!!!  Flipflops and shorts were quickly discarded for layers of t-shirts, jumpers, jeans, thick socks and snug hiking boots.

Eric and Nikki in the snow covered streets of Ulaan Baatar.

The snowfall continued at a steady pace all day long, making our last day in the Mongolian capital as memorable as the many sights we had seen over our 30-day stay.  We intended to spend our last day enjoying the tourists’sights of the capital.  Upon reaching Sukhbaatar Square, we discovered a ceremony celebrating Mongolian World War II veterans - 60th anniversary.  We paused to watch the colorful band play as the veterans and important officials paraded around the square and presented their memorial wreaths.

The Mongolian Army Band wait patiently for the veterans to arrive.

The war veterans arrived in traditional Mongolian attire.

The following morning we boarded our 35-hour train to China and watched as snow-covered mountains gradually transformed into the dry barren Gobi desert. 

Snow covered gers and mountain tops provided spectacular views from the train.

As we neared the Gobi desert the snow gradually melted away to a landscape of sand.

Our journey to the border was largely uneventful and was spent playing many hours of card games with our Swiss companions.  After 13 hours we reached the Chinese border, the immigration procedures themselves are of little interest but the "changing of the bogies" was a brand new experience.  Chinese train tracks are wider than those of Mongolian tracks and so require the entire train to be taken to a depot where each carriage is meticulously lifted 2 meters into the air whilst the Mongolian undercarriage is removed and replaced with its Chinese counterpart.  The whole procedure took about two hours during which we were imprisoned in our carriage closely monitored by stern-looking Chinese border guards.

We managed to take a quick picture of the carriage being lifted off the track through the train window whilst the guards weren't looking.