Irkukst and Lake Baikal

We arrived into Irkutsk mid morning and were met by honcho Toli who took us to the little town of Listvyanka on the edge of Lake Baikal. We were taken on a small hike to a view point to get a better idea of how large Lake Baikal is - its the 6th largest in the world with an area of 31,500 sq. km. We could not see the other end of it!

That afternoon, we went and sat on the 'beach' and us brave (or mad) English decided that it would be fun to go for a quick swim. It definitely was quick as it was pretty cold (it freezes in winter!)

The following day, we went to the Baikal Museum that has lots of stuffed things and learnt more about the lake. We then took another walk up to a different view point before taking a boat trip with another Vodka Train group. We moored up and all decided to go for a swim. The only problem was that we had to jump/dive off the boat. Thankfully, Martin was on hand to take action photos! We didn't stay in the water long!

That night, Kealie and I had a Vodka party with the other Vodka Train group (who had had more experience of proper Russian vodka)!

The following day, we headed back to Irkutsk, ready for the afternoon train to Moscow!

Mongolia - Ulaanbaatar and the Ger Camp

We got into Ulaanbaatar just after lunch and were met by honcho Toya. We checked into our hotel to find that the hot water had gone down that morning, so the eagerly awaited showers had to be taken in cold water! That afternoon, she took us on a tour of the city before we went to a dance show. I got told off for trying to take photos (they charged you per photo!) It was very colourful. We then went to a Mongolian BBQ where you select the food you want and take it to the stove and they cook it in front of you! It was delicious!

The next day we headed off for the Ger Camp in Gorkhi Terelj National Park. Our Ger Camp was in the middle of nowhere and there were practically no other Ger's around. It was bliss! The inside of the Ger's had 4 beds around the outside and a fire in the middle (which was lit at night and re-fuelled during the night to ensure that we didn't wake up cold!)

The next day we went and visited a nomadic family who were living near by to find out more about their life. They had 2 young daughters who showed us their Ger and gave us a traditional drink called 'airag', which is fermented mare's milk. It did not taste good but we drank it all the same!

That afternoon we did what all the great Mongolians did - got on a horse and went for a ride! The horses obviously had a set route and it took a lot of effort to get them to go a slightly different path! But it was still good fun!

We then went and climbed a near by hill which gave us a great view of the national park and emphasised the fact of how isolated we were! We were followed up the hill by a dog but had no idea where the dog came from!

The next day we walked over to Turtle Rock - a rock that, unsurprisingly, looks like a turtle! We climbed up the rock until we got to the centre of it. Toya then showed us a small gap in the rock which we had to squeeze through. It was worth it though as it took us out onto a ledge that overlooked the valley!

In the afternoon, we went horse riding again and this time, the horses came to us - bit of a surprise when a horse passed by the front door of the Ger! My horse decided to have a stubborn ten minutes and wouldn't go any faster than walking pace, despite the other horses galloping! Typical!

We also had the chance to dress up in traditional Mongolian fashion - I managed to get the man's outfit!

We spent a bit more time enjoying the scenery before heading back to Ulaanbaatar where there was a frantic dash to get our laundry done and to buy supplies for the next train journey.

We got the 7pm train for Irkutsk and spent several hours at the Mongolian-Russian boarder before we were finally allowed to carry on our journey!

The Vodka Train

For the final part of my journey, I have decided to join the aptly named 'Vodka Train' tour and travel from Beijing to St Petersburg on the Trans-Siberian/Trans-Mongolian route.

We left from our Beijing hotel at 6am (after arguing with the reception staff over my deposit that they refused to pay back - I finally won!) and headed for the train station for our 7:45am departure for Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian captial.

Our tour group consisted of my new roommate, Kealie, two English sisters Georgina and Jo, a Kiwi called Lee Ann, a Bristish-Irish couple Michelle and Martin, an Aussie stduent Jess, an Aussie couple Alex and Hayley and Aussie friends Stephanie and Calista. At every stop we would be greated by our 'honcho' - a local person, usually a student, who would guide us around their city.

In Beijing, our honcho was Mark but I only saw him twice - once at the beginning and once when he dropped us off at the train station!

We reached the Chinese-Mongolian border at 8.45pm (after travelling for 13 hours straight!). After being shepparded off the train, through Chinese immigration and Mongolian immigration, we were left on the platform whilst Mongolian officials checked over the train. It was almost 2am before the train finally departed!

We arrived in Ulaanbaarat at 1.20pm and were met by honcho Toya.

Beijing - Forbidden Cities and Great Walls

I got back into Beijing and could finally begin my sight seeing of this amazing capital city. My first port of call was to Tiananmen Square. This is where Mao Zedong’s body is housed but I was unable to go and see it as he was having a much needed make over! I was harassed by a street seller who wanted to sell me a watch with Mao’s face on it! It was pretty amusing! Outside of where Mao’s body is kept is the Monument to the People’s Heroes which charts the development of modern Chinese history.

I then went into the Forbidden City. You entered the courtyard via a massive gate with a giant picture of Mao above it. It was told off for trying to take a photo of it! Once inside the courtyard there are rows of little shops around the edges trying to sell all sorts of trinkets and souvenirs and it was full of people milling around. I didn’t see a Starbucks there, despite the rumours to the contrary! Inside the Forbidden City was a mass of small temples and small rooms which had been turned into museums. There was so much to see there that you almost need a second day to take it all in!

I went along to the Yonghe Gong Temple to the north of city walls, which was originally used by Tibetan monks. There were 3 or 4 temples within the complex with a variety of Buddha’s in each one. On the way home, I popped into a little Tea Shop and ended up buying a tea set – how I’m going to get it home in one piece I don’t know! My new roommate, Kealie, and I met up with some friends of hers, Toni & Ollie and went for a night out.

I did a day trip to the amazing Great Wall of China, which is a definite must in Beijing. I was dropped at Simatai which is one of the oldest parts of the wall that is most in tact but not too far from Beijing. I took the cable car up the hillside. The view was brilliant and you could see the wall along the top of the hill stretching out for miles. I then took a little trip on the express train to take me to the bottom of the climb up to the wall.

I got accosted by a local woman who would help me on the walk. I kept saying no but she didn’t listen so I had a companion for the climb. She managed to tell me that her family are farmers in Inner Mongolia (the area to the north of the Great Wall but still in China!) and she comes here for a couple of days a week and does three climbs per day. At the top, we walked along the wall and through the many towers that are there. From here, the view goes on for miles with nothing but greenery. It was pretty quiet there which was wonderful! My guide took a couple of photos of me before we headed down and then I had to buy something from her! I ended up with a book on the Great Wall which I didn’t need but that was her fee for her un-required assistance! We had dinner at a nearby restaurant before heading back.

On my final day before leaving China, Kealie and I went to a local restaurant and had Peking Duck which was delicious. We then headed to the night market near the Forbidden City where we tried the local deep fried foods of starfish and deer (but kept away from the insects and octopus!)

We also popped into the Beijing 2008 Olympic shop to get some souvenirs and pose with the competitions’ 5 furry mascots.

Shanghai

I arrived into Shanghai and took the amazing Maglev train into the city - it reaches 430km an hour and takes only 10 minutes! Had to pose by the speedometer in the cabin!

I met up with Matt, a friend who was now living in Shanghai and we went out for dinner with Jin Ling, Adam, Simon, Tony and Scott before going to the delightfully named 'Time Tunnel' pub. We were joined by Julien, Clare and Sandra. Julien got up an sang a song (after borrowing a guitar from the live band that the pub had on!) It was quite a good night!

The next day, I headed to Nanjing Lu - the main shopping area. My aim was to walk down to The Bund but the heavens opened and I ended up buying an umbrella from a women who miraculously appeared when it started raining!

That night, I went to Adam and Sandra's house warming party that had a 'French' theme and we had wine & cheeses. We then moved onto playing on the Wii, which was my first experience of it. I managed to hold my own in the doubles tennis match but lost quite badly in the boxing!

Matt and I went sightseeing to the 'fake' Old Town which tries to sell you every souvenir possible! We went into a tea shop and met a sales woman that Matt knew. We were allowed to try a variety of different teas and she persuaded Matt to buy some for me!

We then went to the real Old Town and saw the restaurant on the water. It was full of small windy streets and we ended up getting some food in a little cafe that I would never have found on my own. We had the traditional food of dumplings.

We then headed over to The Bund (finally) and got a great view of the skyscrapers over the river. We had a drink in the Captains Bar so that we could watch the sun go down and catch the lights of the city.

The next day I met up with Julien and Clare and we headed to the Shanghai Museum. Julien stayed in the shop whilst Clare and I explored the three floors of exhibitions. Some of the artefacts were from 6000 years BC!

On my final day in Shanghai, Clare, Julien and I had arranged to go to the water villages but the information on the brouchure was wrong and there were no buses to it. So we went to the local park and found a group of elderly people playing Jianzi - a weighted shuttlecock that they kick around with their feet. We all joined in but were upstaged by them!

That night, I had dinner with Matt before going to the pub to say goodbye to everyone.

Xi'an and the Terracotta Army

After flying into Beijing (via Hong Kong), I took an internal flight to Xi’an and the home of the Terracotta Army. I managed to wander aimlessly around the subway in the centre of Xi’an in a vain attempt to find my hostel and ended up having to ask directions! I was only one street away!

I went to visit the Bell Tower in the main square. After listening to the un-impressive audio tour, I caught a music show that they had. They had five people playing traditional Chinese instruments and managed to end the show by playing Auld Lang Seine! I then went to the neighbouring Drum Tower and caught a drum show. This was far better than the music show!

I then headed to the Great Mosque in the Muslim area of the city then I headed over to the Beilin Museum. There were lots of statues and pottery items but most of the signs were in Chinese so it was a little hard to understand!

The next day I took a tour to see the one thing that I had come to Xi’an to see – the Terracotta Army. Unfortunately it was one of those tours that take you to 5 or 6 other places first hoping that you’ll buy some overpriced item and gain them commission!! The first stop was the Dibao Silk Company which gave us an interesting talk on how they make silk but didn’t persuade any of us to buy anything! Next we stopped at the Banpo Matriarchichal Clan Village which is about 6000 years old to see the excavations that they have done.

We then stopped at the Terracotta Museum and got our first taste of the warriors – by coming face to face with two life-size ones (with no head to allow you to stand behind them and taking a photo of yourself as a warrior!) They showed us how the warriors were created and allowed us to buy miniature versions of them for 50 Yuan (about £4) or you could order a life-size warrior for 1,000,000 Yuan (£98,000!) and they would ship it to you! I chose to go with 2 small ones! What would you do with a six foot terracotta statue anyway?!

Our next stop was the Huaqing Hot Springs where the Emperors used to go for their leisure time. This is also where the Xi’an Incident occurred in 1936 when Chiang Kai-shek was arrested by his own troops and made to sign a treaty with the Communists. The bullet holes are still in the walls (with little signs next to them to point them out)! We then went onto Qin Shi Huang’s Mausoleum which is yet to be excavated. After watching a dance show in the boiling midday sun (with no cover), we climbed the 412 steps to the top of the hill to take in the great views from there.

Then we headed off to the main event. It was a relief to be able to go indoors away from the sun, but the 3 pits that hold the Terracotta Army are inside metal constructions and there is no cooling system there so it was boiling! The sight of the army took my breath away. There are up to 8000 life-sized warriors buried there with only a fraction of them excavated. They were lined up in battle formation and it is said that no two are alike – they all have different facial features and clothing and that there were possibly modelled on the army at the time (6 BC). They even had horses there.

We watched a short documentary about the discovery of them in 1974, when a farmer found a terracotta head in his field! We stayed there about 2 hours, visiting all the pits and taking so many photos! It was definitely worth the trip to come here and visit this!

That night, I went out for dinner with Andy & Connie, two people that I met in the hostel followed by a trip to the main square where the Big Goose pagoda is. They were having a fountain display and lots of people decided to cool down by going in the fountains! The next day, I went and visited the Big Goose Pagoda, which was part of the Dacien Temple. I climbed to the top of the pagoda (which had a mini exhibition in it) and had a great view of the city.

The Crazy Capital - Tokyo!

With my body still aching, I made my way to Tokyo. I decided that the first place I should visit should be the Imperial Palace but you can barely see any of it, except the forts on the edge of the moat. I went and visited a couple of shrines in the north of the city - Yushima-seido and Kanda Myojin before visiting the Nikolai Cathedral - the first cathedral in Japan. I finished off the day with a tour of Ueno park.

The next morning, I met up with Mary, Lee and Samira from my hostel at 4:45am and we made our way to the Tokyo Fish Market. I'm not a big fan of fish and this was an overkill on the senses! We watched the auctioneer selling off giant frozen tuna which was fascinating! Then we decided to go and get breakfast - sushi of course! It was very surreal at 7:30am! But it was the nicest sushi that I have tasted!

I then go on the train to Nikko, a town 2 hours north of Tokyo. That afternoon I went to see the Shinkyo Sacred Bridge - an old bridge that crosses the river and makes you walk back to the same side that you came from! The river was an impressive rapid though!

The next day I walked around the world heritage site and saw 5 shrines - the Rinnoji Temple (Sanbutsudo), Toshogu shrine, Yakusido, Futarasan temple and the Rinnoji Temple (Taiyuin). The most impressive of these was Yakusido - it has a painting of a dragon on the ceiling and a monk showed us how to make the dragon 'roar' (by clapping two blocks together directly underneath its mouth - anywhere else didn't work!) Later on I made my way back to Tokyo.

I wandered around Shibuya area and saw the statue of Hachi-ko dog - who followed his master to work every day and even did the same walk after he'd died. The city apparently fell in love with the dog and made him a statue when he died! Then I went to Omotesando - the home of every fashion designer shop! I did allow myself to wander around various shops but left pretty quickly when I saw Luis Vuitton purses at extortionate prices!!! I also saw the Meiji Jingu shrine.

The next day I went to Asakusa and saw the Sensoji Temple. To get to it, you have to walk through a market place which sold every type of tourist tat that you'd need. Some of the silk garments were pretty though! I also went to Rappongi Hills and visited the Mori Art Museum, which had an exhibition about an architect who created some very ugly looking buildings! In the same building was also the Sky Aquarium (on the 53rd floor) which had lots of types of fish including some very small Nemo's. It also gave you great views of the city, including the Tokyo Tower (a larger version of the Eiffel Tower), which I went and visited.

On my last day in Japan, I had to go & collect my Mongolian visa so Mary and I headed over to their consulate in Shibuya. That night, I stayed awake, chatting to people in the hostel who couldn't sleep and finally headed off to the airport at 4am so that I could get my flight to China!