When I arrived on the train in Zamyn Uud on the Mongolian side of the border feeling exhausted after the previous crazy day I wasn’t sure how things were going to pan out when I tried to get across the border. I had not seen a fellow traveller since Katie and Isa headed back to UB the previous evening and none were visible around the train station as most cross on the international train. I looked around not entirely sure of where to go when I was approached by a lady who asked, “China?”, I nodded and she pointed to the bus and said that the price was about 10 pounds. I climbed onto the bus and it was full of Mongolian day trippers, much like the Brits on a day trip to Calais for fags and booze, the Mongolians cross the border because pretty much everything is cheaper in China.
The bus set off but after 5 minutes it stopped in an industrial estate near some lockups and the driver came along and took money and passports, everybody appeared to hand over more money than I’d agreed, so I decided just to handover the amount that had been agreed. The driver reappeared after about 10 minutes with all the passports, immigration forms and all the other passengers were given Chinese currency, so I realized that I had probably missed a good chance to get a good exchange rate for my remaining Mongolian currency.
It took about 5 hours to cross the border, it was chaos, the Mongolians have a very aggressive driving style and even at the border they were pushing into the smallest gap, ignoring the roped up areas, the passengers just lifted up the ropes as the drivers drove through and even when a border policeman stood in their way they just carried on driving pushing him along until he moved out of the way. Finally we arrived at the bus station in Eren Hot, China, I booked a bus to Beijing for the following day and booked into a cheap hotel to catch up on some sleep. The next day I felt fully rested and ready for my long bus journey to Beijing.
When I arrived in Beijing, I met up with Vincent again who I had met in Mongolia and booked into the same hostel. I also then met Julie from France who had arrived with her boyfriend to start a one year teaching placement who I spent a lot of time drinking in the hostel Beijing. Xu Jie whose house I visited just outside Beijing who had just started his own business making chips for mobile phone, he invited me to spend a few days at his home and so I want and was given a tour of his small factory and met his mother and father. His father was a high ranking police officer who took us out for a meal with all the police chiefs from the town. There was a massive amount of food, mainly different types of fresh fish and after a very short time I was very drunk as each of the police chiefs made a toast and we all downed a shot of rice spirit. Xu Jie also introduced me to donkey meat, I tried donkey dumplings and a donkey sandwich, although wasn’t that impressed with either.
While in Beijing, I visited The Great Wall, Forbidden Palace, and the summer palace, I particularly liked the Summer Palace as you could walk around the lake and find some tranquillity away from the crowds. The Great Wall and Forbidden Palace were both incredibly crowded and while I was on the Wall, I felt sure that somebody was going to be pushed off as people impatiently barged passed them.
I then visited Datong to see the temple caves and the hanging temples. I was absolutely terrified while walking around the hanging temples as they appear to be defying gravity as they cling to the walls of the cliff face.
Next was Pingyao, the former banking capital of China. Here I met Benjamin from Belgium and Julia and Maria from Sweden who I cycled around the countryside and visited the homes created from caves in the mountains around Pingyao.
In Xian I met Ludo from France who had hitchhiked across Eastern Europe and China and together we visited the Terracotta Warriors. I decided against getting the extremely tacky photo souvenir of me dressed as a warrior which was then superimposed in the line up, so that it looks like you were one of the warriors.
I then got the train to Chongqing in order to organize a boat trip on the Yangtze river. When I arrived at the train station, my lift had not arrived to show me to my hostel and I was approached by Jimmy who said that he could organise me a trip on the Yangtze and that his office was close to my hostel. Normally I would ignore people who had approached me at the train station, but as I had no idea how to find my hostel, I agreed to visit his travel office to get more details. We got a bus to his office and discussed the boat trip and the price he was offering seemed reasonable, I told him that I’d think about it and he then showed me to my hostel, which actually turned out to be a luxury penthouse flat overlooking the city, which is where the hostel owner lived with his family. Here I met a couple from London who said that the trip sounded like it was a good price, so I went back to Jimmy’s office and booked it for the next day.
The cruise was on a boat which was mainly full of Chinese tourists and all the trips were in Chinese, but it was probably about a tenth of the price of the boats that have guides in English. On the boat I met Paddy and Karen from Ireland and lots of friendly Chinese tourists who we tried as best we could to communicate with. The couple I was sharing my room with rather sweetly bought me some colourful stones to bring me luck on my travels
For most people the trip lasted for 2 days, but I had an additional day in order to make the return trip and catch a train to Chengdu, from where I had heard you could find the cheapest trips into Tibet. I woke up in the morning and cabin mate produced a bottle of rice spirit pointed a me, at himself and then at the bottle and started pouring out the drinks. By the time the boat arrived I was quite drunk, but I managed to get to the train station and catch my train, when awoke in the morning in Chengdu, I had a terrible hangover. I got on a bus to where my hostel was located, but then spent 2 hours in the rain trying to find it. The end result was that I caught a terrible cold and spent the next few days in bed trying to recover.
In the hostel I met Yiap from Malaysia and Devon from Austin, Texas who was already fluent in Chinese and had just started learning Welsh. I visited the largest Buddha in the world and the panda sanctuary, which included red pandas which I had never even heard of before. I also managed to organise my trip to Tibet, which was more expensive than I had wanted, but a part of my trip that I didn’t want to miss.
Before my Tibet trip I spent a few days in Lijiang before returning to Chengdu for my train to Lhasa. Here I met a group of young Chinese on their holiday including David and Zac who showed me around Lijiang and helped me try some great tea and food, including an incredibly spicy and extremely delicious liver hot pot. While in Lijiang I also tried silk worms and sea snake in a market that was full of all sorts of unusual foods, which appeared to be more for the tourists than what the locals would typically eat.
I then returned to Chengdu in order to catch my train to Lhasa and a week in Tibet.
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