Tomtom's Travel Blog

Hello

Back after only few days …
Border crossing from Vietnam to Cambodia was rather fast. Another nice slow boat brought us close to Phnom Penh. But close is not entirely. A bus was expected to be waiting for us to bring us the last stretch of one hour to Cambodias capital. But there was none waiting and none in sight. Some taxis were waiting. But nobody was ready to pay for a taxi as the bus fare was included. After a while a guy showed up who obviously was in charge of helping us further. He organized a minibus and filled up the taxis, trying to put 5 passengers in each one. But we refused again and so after a while (1 hour) we all had proper transportation to Phnom Penh. As I’ve been in Phnom Penh before, and as we had to come back anyway, Silvio and I decided to proceed to Siem Reap the next day already. Siem Reap is the gateway to the ruins and temples of Angkor. The same day we arrived I went to the Kantha Bopha Childrens Hospital, founded by Beat Richner, to donate blood. The staff there was very impressed when I showed them my donator card. It was the third time I gave them my blood. In the evening we visited the seminar center of the hospital to watch a documentary film on the work of Beat Richner. Twice a week he also performs Bach and some of his own compositions on the cello. As I had to get my donor card some days later (with the proper measurements of my blood written in) we also attended ‹Beatocellos› concert and information evening. There I heard that ‹he› meanwhile is running five hospitals in Cambodia. 4 years ago there were only three. The work of Beat Richner deserves our most respect! In Angkor we visited all major temples during the next 3 days. We hired a tuktuk and so we were brought to all temples in a very comfortable way. I have seen all these temples before but I was again overwhelmed by their beauty. I could go there again and again. Siem Reap itself is not a very nice place but convenient and friendly. People are nice and as there are so many options where to stay, lodging is cheap and so is food. Still, after 4 days we took a bus back to Phnom Penh. 4 years ago it was more convenient to take a boat, but this has changed as the roads are much improved these days. Big progress in rather little time almost everywhere.Again after only one night we set off to Sihanoukville. Silvio’s plan was to go to Laos, so he had to come back anyway and explore Phnom Penh then, while I didn’t want to spend more time there as really needed. My plan was to go to Thailand from Sihanoukville. In Sihanoukville we stayed 3 nights, exploring the beaches. These were very nice and clean and so was the water. This time I enjoyed the hours at the beaches! And not only me …

After these days it was time to move on. And to say goodbye to Silvio as well as to Cambodia. Again, there were two options how to get to Thailand. Bus or boat. I’ve chosen the wrong one. Everyone told me that the newly established direct bus connection to Koh Chang is the fastest, most reliable and most convenient way, to get there. Even I usually prefer boat over bus I decided to go the easy way, also avoiding to stay one night in Trat. The road was completed but the bridges were not. So we had to get of the bus and cross some rivers by tiny ferries (2 times) or by foot (2 times), carrying all our luggage in the heat of the day and board another bus on the other side. This trip was very exhausting and I’m sure I’d enjoyed the trip on a small slow boat much more than this hassle. Anyway, we eventually made it to the border (Koh Kong). Crossing was very fast and easy. But transport to the next point was again a chaos, as they had problems to put the passengers into the right minibus according to their target. Even every passenger hat a batch around its neck, which showed where he wanted to end up. People had to change the minibus several times until they sorted the things out. Finally we left after another hour. But when the sun was setting, I was on the boat which brought me to Koh Chang. Cambodia is less developed than Vietnam. Streets are improving and so connections on lakes and rivers get less and less important. This is a pity. My stay in Cambodia was very short this time, only 9 days. The temples and surroundings are still beautiful. To protect the ruins some parts are not accessible anymore. A problem, as in Vietnam, are the plastic bags, polluting wide areas. Not so much at the temples, but in the rest of the country. Real rip-off occurred only once, at the first beach resort in Sihanoukville (Western Management), while some sights in Phnom Penh seem to have exorbitant entry fees now, as Silvio reported in an email. But my general feeling is much more relaxed compared to Vietnam. I might come again, even a fourth time, to the see temples again (and donate my blood).

Hello friends

Hanoi is nice! It’s still a bustling city with the real asian touch as I understand it: small alleys full of business, traders, bikes, bycicles, food stalls. Not many business towers have been errected so far in the centre like in the cities of China, where there seems to be a competition to have to most fancy skyline. I visited a couple of pagodas and strolled around the small lake they have right in the centre. I enjoyed the greatest coffees since a while!

After a couple of days I decided not to go to the northwest, as I wanted escape the cold weather. Instead I took a bus to Hue, a city much further south. There an old citadelle, including sort of ‹forbidden city› is the nicest attraction. I’ve been in Vietnam 4 years ago, but then, because of really bad weather, I skipped this citadelle. This time the sun was shining and I had a great day on a bycicle. I also biked to an old and small pagoda the same day. The next day I did a tour on boat to see the thombs of several emperors of ancient times. These were more or less similar temples and not far as beautiful and fancy as the temples I’ve seen in China. The tour was somewhat exhausting, the provided meal very basic and transport from the boat to the temples a hassle on motorbike. Next time I’d go by myself. The following day I went to see the DMZ (De-Militarized Zone), a place loaded with history during the Vietnam war. I booked these 2 tours together, so no wonder it was a similar minimal tour again. It was only a ‹half day tour› because for the afternoon I had booked a bus ticket to my next stop in Hoi An. So this DMZ tour consisted of visiting an important bridge, which does not exist anymore, a firebase, which does not exist anymore (but a memorial) and the Vinh Moc tunnels, where vietcong fighters were hiding from the Americans. Then I found out that all other folk on the tour had booked a full day. As I was the only one to go back, they brought me to a public bus station, put me into a minibus and payed my trip back to Hue. Of course this minibus only left when it was full. Really full. It eventually left. Soon I found out, that full is different off what I thought is full. The minibus got filled up as I only had experienced it 14 years ago in Indonesia. Yeah! I finally was back in South East Asia!!! Anyway, I made it back to the hotel just in time, including a ride on a motorbike taxi from the bus stop.

In the evening I arrived in Hoi An, a very nice city that still has a intact old town. It is very touristic but as there is big competition it’s easy to find a cheap room. I rented a motorbike to get to the temples of ‹My Son› the next day. I set off at six in the morning, to be there before the tourist buses arrive. The early morning ride was beautiful, partly in thick fog. But looking to the sky it was always clear, that another beautiful day was ahead. I liked the ruins. It’s not a huge place. But as I was there early it was very peaceful! On the way home I missed a turnoff and only realized it after 25 km going to far to the south. As I stopped several times to take pictures of the students coming back from college (especially the girls in their typical and beautiful white vietnamese dresses) I did not regret my detour at all.

The same day already I was off to Na Trang in a night bus. 12 hours in a seat. And there I catched another bus to Mui Ne immediatelly on arrival. Only the transfer from one to the other bus was a little hectic. When a bus arrived I was told that this is not my bus and I have to wait. As no other bus showed up I started to ask around. After many calls they arranged a motorbike that brought me to a gas station where the same bus as before was waiting for me. All this took a couple of hours. That’s also the time, the people on the bus spent waiting for unknown reasons. Maybe just for me.

Anyway, I made it to Mui Ne! This was the 100-st day of my trip. I planned to celebrate this with my first jump into the sea on this trip! When I finally was on the nice beach my enthusiasm died somehow. Not one meter of water without a floating plastic bag or some other rubbish. The beach itself was not to bad, but not clean either. It was not a pleasure to jump into the water. I still did it, only because of this special day. I did not enter the water a second time. I was such a disappointment! Four years ago the water was still clean! What have they done!!!

Whith some other fellow travellers (Jana, Jordi and Silvio), which I met in Mui Ne (Silvio in Hanoi already) I did a tour on hired bikes to the sights around Mui Ne the next day. A giant reclining Buddah in a nice and quiet hillside location (Ta Cu Pagoda) and the famous red sand dunes of Mui Ne. The good thing in Mui Ne was a restaurant with lovely staff and very good and cheap food. But this was not enough to keep me staying there longer. So a bus brought me to HCMC (Ho Chi Minh City), better known as Saigon, the following day.

In Saigon I visited churches, markets and all the other major sights on a rather long walk.

The next day some pagodas in Cholon (Chinese town) were the target of interest. Saigon again is overcrowded. So many cars and motorbikes. It’s just a pain to walk around and cross a road. Furthermore they park their bikes everywhere, so you never can get anywhere without thousends of detours around their bikes. Even while your walking on the pedestrian way, they don’t care at all, just stop half a meter in front of you and stay. And of course there is never calm or rest. Constant honking, as everywhere in Asia.

Together with Silvio I booked a 4 day/3 night tour from Saigon, through the Mekong delta to Phnom Penh in Cambodia. Even quite touristy, as in every place we visited dozends of sellers with souveniers were ready to jump on us, I liked the tour. We spent most of the time on boats, cruising on huge streams as well as in tiny channels. The sights included floating markets, a ricepaper factotry, a rice mill, a coconut candy factory, a fishing farm and so on. The first night we stayed in a ‹homestay› with a family, which was not really a homestay but some kind of dormitory. The second night in a hotel in Can Tho and the third one on a rather big boat, that brought us to Chau Doc near the border to Cambodia. Crossing the border was rather fast, as most of the formalities had be done by our guide, while we still where cruising.

To conclude my Vietnam report I’ll now try to summarize my thoughts and feelings.

As noticed above I’ve visited Vietnam 4 years ago already. I didn’t like it so much then. This time I still have very mixed feelings. The reasons are, that as soon someone is doing business in tourism, you can not trust him anymore. I travelled many countries, but in Vietnam I experienced far more cases, where they tried to cheat me, where they miss-informed me, where they massivly overcharged me. One example: In Saigon we went to a nice restaurant near the cathredal to have a small lunch. As we did not order a huge expensive meal we were suddenly not welcome anymore. First the owner asked us to move to a different table which we didn’t like, so we asked for another option. He refused with really angry gestures so we decided to leave. This guy

Hi there, here I’m back, after a while.

I hope everyone had a nice start into the new year. Routine is back for most of you and so it is for me. Routine of a traveller 😉 .

The last report ended in Yangshuo, the nice town in the most spectacular settings of the Guilin province. So I’ll shortly finish the chinese part (1) of this trip. Before catching the train to Vietnam from Nanning, I did a day tour to the Detian waterfalls. I had to sign 4 times a complicated contract, which I could not read. I had to state, that I’ve sufficiently insurance and some more stuff. The falls were really nice, despite the fact I went there in the dry season. I guess, when they carry full water in wet season, they must be very spectacular.

Nanning itself is a quite busy city. Of course with a population of several millions like most cities in China.

In the evening I boarded once more a night train. For the first time it was a ’soft sleeper›, which means only 4 parties in one compartment. And a compartment with doors. I prefere open compartments, as they are not getting so sticky. But the trip to the border was only around 4 hours, so it was ok.

Leaving China was easy. Only one hour was needed until I had my exit stamp in the passport. Since a couple of years it’s possible to stay on the train, while before at this point a bus brought travellers to the vietnamese border. So after 20 minutes more train ride we arrived at the vietnamese immigration. There we had to take our stuff and get off the train and go into a nice building, which was built during french colonialization. From one counter to the next and to another one, then back to the second, eventually to the first again, all formalities were done in a couple of hours. This included a health check, where an officer measured the temperature with some hightech device in my ear. With the 2000 Dong (10 Cents) receit I finally could board the vietnamese train, which was brought to the station meanwhile. What a difference. If they would not use a different track width in Vietnam, I’d say, they use the old trains from China. The ’shaking express› was far less comfortable and clean, than it’s chinese counterpart. The train consisted of a slow diesel lok and two wagons. So we finally arrived in Hanoi the next morning. Still I prefere this way of travelling against bumpy and dusty bus rides.

This concludes my chinese experiences for the time being. If my plans remain the same, ‹China – part 2› will start in about 4 months.

Vietnam will be the subject of the next report you’ll get in a while.

Greetings, Thomas

Hello, here I am again.

Ever wondered where Hong Kong is? Well, geographically and, since more than 10 years, politically, it belongs to China. Almost. Still, if you cross the ‹border› from China to Hong Kong, you leave China and to re-enter you need a valid visa again. Strange. So is Hong Kong now part of China or not? The same actually applies to Macau.

But then I’d say: Hong Kong is not part of China, as it is completely different. Some exceptions of course exist as well. Food for example is very Chinese. Or business. At every corner there are stands, every empty space is used to sell something, and the people are as keen as everywhere to sell you what they have, not at all interested, if you need it or not. Just buy! Buy!!! «Hello, Rolex!», «Hello, room!» and «Hello, massage!»

But still, Hong Kong is very different. The city is much more organized. It is built! There is also a lot of construction going on, but it is not as omnipresent like in the other cities. They are ‹winning land› from the sea. These are the biggest building areas. Some new skyscrapers are in construction, but as there are already so many it’s not so obvious. The metro works perfect (as does everywhere) but still is easier to use as it is very modern and every station is displayed in English as well, and the direction you’re train is going is displayed electronically in every wagon. In Beijing I had twice to change the train, as I went into the wrong direction first. Even a Chinese guy, who explained it wrongly to me, had to switch once. Everyone seems to speak English in Hong Kong. And it is much more multinational as any city I’ve visited before. Many Indian people, running ‹guest houses› or selling jewelery. Ten thousands of Phillipinas, working as servants, live there as well. And then I’ve seen more western faces in the first hour than in the last 4 weeks.

While in China I always found a (usually) cheap and clean room or dorm bed in Hong Kong this is not the case. The first night I spent in a tiny and clean room in a ‹guest house›, which actually occupied 2 floors of a small house, squeezed in between two large blocks. But it was like 6 times more expensive than the places I stayed in China. And it was only available for 2 nights, but fully booked thereafter, as Christmas was very close. So I shopped around for another place. Many so called ‹guest houses› occupy some rooms in huge mansions. These old, big and loud complexes usually have stores in the ground floor on their entire area but from the second or third floor they have a court and you can walk a circle and end up in front of your place again. Such a ‹guest house› is for example located at the south-east corner of the 7th floor. Or north-east of the 14th floor. They have names like ‹Happy Guest house› or ‹Garden Guest house›. On floor 7 there was, among 2 others, ‹Tom’s Guest house›. So two famous mansions at Nathan street were listed in my guidebook. One was really dark and ugly. A dozends of Indian guys, grabbing my arm, wanted me to see ‹their place›. I really hated that. The second mansion was much better already. I found a dorm bed in a clean, but very basic ‹guest house›. Everything was basic in this place. They have a kind of reception, but no common place, where one can meet other people staying there. Bathrooms were basic as well. Friendliness of staff: very basic.
As I had to wait for my Vietnamese visa until the 24th of December I had no other choice, than to stay some days. And of course Hong Kong offers a lot to see!

The day I arrived, I just walked around on Kowloon. This is the part of Hong Kong, which still is on the Chinese mainland. From the ferry pier I enjoyed the skyline of Hong Kong island. In the evening I went there again, to see the lights of the streets and the decoration of the skyscrapers. Neon-City! And at this time of year you may add a huge amount of additional Christmas decorations on the buildings fronts. Hong Kong and Kowloon, both are incredibly busy 24 hours a day. The roads are crowded all the time.

The second day I crossed over with the ferry to the ‹Central› ferry pier on Hong Kong island. Together with Kim and Preston, which I met in Shanghai, I explored this part of Hong Kong a bit. We also took the cable car up to ‹the peak›. Luckily we had very nice weather this day, so the view was quite good. Together we also went to the Vietnamese embassy to apply for the visas.

The third day I took the metro which brought me to Lantau island. Another stretch in a bus brought me to the ‹Tian-Tan-Buddha›. This is the biggest bronze Buddha found on earth. Very majestically he overlooks the island and the Po Lin monastery from top of a hill. Then I boarded a ferry back to Central pier. There I strolled around some more time. I ‹climbed› the ‹mid-level-elevators›. This is a series of elevators, like those in department stores, which bring you up 800 meters without sweating a bit. Very lazy people must live there. And it’s free. In this part of the city the famous Ma-Mo temple is located, squeezed in between of skyscrapers. Back to my ‹guest house›, which actually is in Kowloon, I took another ferry. This is only a ten minute ride.
The next day it rained. So I didn’t do much but wander around in Kowloon. I also searched the ferry terminal of the ferry that should bring me to Macao, my next destination. This terminal is located in the east of Kowloon, and hidden in a shopping complex. It took me some
time to figure out how all this works. But finally I found a very convenient way how to get there from my ‹guest house›. There is an overpass from Kowloon park directly to the ferry terminal. Only it ends in the Pacific hotel and therefore the entrance is not easy to find. But this is exactly how everything in Hong Kong (and Kowloon) works. Everything goes ‹hand-in-hand›. Everything is combined with something else. Shops, travel agencies, bus and ferry terminals, hotels. Everything is connected somehow.

Christmas eve. The day I got the visa. I went to Hong Kong island once more, visited ‹Victoria park› and some temples in the west of the city. After getting my visa I took once more a ferry to Lamma island. This island, in the south of Hong Kong island, offers a walk from one town to another, where another ferry brings you back to Central pier. As the weather was dry but foggy, this walk was not to exciting. Still it was a very good change after all these days in this very busy city.

The 25th I left Hong Kong. After the immigration formalities I boarded a high speed ferry, that brought me to Macau min 75 minutes.

Macau again is a completely different city. I’d say, it’s a small city. Less than half a million population. Much more relaxed than Hong Kong. Surprisingly I found a room quite easy. Very thin walls, not reaching the sealing, but clean. Only the talking of the neighbors sounded, as they were in the same room. But still a safe place. And cheap, compared to Hong Kong.
Macau can be divided in two types of town. Colonial buildings and casinos. Of course a lot of typical Chinese apartment blocks are there as well. Now the fanciest buildings I’ve ever seen, are the casinos of Macau. Most of them are on the Macau peninsula, some are on Taipa, an island in the south, connected with 3 bridges. Las Vegas! All these casinos. Neon lights again. Huge hotels. Inside there are huge halls filled with all kind of slot machines and tables for all kind of gambling. Thousands. And they work 24 hours a day. Busloads of Chinese tourists enter the casinos and leave them again, only to visit the next one.

The other Macau is narrow streets, some parks and temples, two fortresses, left from the Portuguese and egg tarts. I had a long day with extensive hikes in great warm and sunny weather. I liked this part of Macau very much. Better than Hong Kong and better than casinos. But to explore these is an experience anyway. In the evening a bus brought me to the ‹Venetian›, the newest and biggest casino. What a waste. A huge hotel towering over a huge casino. Luxury inside. Everything huge. Crazy!

After only two nights I left Macau, went back to China. A shuttle bus brought me to the border and another bus to Guangzhou, where I bought a night train ticket to Guilin. And from there I reached Yangshuo. But this you already know from my last report.

So, that’s it for this year.

Have a nice slide into 2008!

Hello friends

Let’s start with my best wishes for the New Year to all of you!!!

That almost all wishes and dreams come true!
But some shouldn’t, unless you are able to create new ones immediately. Or what would life be without any dreams left?

And for those who still read my reports, I’ll continue, where I ended last time: Chongqing and the Yangtze 3-gorges-cruise.
I raised the question, how a ‹Luxury Ferry› would look like in my last report. I now know the answer. It’s an old, rusty pot. But it seemed to be quite safe and I was in for an adventure anyway, so I didn’t care to much. What I did care was with whom I’ll have to share my ‹First class cabin›. I did not meet ‹my mate› untill late the first evening on board. This was some hours after boarding and check-in. The cruise started in the night. I was already in bed, reading a bit, when finally the door was opened and a friendly chinese man came in. Not introducing himself he just ‹boarded› his bed. He didn’t speak any english, so he decided no to commumicate at all, even after some shy attempts from my side. But he was always smiling. He didn’t bring any luggage, which seemed a little strange to me. Half an hour later someone knocked on the door: a friend of him. He let him in and they talked a while. Before leaving the cabin the other guy handed a cigarette to my cabin buddy. All alarms went off inside me. I started to communicate again, asking him, please, not to smoke in the cabin. He surprisingly (or maybe I was really clear about that? 🙂 ) understood very fast and with a smile put the cigarette away. No problem at all! The remaining nights my cabin mate did not show up again. But whenever we met somewhere on the ferry he smiled very friendly at me. Later I found out, that he shared the cabin with his friend from then on, where he anyway had stored his luggage.

The cruise itself was very nice. I only realized on the second day, that I was doing it 10 years to late, because of the construction of the big dam, which nears it’s finalization. So the three famous gorges were already filled with water and not half as spectacular as they used to be. The water level, after completion, will be 175m higher than before the dam construction was started. 156m were reached already. Neverthenless the trip was beautiful.
The second day started with an excursion to the ‹ghost city› Fengdu. I never figured, why it is called so. And a temple could be visited as well (Zhang Fei). Both sides were nothing special, but I’ve seen so many nice places before, I’m probably spoiled.
The third day we passed the first of the three gorges (Qutang). Still impressive. High walls on both sides. As it was foggy that day, I didn’t take to many photos. As a side effect, with the much higher water level, some new spectacular gorges emerged, where there were some narrow valleys before. So on the same day we had a tour in smaller boats into these ‹3 little gorges›. This was a great little tour indeed.
Next day started with crossing the second gorge (Wu Xia) and the third one (Xiling) before leaving the ferry for a tour to the construction site of the big dam. What a project. Crazy. Huge. What an impact on nature and culture. Lot’s of environmental problems are connected to this dam and nobody so far knows, how to solve them. Sometimes I think certain projects are realized, only because they are feasible, and not because they are really needed. Personal interests are often driving such projects.
I then spent another night on the ferry and checked out at 6:00 in the morning in Yichang, where I bought a train ticket to Shanghai for the same day. I arrived there very relaxed at 14:00 next day after a nice 24 hour ride in my hard sleeper bed.

Shanghai is, after the construction of the Yangtze dam, another good example of constuction/destruction. All over China I observed immense development. Skyscrapers are appearing like mushrooms everywhere. No city, that has not a skyline like New York nowadays. While the quality of the work seems to be questionable often, the quantity is really impressive! And Shanghai is topping all I’ve seen so far. Entire quarters are demolated for new buildings. Only famous ’smaller› buildings, like the Peace Hotel are renovated (and so it was closed). The rest is teared down and huge blocks and skyscrapers are built everywhere. ‹The Bund› in Shanghai, the famous avenue along the riverside, is a construction area as well, because some tunneling is done to give the traffic more room. Maybe this results in a nicer pedestrian area as well. But at the moment it’s just a mess.
So I was impressed by the way Shanghai is developing, but not to much by the city itself. To many people. To many street sellers bothering you: «copy watches, DVD, bags (Luis Vuitton)» every 20 meters and they were very insisting. I didn’t lose my temper, but I got harsher than I liked sometimes.

From Shanghai a short train ride brought me to Hangzhou, a city known for it’s lake and parks around it. And indeed, it is a very nice place. The hostel was away from any road set up in a quite traditional house in a garden environment. I only spent one day in Hangzhou, as there were no train tickets available to Hong Kong for the following days. Together with Janet and Anne, two dutch students doing studies in Macau, I hired bikes and we explored the parks. And in a fancy restaurant with an ‹all-you-can-eat buffet› we filled our stomaches in the evening.
As I had to leave the next morning, I didn’t see as much, as I’d liked to. Back to Shanghai and further to Hong Kong, another couple of days were to spend in trains.

Now, for Hong Kong and for Macau I’ll write a seperate report.

So for this time there is only one place left to introduce: Yangshuo. Since yesterday I’m at this famous, touristy but very nice place. Absolutely beautiful sceneries, i.e. Yulongriver.
Yesterday the weather was chilly and wet, but as I’m writing this the sun seems to get trough slowly. So it’s time to go for a walk and explore the rock formations a bit.

I plan to spend the rest of the year here and so I’ll have some more days to do some tours on the river and visit the surroundings by bike.

Ok, the Hong Kong and Macau report will follow soon. Probably still this year 🙂 .

cu, Thomas

Hello again

Little more than 3 weeks I’m now in China, but it seems a lot more, as
I’ve been to so many places already.
So, the 16th of November we arrived in Datong. I planed to stay there a few days and visit some sights before heading to Beijing, the last stretch on the Transsibirian/Transmongolian train. As the temples, caves and monasteries to see sounded so great in the guide books I persuaded Citt to get off the train as well and so we spent the following 2 weeks travelling together.

In Datong we booked a tour to a monastery (Xuankong Si), which is hanging in the wall of a mountain range. A very spectacular site, absolutely gorgeous.

The same tour brought us to the Yungang Grottoes. Hundrets or even thousands of Buddha sculptures are carved into sandstone there. Again a real breathtaking site!

The next day a taxi brought us to the oldest wooden pagoda (in Yinxian) of the country. So the first 2 days already were loaded with very beautiful places, but this was only the beginning. Before leaving to Taihuay by bus the next morning we hurried to have a look at the 9-dragon wall in Datong. Taihuay is a rather small town located in the centre of 5 holy mountains: Wutai Shan. Around town more than 30 temples have survived the ‹cultural revolution›. The atmosphere there was so peaceful. We explored quite a number of these temples. One was even accessible by a cable car.
As the guest house was a rather poor and overpriced place, we decided to leave the next day already. So we skipped the most remote temples. Another bus brought us to Tayuan, where we had to spend a night before reaching our next target, Pingyao. This is a small city, with a well preserved old town and also a city wall surrounding it. We walked around the center on the wall (6 km) and got some nice views of the old town from up there. We also visited some temples and residential houses. Even our guest house was built in the traditional style, so our room was in a nice courtyard, away from the road. Most buildings had only one or two floors, very few had more. Outside the city a temple was to be visited, called Shuangling Si (a daoist temple). We hired bikes to get there. This was a strange place. Dead atmosphere. Strange sculptures (showing scenes from hell) and so on. We both didn’t like this place. We used our bikes to stroll around the old town a bit more in the evening.

A night train (hard sleeper: open compartments with 6 berths) brought us to Xi’an. This is a big city, that serves as starting point to many sights. The most famous of them is the Terracota Army. We first explored the city a bit, went to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and to the Historical museum. For the next day we booked a tour that should bring us to some thermal springs, to the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, to the Banpo and the Lintong museums and finally to the Terracota soldiers. Instead of leaving at 9:00 we were called at 8:30 and put to a ’similar› tour, with only Chinese tourists. Instead of seeing the springs and the Banpo museum we visited also a Jade shop, a knife shop and a place called the 8 ancient wonders of the world, with some fake pyramids, a Colossus of Rhodos, the hanging gardens of Babylon etc. And number 8 of the wonders was the Terracota Army 🙂 . We got to the Lintong museum and to the tomb and at 15:00 finally to the Terracota Army.

This is an amazing place. Still we were not very happy wasting half of the day in shops and at fake wonders, so we complained when we were back. «Chinese like such places», «Chinese like shopping», were the answers, but we explained, that this was not what we booked, that there was no English speaking guide either, as promised. Why have they put us to another tour anyway? There were plenty of tours out there with western tourists. They should have chosen one of those. We asked for our money back and after long negotiations we got half it. That’s fair, because half of the tour was good and half was just what they promise, as the tour was not a cheap one. The next day we had more time to visit the Moslem quarter and it’s mosque and the Beilin museum, before the next night train brought us to Beijing.

The cities, like Datong, Xi’an, Taihuan or Beijing are not only huge, they are also very busy. Shops and business at every corner. Money runs the places. Commerce everywhere. Dozends of banks. Capitalism! On touristy spots the chinese are used to western people, but on many places they still stared at us as we were from outer space. Aliens. Few speak english, but it’s enough to get through usually. Sometimes some phrases out of the guidebook help as well. Beijing is still different. Even it’s huge I felt it less busy. There a lot of western tourists are around, visiting the sights like the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace. We of course visited these places as well. Citt also wanted to see a place called ‹798 space›, where the actual art scene has established dozends of galleries and exhibitions. A very interesting place indeed.

We also booked a tour to the great wall of course.We’ve chosen a tour that does not go to the common places with a lot of tourists. We passed by these sites and approached the wall in an 1 hour walk from a different spot. There were only the 9 people of our group walking along a stretch of maybe 3 km on the wall, where it is not renovated but still is in quite good condition. This was a great tour!

During all the time we also had great weather. Many people complained of not having seen the sky for weeks because of the fog and smog. And pollution is a big problem here. But for some reason this was not the case, when we were there. We had great blue sky most of the time. Another day we also hired bikes and explored the city this way. It’s easy to get around by bike. It’s surely not the same as it used to be years ago, as there are many cars in the streets now, and they drive like mad. One has to look out carefully, before crossing the road, but still, once you got used to the way traffic works, it’s perfect. Distances are just to big to explore the city by foot.

The 1st of December we left Beijing in a high tech train (like TGV) to Shanhaiguan. This is the city, where the great wall starts (or ends) at the Yellow Sea.

Part of the wall there is a fortress and because located a the ocean it was a very special place to visit. A local train, quite crowded, brought us to Tanggu the same day. From there a ferry leaves twice a week to South-Korea, and that’s what Citt’s plan was. Travelling through Korea and then further to Japan. So in Tanggu we said goodby the next morning and Citt took the ferry and I took another local crowded train to to Tai’an. There I climbed Tai Shan the next day, from 120m up to 1545m. Stairs, that make soar your legs another couple of days. But the scenery was beautiful. Tai Shan is another holy montain, only on the top it’s crowded and full of shops, even inside the temples. A cable car goes up there … So the atmosphere up there is quite spoiled, but the climb was great!

From Tai’an a hard sleeper train (9 hours) brought me to Luoyang, where some other famous grottoes were to be visited (Longmen Grottoes) and another nice temple (Guanlin Miao). I went there by local bus, wjich is a nice way to see some of the street life. Next day the Baima Si temple was my last sight to see before I boarded a train (for 19 hours) again, which brought me to Chongqing, where I’m now at the moment. This is a huge city again. The busiest so far I’ve seen! Skyscrapers, neonlights, department stores, food stands, KFC’s, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Pizzahut, a pedestrian zone and always a lot of people. This morning I visited a temple. What a contrast. Old wooden constructions and roof tyles in the foreground and skyscrapers in the back. A purely commerce city again.
From here a ‹Luxury Ferry› (whatever this means, I’ll know soon) will bring me to Yichang, through the 3 famous Yangtze gorges, in 4 days. From there I’ll head to Shanghai.

Yesterday it was raining, the first time on my trip. The weather is already improving, so I hope I’ll have not to much fog or rain on this river cruise. It is winter here as well. I’m always wearing a scarf and a warm jumper. So I’ll speed up a little my travelling to get to warmer zones soon.

So far I haven’t made any bad experiences on my trip. People were always friendly. Here in China I’m a very exotic object, and lots of folks stare at me. And of course I’m target for many Chinese wanting to do some business. In front of my hotel here for example is a guy always talking to me the word ‹computer›. But he can not explain more and there is no computer to be seen around, so I’ve no idea what is about all that. Some women insist selling chinese newspapers sometimes. They all are very opportunsits and they don’t know the word ’no›. In the train the stare at me as well in the beginning, but after a while they get used to this strange human and life normalizes. Communication is very small to none, unless someone happens to speak english a bit. But this is rare.
There is one more thing I have to add! I like the food here! It’s very tasty and yummy!!!

So, to round it up: Together with Citt I spent two very nice weeks in northern China and another one alone now, a little less perfect, this one, as travelling with a mate is easier and of much more fun. In my previous posting I’ve included a link to Citt’s web page. Have a look at it, as Citt’s work is very interesting!

I like China very much. It’s easier to travel as I expected. It has probably changed a lot during recent years. Bicycles are still around a lot, but in the city centres they are disapearing. There are more and more cars. Traffic jam is the result and pollution. Many factories and power plants are polluting the air at worst as well! The Chinese are facing big challenges. But this no news to you, I suppose. Still, it’s different to be in the scenes of all that.

cu, Thomas

PS: If you want to get an impression about the sights, Google is your friend, as I didnt’t manage to download some photos yet 🙁 .

Hello all

Sorry, I’m behind schedule with my story. I’m in China since 20 days and only now I’m coming up with Mongolia.

Here we go:
1 month ago I crossed the border in the ‹Transmongolian Train›, which left Irkutsk in the evening of November 4th.
At the border, at around 11 pm the russian officers collected the passports and after a couple of hours the reappeared and started to search the wagons. No idea, what they were searching for, but they did it very firm. They opened every space of the wagon, looked under the carpets And they did it twice. They didn’t touch tourists bags and backpacks.

On the stretch between Irkuts and the border Mongolian passangers were moving around boxes and goods all the time. They were hiding this stuff and redistributing it. Every minute a guy passed by our compartment, carrying some boxes. The officers of course found these goods as well, but were not concerned about.
So I wonder, why these stuff was hidden anyway. Very strange!!!

After 4 1/2 hours the train started to move again. We got our passports back.

30 minutes later we stoped at the Mongolian border. There the procedures for customs and immigrations were straight forward and took only 3 more hours.
But this is part of the schedule and we arrived in Ulan Bator (UB) according the time table.

At the railway station hostels owner are waiting for tourists and try to get them to their places. The hostel I wanted to go to, does this to, so I had a comfortable ride to that place.
There I booked a 5 days/4 nights tour to some more remote places of Mongolia, together with 2 Australian buddies, which I met at the hostel. The same day I also explored UB a bit.

The tour was a long drive on dirt roads and tracks in an old russian military jeep the first day. After some hours driving we had lunch in a very simple restaurant. There I had my second ‹experience› with basic bathrooms. It was a small, doorless hut, built over a huge ditch and you just stand on two planks for squating. Sometimes 4 of this huts stand in a row on the same hole. Sometimes they have a door.

After 3 more hours drive through beautiful prairies we got to lake Ogiy. Beautiful sceneries. Another 2 hours and we got to our first days overnight stay. This was in a ger (Jurte), which is an experience as well. We had time to explore the surroundings a bit before sun was setting. After a simple dinner we went to bed. We felt asleep early, as the ride was quite hard. The ger has a stove in its middle. Our host put a load of wood into it. Neverthenless the fire was out at 2 am and temperature drop significantly.
In the morning we had 5 degrees below zero in our ger.

The next day, after a breakfast (bred without anything but tea) we left for another long drive. First to a pretty canyon, some hours later, after another simple lunch, in another simple restaurant, we reached ‹White Lake National Park›. This is such a beautiful place. The lake was completely frozen. Black and clear ice. I’ve been walking for hours on this lake the next day. As the ice was still ‹growing› there were strange noises all the time. Somtimes the lake was roaring, sometimes it was cracking. But it was safe to walk on it, even the noises made me worry some times. Again we slept in a ger. For 2 nights this time at this place. The breakfast was not better than in the other place, but we got used to it. Day number 4 brought us to another beautiful site. An old monastery: ‹Erdene zuu› in Kharkorin. Nice temples surrounded by a large wall. Beautiful evening light. And the fourth experience in a ger. It was the same every morning. -5 degrees.

Back in Ulan Bator I decided to do another tour to the ‹Tereldsch National Park› instead of spending to much time in UB itself. This was now a 2 nights/3 days experience in a bigger group. Only a couple hours drive away from UB this National Park is another beautiful place in Mongolia. It’s more touristy, as it is so close to UB. This time we occupied two gers (11 people). As a new experience, this time the stoves were also filled up with coal, to keep them hot a longer time. The host meant it to good. The first evening he heated the ger up so it became a sauna. I measured 39 degrees on my bed sheet. We had to open the door, which made our host a little angry. The second night the same story again. Even we shouted at him to stop putting so much coal in to the oven, he did not listen. The oven got red again. Glowing. The chimney was red glowing as well the first meter. This guy was mad.

The scenery there just so beautiful. I took a load of photos. I climbed all hills in the environment. I wonder how this place must be in summer, when the meadows are green and full of flowers.

Back in UB we had time left to visit the so called black market. It’s a huge market, where you can find whatever you need. I went there with Citt (http://www.teacup.net.au/). I met her on the tour to Tereldsch N.P. and there we walked around quite a bit together.

Next morning a bunch of people from the same guesthouse was to leave to China on the same train. 6 or 7 seven from our Tereldsch tour were on the same train. After crossing Gobi desert we reached the mongolian-chinese border around midnight. Imigration- and custom controls are much faster here. It only takes 1 to 2 hours for the mongolian part and 2 to 4 hours for the chinese part. But there it includes the replacment of the wheels of the wagons, as in China the trains run on a narrower track with.

So the 15th of November I already left Mongolia, after only 10 days.
I might go back there once, in summer.
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Thomas Stalder
tomtom@coco.ch | http://www.coco.ch/ | https://weblog.coco.ch/

Hi all together

One month has gone since I left Zurich and I’ve visited so many places already. To me it seems that it must be much longer.

After Finland I entered Russia by an international train connection from Helsinki to St. Petersburg. At the border they collected all passports and went away with them. The train was stuck there for an hour and nobody was allowed to leave its wagon. But then, with the stamp in the passport the journey went on without any interruption. The scenery changed. The houses were not looking neat anymore, but were old and in disasterous conditions. Smoke everywhere. A strech of some kilometers was stinking badly after diesel.
I arrived in St. Petersburg and with an arranged transfer I got to the homestay I was booked in. First I thought it will bring far away from the center. This is actually true, but with the excellent metro system the have, this was not a problem. I had a large room in typical russian appartement in a quite big block. The flat was causy and the lady who owned the flat was very friendly. She even spoke some english, so we were able to communicate. The breakfast was huge and excellent. Russian style always, with things like ‹blini› and others I don’t remember the name.

The following days I explored the center of St. Petersburg and also the sights around the city.

Sometimes it was a little hard to get there. The first atempt to get to the castles of Pushkin and Pawlov failed as I missed the train (Elektrischka) and the next one only left two hours later. In summer they leave every twenty minutes. So I decided to go to Peterhof instead, which is closer. Peterhof is famous for its many and huge fountains (beside the big, nice recidence). Only at this time of year the fountains were shut down. I knew this, as I am travelling to late and few tourists only are around. I still enjoyed the parks very much. At least it was not raining.

Next day I managed to go to Pushkin with a marshrutka (Minibus that serves a certain route) and later to Pawlov as well. Two very different castles, in size and in amount of tourists. The palace of Queen Katharina is used by many couples as nice background for their wedding. It is also famous for its amber room (actually a reconstruction, because nobody knows, where the original is).

Pavlow on the other side is rather small but has a huge and really nice park to explore.

From St. Petersburg to Moscow I had the first russian overnight train experience. I had to share the cabin with a nice older women and married couple. When this women entered the room she showed me immediatelly, that she would have prefered to be alone with her husband. She made a face like ten years rain and didn’t say a word. Didn’t even respond to my ‹hello›. I always thought, that I have smelly feet after beeing in my shoes for some hours. But now I learned that there is new dimension of smell. After this women took off her shoes life got hard in this compartement. First she insisted to keep the door closed, but with the help of the other lady, and finally her husband, we managed to have the door open and have some fresh air coming in.
Well, this really was a case for the Guiness Book of Records!
Somehow we survived to Moscow.

There I had to manage to get to the hotel by myself, which was surprisingly easy. This hotel was also not in the center. It was big, unpersonal, uncausy.

But the staff was friendly and helpful. Breakfast was awfull. I don’t want to go into further details here. I was not so impressed by the Red Square neither by the Kremlin. Of course they are nice and huge.

The first time I crossed a square near the Red Square a minibus of the police stopped nearby and a policeman got out calling me. He then approached me to control my passport, visa and registration. One has to get registered in Russia during the first three days and in any place where you stay longer as three days. As my registration has been done in St. Petersburg correctly there was nothing he could complain so he left me alone.
Police is known to hunt tourists that fail to register and cause them troubles and fines.

One «must see» in Moscow ist the Metro stations. They are all different and gorgeous.

Shortly before midnight I boarded the train to Irkutsk after four days in Moscow. The stretch which would take me three days and four nights. Passing almost not changing landscapes the train works his way towards east. Forest, forest, forest, meadows, swamp, and more forest.

From time to time a village. Always the same kind of tiny wooden houses. Sometimes painted nicely, often in poor condition. After hours the train stops in a city. 15 minutes time to buy some instant noodles on the platform, or bred or crackers.

Than the train moves again. Forests, forests, forests. Villages. Forests and more forests.

Crossing the Ural mountain range happened during the night. But as this mountain range is only small hills, there’s anyway nothing to take note of. Only you’re crossing from Europe to Asia. But when the sun rises, after having stopped in a city and having passed villages and forrests, it’s the same again outside. Neverthenless I did not get bored on bord. I read a lot. I tried to communicate with my compartment mates, which this time were very ok.
They changed sometimes in some cities, while I stayed for the whole time. No english speaking peoples around. The train was amasingly new, modern and clean. Comfortable and causy. Of course there is little space and privacy. And no possibility for a shower. As the days were short I also slept quite a lot and so I was very relaxed, when the train finally arrived in Irkutsk.

There another transfer was arranged to Listvjanka at the shore of lake Baikal.

I stayed again in a homestay, in typical small sibirian house. It was cold outside but very nice inside. Again an older lady (again widow) was my host. I had a small room. The house did not have water supply. The toilet was in a tiny hut in the backyard. To go to the toilet in the night I had to dress up. The water in this hut was frozen. And the air …, ok, I leave this away. But all the rest was ok. In Listvjanka nothing is going on anymore at this time of year. Tourists disapeared weeks ago. Most cafes closed down.

But it was nice to walk along the lake shore and to climb the hills surrounding the village. On arrival it was cloudy but the second day brought very nice weather. Including a cold brise. The third day was cloudy again and on the way back to Irkutsk it was snowing hard.

In Irkutsk I strolled around. Took photos of all the churches and old wooden houses, which are still very common in the city. It’s a strange mix between old and new buildings. Irkutsk is very lively. Only I did not find good places to eat.
I stayed again in a homestay. But this time it was a half flat connected to the office of the travel agency. But to use the word travel agency is inappropriate as well, as there was no office. It’s just an address. The other half of the flat was occupied by a russian student. It was her duty to prepare me my breakfast and provide information.

After three nights in Irkutsk I was to board the train a last time in Russia. The train arrived from Moscow at 5:15 and left to Ulan Bator at 5:43. So I had to be there quite early. A taxi brought me to the railway station. This time the train was much older. The staff was from Mongolia. Friendly, less reserved as the russian staff. The wagons were not so clean anymore. This time I had the compartment for myself for the entire stretch. And there were more english speaking tourists on the train as well. We played cards, gossiped and ate together.

Arriving at the border, on the russian side, the train stopped, the passports were colected and then nothing happened for more than two hours. Then suddenly many russian officers boarded the train and searched it. I’ve never seen such a thing before. They searched every corner, opened every tap, looked under the carpet. And they did it twiceeverywhere!!!
Later we got our passports back and after 4 and a half hours the train moved on to the mongolian boarder control. There the administration took only two and a half hours. But this is as it is: normal. The train arrived in Ulan Bator exactly as sceduled.

So that’s where I am now. And where I start to a 5 days country trip tomorrow.

So Russia is history for me now. It’s a nice country, much as I expected. I must admit it would be better to travel in summer or early fall. Or maybe in january, when everything is covered with a lot of snow. End of october and november are not the most atractive months. I must admit, that I’m glad to get to Mongolia and China soon in terms of food. If you don’t want to spend very much money in Russia for food, you don’t get really good stuff. One exception are some tiny bakeries in the metro stations, which sell very tasty sweet stuff.

Ok, that’s it so far. No exciting stories worth to tell.

Hope you all are fine. Till next time, stay tuned.
Greetings from Ulan Bator!
Thomas

Hello all

Today is the day.

Just a short notice: Heavely packed with to much stuff in my two backpacks I’ll take the train this afternoon to Copenhagen, where I’ll stay a few days before heading to Stockholm. Many thanks to all who sent me their good wishes and to those who helped me in preparing this trip.

I guess the next mail will be more interesting, so stay tuned.

CU, Thomas

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tomtom@coco.ch | http://www.coco.ch/ | skype: tom.on.tour

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