Moscow, Russia

After three long days and four nights, our train trip from Asia to Europe on the trans-Siberian railway is complete.  It was our longest trip, however we kept ourselves entertained with the rest of our group through playing cards, reading books, getting off at stations for a wander around and a few bottles of vodka.  We never realised – firstly how big Russia really is, and, secondly, how much snow there is in the world – the whole of the journey and all of Russia is covered in a snug white blanket.  We obviously got a little bit of cabin fever a long the way, but looking back it was a pretty awesome journey!

Now we’re in Moscow and have been seeing as much of the city as is possible.  It’s still fairly cold here at about -18C and the snow was falling for most of yesterday.  We started at a little church to give us a taste of local Muscovite life and then onto the main attraction – Red Square.  Unfortunately it was closed, we think due to the heavy snowfall, but we don’t really know since they’re so secretive!  So we went to a lovely old shopping centre where we had food at a canteen that served old style Soviet food, which was actually really nice and was so fresh compared to the pot noodles we’d been eating on the train for the last 3 days.

After lunch we were glad to walk around the edge of Red Square and saw the famous St Basil’s Cathedral.  We had a bit of spare time so we played a random chase game out the back of St Basil’s before heading down to the river.  The game warmed us up a lot and was great fun – playing in the snow with such a great backdrop.  Along the river was the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, the main church of Russia.  It was demolished during the Communist era, but rebuilt in the 90s to the same design inside and out.  It was impressive to see how they had rebuilt such a magnificent building in the 1990s.

Our honcho twins gave us a brief chat about the sights overlooking the completely frozen river before we headed back to try and get into Red Square.  This time we were successful!  Walking around the square is quite impressive, with Lenin’s mausoleum in the middle and the massive walls of the Kremlin running along one side.  We were also lucky enough to go ice skating in Red Square!  It was a bit of a laugh, but also really cool as we were in Red Square, surrounded by snow and the Christmas tree was up .

After such a long day we’ve taken it a little bit slower today, just walking around some of the old streets (they have some amazing architecture and lots of cultural sights all over the place) and visiting the Kremlin Armoury.  The armoury is a bit like the crown jewels in London, showcasing some of the gems, arms, clothing and royal carriages of times gone by.  Some interesting pieces in there, especially the collection of old horse-drawn carriages / sleds!

Moscow is a really interesting place with lots to do and see.  The Metro (Underground) system is good for getting around, but difficult to understand as everything is generally written in Cyrillic.  It’s been so good seeing Moscow in the snow, it seems to have added something a little to the place, making it even more impressive.

1 day to go!

Lake Baikal, Siberia, Russia

We arrived in Irkutsk after an interesting two night train ride from Ulaanbaatar. The border crossing took about 8 hours as our carriage (uncoupled to anything else) was left on one side of the border for immigration and customs, then shunted across the border, for yet more immigration and customs from the Russians. To add to the ridiculousness of the crossing we watched Mongolian smugglers hiding all their wares in hiding places all over the train, so the Russians didn’t find them. Some of it was fairly obvious and it soon appeared that the train staff may have been paid to turn a blind eye. It also transpired later in the trip that, potentially, the carriage stewardess may have been in on the whole scam! It was interesting to watch anyway.

After spotting our first Lada, we were shuttled off on a quick transfer to our home for three nights – a beautiful wooden chalet near Baikal Lake. We were fortunate enough this time to get our own room and ensuite, so this cheered us up no end.

The lake itself is huge (about 5th biggest in the world) and the deepest fresh water lake in the world (about 1600m). It also freezes over completely in January / February, but now it simply steams all day – as the air is so cold compared to the lake. The temperature at the moment seems to be averaging about -25C during the day and about five or so less at night. Can’t complain though, as this is what we signed up for!

So far we’ve been on a couple of hikes in the snow around parts of the lake to view-points. We have been dog-sledding (amazing fun both driving and as a passenger!) and skidooing. We’ve had so much fun in the snow it’s great! It’s also been really relaxing, as we’ve managed to have late breakfasts, sun doesn’t rise until about 9:30, and enjoy drinks by a warm fire.

We’re starting to see more European themes coming through, even though we’re 4 days train ride away from Moscow. Things like the food and traffic have all begun to become more normal! Not long now and we’ll be back where we started!

Outer Mongolia and the trans-Siberian railway

We have had a brilliant few days on our trans-Siberian tour.  We left Beijing last week and boarded our train to Mongolia.  It was fantastic to see the scenery change as we went along.  We saw the dry land of China change to become the snowy wilderness of Mongolia.

The journey was very long, mainly because you have to cross the China/Mongolia border.  It takes 6 hours to go through at from 8pm – 2am.  It involved lots of passport showing, swine flu checking and wheel changing on the train.  We couldn’t go to sleep because we had to wait to get our passports back.  The trains are like the ones in Vietnam, 4 people per cabin, but the journey is smoother.  Believe it or not, it gets really hot onboard, because they crank up the heating so much.  Then, when you want to open a window you get shouted at – but it’s all good fun!

On arrival in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, we met our guide, Bata (Batzorig) meaning brave and strong, and he took us to a nice place for lunch.  Already, the people seemed more smiley than the Chinese people that we had met!  After a nice long lunch (needed after horrendous noodles on the train), we were given the option to ski in Mongolia.  It was brilliant, we never knew we were going to get the opportunity to do such a thing!!  At first we were given some boots that didn’t really fit with the skis, but someone in our group is a competitative ski-er, so he helped us out!  The slopes were so peaceful and it was such good fun.  No queues, loads of good ski lifts and fantastic snow!  We are ready for Sauze D’Oulx 2010!!!  I forgot to mention, it was also in the dark, with flood lighting.

The following day we headed into the middle of the snow covered wilderness, away from Ulaambaatar.  It took approx 1.5 hours to get to our ger camp and we were so pleased to see it.  There were loads of little round tents surrounded by snowy hills and… more snow.  It was beautiful and each little tent was so cosy, with proper beds inside and a fire.  We enjoyed settling in and, after a yummy lunch, went down the road to meet a nomadic family.  It was nice to chat to them (through our guide who translated) and meet their cute little boy.  They also had a couple of cows who somehow survive the -20 days and -40 nights.  Believe you me, it is pretty cold.  Our toes are permanently numb, even indoors!

The next day more fun things lay ahead.  We went sledging in the morning, which was good.  We started off on some gentle slopes and then moved on up to some very scary ones!  They keep us very busy here.  We went horse riding as well and saw more of this beautiful country.  It was very amusing to see Dave on a crazy horse.  It kept galloping off into the distance, whereas mine just walked (thankfully).  By the end of it (1 hour) we were so cold that our bodies were shaking pretty crazily!  Thankfully they have very good fires.  People come to your tent at night to ensure that the fire is still burning.  After the horse riding, Dave went off to do some archery, but I couldn’t move my fingers or toes and decided to stay by the fire

And, finally, today we made our way back to Ulaambaatar.  Believe it or not, Dave undertook some Mongolian wrestling!!!!  How funny is that?  Just imagine it… He got flipped over at one point, but apparently enjoyed it.  He also claims to have beaten the biggest wrestler…

And now we are waiting for our train trip to Russia.  It takes 2 days – wish us luck!

Great Wall of China

Our trip to the Great Wall of China began with an early morning and a 140km drive out of Beijing into the countryside. It was still early when we arrived at the starting point of our walk at Jinshanling and very cold in the shadow of the mountain that the part of the great wall we were visiting sat on. We rugged up to about 2 layers bottom and 4 top with all the skiing kit we had managed to carry around SE Asia.

After a short walk we saw the wall stretching out into the distance high above us and wandering off as far as the eye could see. It was a clear sunny, but cold, day and it was amazing seeing this huge structure snaking up and down the mountains. We were quickly joined by a group of locals trying to sell a whole bunch of souvenirs. They followed us for about a kilometre, or about 4 turrets, until they eventually got the idea that no matter how far they followed us we weren’t that interested in their ‘I’ve visited the Great Wall’ t-shirts. (We did better than some, who said that they were followed over half of the walk!). Overall we were surprised by how empty this part of the wall was, generally we were the only people there, and the only other non-locals we saw were on our 10 man bus – really cool!

The walk took as a few hours and went on for about 10km before finishing at a suspension bridge across a small thermal pool/river. We left the wall here, at Simatai, but it continued up the hill and along a huge ridge into the distance. The wall was really impressive, parts of what we saw were restored and others left in their original condition. It really was an amazing sight and has left us feeling ready to go again after becoming a bit ‘templed-out’.

We definitely reckon that the wall deserves its title of being Great

Beijing, China

After just one week in cold China, I (Carly) have developed a yucky cold.  It was only a matter of time really wasn’t it?!  Dave seems to be doing ok and hasn’t caught one… yet!

We have been really enjoying our time in Beijing.  Before coming, admittedly, we imagined a horrible, overcrowded, polluted city.  Nevertheless, we have had a great time in this clean, friendly city.  We have used taxis, buses, tubes and trains and have found them all to be quite easy to use.  From what we’ve been told, Beijing was cleaned up a great deal for the olympics and since then all signs have the English equivalent written on them.  We even tackled the tube during rush hour and found it simple to use.  To order food, you have to point at the menu, rather than try to speak, but that’s not exactly a hardship! 

The highlight of our visit has to be the Great Wall, but we are going to devote a whole post to that later, so I’ll tell you about the other things we’ve been up to!  The Forbidden City was definitely worth braving the cold for.  It’s a large area, right in the centre of Beijing.  We have seen many, many temples on our trip and were getting a bit ‘templed out’.  However, this one greatly impressed us.  There are various little ornate buildings that emperors have used and a great big moat surrounding the whole area.  Nearby is Tiananmen Square, the largest city square in the world.  In the middle, you can see Chairman Mao’s mausoleum and loads of Chinese tourists queuing up to go and see him.

We have also taken a trip across to Olympic Park.  We had heard that it looks really good when lit up at night, so we went for when darkness fell.  However, an ice-cold wind was blowing and after waiting for ages (and walking around a warm shop several times), we gave up and got back on the warm tube!  It was nice to see the huge stadium and swimming cube anyway.

We thought we ought to do the tourist thing and see as many temples as they have, so we headed across town on a local bus to the Summer Palace.  This was nice and set on a hill, so you can take a walk to the top and have a look around the area.  I remember having a nice hot chocolate!  We also visited the Lama temple, which is another intricate building.  I know I’m sounding templed out and we were beginning to feel that way, despite the amazing history of this city.  Don’t worry, the Great Wall totally sorted us out and restored our enthusiasm for tourism.  It was brilliant, but I’ll let Dave tell you about that in a new post soon. 

Xi’an and the Terracotta Warriors, China

Firstly, thank you Sarah for publishing this.  We didn’t have access to our blog from Xi’an – seems better now we’re in Beijing, so we’ve added the pictures!

We have had a good few days in China.  It took 2 flights overnight from Bangkok to get to Xi’an and we are now experiencing a very different world to what we are used to.  Firstly, it’s absolutely freezing!  Having been in south-east Asia for the last 2 months (and of course Australia previously), we have got used to constant, hot, humid weather.  As we flew up from Thailand the weather changes were even visible from the plane.  The lush tropical wet land became more wintery, with snow capped mountains and a frightening looking fog developed.  Needless to say, stepping off the plane was quite a shock!

At first Xi’an appeared very dull and grey.  We got stuck in some traffic and hoped our taxi man (who did not speak any form of English) would find our hotel, which we had attempted to show him in Chinese writing!  On arrival, it was quite alarming when a hotel staff member opened the car door and, before saying hello, demanded our passports.  It later transpired that this was just because they had upgraded us and he wanted to check who we were.  This was the best upgrade ever!  We had booked a very standard hotel, but because they had over booked, we got placed in the only 5* hotel in Xi’an!!!!  It was so lovely – thick fluffy towels, a big warm room, free chocolates, people who spoke English, safe food, buffet breakfast… I could go on!

It was difficult to actually drag ourselves out of the hotel .  However, our main purpose was to see the Terracotta Warriors.  The next day we headed there early and got ourselves an audio guide around the 3 ancient pits.  We decided to start with the smallest one, to ensure that we would end on a high.  We certainly did.  The warriors are amazing and it’s quite unbelievable to think that they were buried underground for thousands of years.  There are 6000 warriors altogether and each is unique – they have different poses and hairstyles.  We stood looking at them for ages.  They each have their own little compartments and some even have horses and chariots.  It took an hour to get back to town, after visiting the warriors creators masoleum and then a quick visit to the Big Goose Pagoda.  This is in the centre of Xi’an and is over 1000 years old.  When you consider when it was built it is pretty amazing.  It’s a really tall building and we thought we ought to walk all around it to get photos from all angles!  Following that, we retired to the hotel for a nice swim and spot of table-tennis .

The next morning we decided to go into the city again to have a look around.  For once (perhaps the only time on our whole trip), we appeared to be the only non-domestic tourists in town.  This attracted a lot of stares and it was quite nice to feel that you were going somewhere without the rest of Britain/Australia/America/Germany!  We went up the bell tower and drum tower.  Again, these were in such good condition considering their age.  Then we embarked on a walk on the city wall.  This wall is huge and surrounds the city.  It was first built in the 7^th century and is, once again, in really good condition thanks to regular restoration and enlargement.  It’s about 13.7kms the whole way around, so Xi’an was pretty big, even in ancient times.

We wandered back to the hotel, which had been decorated with lovely Christmas trees and lights.  There is nothing better than cold weather to make you feel Christmassy!  It was really nice.  We saw a Christmas tree earlier this week in Bangkok, but with the hot weather, it just wasn’t the same.  After a rest we zoomed off to get our overnight train to Beijing.  After the 5* hotel, the 4 person sleeper cabin took some getting used to.  However, the journey was so smooth compared to Vietnam and, despite the weirdly loud yawns of the Chinese man sleeping next to us, we slept well!  More to come from Beijing.

Onward and upward to China

We’re about to leave on a flight to China this evening.  Saying goodbye to South East Asia is a mixture of ‘thank-god’ and sadness.  Thailand has some of the smiliest and friendliest people we’ve met, those beaches must keep them happy .  If you look lost they flock towards you to help and don’t even ask for money for doing so!

This may be the last update for a while as we’re not sure how much access we’ll get to our blog when in China, there’s mixed reports about access to these journalistic sites!