Xi'an and Terraccota Warriors

After Shanghai you guessed it another overnight train to Xi'an where the Terracotta Warriors are, this is also the location of the Bell tower, Drum tower and one of the largest muslim community in china so there is a mosque I tried to find it to take a picture but unfortunately was unable to as there was a very large market there as well.  It was a little tricky getting to the terracotta warriors as it is at least an hour outside of Xi'an.  Our tour leader wrote instructions down so we could get a taxi to the bus station could we get a taxi answer no, did we have to walk around for hours yes did we end up getting a bus to the station yes.  We then found the right bus that goes to the terracotta site spent some time there.  The warriors are actually reconstructed and the excurvation sites are still in progress as they are still finding more and more parts.  The site was not a big as I expected it to be, but it turns out the warrior were painted giving them different colours for rank and also region they came from.  After the warriors we headed back to Xi'an which was straight forward but then we had to get a taxi and you guessed it the taxi took us the wrong way but we managed to do some shopping at walmart ready for the train the next night and also the boat ride.  Then another mission to get a taxi to the hotel but we survived.

Drums at the drum tower

 View from hotel room

 Reconstructed warriors

The bell tower

Hard sleeper and Shanghai

So you would think that as I have been travelling on trains since this how travelling stuff began I would be used to them but no why you ask because the there are 6 beds in a cabin and no door this time and lets not talk about the toilets.  This time round its just an overnight train to get from Beijing to Shanghai, we arrived at 12 noon had a brief tour and went to the museum. Shanghai is like most cities lots of shops not much else, so instead of partying I was sad and went back to the hotel for an early night.  However in the middle of the night I was woken up by someone banging on the door I check the time its 2a.m. who can it be banging on the door I open it to find to chinese people, I think they worked there they are talking to me in chinese as if I understand them. But in stead they find me half asleep, dazed and confused as to what they are trying to tell me so in the end it was down to a game of sharades, yes the lady gave the motion of someone smoking I shake my head they point into the room I open the door wider to show them no smoke, they continue to talk to me I end up saying no and then did the universal sign for sleeping then they left. It was the weirdest thing ever I even woke later that morning and had to ask my room mate if that actually happened.

Shanghai finacial island

Beijing continued

So as we had a few extra days in Beijing we went exploring so we went to Lama Temple, the Botanical Gardens and Birds Nest which is where the olympics were held. Lama Temple was nice but like any other temple, the gardens where cheap to get into apart from the tropical bit.  The best time to see Birds nest is at night with the lights on.  From the Birds nest we followed music to find elderly chinese people ballroom dancing in the park,  we then followed more music to where the younger generation were roller skating and yes I had a go and yes I spent more time on my backside than up right and yes I did end up spraining my wrist after falling which is typical as I thought I was getting the hang of skating what a big fail but its was a great night out.

Lama Temple

All the don't at the botanical gardens

The best picture of birds nest I have which is not that great.

Great Wall and Roam China Tour

Ok so the first tour has ended and the new tour begins on the same day 9th October. But to mark the end of the Transiberian tour we decided to go to the Great Wall of China together. I can see why it is call the Great Wall because it is a short hike to the cable car which then takes you up to the 14th tower and it is very steep. We also went to see some tombs of an emperor however they were just red boxes which were replicated. It seems that alot of the chinese relics etc were distroyed or damaged during the communist period which I think is a shame but its the same the world over in with the new and out with the old.

You can kind of see how steep the mountain is and how the wall balances on the top of it.

Me at the Wall.

The Group with some random germans and japanese person.

China and the end of the Trans Siberian tour

We arrived in Beijing in the afternoon checked in then made our way to wu fujing street aka snack street why is it called snack street because it has a lot of what I guess is food.  On this street they sell deep fried scorpion, cat, snake, other insects, sea horses, starfish, chicken heart, dog and monkey yes thats right people and the group I was with tried the lot. Was I that adventurous I' m afraid not I just tried a piece of chicken heart.

Mmmmm Scorpion on a stick.

After snack street we went to a kung fu show which good they do like their dry ice effect to the point we could not see what was happening on stage. The next day it was time to say goodbye to the group at our final dinner in Beijing.

Our little awards we got unfortunately I lost mine somewhere in china.

Trans Mongolian second time round

So we had a very early start for the Trans Mongolian the final stretch of the tour.  As you expect we all chatted and played games mainly 20 questions to pass the time.  When we got to the mongolian border we had to go through the whole pocess of waiting for the customs to collect forms and passports and yet again the toilets were closed because we were at a station which meant that if you needed to go you couldn't until the train started to move to the chinese border which was around 3 hours then when we got to the Chinese border we had to wait again so the whole thing took about 6 hours.  This was because they had to change the wheels of the train as they did not work on chinese rail lines.  At this point I was asleep and there was a massive jolt of the train I thought that I was going to fall out of my bunk.

The Train we were on.

Sunset in Mongolia.

No I didn't forget to take the cap off or move my hand.  I was about to take a picture of the scenery outside the train as I clicked we went into a tunnel and this is the end result.

The veiw as we got into china.

Back to Ulanbaatar

Just before we left the peaceful Ger camp we all had a chance to do some archery the target yak skin how many chances to hit the target only 3.  Some hit the target others did not did I hit the target yes I did with my last arrow.  Then it was back to Ulanbaatar where we had the rest of the day there so I went to the Museum which was filled with the history of Mongolia from BC all the way to independence/end of communism, I also went to the natural history museum turns out a lot of dinasours where found in the Gobi desert.  Also the sun always shines in mongolia they can go through all four seasons in one day.

The target

Me about to shoot the arrow.