Top o' the World, Ma!

Hi all Su here again..  Well after our adventurous few days in McGrath we flew back to Anchorage and the following morning boarded 'The Aurora Winter Train' to Fairbanks on the Alaskan Railway . 

Known as one of the most beautiful railway journey in the world its just under 400km long and cruising along between 25 to 40km an hour it takes a lengthy 12 hours.

  

Sitting back and enjoying the view is the order of the day, as you meander thru 3 huge mountain ranges heading due north right through the center of Alaska.

This pic was taken as we travelled over a huge gorge and at 25km an hour the icy wind was unbearably cold hence the red noses.

As we pass hundreds of kilometres of breath taking scenery the sun sets and we arrive in Fairbanks ready to see the star attraction of Northern Alaska.... The Aurora Borealis also known as The Northern Lights..

So we check into our hotel where we plan to stay for 8 nights to give us a good chance to see the Aurora.  They had an Aurora wake up call service, so we expected that as soon as the lights begin to dance in the sky (which is normally from 1am to 5am) they are on the phone to you telling you to put your woollies on and head outside to see the show.  It takes a certain conditions for the Aurora to be visible, firstly you need a clear nights sky, ideally a half or smaller moon and of course good aurora activity which fluctuates nightly.  Luckily there is an aurora forecast web site to give you an idea of the nights activity.  Much to our dismay after 4 clear nights and lots of forecasted activity later we are still waiting on our wake up call...  So the next night we take matters into our own hands and on went the thermals, fleeces, woollies, hats, scarf's, gloves, 2 pairs of socks, heavy boots, down jacket, water proof outer jacket and a few warming glasses of red wine in us, we braved the -15 Degree Celsius temperatures and stepped outside our hotel in the hope of seeing anything floating around the sky!!  We trudge along in the snow freezing our bums off heading North for the best viewing possibility.  So here we are standing in the middle of the garden at 1.30am in sub zero temperatures looking at what we think is long thin cloud, slightly illuminated by the city lights.  "Is that it?", " No, I think it's a cloud!", " Is it moving?", "No", "Well Maybe", "No it's not", "Then again!"....  So after a few minutes of, I'm sure you'll agree, a very intelligent discussion we both stood dumb struck staring at the sky as our 'cloud' snaked slowly, but surely diagonally over our heads and split into 2 long tubes of luminous green light that literally floated and danced above us for around 5 minutes..

I know the photos looks like a green spludges and very unexciting, I'm surprised anything came out at all, but we're happy to have some record of it. 

We were so excited to see what we were seeing.  It was truly amazing and was the very reason why we travelled so far north Alaska to the middle of nowhere.  I was so awestruck that I forgot I even had a camera in my had, I didn't want to take my eyes off the sky in case I missed anything.  We're very lucky to have seen what we did..

So for the next few nights we religiously donned our thermals and faced the cold only to see a big black sky above.  It really made us appreciate what we saw that night and even though we only got to see it the once we were happy that luck was on our side that night...

During our stay in North Alaska we thought that a trip to the Arctic Circle would be in order.  Mmm Apparently -15 Degree Celsius wasn't cold enough for us.  So with all our woollies in hand we started on the 16 hour round trip to the Arctic Circle.  First we passed the famed Alaskan Gas Pipeline which runs from the north to south of Alaska to be refined and shipped out to the rest of the world.

Half way there we stopped off at a Roadhouse for a toilet break.  It consisted of a 'closed for the winter' Roadhouse and a few loghouse longdrop loos, similar to the one that Chris was on in McGrath.  I was not looking forward the experience with all my layers on I was frozen solid so the thought to going to the loo al fresco Arctic style was not what I'd call a holiday,but you gotta do what you gotta do and you don't hang around!!!

As we drove along we clock the temperature gauge in the car getting lower and lower and the surrounding terrain getting less and less hospitable, the coldest temp we got to was -27C!!! This photo below was taken in an area where the temperature was about -20C with a wind chill factor that brought it much lower and even Pete who has a in built furnace was bitterly cold.  We welcomed the warm chocolate our driver had for us when we got back to the van..

After 8 hours driving and travelling through many different terrains and weather fronts here we are, the Arctic Circle, sure it just looks like at plaque in the middle of nowhere but it felt pretty special, considering we would never willingly venture this far north again as long as we both shall live!!

We were lucky to have such a clear day and could see for miles of empty lands around us.  It was very quiet and peaceful and we really felt like we were on top of the world.. 

Southbound again we were heading back to Fairbanks to cook up one of many wild Alaskan Salmon Dinners...

Joseph, the owner of the hostel where we stayed in Anchorage gave us a gift of this huge Wild Alaskan Salmon, it weighed a ton and fed us for nearly a week!!! Yum...We left Alaska with many happy and funny memories and if anyone out there is willing to brave the cold it is truly a holiday of a life time.

Next stop Vegas... We unexpectedly had to overnight in Vegas before flying to Toronto.  On the flight we flew over the Grand Canyon and got some stunning views, which was a bonus.  Vegas isn't what you would call a backpackers destination so we were pretty annoyed with the layover expecting high accommodation rates, but we hit the Internet and got the hotel deal of a lifetime. We stayed in the Tropicana Casino Resort which in on the main Vegas strip, for any one that's been there already it's just across the road from New York, New York and Luxor. Great location..

This photo was taken from our room, amazing, and all for just $40,unfortunately we didn't have time to enjoy the pool!  To make up for it, we ate all around us at the hotel buffet for half nothing, great for the hungry backpacker.  Both Pete and I had been to Vegas before so we were happy just to wander along the strip and soak up the atmosphere.

  There's nothing like strolling past Paris on the way to New York...

We even caught the water show at the Belagio..

Before heading back to our room to enjoy a glass of wine and admire the colourful view...

Next morning we head back to the airport on the way to Toronto...  Stay tuned for the final blog installation, We're nearly home....

Anchorage to McGrath

After the heat of Hawaii things are starting to get a little chillier. Our travels are taking us to the wilds of Alaska! Su has been dreading this part of the trip for the best part of the year but I've managed to drag her (kicking and screaming) along. We arrived in Anchorage and literally chilled for a few days to acclimatise. To be honest we don't have too much to say about Anchorage except that the people are nice and the city has an amazing backdrop - here's a photo of the local Walmart for example:

The mountains in the background are stunning (when you can see them). My main reason for coming to Alaska (as silly as it sounds) was to visit a place I read about roughly 10 years ago called McGrath. It's a little village in the middle of Alaska that was named after a U.S. Marshall called Peter McGrath.

As good a reason as any to visit a place. This is nearly as remote as you get in Alaska (the population is less than 300 in the winter) so we weren't too sure what to expect. However, we booked our ticket....

...got to the airport...

...and boarded our 30 seater plane for 2 days of wilderness! If you think a 30 seater plane is small, just wait.

We had two goals for the trip: I wanted to find out some more information about the Peter McGrath that the town was named after, and Su wanted to see a moose. We didn't want to aim too high just in case. We landed in McGrath at around 9:30 in the morning and hit the main street:

We saw Hotel McGrath just by the airport:

but being poor backpackers we weren't staying there. A short walk down the road was the cafe which had a few rooms above it - not as fancy as the hotel but fine for us.

We were sort of at a loss for something to do at this stage so we went for a walk around the town and less than an hour later got back to the cafe having seen what we though was pretty much everything. How wrong we were. Not sure what else to do, we relied on instinct and had some pizza at the cafe (very good!) and hit one of the two pubs in the town: Joes Bar.

It serves the best (and only) draft beer in McGrath! Certainly good enough for the likes of us!

Things pretty much took off from there. We had been a bit worried that we had spent one of our two days in McGrath walking around, eating pizza, and going to the pub - which we could (and do) pretty much do anywhere but all that changed when we got talking to this guy:

Chris! Local jack-of-all-trades from lumber to whatever you need, he's your man. We told him what we were doing in his fine town and he got a great kick out of it. Soon all the bar knew about our great adventure in McGrath (there were about 5 people in the bar including us and Nick the barman). The other person in the bar was Camille and she headed off and came back a few minutes later with a bag of her finest homemade Smoked Wild Alaskan Salmon strips and Moose jerky - both of which were delicious - these were bar snacks Alaskan style!

As the evening wore on we met more and more people - all of which were friendly and delighted that two Irish eejits went out of their way to visit their town. Chris, acting as our agent, rang the radio station and booked us in for an interview first thing in the morning (sounded like a great idea after a skinful of pints). He also promised us that he would pick us up afterwards and bring us around to a couple of the sights. We staggered home in the -10 degree cold to the cafe, happy with the way the night had gone and very unhappy after discovering that even with thermal underwear, 4 layers, and our beer-coats on, -10 degrees is COLD!!!

The next day was the busiest day we've had since our journey began. We awoke early to head over to the radio station: KSKO.

We had around a half hour interview with Mike Lane the local (and only) DJ where we told him about our travels and he told us a little about the area. It was a good laugh.

Su thought she'd be clever and stand by the doorway talking photographs but Mike wasn't having any of it and called her in, live on air, and grilled her as much as he had me. We found out that even though not a lot of tourists visit McGrath at this time of year, they expected the first heavy fall of snow soon which is basically the start of the severe winter so we might get a chance to experience that! As if -10 wasn't cold enough.

After having a cup of Irish tea with Mike and saying our goodbyes, we met Chris at the cafe and he was all set to take us on the grand tour of McGrath! First off was a bit of Moose hunting (well... Moose sighting..) and sure enough, Chris knew just the place. It's amazing how well an animal that big (think of a horse but ganglier) can camouflage itself. Su took quite a few photographs (with me hiding behind) and this is the clearest:

 

This was a female Moose, hence no antlers.

Next we took a trip to McGrath Air Terminal. Not to be confused with McGrath air strip where the commercial flights land (like the one we got to McGrath). This Air Terminal is a privately owned business which flies goods and post to even smaller, even more inaccessible nearby villages in ridiculously small one-engine planes. Anyway, Chris rocks up there and asks if myself and Su can hop on board on the runs for an eagle eye view of McGrath. We were told that if there was room, there'd be no problem. An hour later we were hopping into this:

and flying over this:

This is the Kuskokwim river on which McGrath resides. It meanders quite a bit, as you can see. This is the real Alaska folks! We landed on the side of a mountain in a place called Takotna, helped unload the airplane, and took off back to McGrath - all done in less than 30 minutes.

After the flight, we thought it was time to find out a big more about this McGrath fella so we took a walk to the museum. So, here he is: Peter H McGrath:

I don't know, Chris was beside himself when he saw the photo - he thought the resemblance was uncanny. I myself wasn't too sure. He IS a handsome guy though....

I'll leave it up to you to decide. Here's some info about him (if you can make it out):

Chris picked us up again to take us around the some the local sights. He introduced us to Donne - she is one of the native Alaskans who live in McGrath and she kindly allowed Chris to show us her homestead - a magnificent log cabin with surround forest and incredible view (it even had it's own outdoor wood-fired sauna folks!):

 

 

We also paid a visit to Donne's fathers house which had it's own airstrip! Incredible!

We took a trip to Mount McKinley lookout (Mount McKinley being the highest mountain in the U.S.and the second highest in the world!) but the weather was closing in. We just had time to stop by a friend of Chris's who was building his own log cabin. He and his (pregnant) wife were living in a wall tent while they built their house. A wall tent is a military-style canvas and plastic waterproof tent. It had a stove, so they were alright. Hardy people these Alaskans. The picture of Chris at the start of the blog was in their outhouse. This picture is of their cabin:

They've got quite a bit to go.

By the time we got back to the town the river looked like this:

It was getting down to -15 Celsius now - it seemed we got there for the heavy snow! Nothing for it but to hit the bar again where we met even more people and heard even more amazing stories! One guy we met who worked as a gold miner gave us a gold nugget as a souvenir! A gold nugget!!! We bought him a Budweiser but it didn't seem like enough compensation somehow...

The next day we awoke to this:

 

We were told that it was 50/50 if we'd get out of McGrath. There are certainly worse places to be but we had to catch a train to Fairbanks the next day. All of a sudden the incoming flight landed and we were boarded without delay. It was all too quick as we didn't get to say goodbye and thank everyone that we should. We had an amazing two days in McGrath and the people there should be proud of what they have. If your name is McGrath, or if you want to see a bit of real Alaska, I highly recommend it! You can't go wrong! They've done the name proud!

Hawaii 5-oh!

Hi all, Daisy here, I'm afraid that I'm being inflicted upon you as I've joined the Pete and Su travelling circus in Hawaii. I came all the way from Ireland and Pete and Su came from Japan and we met smack bang in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, on the island of Oahu. It really does feel like being in the centre of the world.

Hawaii lived up to my expectations from the moment I arrived, the night before Pete and Susan. The warm balmy air, that Hawaiin breeze (now I know why it's called that) - bit slow on the uptake sometimes - it's all exactly as you'd expect. Beautiful clear seas, gently waving palm trees, everyone saying 'Aloha!'

I met the guys off their flight from Japan and we went straight to our hotel/condo just two blocks from the beach in Waikiki.

The one thing we were all agreed on was that this was going to be a real holiday - no frantic activity. Just lying horizontal for as much as possible and soaking up the rays. And maybe a bit of reading.

Unfortunately for me, Pete and Su are currently the colour of the mahongany conkers falling out of the trees at home. And me, well let's just say that I'm, ahem, of a more pasty -haven't - seen - the - sun - in - two - years -  complexion. Although I have gone a lovely shade of red by now. Just in time for home. If anyone asks me did I leave my tan behind they'll get a smack.

We did manage to unpeel ourselves from beside our gorgeous pool in the hotel intermittently to go out for beers, more beers, some food and yet more beers. And wine.

Our room has a kitchen and Susan has been happily chained to the kitchen sink cooking us breakfast every day, we've renamed her Mrs Mop. She and Pete are loving the novelty of home cooking and having the TV on tap. Backpackers eh?! They're such cheap dates.

Oh, and we did do some sightseeing. The last time Susan was here she was throwing herself out of airplanes and taking surf lessons. This time I'm glad to say that they were both sufficiently exhausted to be content to just check out the North Shore and Pearl Harbour.

The North Shore was amazing. I'm a total armchair surfer, more happy to watch it than actually try it. The North Shore of Oahu is the spiritual home of surfers and surfing everywhere. There are bays and stretches of beach that have seen some of the biggest waves ever surfed and it's where the triple crown competition take place every year in November and December.

One particular place is called the Banzai Pipeline, so called because of the way the waves break, forming a pipeline like structure. Around this time of year the sea is becoming more and more rough, the winter swells growing all the time. When we got to the beach it was practically empty, just a few surfers in the sea. Just acres and acres of gorgeous sandy beach stretching away either side. Paradise. We decided to take a dip to cool off. The sea looked choppy but we had no idea how strong the currents were.

I'll admit I had visions of finding myself in a compromising position with a surfer, but I ended up in a much more compromising position when I was all but hurled back onto the beach, spat out by a huge wave with my bikini almost gone and halfway to Japan. Needless to say Susan fell around the place laughing and it took a long, long time to get all the sand out of cracks and crevices that haven't seen such action in ages.

We survived the pipeline and had a delicious pizza and some beers in a little place called Hale'iwa. Just so you know, if you ever come here and visit the North Shore, Hale'iwa is the best place for getting food and drinks. Around the pipeline and Sunset Beach, it's surprisingly sparse in that there's not really any bars/restaurants. We figured it's because the community are determined to keep this whole part of Oahu strictly surfing, and not have the hordes of tourists thronging the beach at Waikiki.

We also went to Pearl Harbour and that was very interesting, just to see the area where such carnage happened in one day. There's a monument that sits right over the sunken wreck of the battleship Arizona and you can look down and see the ship beneath, rusting and still leaking small amounts of oil into the water.

It's a very moving experience as all of the men who were on the ship and died when it went down are still entombed within the wreck.

It's now our last day, I'm off back to the other side of the world, leaving here at 4.30am. Pete and Su will be off on their next leg to Alaska. I'd definitely come back, if only just to brave the North Shore waters again and this time try and arrange it so that I have my near drowning and unwitting bikini removal near a gorgeous surfer who can save me...

Big in Japan

So after China, we had a few days to spend in Tokyo, Japan. We have heard some mad things about Tokyo and they are all true! This is the country where technology is king! Even the toilets have about 10 buttons to press which do various things (want a heated toilet seat? No problem.) And the toilet humour didn't end there, as you'll see.

The hostel we were staying at was near the Asahi brewery, which is a well known Japanese beer.

It is noted for the Asahi Flame, an enormous golden structure at the top, said to represent both the 'burning heart of Asahi beer' and a frothy head. It is better known by the locals as 'The Golden Turd'.

Our hostel itself was fine - if a little compact. But that's to be expected in Tokyo. Did I say a little compact?

Our room was like a broom closet with bunk beds. I must have banged my head 10 times while there.

Walking the streets of Tokyo is something completely different as well. There are rules you have to follow:

And the great thing is that everyone obeys the rules - which makes things more pleasant for everyone!

You smoke in the smoking area (even outside), you only cross the road when you have the green man, you don't talk on your phone on the train - really whatever it takes to make it easier on others.

Although English isn't spoken by many, it's still easy to get around and about. Also, heading out for food isn't a problem. A lot of restaurants will have English menus and if they don't, a lot of them will have a display case with a plastic version of what they serve presented outside:

One of things on our list of things to do in Tokyo was to head to the Shinjuku district at night and see the bright lights:

Shinjuku has department stores, specialist electronic and camera shops, cinemas, restaurants and bars. Many international hotels AND the busiest train station in the world is also located here.

Another thing on the list was to head to the Harajuku area of Tokyo which is known for it's gothic and cyber punk street style. Basically kids get dressed up in outrageous clothing and hang around - you could see everything from rockabilly's, goths, and teens dressed up as cartoon characters! Bizarre! Unfortunately for us, it was raining on the day we chose to go there and the kids were indoors in case their hair flopped. We did take a walk down one of the two main streets in Harajuku called Takeshita street where we saw a procession in the rain. Here's a photo to prove that we saw a procession and another photo to prove that there is street called Takeshita:

We have no idea what the procession was in aid of - everyone looked like they were wearing mini skirts though.

Next we took a walk to Shibuya which is famous for its scramble crossing. It is located in front of the Hachiko station exit and stops vehicles in all directions to allow pedestrians to inundate the entire intersection. Three large TV screens mounted on nearby buildings overlook the crossing. The Starbucks coffee shop overlooking the crossing is also one of the busiest in the world. This photo is taken from there:

So that's it really. It rained for a lot of our time in Tokyo so the photos don't really do it justice, but hopefully you'll get an idea of what it was like. We highly recommend Tokyo! There's hardly any crime, people are friendly, there are great restaurants, you can get cans of cold beer from vending machines, the metro goes everywhere you need to go, and believe it or not, it's probably cheaper than Dublin. You can't go wrong!

Tellific Tellacottas Walliols and Shanghai Surplise...

Hi all, Su here again.  Picking up where I left off, we were on an over night train to Xi'an to see the infamous Terracotta Warriors.  We stayed in a  comfortable 4 berth sleeper cabin that we shared with 2 others.  We decided to give the dining car a miss and had a lovely dinner of Jelly's!!!

Once in Xi'an we explored the city which is the old ancient capital of China and was home to many emperors.  The main centre of the town is surrounded by huge, old city walls, similar to the Great Wall.  In the city there is a large Muslim Quarter which is full of hustle and bustle and is lined with a mix of halal food stalls and Chinese restaurants.  We couldn't resist our usual Dumpling dinner.

Next day we took a bus out to the Terracotta warriors.  

Over 2 million years ago Emperor Qin shi huang enslaved hundreds of thousands of people to construct this massive ever lasting army to guard his tomb which is less then 2km away.  He either expected his rule to continue after his death or was hoping his new army would protect him from the vanquished spirits awaiting him in the afterlife, no one knows. 

Whatever his reasons, the army discovered in 1974 by a local farmer digging for a well, is nothing short of spectacular.  4 pits have been excavated. 

Pit 1, the largest, holds 6,000 life size solders placed in battle formation. 

It's mind boggling knowing that no two faces are alike.

Once again China has come up trumps with it's awesome historic feits of construction and spectacular sights.  With our minds and memories full of ancient wonders we board yet another overnight train to the more modern city of Shanghai.  This train would take 21 hours to get to our destination and was slightly less comfortable then our last journey.  Firstly we shared our cabin with two smokers who didn't seem to feel the need to open the cabin door or go to the smoking area to light up.  Begrudgingly they did so once we made our feelings known.  Also being such a long journey our usual bag of Jelly's just wouldn't do so we braved the jam packed smoke filled (almost as bad as our cabin) dinning car. 

We sheepishly sat down and a waiter gave us a hand written menu (completely in Chinese Script) to consider, we remembered a warning from Pete's brother and sister in law, Martin and Catherine, who made a similar train journey in China a few years ago so we were quite apprehensive about our imminent meal!! But sure, in for a penny in for a pound, we scanned the food filled tables for something edible and settled on anything that did not look like dog!!  Once we were somewhat happy with our choice our waiter came over and 'then' proceeded to translate the menu.  He was a man of few English words, beef, pork, chicken, fish was pretty much it with no mention of cooking method or sauce etc. but we were grateful that 'dog' wasn't one of them so we went for the beef and decided to brave what the dish that the guy sharing our table was eating which looked like chicken and hot cucumber, strange choice I know but we needed a bit of veg!!  We were delighted to discover that the beef was a beef stew with spuds 'almost' as good as you'd get at home, but the pre-mentioned 'chicken' dish was most probably 'tripe', neither of us could quite put our finger on the texture or taste but considering that we have never eaten anything of this nature, it must've been tripe!!! So one outta two aint bad.

At 06.30am next morning in true communist style, the speaker in our cabin came to life and blared out some sort of exercise program, (well that was the most logical explanation we could come up with) followed by piercingly deafening Chinese traditional and pop music which continued for the next 7 and half hours before we arrived in Shanghai.

With our ordeal over we were very pleased to be in a civilised city and felt like we were closer to the western world then we had been in many months.

With it's futuristic skylines that lit up like Disneyland at night it was yet again, a spectacular sight..

In contrast to the ultra modern structures of the current financial district, 'New Pudong Area' (above), the old hub 'The Bund' directly across the river would not look out of place along the banks of the Seine

Staying with the futuristic theme the ever entrpenurial Chinese constructed an under water 'Sightseeing Tunnel' taking you across the river from The Bund to the New Pudong Area. 

Once again it's something similar to a ride in Disneyland and if full of swirling, sparkling, garish lights whizzing by as you go from A to B..

 

From ancient artifacts to futuristic skylines China has been amazing.  We have loved every over-crowded minute of it and I highly recommend it to all. 

However, as with anywhere in the world there is always a few downsides.  China is full of smells... food, rotting rubbish and urine fill the air around you but sadly not in that order, the idea of 'fresh air' is nothing more then a memory of home.  While the constant 'hocking', 'gullying' and 'snorting' noises of phlegm readying itself for the forever present 'spitting' charade that surrounds you as much as the smells can get to you after a very short while. 

But on the bright side (despite the 'tripe' episode on the train) we were big fans of the food.  Some days we would have Dumplings for breakfast, dinner and tea, and if I stayed there any longer I would be rolling myself onto the plane looking like a Dumpling myself.  We tried and loved so many types of new and unusual food that we will never have the chance to try again...  Another great thing about China and South East Asia is the constant mix up with the R's and the L's, the knock off 'Rolex' they try to sell you on the street is pronounced 'Lorex',  'Relax Resort' is 'Lerax Lesolt', an 'Umberella is an 'umbelerra'.  We waited and waited for the anticipated 'Herro' (Hello) but it never came...

So as our short journey through China comes to an end I am so happy to have been here and seen what we've seen, be it only a fraction of the country, we defiantly leave with everlasting memories.....

And now for a little more toilet humour.  I took this photo in a loo in Beijing, the nearest thing to a female urinal I've ever seen, I wont subject you to the actual loo itself (which was pretty unusual) but I thought the sign was bizarre enough....

Needless to say I obeyed it.... x

Beijing, Beijing they finally let us in...

Hi all, well after the hairy few days Pete told you all about in Hanoi, we were finally on our way to China.  It's a country that I've wanted to visit for years now and as we set down in Beijing Airport I was beside myself with excitement.  The airport was filled with Olympic and Paralympic signage and scores of young volunteers practicing their English with the arriving visitors.  There was a real welcoming buzz about the place.  On leaving the airport we negotiated the subway and the streets with little difficulty and within an hour or two we found our hostel.  We were quite amused at our rooms ensuite bathroom, which didn't leave much to the imagination.  Instead of walls made of plaster or brick, it was made of glass, with a see thru curtain on both sides, slightly covering all angles except the actual loo.  This photo was taken from the bed!!!

But none the less, we were happy enough due to the fact that the hostel had actually overbooked our cheaper room with no bathroom and upgraded us to this see thru loo room without cost...

The next day we headed to Tiananem Square, our hostel was less then 10 min walk away.  As we passed through the Front Gate (Photo below), miles of Chinese history and culture lay directly ahead along this straight road...

Beyond The Front Gate is the infamous Tiananem Square.  Tiananem Square does exactly what it say's on the tin!! It's a Square! A very large square at that, well actually the largest public square in the world as it happens,but a 'square' non the less.  It's full of .... eh..... space... which is probably a good thing because 100's of millions of Chinese and Foreigners visit it every year....

We continued north passing Chairman Mao's Mausoleum and up ahead you see his imposing portrait in the distance of 'The Gate of Heavenly Peace'.

The Square is very well protected with police at each entrance scanning and frisking every visitor and plain clothed cops patrolling the square listening for any word of discontent, in other words you need to be on your best behaviour.  

After walking through 'The Gate of Heavenly Peace' we entered the Forbidden City,

so called because it was off limits for 500 years.  It is the largest and best preserved cluster of ancient buildings in China and was home to the Ming and Qing dynasties of emperors.  They only left these grounds when absolutely necessary and the huge Moat kept everyone else out...

Here's a birds eye view to give you an idea the huge scale of 'The Forbidden City'

Our next biggy was the Great Wall, I couldn't wait to see it.  But as with all tourist attractions around the world we expected to be one of hundreds of tourists visiting the wall and the idea of seeing it in solitude seemed to be nothing but a false hope. However on advice of one of our hostel hosts we went for the lesser touristy and more rugged routes in the hope of this. And after a 2 hour drive and a very steep and inaccessible climb up to reach the wall, our breaths were taken away. 

Yes the STEEP climb attributed to this shortness of breath but the shear beauty and amazement of the view of the snaking wall before us was so out of this world that neither words nor photos could do it true justice and to make it a once in a life time feeling there was no one else there.  Amazing....

It was an awesome sight and continued to be for over 12km of steep climbs, wobbly descents and unsecured surfaces.  We passed through 30 watch towers to complete our hike.  As you can see in the photo above there is 3 watch towers ahead.... so only 27 to go.  Oh and it got steeper and steeper. 

The last Watch Tower you can see in the distance behind us, was less then half way of our walk!!!

Over the 4 hour hike we met no more then 10 tourists and a healthy handful of Mongolian touts selling the usual T-shirts and hats thrown in.  We also met a guy from London who was returning home from working in Japan on the Trans Siberian Railway and after a bit of chat we realised is surname was McGrath and his family was from Galway.. Well China may be big but it sure is a small world!!!  This was an amazing day, I feel privileged to have been able climb just a fraction of it virtually tourist free and to soak in it's stunning views, this was one of the most memorable experiences of my life...

On our last day in Beijing we headed out to The Birdsnest Stadium. 

It was the first day of the Paralympics and we had high hopes to get in and see some of the action, but unfortunately all tickets for the days events were sold out.  Some of the tickets for the coming days were going for as little as €5, not bad value.  As the games were happening they televised them live on these massive TV screens in the Olympic flame building adjacent to the Stadium.  Here's Pete watching a spot of Bowls..

So we left Beijing with very fond memories and were impressed with the city itself, it was easy to get around, the people were so friendly and helpful, the streets were surprisingly clean, there was less people spitting then we expected and best of all the food was superb.  However we're quite sure we would have seen a completely different city if the Olympics hadn't been hosted here.  So we boarded our 12 hour sleeper train to X'ian to see another one of Chinas must see sights, 'The Army of the Terricotta Warriors'.  Stay tuned for China Part 2 coming soon...

And now for a bit of toilet humour...

Hanoi-ing Chinese Torture.

 

Hanoi! Pronounced Han OI! is the capital of Vietnam and with a population of over 3 million it's a bustling place full of street hawkers, motorbikes, cyclos, and all the sights and smells you could imagine. It also was home to one Chinese Embassy where we had to get our Chinese visa before our next leg of the journey - more on that later - put it this way, it was a major pain in the wotsits. Here's an example of what you can expect walking down a street in Hanoi:

You wouldn't want to be in a rush anywhere. One thing you learn early on in Vietnam is that the footpaths aren't used for walking - their used for selling goods, parking motorbikes, drinking beer, or even burning fake money (if business has been bad recently), but not walking. That's what the roads are for - so you weave in and out of trucks, cars, motorbikes, and cyclos (bicycle propelled carriages) to get to your destination.

You also share the streets with the street vendors (usually women) who carry around weighing-scale type baskets on their shoulder selling fruit, veg, and all types of assortments (from chestnuts to snails!). It's very handy - you could sit around all day and people would come up to you selling stuff. Anybody for a hat?

 

They didn't have my size.

Now I must mention the food. I wouldn't really be one for making a pig of myself but when you see the likes of this you can't help yourself...

Well done Pig. There's a few ducks there aswell. The food in Vietnam is absolutely fantastic. I quickly became addicted to a beef noodle soup called Pho Bo (Bo being the Vietnamese for beef - same as home!). It's so good!! Hot bowls of soupy noodles with tender beef, coriander, chopped chili, and bean sprouts. All for about a 2 dollars - needless to say, happy days. However, you do need an open mind some of the time. Check out the items you can find on a Vietnamese menu:

If you can't make it out you can find Fried Tortoise with Salt, along with Oyster roasted with grease and onion. I'm sure you'll have no problem figuring out what's wrong with this picture:

And we're not talking about the crab.

The only real downside to Hanoi was something that had been on our minds for a while. Namely getting in to China. We knew when we were organising our trip that the Olympics would be held in Beijing near the end of August so we purposely held off visiting China until the end of them. However, we didn't foresee the Chinese government changing the laws to make it extremely hard for people to get visas to visit their country from outside their own country. We did a lot of research about getting our visa all the way through Vietnam and basically it was all doom and gloom. Unless you were in your home country, there was no way a visa was being issued. The most you could do was get stamped confirmation from your hotel or hotels for every day you plan to stay in China, as well as your flight info and present it to the embassy. If they didn't like the look of you or you were improperly dressed, then tough luck. If you weren't at the embassy at least an hour before it opened, then there was no chance. People running businesses out of China were being refused visas so we were disheartened. Still, no guts no glory. We got to the embassy in Hanoi with every stamp and piece of documentation we could think of. We got there over an hour before it opened to see a queue of people waiting. Luckily an English couple at the top of the queue told us that we wouldn't be let in with flip flops so I left Su in the queue to hold our place while I grabbed the nearest motorbike taxi back to our hotel to get appropriate footwear. 20 minutes later we had our runners on an over three hours later (in stifling heat) we got in to make our application. All very nerve racking as we were supposed to be leaving on the Monday and the soonest we could find out about our visa was the Friday (the embassy being closed at the weekend). We got to the embassy even earlier on the Friday morning and....

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Yayyyy! We got it! No surprise really as I'm sure most of ye know that we've been in China for a while. As you can see we celebrated with a bowl of Pho and a beer. Breakfast of champions!

Well, that's it - we checked out of our hotel on the Monday and splashed out on a cyclo to get our bus to the airport:

Gotta say, we'll miss Vietnam and will be back at some stage. Such a great place!!! Look at the poor fella having to push me and my bag along in the cyclo. That's all leg power as well. Well done that man!