Now in yangshuo

Well after the fun of Beijing I headed down to Xi'an to see the Terracotta Warriors and enjoyed also the biggest water fountain show in Asia at the Big Wild Goose Pagoda which was fairly impressive.











After a few days in Xi'an I travelled with a few other folks and went via Chengdu, which incidentally has the best egg muffins in China, too Yangshuo where I feel right at home as its been raining constantly for the last couple days.




However this still hasn't stopped me from climbing and the weather is set to improve from Tuesday.
It feels a little strange being in China for Xmas but I'm tempted to have either Beer fish or Cane Rat as my Xmas dinner, to be honest the fish sounds much better and looks fairly nice. I've also realised that my climbing has suffered over the past few weeks but I'm determined to rectify that and have also set myself the task of finding the best apple pie in Yangshuo. Unfortunately I'm having problems with uploading my photos but i will try and find a better internet cafe sometime next week if I'm not busy climbing or eating... Hope everyone has a great Xmas, unfortunately due to China's internet setup I can't access the comments on the site but will enjoy reading them all in the new year, the Chinese new year which i will probably spend in Hong Kong before flying to Oz.

Beijing is great shame about the locals.

Well arrived in Beijing on Monday and have seen lots of the main sights but would need more time than iv got to see everything. unfortunately wherever i go i get pestered and yelled at by locals trying to sell me cheap tacky souvenirs or other rubbish which is starting to get annoying. have avoided most of the people who also try to rip you off by asking if you want to go for a cup of tea which will end up costing as much as they think they can scam out of you.

Other than the normal annoyances of Asia am having a great time. cycled to the Summer palace and a few other places which was interesting given the condition of the bikes you get out here (not sure the wheels were round and the bearings were well worn but all the bikes are in this sort of condition and what can you expect for about 60 pence, have been to the Forbidden city and also walked 10km along the Great Wall yesterday which was worth getting up at 5am for.
Was wanting to go to Yinchuan to see the 108 pagodas but they are about 85km from the town and all this would take two or three days to get too from Beijing and is lots of messing about so have decided to scrap the idea. Am going to head to Xi'an to see the terracotta warriors and then down to Chengdu, then Chongquing before heading to Yangshou for about the 25th and stop until after new year. not sure on plans after that but feel like i need a rest week as all this travelling gets tiring. Have heard that the old Portuguese port of Macau is nice so will perhaps head over there in the new year. For now I'm going to enjoy yet another cup of tea and put my feet up for a while as they have been well worked over the past week or so.

Mongolia

How stunning, such a contrast to everywhere iv been.

I was welcomed by Enkhbaatar Tserenbaltav (photo with his son above) who with his friends made my time in Mongolia rewarding and memorable.

I have had a very rich diet of late, normally consisting of dumpling's with some form of meat lots of tea, and obviously Vodka.

I spent five glorious sun filled days absorbing the culture and atmosphere, two of which were spent in the countryside.

Driving out of Ulan Bataar we went past the great statue of Chinggis Khaan on horseback looking out over the landscape across to the hills towards which we were driving. I went to a Mongolian Bar / night club, spent a night in a traditional Mongolian Gur, which was awesome, did a spot of horse riding, went hunting and I meet lots of great people who unfortunately have so little but non the less welcomed me into their homes and lives for a short while, everywhere I went I was welcomed with tea, vodka, or mares milk, which washed down the meat (mutton and horse),

I spent time going around a school and seeing the some of the people and lives that the Children's Development and Protection Foundation (CDPF) are doing their best to change and give a more positive future.

The director and staff at the school provided an insight into rural Mongolian life which i would not otherwise have seen. Im grateful to all the staff and am please to know that because of them many children can have a better future.

I had a great time in Mongolia and am disappointed that i only had five days, it seems so little time to try and see so much. From the traditional Mongolian way of cooking, ( placing heated stones into the pan and then filling it with meet and vegetables) drinking Tea and sitting around a Gur singing songs, travelling through the breathtaking landscape of a country which is struggling to feed and house all its population and at the same time fighting to maintain the traditions and history of it people.

in mongolia

Well I made it to Mongolia, didn't get arrested, no-one mentioned the car at the boarder, have only paid 30 pound in bribes since setting out, which to say I've driven a good few thousand miles in Russia is an achievement to say the least.

Am spending a couple of days or so in Mongolia then to China. The computers at the Internet cafes are exceptionally slow, this one has 256MB RAM which is one of the faster ones that iv found. trying to multi-task on it is impossible and it takes three minutes or so to open a new window.

O well cant complain I'm in Mongolia. The sun is shining, great blue sky over head and i have found a good hostel for the price of three pound fifty per night or 7000 in the local money, which means i have lots of pointless little notes which are worth bugger all. at 2350ish to the pound. the lowest note denominations are in 10s i think which is probably of the same value as a piece of fancy toilet paper. but more quaintly decorated.

So despite all this im off to take some photos and walk around the town a little more. i think the sun is setting about now.

Photos updated

Well im getting the next train to Ulan Bataar, have just updated flikr with some photos from russia but need to add the ones from the siberian roads, when it takse 2 tones of hardcore to fill a pothole you know your driving in russia. lets see if i get arrested and fined at the boarder for not having my car....

110969 The car is dead, 500km from Irkutsk

Hi all

Unfortunately the car has died.
I left Moscow on the evening of the 19th and made really good progress, getting to Omck on Friday the 23rd, from there i headed east and encountered a few problems on the Sunday evening when the car started overheating, i noticed that the water pump was spitting out antifreeze.

Being fortunate enough to find a garage somewhere near Kemepobo and spending until 03:00 on Monday morning fixing the fault by plugging the holes in the water pump which i can only assume must have been for some pressure release but obviously the seal had become faulty.

After getting back on the road and some very slow driving i got as far as НИЖНЕУДИНСК, arriving late on the 27th, I stopped at the ATM to get some money and then when starting the car hear the tragic noise of the engine failing, after closer observation at the garage i found that the crank shaft had given up the ghost.

After making several enquiry's as to obtaining parts or even an engine that would fit it became obvious that it would not be possible to fix the car before my visa runs out, The spare part would need to be ordered into the country then travel via Moscow and Irkutsk before any attempt could be made to start the repairs.
As the car is french the are no suitable parts or means to fix it without ordering via renault dealers and the part would take one week minimum to arrive and would cost more than the car was worth.

I have therefore left the car in НИЖНЕУДИНСК and am hoping that i should be able to cross the boarder without the car and hopefully not encounter any problems at the boarder when going into Mongolia by train.

The only upside is that whilst we waited to hear back about parts, the person who owned the garage put me up at his home with his family for the past few days, this was really kind and has made my time in Russia so much more enjoyable.
I was intoduced friends and family who all think im crazy, got to sample the delights of home cooking and Russian foods along with Russian Vodka so despite the car not making it to Mongolia I'm still having a great time. I jsut hope i dont encounter any problembs at the boarder.