:: zone3 ::

The Minshan Sand Dunes in Dunhuang seem to be quite low when the bus arrives to them at 6am. Have to get in at that time if want to catch the sun rise from the top of the Dunes...

Climbing a Sand Dune in the Taklamakan desert takes sometime. Even following the ridge line up, it is two steps forward and one back. Takes a good 20 minutes to get up. Then it is a case of sanding around waiting for the sun to rise.

It is a beautiful thing seeing the sun rise up over the the sand. The shapes of the dunes beginning to become more apparent as the sky gets lighter and the shadows starting to give the Dunes shape. With it getting lighter, can see it was actually quite a climb to the top of the Dunes.

The train along to Jiayuguan made for a nice ride. Soft sleeper cabin are so much better than the hard sleepers. Get a bit more room to the cabin with only four instead of six.

Jiayuguan is a pretty sleepily little place. It has a number of attractions related to the Western end of the great wall and about 120,00 people. Although it is hard to believe it has that number of people going by what is around the town. The streets match a bigger city, but the number of people on them match a much smaller one...

Was a nice train down from Beijing to Xi'an, sleeper trains really are the way to get around. Although, the Chinese are pretty exact on their lights out in the 3-up hard sleepers. Lights go out at 10pm on the dot and back on at 6am.

Yesterday went off to see the Terracotta Warriors. Did see them last time I was in Xi'an, but being the May holidays it was packed 5 deep with Chinese tourists. This time around it was a wet day and sort of the off season, so was able to get a much better look. Even the 2nd time seeing them, still very impressive. Can see that all the faces on them are different.

Well the forbidden city is interesting for a visit, not really though the
place I'd go more than once or twice. Impressive number of old wooden
buildings, a lot of it under renovation for the Olympics though.

Saw a bunch of Beijing acrobats, sort of like a scene out of Oceans' 11,
but more impressive and went on for a good hour..

Mongolia was pretty cool to visit. Staying in a Ger camp made for nice
relaxing night. Went off horse ride for a couple of hours and then another
the next day after the night in the Ger. Ger's make for a nice warm place
to stay the night.

After headiing back to the Mongolian capital for a night, was on to more
trains. Then time a 30 hours on to Beijing. Sleeper trains do make for a
fun way to travel. Although a bit tight on space.

Beijing is like many monden Metropolis'. Getting around is pretty easy,
taxis everywhere. The traffic is interesting for crossing. Much like
Vietnam, walk across and hope the cars dodge you. Was surprised how clean the city is. Prob cleaner than central Wellington.

Well, now in Mongolia… After Irkutsk, it was another couple of night on
the train. Starting to get a bit over trains, but still make for a fun way
to cross from Russia into Mongolia.

While waiting around on the Russia side of the boarder, got someone I know
to give my hair a cut at the train station, think the locals thought we
were crazy.

Crossing through into Mongolia you quickly notice the change. The hills are
more rolling, dustier and the people friendlier… From first impressions,
think I’ll be back to visit again pretty soon.

Four nights on a train makes for quite a long time, from Moscow to Irkutsk
and then a one hour bus ride to Listvyanka. Can get up to a fair bit of
antics on a train for that long, including a little tormenting of the trainee tour leader (sorry EJ :)).

Listvyanka was nice for a short stay, a small town on the shore of Lake
Baikal. Still largely frozen over from winter. Had an evening of fun
playing on the ice and taking photos.
Some people even thought the ice was 'safe' right before going through it...

Siberia is pretty cold still, between 0 and 5 most of the time, with some
snow...

Off on holiday for the next 5 weeks to Russia, China and Mongolia...

Taking the Trans-Seb from St. Petersburg throuh to Beijing, then going on to Shanghai.