Chengdu Day 2

I was up at 6:45am to grab some breakfast before the panda tour. I ate my porridge and was ready for the off at 7:30, however we were told that the driver’s car had broken down and he was going to be late. I could have had more time in bed! We left the hostel…

Chengdu Day 1

The hostel was pretty cold last night, but the electric blanket warmed up the bed nicely and the duvet cover was thick! I got up fairly early threw on my clothes and grabbed some breakfast from the hostel restaurant. I had creamy porridge with green sultanas, scrambled egg, a couple of bits of sausage, cherry…

Beijing to Chengdu Day 2

Having noone else in the compartment I went to bed early, but still took ages to get to sleep. The night was fairly disturbed with quite a few stops and the train jolting every time we slowed down. Consequently I didn’t get up until about 8 o’clock. It is a gloriously sunny morning outside and…

Beijing to Chengdu Day 1

This morning started off nicely with a “western” breakfast in the hostel of fruit with muesli and yughurt washed down with green tea. I decided to get down to south west China as soon as possible and spend a few days back in Beijing before I fly out to Thailand. It would have been nice…

Ulan Bator to Beijing Day 2

We eventually pulled back into Erlian station at about 12:30am and dashed out to grab some bits from the station shop. Paying at the checkout was like a scrum and we ended up running back to the carriage only for the train to sit it in station for another 10 minutes! I got a packet…

Ulan Bator to Beijing Day 1

24/02/2008 23:29 local time The walk from the hostel to the station took me 30 minutes and I arrived just as the train pulled in. It didn’t take me too long to find my carriage. Once inside I found my compartment, but there was a lady who said she also had bed 7 booked. She…

Ulan Bator Day 2

22/02/2008 After a fairly late start – I’m not feeling too great with a sore throat – I set off towards the Zaisan Memorial on the top of a hill south of the city. The start of the walk was along busy main roads, but it wasn’t too long before I got to the outskirts…

Ulan Bator Day 3

I woke up this morning again not feeling brilliant so had a slow start. Once up and dresed I did a trial walk to the station to check when I need to be up tomorrow morning. Half an hour will be enough time to get there and I’ve figured out where to cross the roads…

Mongolia Day 1

21/02/2008 8:30pm Local Time After dumping my stuff in the hostel room I went for a shower. However after a few minutes of running the tap no hot water appeared so I resorted to washing my hair over the bath and using a flannel for the rest of me! Well washed I set off for…