Coffee at sunset  

Dining room fit for kings 

Who says you can't tame a beast! 

off into the Mongolian wilderness 

Inside our Ger camp. 

Ger Camp, Mongolia 

Contemplating the endless landscapes on the trans-siberian 

The start of the great Trans-Siberian journey. First leg: Shanghai to Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia 

Summer Palace, Beijing 

Going up the Great wall

Tiananmen square, Beijing. The world's largest square 100 acres 

The Great Wall, China 

The Great Wall, Badaling, China

Here we are at the wall that can be spotted from space. Getting to the Great Wall was nothing short of a Great Adventure. This morning we were found lurking around Tiananmen Square negotiating a good deal for a day trip to the Wall. But we forget we're in China.

After a series of furious discussions wherein we're pointing, drawing, gesturing, and talking (in English) to a man who is pointing, drawing, gesturing, and talking (in Mandarin), we finally strike a deal. We're getting on a tour bus that is immediately on its way to the Great Wall. But lo and behold instead of boarding the bus (that by the way was nowhere in sight), the three "tour agents" push us into an enclosed three wheeler van with two tiny seats. Completely dumbstruck, we squeeze into the tight seats followed by another guy who packs himself in before shutting the door. He's standing, no falling on top of us, yelling speedy instructions to the two guys on the driver's seat. The toy-like van is now hurtling down the streets of Beijing at break neck speed. Only there's no place in there to move our necks or breathe or even think. Surely this is not what they call a bus, right? So much for striking a cheap deal, this two hour ride will be the death of us! As usual, Kavita is conjuring up images of being kidnapped in China... but who would they call for ransom? We're not carrying that much money either to justify this grand robbery effort.

We manage to turn our heads a little a get a sneak peek as to where we are. Our toy van is still rolling at break neck speed, only we're headed completely against the busiest Beijing traffic. Gulp! All we can do is close our eyes and ears as the guy huddled with us continues to yell, his excitement quadrupling with each screeching turn. There's little to do but pretend we're in a Jackie Chan movie.

Fifteen minutes of drama later, we're dropped off in front of our bus. So much for the language barrier. But this is not all, we board the bus only to realize that we're the only non-Asian folks in there. Of course, the tour commentary is entirely in Mandarin all the way. Nagesh and Kavita console themselves with the thought that they need no commentary to understand the wall that can even be seen by aliens.

Inside the Imperial Palace, Forbidden City, Beijing 

Tiananmen Gate, Forbidden City, Beijing  

Terracotta Warriors, Xi'an, China

Ever since we saw that episode of the Amazing Race, we just had to make a dash to Xi'an to see the terracotta warriors for ourselves. We took an overnight train from Shanghai to Xi'an, the first in our long series of train journeys all the way into Russia. Right before we boarded the train, the ticketing lady told Nagesh that there were no trains from Xi'an to Beijing. Complete nonsense!

As we neared Xi'an next morning, a lady came around selling local maps, train schedules, and accomodation information that was extremely useful. Our plan was to make a beeline to see the warriors and then get on a train to Beijing that same evening. Working with clockwork precision, we deposited our bags at the station storage and caught a bus from right across the station. Overly proud of being such clever travellers, we hopped off at another tourist site, a few kilometers before the actual museum. It's fun to receive a reality slap like that every once in a while. No worries, we caught the next bus that came along.



The terracotta warriors were built by Emperor Qin Shi Huang of the Qin dynasty, 221-206 B.C. during his lifetime to guard his tomb after death. The tomb took 39 years and 700,000 workers to build. An accidental find by some local peasants triggered off archaelogical activity. Four pits full of lifesize soldiers are housed inside huge halls in the museum complex. The soldiers are sometimes accompanied by horses and chariots. Once painted brightly, the soldiers stand today bearing a colorless testimony to royal eccentricities.

Yuyuan Gardens, Shanghai 

Shanghai Nights at The Bund

Shanghai caught us by surprise. This city is so ready to give New York a run for its money. Right from the moment the MagLev (magnetic levitation) train zoomed us from the airport into downtown in a flash, we were enthralled. Yes the train literally flies, no levitates, not quite touching the tracks because of its intense 450km/hour speed. It's like riding a seven minute roller coaster into the city!

Language also caught us by surprise. I guess we just presumed more people would talk English. Since the signs are mostly in mandarin as well, we just relied on our instincts and hoped for people to be friendly as well as experts in dumb charades. We found a bit of both. Any time we stood around looking lost someone would stop by to offer help. Language or no language, communication always takes place. Its one of those magical things that make travel so exciting and undaunting. Add to that the adventure of it all, like when we bought a bottle of something that looked like flavored milk but tasted like something else. We never found out what we drank but it was good.

Then we set foot on Nanjing Road to be wowed for life. It's a street straight out of disneyland filled with lights, color, people, shops, and restaurants buzzing into the wee hours. A bigger and brighter version of Times Square. Next, our stroll led us to the breathtaking Bund. This is the romantic waterfront strip crowned by a futuristic skyline straight out of star trek on one bank and an equally magnificent skyline composed of classical buildings of the french, victorian, and gothic styles on the other. Were we in Europe or some future city? This was certainly not the China we had imagined.