Before anything else, we have put some photos now in the blog so dont forget to scroll down to earlier posts...also you should keep taking a look at the observations post as that is for all the little observations we keep making all over China :)
Right, so after that very comfortable train ride into Xi'an we were now facing very different conditions... We thought we had booked soft-seats (especially since the woman at the ticket counter kept repeating "soft-seat" and me saying "shi" all the time) but we ended up passing a very uncomfortable, yet very amusing, 7 hours on a hard-seat train. As soon as we managed to pass all the standers (you can buy standing tickets on Chinese trains and take peoples seats for 5 minutes everytime someone gets up to go to the toilet!!) we found our seats and then we had help from our fellow travellers to get our bags up or under the seats I was immediately told that I was 25 years ld by a man sitting opposite me! He, however, failed to guess Jo's age - they seem to ahve more difficult because of his beard hehehe. We spent quite a few hours "talking" to our neighbours and exchange information and little tidbits...most of the time it was through hand gestures but we did get to practice our mandarin quite a lot. Jo had trouble sleeping though, which made it hard for me to sleep since we couldnt lower our seats and had to relly on each other's shoulders for pillows.
After a very tiring ride (they also dont turn off the lights in this hard sleeper wagon and it seems Chinese people have little need for sleeping as they just kept talking through the entire journey!!) we had an hour to wait in Lanzhou for our next train to Xining -- well, we thought it was an hour but they rushed us into the train just so that we could wait inside instead of outside!! There again we engaged in conversation with the other travellers (actually they always start the conversation and we just ge sucked into it hehehe)...This ride was quite pleasant but again hard-seat....Jo managed to sleep through most of it. We were going up through mountain passes and the sky was bright blue so it was quite a difference from the cities :)
In Xining:
Apart from having my mobile phone stolen 5 mintues after using at an internet cafe (luckily it wasnt something more valuable and my Belgian Sim card is still safe!!) which put a bummer on the city right on the first day, we still managed to amuse ourselves, especially in the cuisine department.
Xining is a mountain town and its population is mostly muslim. Also, the majority of people are no longer Han but from other minorities. The faces became a bit more "western" and people have clearer eyes...Of course, there was inevitably a KFC!
We went to the night food market which was an alley filled on both side with stalls showing uncooked food - such as squid and fish on a stick, all kinds of seafood, vermin and meat- which they then cook for you. We ate that night for less than 2 euros for both!! We first went without Jo's camera - big mistake of course and we had to go back to the hotel to get it cause it was just too good to miss :) We were there for about 2 hours eating at the same time that Jo took pictures with his tripod and people kept coming up behing him to see what he was doing.
Right, so after that very comfortable train ride into Xi'an we were now facing very different conditions... We thought we had booked soft-seats (especially since the woman at the ticket counter kept repeating "soft-seat" and me saying "shi" all the time) but we ended up passing a very uncomfortable, yet very amusing, 7 hours on a hard-seat train. As soon as we managed to pass all the standers (you can buy standing tickets on Chinese trains and take peoples seats for 5 minutes everytime someone gets up to go to the toilet!!) we found our seats and then we had help from our fellow travellers to get our bags up or under the seats I was immediately told that I was 25 years ld by a man sitting opposite me! He, however, failed to guess Jo's age - they seem to ahve more difficult because of his beard hehehe. We spent quite a few hours "talking" to our neighbours and exchange information and little tidbits...most of the time it was through hand gestures but we did get to practice our mandarin quite a lot. Jo had trouble sleeping though, which made it hard for me to sleep since we couldnt lower our seats and had to relly on each other's shoulders for pillows.
After a very tiring ride (they also dont turn off the lights in this hard sleeper wagon and it seems Chinese people have little need for sleeping as they just kept talking through the entire journey!!) we had an hour to wait in Lanzhou for our next train to Xining -- well, we thought it was an hour but they rushed us into the train just so that we could wait inside instead of outside!! There again we engaged in conversation with the other travellers (actually they always start the conversation and we just ge sucked into it hehehe)...This ride was quite pleasant but again hard-seat....Jo managed to sleep through most of it. We were going up through mountain passes and the sky was bright blue so it was quite a difference from the cities :)
In Xining:
Apart from having my mobile phone stolen 5 mintues after using at an internet cafe (luckily it wasnt something more valuable and my Belgian Sim card is still safe!!) which put a bummer on the city right on the first day, we still managed to amuse ourselves, especially in the cuisine department.
Xining is a mountain town and its population is mostly muslim. Also, the majority of people are no longer Han but from other minorities. The faces became a bit more "western" and people have clearer eyes...Of course, there was inevitably a KFC!
We went to the night food market which was an alley filled on both side with stalls showing uncooked food - such as squid and fish on a stick, all kinds of seafood, vermin and meat- which they then cook for you. We ate that night for less than 2 euros for both!! We first went without Jo's camera - big mistake of course and we had to go back to the hotel to get it cause it was just too good to miss :) We were there for about 2 hours eating at the same time that Jo took pictures with his tripod and people kept coming up behing him to see what he was doing.
We then had a really nice steaming bowl of different kinds of noodles with dumplings and vegetables and meat all mixed up (which was also spicy of course - although I did keep saying "qing buyao tai la" which means "please, not too spicy!" hehehe)...We thought we would keep taking pictures until we reached the end of the alley but it seems that some Xining guys had other plans for us when they grabbed Jo and me, made a shot gesture with their hand and said "you drink!" They took us to one of the food stalls, put a pint of beer in front of us and said "cheers" then all I saw was the big guy drinking it all at once with Jo following! We spent a good hour with them and Jo downed at least 3 pints with the big guy! At the same time they put in front of us the most disgusting food we had ever seen - sheep's feet (literally) and vermin (or bugs however you like it) and said "EAT!!" Of course we were obliged, I wasnt able to have the sheep's feet - there was literally nothing to eat other than bone and fat! Jo made an effort and managed to eat a bit of it. When it came time to eat the vermin (which, by the way they would not eat except for the fat guy that kept saying "Me, Xining, Number 1, Men!!!") we both ate - it was disgusting!!! I could hardly swallow it and had to down quite a lot of beer to help it down and Jo, since he was sitting next to the fat guy, had to eat at least 3 or 4! We were surrounded by them, quite enjoying our reactions to the food hehehe - we also listened to 2 little girls play traditional Xining songs. we had to promise profusely that we would call them again today and go to the night market for another round of beers and vermin -- however, we decided to take it easy tonight as tomorrow we have a 20 hour bus ride ahead of us and it wouldnt be too nice to do it on an upset stomach! 
Today we took a tour with Mr. Niu, a very nice man (also the one that took us from the train station to the hotel yesterday). He is very proud to have his name mentioned in the last edition of the Lonely Planet - China :)
Using public buses we went to visit the Nan Men Gorge Lake - on the way there Mr. Niu went out of the bus to buy us ice cream and to our surprise he gave us pea-flavoured ice cream!!!! Yes, PEA-FLAVOURED ICE CREAM - with bits of real peas inside!!! Needless to say we had a hard time finishing it, but we did :)
The Nan Men Gorge Lake wasnt as big as the one in Lahdahk (but then again, not many are!) but it was surrounded by beautiful mountains. It was really good to be out in the fresh air and enjoy a bit of the countryside. Afterwards we went to visit the Temple where the 7-year old Dalai Lama lives (meaning the next in line to be the 15th Dalai Lama!!!) and we actually got to meet him, although he didnt smile much, it seems that since his family can no longer visit him he has turned quite serious (well, who wouldnt at 7!!)!
We then had lunch with a Tu minority family...The meal was delicious but they kept serving us more and more! They even made me dress up like a Tu minority woman so that we could take pictures! After the huge but delicious meal we went to visit yet another temple...the Bo'er Temple - this temple, which is now 2 temples, used to be just one but Tibetan people decided that they wanted their own temple and so now there is one for the Tu minority and another for the Tibetan people!
Tomorrow we will be on our way to Yushu where we hope to explore a bit more of the countryside before heading back down to Han territory and city life :)
Since we no longer have a cell phone you guys can no longer contact us that way (I will be buying a new phone in Hong Kong where tech equipment is cheaper) so you'll just have to keep watching this space as it is not easy to make international calls from here (as opposed to India and Central America!)
Zaijian for now!
Love
Jo and Fil
Today we took a tour with Mr. Niu, a very nice man (also the one that took us from the train station to the hotel yesterday). He is very proud to have his name mentioned in the last edition of the Lonely Planet - China :)
Using public buses we went to visit the Nan Men Gorge Lake - on the way there Mr. Niu went out of the bus to buy us ice cream and to our surprise he gave us pea-flavoured ice cream!!!! Yes, PEA-FLAVOURED ICE CREAM - with bits of real peas inside!!! Needless to say we had a hard time finishing it, but we did :)
The Nan Men Gorge Lake wasnt as big as the one in Lahdahk (but then again, not many are!) but it was surrounded by beautiful mountains. It was really good to be out in the fresh air and enjoy a bit of the countryside. Afterwards we went to visit the Temple where the 7-year old Dalai Lama lives (meaning the next in line to be the 15th Dalai Lama!!!) and we actually got to meet him, although he didnt smile much, it seems that since his family can no longer visit him he has turned quite serious (well, who wouldnt at 7!!)!
We then had lunch with a Tu minority family...The meal was delicious but they kept serving us more and more! They even made me dress up like a Tu minority woman so that we could take pictures! After the huge but delicious meal we went to visit yet another temple...the Bo'er Temple - this temple, which is now 2 temples, used to be just one but Tibetan people decided that they wanted their own temple and so now there is one for the Tu minority and another for the Tibetan people!
Tomorrow we will be on our way to Yushu where we hope to explore a bit more of the countryside before heading back down to Han territory and city life :)
Since we no longer have a cell phone you guys can no longer contact us that way (I will be buying a new phone in Hong Kong where tech equipment is cheaper) so you'll just have to keep watching this space as it is not easy to make international calls from here (as opposed to India and Central America!)
Zaijian for now!
Love
Jo and Fil
7 comments:
Que horror , a cena de Xining!! Já estava ver que vos assaltavam, roubavam , violavam , sei lá que mais , com tanto emborcar de cerveja, ainda vos punham bêbados. Que susto!!!
Ainda estou a respirar fundo aliviadamente.
Bem, qt ao telefone paciência. podes comprar um para mim em HK se for barato, pois vou devolver o meu ao icep, e o de Lx, já tem o teclado mt frouxo.
Jo, s'il te plait fait attention où tu enmène ma fille! Quelle scène avec tous ces gens de Xining!!!
Ici à Bruxelles il y a plein de mouvement , les cousins sont arrivés. L'apartement est de nouveau à vendre , alors je commence à avoir de visites avec ce bordel chez moi....
Bon voyage et attention avec vous et avec vos choses.
Grand bisou. Je vous embrasse.
Olá sou eu de novo. Estive a mostrar as fotos aos primos Marcianos, e finalmente ampliei as fotos. Fiquei mt contente por te ver com o vestido de NY. Mt bem!
Mas por outro lado noutras fotos pareceu-nos que os dois estão mais gordos!!!! será possível? Beijinhos de todos e tomem cuidado com o que comem, com o que bebm e com quem andam...
Meus queridos, agora que não têm telemóvel têm que escrever mais no blog, pois é a única forma de sabermos d vós.
Por aqui tudo bem.
bjs
I must say that Japanese people, contrary to Chinese people who have little need for sleeping, do sleep a lot while being on a journey.Hehehe. They can fall asleep so easily and yet being wide awake at the right metro station. I find it really amazing :) So Filipa and Jo please find out what the Chinese pattern of metro behavior is!
I think I dont need to try myself the Xining delicacy and pea-flavored ice cream. Yum!!!
Thats so cool that you got to meet the little Dalai Lama! But then again, Im surprised that it is possible to meet him just like that. Poor kid though, left alone...
Take care and lots of kisses.
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