The mountain scenery.
Visiting a small monastery.
Yak herder.
She was happy to have a picture taken.
Travelling through formerly Tibetan lands.
Road workers camp
The little town of Langmusi in Gansu province. One of my favourite places in China for in-explainable reasons. Must be just the vibe of the place.
Tibetan family
Outdoor pool is popular in the mountains.
Xiahe, the second most important pilgrimage site.
Pilgrims
Tibetan prayer wheels
Buddhist monk. And there was I thinking that you would have to give up worldly possessions to reach nirvana.
Monks watching football. Man U I believe.
From Gansu I travelled into Xinjiang or Turkestan as the local Uygur people like to have it be. They face the same struggle as Tibet but without the media coverage. Interestingly so as they are ethnically further related to the Han Chinese than the Tibetans. The Uygur are part of the Turkic ethnic group.
Xinjiang is enormously varied filled with contrasts. From deserts to lush mountains.
The hills around Turpan.
Old town of Turpan
The middle of the Talkamakan desert seemed like a good place to spend the night. So I got the bus driver to stop there and hopefully find another bus cruising through in the morning. They only leave in the morning and evening. So if I were to miss one in the morning I'd be stuffed for a day in the desert in the middle of summer.
A stall in the Kashgar markets. Formerly a very important stop along the old silk route as the northern and southern route converged there.
Id Khar Mosque
Silk worms.
The old town of Kashgar.
The Tian Shan mountains near the Kyrgyz and Tajik border. Home to a small Tajik minority lost between the two countries when the borders were drawn. China won't issue them have a passport because that will depopulate the area with them leaving for Tajikistan.
The nice man was happy enough for all of us to spend the night in his tiny little mud hut as none of use had any camping gear other than a sleeping bag with us.
As my visa was on it's last extension and it was about to run out, it was time to leave the minorities of China and go to the power base of the Han Chinese to pick up a Mongolian visa. Beijing.
Mao is keeping an eye on everybody.
The forbidden city.
The throne of the emperor. The emperors have gone but the place is still run as an empire.
You can't go to China and not go to the Great Wall. I've been seeing much of it on the train ride from Xinjiang but only the mud wall sections.
Seriously steep.
It was well and truly time to get out of there. Mongolia was beckoning.
The Russians built the Mongolian rail roads and they use different gauges than the Chinese. So to solve that problem they simply change the boogies as the wheel assemblies are called.
Mongolia is littered with these felt tents called Ger's along the vast and open countryside.
I lucked out with the timing because the annual festival of Naadam was one during my stay. This skills festival is based on the tournaments of the Chingis Khan days. The skills include archery and wrestling for the men and a horse race for the kids which was my favourite.
I fell in love with this country and just had to come back.
Unfortunately visas as well as travel funds only last so long, so I had to get a move on back to Europe. So I organised a Russian visa which was neither easy nor cheap as well as a train ticket to Irkutsk on Lake Baikal. It’s the largest freshwater body on the planet holding a fifth of the world’s fresh water supply.
Irkutsk
Lake Baikal's beaches. The Russian sun bath standing up.
From Irkutsk I bought a ticket to Moscow which is a 5 or 6 day journey but only cost me US$80! Bargain. I would have to use that train to get to Asia again. Beats flying.
Siberian villages line the railway.
For five days I spend in the train cabin with this family. But even than Russian don't smile on photos.
Red Square in Moscow.
The palace inside the Kremlin
The Bolshoi Theatre
Police Lada's
Lenin is still there
But Stalin was relocated and slightly defaced.
Besides Moscow I was interested to see Saint Petersburg which is the cultural capitol of Russia.
Kazan Cathedral on Nevsky Prospect.
The Church of the Savior on Blood
The Hermitage. Previously the Winter Palace. Now a museum.
From Petersburg you can catch the local train to the border with Finland where you can catch the international train to Helsinki
Helsinki Cathedral
There is a ferry to Stockholm from here which was going to be my last public transport as my travel funds we down and near out. So I would hitchhike from there to Holland to meet my family and then on to London to find some work.
The harbour of Stockholm.
