Taking on the World

As you can probably tell by the title of this blog post China for me was a country of contrasts... Take the border as an example; with 5 check points- 2 in Kyrgyzstan and 3 in China across an area of about 160km it was meticulously organised and controlled. The motto displayed at the immigration desk spoke about efficiency, security and orderliness and in many ways this is how China is; they have a good motorway system with efficient toll booths, are taking on the task of rebuilding roads such as the Karakorum highway which has peaks of up to 7000m, furthermore their 550 km long road through the Taklaman desert, one of the largest bodies of moving sand in the world, is lined with plants with well houses which they employ people to look after every 3 to 4km to ensure the sand doesn't drift onto the road. The security in China was beyond belief from not being allowed to take my handbag into the supermarket to every shop having a police vest and helmet with a constant police presence in the cities and numerous checkpoints along the roads. As a general rule we found China has set ways to do things which were hard to stray from.

However, scratch below the surface of China and you find a country with an erratic beating pulse... In all the countries myself and Malc have travelled to we have never been deafened by so many car horns as by the crazy drivers here and it took a fair while to become accustomed to the somewhat angry sounding Chinese conversations which constantly surrounded around us. Coupled with this is the weird and wonderful things you see for sale...supermarkets are bursting with strange food from cellophane wrapped chicken feet to lambs heart! Not to mention the night market that we visited on our second night in Kashgar where whole roasted sheep were propped on the table with rosettes around their necks alongside some items which we couldn't even identify but would hazard a guess were some form of offal. And if you really want to experience China's craziness you just need to step foot in a public toilet block.. think communal trophs with a lack of doors!! Needless to say China kept us on our toes and there was never really a dull moment.

Out of all the nationalities we have encountered on this Silk Road trip, the Chinese were by far been the most intrigued by us. Malc was driven nuts by cars on the motorway slowing down to take pictures of the truck and while it was parked up at hotels it was the backdrop for many a family photo. Meanwhile us and the rest of our passengers were treated like celebrities, being pulled into pictures with smiling couples or families, it was quite a surreal experience really. So in general the people were forward but in a good way, it meant interactions with locals was easy and everyone wanted to practice their English on us (which was a good job as we never really picked up any mandarin!).

As for the sights of China I really can't do them justice in one blog post let alone one paragraph; we saw so much in our three weeks here, from Buddhist grottoes to sand dunes to the epic great Wall of China and I really feel like we only scratched the surface. Some of the highlights for me were the Jiayuguan fort- The final point of the Great wall of China where, in the days of the Silk Road, criminals were banished from China and sent into the great unknown! Bingling Si- Buddhist grottoes, only reachable by boat which meant we could escape the tourist crowds and take in the limestone cliffs and Buddhist carvings at our own pace. The Labrang Buddhist Monastery- Situated in a very Tibetan area of China is this Monastery which is a popular pilgrimage sight if Shangri-La is not possible. Spinning the prayer wheels amongst pilgrims who had come from far and wide was a mesmerising and memorable experience. And then on our final days trekking the Great Wall of China- Upon recommendation of our excellent guide Rick, from Beijing we visited the Jinshanling section of the wall. This relatively unvisited section of the wall provided us with some stunning scenery and gave us a mix of crumbling "stumble and you will fall sections" alongside restored guard towers. It was an epic way to finish the trip and for me and for many others I think, gave us the sense of holy moly we have really done it... We have travelled from London to Beijing overland!!

So that is the trip complete. I am now actually typing this from a hotel room in Turkey, having nearly completed the trip back from Bishkek to Istanbul.. I am set to fly home a week today and Malc is already home spending some much needed and well deserved time with his family in NZ. So we do apoligise for us drawing out a 4 month trip into nearly 9 months but hey.. that just shows we were having too much fun! :)

Watch this space for our next travel adventure, who knows where.

Big Love- G x

After seeing enough cities to last a long time we were all excited to head into Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. In my mind we were heading for the wild central asian steppes, with nomadic tribes, wide open grasslands, beautiful lakes and snow capped mountains.

We were not disappointed. We didn't spend long in Kazakhstan but what we did see was beautiful.

Gaps on his massive horse.

Bishkek, our first stop in Kyrgyzstan and the capital, was a weird mix of everything the country has to offer. Kyrgyzstan is a huge mix of people. People that live here have come from China, Korea, Russia and Europe. You can see it in the way people look, so many differences. A large amount of Kyrgz people are still very nomadic. They live in Yurts, near lakes and in the mountains in summer and move into the villages during winter. Most of the country is over 1700m above sea level and the winters are very harsh. Most have cattle, sheep and horses that are their lively hood. Some also have yaks, as they can deal with the high altitude and cold better.

The Russian family that shared their plov and vodka with us, their daughter is a European swimming champ.

Diner inside a yurt.

The place to go for cell service.

And the concrete block that is the only cell service for hours.

Afternoon tea Kyrgyz style.

Animals are not cheap in the country, a sheep is worth $160, a cow $1000, and much more for a horse. People grow up on horses and they are very much an important part of their lives and it shows when you watch a game of ulak tartysh. It is kind of like polo, but with no sticks and instead of a ball they use a goat or sheep carcass. They cut the head off it first and it is then used for a game of polo and cooked after. The aim of the game is to put the goat on a blanket to score a goal while the other team tries to take it off you. Each team has from 2 to maybe 10 players, all on horse back. They use the horse to smash into the person with the goat to try and get them to let go of the goat, amazing to watch and it is fair to say the meat was well tenderized and delicious!!!

That is the goat they are fighting over.

Another very important tradition is eagle hunting. For thousands of years all through central asia they have used eagles to help them hunt. Sometimes they do it from horse back and sometimes on foot. The eagle will hunt and kill prey and the eagle will get some of it and the hunter some. Hunters sometimes have the same eagle for 20 years and they train it from young to hunt. Most now kill foxes and the eagle gets the meat and the hunter the skin. We organised an eagle hunter to give us a show of how it works, but instead of a mean fox, the live bait for the show was a beautiful white rabbit, poor wee thing didn't know what was going to happen. It tried to run to us for protection from the eagle but just sent us all running as the eagle come through us to get the rabbit.

I have always told people you aren't on an overland trip until you get stuck, well we got stuck in Kyrgyzstan, took a lot of digging, mostly with our hands as the front axle was on the ground and a nice tractor driver from the village to get us out, all part of the fun.