Sanya, Hainan Island. November 16-17, 2014

After  day at sea and on route from Hong Kong to Vietnam, we docked for 2 days at Sanya, Hainan Island, China.
Not much to this place really. It's being bookmarked at 'the Hawaii of China' because of its tropical climate, but other than that there's wasn't much to see.
We went for a walk in town and along the beach, had a sugary fruit drink and headed back to the ship. The second day Stephen ventured out for a bike ride with Alison.

Coming in to dock.

Hong Kong. November 10-14, 2014

After a long, tiring flight (these long hauls usually are) on Qatar Airlines from Brussels, via Doha - somehow we'd expected more of that airline... will have to try Emirates next - we arrived in Hong Kong. A pre-booked car was waiting for us at the airport and the pampering started as soon as we boarded the good ship The World. We had a relaxing afternoon recovering from a serious lack of sleep and a time zone shift.

The next day we met up with local friends Donna and Eddy who took us to lunch in Kowloon.
On Wednesday Peter joined us on a day trip to Macau. Macau, a former Portuguese colony, is one of two 'Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China, the other being Hong Kong. So going there meant immigration in and out of the area, all easily done at the ferry terminal. Upon arrival there we took one of the free casino shuttles to get to the downtown area. After lunch we went for a walk to Macau's Old Portuguese Historic City Center Unesco World Heritage area. Our main objective were the Ruins of St. Paul's. This actually refers to the façade of what was originally the Church of Mater Dei built in 1602-1640 and the ruins of St. Paul's College, adjacent to the Church, both destroyed by fire in 1835. It was nice to be able to tick Macau off the list but we don't need to go back there in a hurry.

Old Portuguese Town.

Stephen and Peter in front of the ruins of St' Paul's.

The following day we took the Star ferry over to Hong Kong Island and took the Peak Tram up to Victoria Peak, where we went for a walk. After enjoying a coffee we headed back down and went for a walk on streets and walkways, trying not to get too turned around. Donna and Eddy joined us for dinner on board that evening.
Before we had to back on board on our last day in HKK we did some last minute shopping and walking around Kowloon. The World sailed out of the bay at 8pm.

View from the Peak.

M/V The World docked at Kowloon.

Èrliánhàotè (二连浩特). May 14-15, 2014.

Wednesday, May 14.

We have internet - obviously ;)

The drive to the Chinese border town of Erenhot was fast and smooth: we were on the road by 8am and arrived around 1pm, just in time for lunch. We all relaxed and did some last organizing on the cars before our 'last supper in China.' And what a dinner it was! Our guide Lun treated us to a fabulous meal at a hotpot restaurant and we all enjoyed a lot of very good food.
We stayed in the 'Pacific International Hotel'.

At the beginning of the China crossing we were a 'little' apprehensive of not only having to travel with others, but also with an official guide. We could now honestly say that it all worked out very well: the group dynamic was good and we couldn't have had a better guide than Lun. After settling up with Lun, the 6 of us ventured out to find a couple of more beers and a good night was had by all. We did wrap it up around midnight as we all realized that the next day was fairly important, with crossing a few borders and all that.

Kim, Vaughan, Marijke, Coen, Lun, Caroline and Stephen.

Thursday, May 15.

Today we crossed the border out of China and into Mongolia. It was quite painless, especially the Chinese side. We had the luxury of a late start as Lun told us we had to be ready to leave the hotel by 10am. We were all excited to be heading into Mongolia and of course we were all ready on time. We had one chore to complete prior to 10, which was to fill up 2 of our 4 Jerry cans. We had read in our guidebook that it is not always easy to get the right type of fuel in Mongolia. And although these reports maybe somewhat dated, we didn't want to take any chances.

At 10am on the dot Lun appeared and directed us to our vehicles and onto the border, which was only a few kilometers away. In less than an hour we and Sterlin had successfully exited China. Lun stayed with us right up to the very end to make sure everything went smoothly. Which it did. Lun was the most wonderful guide and we thanked him heartily before we drove towards Mongolia.

Entering Mongolia involved a more hands-on approach and considerably more shuffling of paper. We stayed together as a group and were able to assist each other through the process. Basically we collected a white piece of paper from one place, filled it out, handed it to a variety of people for a variety of reasons, who stamped it and handed it back so we could finally hand it to the people controlling the exit barrier. The whole exit/entry process was completed in less than 2 hours. All of the officials were friendly and spoke just enough English to make the process quite painless.

It was wonderful to be in Mongolia. We headed straight for the supermarket in hopes of finding cheese and salami.

Jǐníng (济宁). May 13, 2014.

We had a leisurely morning, since we were waiting to hear news about Ivor. All went well in the end. Around 2:30pm we set off with Marijke and Coen to go and find remnants of the Great Wall, some 40kms north of Datong. We found a little village with 2 impressive fortress gates and quite a bit of fortress wall still standing. The perfect spot the fix Sterlin's tire, which had picked up a screw somewhere and had started to leak. With the help of Coen and the Speedy Seal kit, the job was done in about 30mins.

Not that easy to get the 'sticky stuff' in the tire.

Past the second gate we spotted what we thought was the Great Wall. So down a dirt road we went and there we had: the remains of the Great Wall. Once we got to a higher vantage point we could see quite a bit of it and where it would have been. Very nice to have the opportunity to see it here as well; we both saw it some years ago close to Beijing. The section here is older than the one around Beijing, and has not been restored. While we spent some time there, Ivor caught up with us.

Breaching the Great Wall.

We then drove on to Jining for the night, where we checked into one hotel, and then had to move to another one.... but that is story for later.....

Ok. Here is that story.

So we'd checked in to one hotel that we all liked: the rooms were nice, the staff were friendly. As we were all hungry we dumped our bags in the room and went out for dinner. All very nice. Upon our return to the hotel the lobby was full of police. And I mean full: there were 8 in total: 4 uniformed, 4 plain clothes. Uh-oh..
Turns out that in China not all hotels are 'licensed to have foreigners staying'. And 'foreigners' does not just mean foreign nationals, no, it also means Chinese from a different province. In fact, our guide Lun, thought it might have been his registration that set off the red flags (it was never a 100% sure). We were told to sit and wait in the lobby while all of our passports were checked and double checked and lots of calls were being made. This all happened in a reasonably 'jovial' atmosphere, until the 'big wig'  appeared and the whole tone changed. We were fine but the hotel was in big trouble. Apparently it is up to the hotels to turn foreigners away if they are not licensed

to host them. One of the ladies behind the desk was almost in tears. After about an hour we were told to get our stuff and we had to leave. So for us all was good, we were not in any kind of trouble. Off we went, escorted by an unmarked police car, to another hotel. The escort was presumably to then 'negotiate' a similar rate in the new hotel, which was more expensive than the first one. Naturally the whole check-in process took forever as, us arriving with the police, prompted them the check and double check all passports and then some. By midnight we were finally in our (new) rooms. In a Chinese hotel approved for foreigners.

I did a google search, and, instead of me trying to explain something that I just learned about, I though it better to link to a few blogs/journals explaining it:
Wade Shepard: 'Foreigners are still banned from most hotels in China'
Tom Carter: 'Foreigners unwelcome in Chinese Budget Hotels'
Just to link a few articles. Maybe I'll find more later and then I'll link them as well.

Dàtóng (大同). May 11-13, 2014.

Sunday, May 11th

After our visit to the Hanging Monastery we drove to Datong were we arrived before noon and checked in to our hotel. This was again a 'Home Inn', a chain we've come to like: nice, clean rooms, wifi... and you know what you get for your money.

We spent the afternoon relaxing, planning and preparation for our trip in Mongolia and doing laundry. Sterlin has been converted to camping mode again. The weather seemed to clear up a bit so we decided venture out for a walk. After about 30 minutes it started raining again so we turned back, but not before finding a reasonably good supermarket. Amongst others we bought some (plastic) cheese and fresh bread buns. You'd be amazed how tasty that can be, having been deprived of cheese for some weeks!

We decided on 'dinner in' which consisted of pot noodles and beers, and we were joined by Kim and Vaughan.

Street vendor roasting nuts.

Monday, May 12th

We woke up to blue skies and warm weather, perfect conditions for what just about turned out to be the 'pièce de résistance' of our China trip: Yungang Grottoes. We literally hit a road block driving there due some sort of demonstration, so we had to consult our gps to find an alternative route.
We'd been looking forward to seeing these ancient Buddhist grottoes, but nothing prepared us for the actual experience. Absolutely Amazing. Naturally Yungang Grottoes are also a Unesco World Heritage Site. We spent a couple of hours exploring the dozens of caves with thousands of Buddha statues and sculptures, in all shapes and sizes.

We then drove in convoy to Stephen and Vaughan's favorite family restaurant to take a McBreak from Chinese food. We parked our cars right in front of a sign that pointed to Walmart, so after lunch we stocked up on supplies like cornflakes, jam, wine, Stella Artois,.... You can imagine we were very happy campers!
Back at the hotel we spent time on Sterlin to convert him back to camping mode: cleaning and filling the water tank, checking the tent,... and updating the blog, working out logistics for Mongolia and beyond.

The convoy in Datong traffic.

McBreak.

Stella... reassuringly expensive.

Meanwhile, Ivor had developed an issue and needed some TLC, and, most importantly a new starter motor. The parts were ordered and promised for the next day. We all kept our fingers crossed...

Húnyuán (浑源). May 10-11, 2014

Saturday, May 10th

We woke up to find that it had been raining overnight. A little surprising, as we haven't seen rain in a good while. Another long day of driving planned so everyone was ready to head north at just before the agreed 8am departure deadline.

We drove on the expressway much of the morning. There was probably some pretty nice mountain scenery to be seen, but unfortunately the rain and low cloud obscured it all. The morning was pretty uneventful, until Sterlin decided to complain a little with a "Check Engine Soon" lamp turning on. That hadn't happened before. We immediately stopped and investigated the fault code, which turned out to be a miss-fire on cylinder 7. Once we had internet again this would be investigated further. In the meantime we felt it was ok to drive on and assume that we have dirty spark-plugs from all the exotic south-east-asia fuel we have been putting in Sterlin.

After lunch we stopped at the oldest existing wooden Pagoda in China; it also claims to be the oldest one in the world. The Pagoda of Fogong Temple dates back to 1056. Caroline made a quick visit while Stephen shared an ice-cream with Vaughan.

Later we arrived in a very cold and dusty Hunyuan with temperatures in the low teens. This might be an indication of the conditions we will experience in Mongolia. We broke out the warm clothing again. The evening stroll was freezing and the wind stirred up all the dust in the town. On the positive side we found this wonderful little cake store with a friendly lady.

Sunday, May 11.

We woke up to a morning as wet and bleak as the night before was, and for a minute we wavered about going to see our planned destination for the morning. But common sense prevailed and off we drove to the Hanging Monastery. Despite the continuing rain we were not disappointed and got a good look at it. Glad we did not let ourselves miss that one :)

Afterwards it was only a short 60 odd kms drive to our next port of call Datong.

Píngyáo (平遥). May 8-9, 2014

Thursday, May 8th

Another longish day of driving most of which were on the express-way to save some time and ease the pain a little.

The afternoon activity was a guided visit to Zhangbi Underground Castle. The locals built 10kms of underground tunnels below their city as a defense against attackers that never came. 1.5kms of these tunnels have been restored and are open to the public and of course we had to pop down and see them. The tour also included a walk around the old town and visits to just about every temple they had. The old town has no running water, and instead of adding this basic utility, the Chinese government instead built rows of new brick and tile apartment buildings on the outskirts of town. So 90% of the village just got up and left the old town and headed to their new digs. Which unfortunately left the old town feeling a bit like a ghost town. With all of the apartment buildings we have seen under construction, we wondered if this story is repeating itself all over China.

Finding a hotel proved a little more time consuming than normal. Apparently the area where all of the hotels were has been leveled and there are no longer any hotels there anymore. A local took us on a bit of a tour of the old town to show us a hotel he thought would suit our needs, but unfortunately the restriction on cars in the city upset that plan. We ended up finding a perfectly good hotel just outside the city walls near the North gate. It had everything we needed for a good price and only a few minutes walk to the old city. And in the evening that is exactly what we did to find drinks and food.

Yet to be completed high-speed rail line.

Old Town Roofs.

End Tile of the Roof

The Tunnels

Friday, May 9th

We slept in and throughly enjoyed it. But by 10am we were up and heading into the old town in search of coffee. We had moderate success with the coffee and in the process got to see the place a bit better. The old town is ringed with these giant defensive walls which are very impressive. The buildings appear to be very authentic and have not been overly invaded by tourists shops like Dali or Lijiang. In fact there are some very nice buildings which have been turned into up-market hotels with lovely foyers and courtyards.

Our morning was a little rushed as Stephen had a short list of jobs on Sterlin that needed attending to. A slightly better repair to the exhaust system was made with the addition of a bolt in the hole that had none, the water filter and fridge were inspected and cleaned, cooking stove tested, the fuel cans got moved to be balanced better in preparation for Mongolia where the fuel cans may actually get filled with fuel and the air compressor was tested (just to make sure it worked). Little jobs to before hitting the Mongolian desert and the resumption of camping. Everyhting seems to be in good working order.

We had spotted a SPAR supermarket the previous day and decided to go on a mini stocking up shopping spree. The supermarket had a very excellent range of products, and we managed to get most of what we needed and wanted. We even found something that looked like cornflakes. But more importantly we got cooking sauces, pasta, milk, coffee, tea and other essentials. We got back to the hotel as the sun was setting and just in time to join the others in search of a drink and dinner. The old town is quiet at night with a noticeable reduction in the number of tourists. It was also raining a little which did not help.

Hánchéng (韩城). May 7, 2014

Wednesday, May 7th

After a wonderful three day break in Xi'an it was time to continue the journey north. We got up and away early to try and beat the morning traffic, we were partly successful. 

The first stop was the Tomb of Emperor Jingdi (Hanyangling) about 30kms north east of Xi'an. A very worthwhile stop. The tomb is protected by an amazing museum which has been built over the relics and allowed us to wander around seeing everything without doing any damage to this important site. Unfortunately due to the low lighting levels it did make taking photos a little difficult. The Emperor and others buried here decided that they needed people and animals with them in the afterlife, so the tombs also contained miniature figurines representing these people and animals. It was a little weird, as the human figurines had no arms which originally made of wood had decayed over the centuries leaving only the fired clay bodies and legs. 

The afternoon was spent in a combination of expressways and major roads heading generally in the direction of Pingyao (destination for next day). We weren't too sure how far we would make it, but in the end made it to Hancheng. Not much to this town but a good place to stop for the night. 

Little human like figurines offered in the tombs.

To aid and provide company in the after-life.

Map of China

Fast Facts

Day: 347
Date: Wednesday, May 7, 2014.
From: Xī'ān (西安)
To: Hánchéng (韩城) 
Distance Travelled: 260 kms (162 miles)

Stayed at: Name Unknown.
Located at: 35.47884º N, 110.46021º E
Hotel notes: Beds and bathroom clean. Carpet terrible. No internet. On-site parking. Dirty ¥169 (~$30 USD).

Xī'ān (西安). May 3-6, 2014

Saturday, May 3rd

Another long drive on fast and free roads. First we had to back-track to Baoji along the same road as the previous day and then continued along the expressway to Xī'ān. In fact we actually stayed in Lintong which is located on the outskirts of Xī'ān as it is very near the site of The Terracotta Warriors (the activity for the next morning). And just like the previous day, the scenery along the expressway did not disappoint. We passed several large cities with populations in the several millions with very high density housing, many of which are under-construction. The scale and compactness of these cities far exceeds what we are used to in the west.

Stephen was recovering quickly from his tummy bug and even braved an evening Chinese meal and beer. We fell asleep to the sound of fireworks celebrating the end of the holiday period.

Amazing roads over the valley floor.

The roads cut through amazing scenery

We passed through cities with super high density living.

Most signs have english, but occasionally not.

Sunday, May 4th

The Terracotta Army Site and Museum opened at 8:30am and that was just about when we rocked up at the entrance for this highly anticipated visit. We followed the Lonely Planet's advice on visiting the Terracotta Warriors and did our visit in reverse, (ie.: pit 3, pit 2, pit 1) to save the most impressive pit for last.
Pit 1 contains 72 warriors and horses and seems to be all high ranking officers. Pit 2 contains about 1600 statues, most of them had yet to be unearthed and restored (at the time of our visit). Pit 3, with its 2000 warriors and horses on display (of a total of 6000) was truly an amazing sight to behold. The Army did not disappoint and our visit was really awe inspiring.

With having coffees, ice creams and Subway lunch, we spent about 4 hours on site. A morning very well spent!
We then headed to the Hilton Xi'an where we'd booked 2 nights for some well deserved and 'needed' luxury :)
In the evening we headed to the local Belgian Bar (owned by an Australian) for a few drinks to end the day.

Impressive Pit 1.

Group with horses.

Archers at the front.

Up close and personal with one of the archers.

Monday, May 5th

A working day. Stephen spent the entire day trying to get Sterlin fixed. The parts from Australia finally arrived in Xī'ān after a mini tour of South East Asia and China. As soon as the parts were in our hot little hands, Stephen and Lun jumped into Sterlin and headed West and out of the city to the Land Rover garage. Turned out the garage was under construction and not yet operational. The good news: there was another Land Rover garage 38kms away on the opposite side of town. Stephen and Lun set off to find it on somewhat vague directions. Turned out it was very easy to find.

The Land Rover garage was amazing and more impressive than any garage we have seen in America. There was basically no English spoken, so Lun provided very excellent translation services. The garage thought it would take about 2 hours to replace the dodgy parts still in the front prop shaft with the new and improved replacements. However, after sitting around for 5 hours, it was clear this job was not going to finish before the end of the day. We headed back into the city, leaving Sterlin in the garage overnight.

Caroline looked for supplies for Mongolia and wandered around the city. Everything in Xī'ān is very expensive. We stayed 'in' and enjoyed the night in the Hilton Executive Lounge.

More work on Sterlin.

Tuesday, May 6th

Sterlin is fixed. The temporary fix put in place in Luang Prabang Laos 3 weeks and 4,000 kms ago was finally replaced with new parts. Once the old parts were removed it was possible to have a good look at them and see the wear and tear that they had suffered. This also confirmed our decision to replace them pro-actively. No more prop shaft issues please Sterlin.

Stephen had a McDate with Kim and Vaughan. Could be the last McD's for a long while. The rest of the day we just relaxed. 

Sterlin fixed and looking good.

Garage does not close

The old bits from Sterlin

McDate with Vaughan

Màijīshān (麦积山石窟). May 2-3, 2014

Friday, May 2nd

It was a long night. Stephen managed to get another tummy bug, and most of the night was spent awake and very near the toilet. These tummy bugs are getting a little annoying and we are not entirely sure what is causing them. No one else was struck with the same ailment. But regardless, we decided to soldier on and still make the drive to Màijīshān. The other convoy members offered to drive Sterlin if things got too bad. We ended up stopping at every service station along the expressway, but did not require a substitute driver.

Beautiful scenery albeit a bit hazy.

Saturday, May 3rd

The morning activity was to visit Màijīshān Grottoes. These are a series of nearly 200 caves cut into the side of a mountain.  This site and rock cut architecture contains over 7,200 Buddhist sculptures and over 1,000 square meters of murals all dating back to 384-417 AD. But the best bit are the staircases bolted to the rock wall, even if they were only installed in the last few decades.

Our Guide (Lun)

Big Buddhas

Little Buddhas

Staircases bolted to the rock face.

Looking up.

The lads enjoying a well deserved ice-cream.