JJ explorer

Home sweet home...

2007-01-09T09:12:00.000+01:00

On 20 December 2006 we arrived in Copenhagen after 3 months of travelling. Happy to be back but also a bit sorry that our adventure had already come to an end. We want to thank everybody in Mongolia, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, USA and Mexico who took so good care of us and showed us their country and culture. If you ever come to Denmark you know you have a place to stay!

Taxco

2006-12-18T20:57:00.000+01:00

Our last stop is in the pretty colonial and old mining town Taxco a couple of hours south of Mexico City. We have enjoyed a couple of days here walking the narrow streets and sipping cappuccino in the sun. Today (Monday) we head back for Mexico City and tomorrow we board the plane for Denmark...

On the beach...

2006-12-18T20:47:00.000+01:00

...No comment necessary!!

Mexico - Pie de la Questa

2006-12-12T22:39:00.000+01:00

We are now enjoying a week at the beach... We have found a wonderful hotel ('Villa Nirvana') situated right on the beach. We have a great view from our room, which has a balcony with a hammock with room for two. Amazing place to relax before heading for cold and dark DK...

Runner's diary - part II
Yesterday morning, Carsten went for a run along the beach. At the end of the beach, small dots appeared in the sky and an angry recruit came running with a machine gun in his hand, telling Carsten to turn around. Looking back, Carsten realized that the dark dots were paratroopers training for combat...

Wedding (Mexico Part III)

2006-12-12T22:18:00.000+01:00

On December 9, Azucena and Gallo got married in a village church south of Mexico City. It was a very romantic ceremony - even though the priest named Gallo 'Louis' a couple of times... Azucena was beautiful in her white dress and Gallo was very proud!

Carsten was wearing a traditional Mexican shirt - just like the majority of the male guests. The party was held in a garden, where we were served tacos and tequila. The dinner, however, was not the main thing. Rather, it was finished in less than an hour - quite different from a Danish wedding. Dancing started at 8 pm and went on till the end of the night. Amazing wedding party:-)

Picture 1 depicts Azu and her younger sisters, Grisel and Najielli (sorry about spelling mistakes...), picture 2 is the happy couple and the fourth picture shows Azu's father walking his daughter up the aisle.

Teotiuhuacan - mexico part II

2006-12-08T18:35:00.000+01:00

thursday we went to the fantastic pyramids outside mexico city. a fantastic experience. we apologize that these messages are short but we are just about to leave for the wedding...

pictures for part I

2006-12-08T18:28:00.000+01:00

Civil wedding - Mexico Part I

2006-12-08T18:11:00.000+01:00

On December 5 Azucena and Gallo had their civil wedding in Mexico City. It was a great and sunny day with good food at Gallo's mothers place and mariachies - the traditional mexican musicians...

Southern cooking (US Part VIII)

2006-12-02T20:32:00.000+01:00

When you are in the Southeast of the US, there are at least three different venues you should visit to try out authentic Southern cooking.... Of course, we tried those three;-)

One is Waffle House, which - as the name suggests - is known for its waffles. And they are indeed yummy! Anne Sofie is enjoying one with maple sirup in picture 1. The place also had a juke box with a listing of old and new country music. Fortunately, Carsten succeeded in finding some music that was a bit less 'country' than average...

The second place to hang out for 'some good ol' eating' is the favourite place of the locals. In Cartersville, that place is known as 'Doug's Place' (picture 2) named after the owner who used to work in the mine (where Raymond worked until he retired a couple of years ago). The guy thought that the area needed a place with proper country cooking and decided to open a restaurant. Supposedly, he had a slow start, since he set out to do all the cooking himself - without much experience, that is... These days, it is one of the most popular places to eat around Cartersville. And it sure is gooood! We tried out chicken, baked sweet potatoes, fried green tomatoes, okra, biscuits and hush puppies (kind of sweet corn bread) - and of course, it was all washed down with iced sweet tea:-)

A third place to go is the Cracker Barrel (picture 3), which is decorated like an old country store. The restaurants are located along the interstate, and serve good ol' country meals. We went there for a full Southern breakfast, which includes grits (porridge made of grounded corn; you either hate it or love it), eggs, bacon, fried apples, and - of course - biscuits (close to English scones but more salty) and gravy (filling white sauce). Shelby made sure that we tasted the corn bread as well... we did not need to eat much more that day!

Rotary (US Part VII)

2006-11-30T21:38:00.000+01:00

As mentioned earlier, the reason for our coming to Georgia is that Anne Sofie spend a year in college there some 6-7 years ago. We wanted to go (back) there to visit with her host families as well as with the Rotary clubs that sponsored her scholarship through the Georgia Rotary Student Program. The program is unique to Georgian Rotary clubs and was founded shortly after World War II. Back then the program had only a few students, but since then it has grown to include around 90 students from all over the world each year.

We got an opportunity to attend the weekly meeting of the Bartow County Rotary Club that sponsored Anne Sofie's stay together with the Calhoun Rotary Club. The club asked Anne Sofie to say a few words during the meeting (picture). Many of the members she had been in contact with during her stay were there, and they were all surprised, but happy to see her again. Apparently, students don't often return to visit after they have finished the programme.

The meeting also included 30 seconds of fame for Carsten... One guy noticed him smiling at Anne Sofie and loudly stated that he looked like a guy who just won the Georgia lottery...

The host families (US Part VI)

2006-11-30T17:31:00.000+01:00

When Anne Sofie went to college in 1999-2000 she had two host families. Raymond and Shelby (picture 1) with whom we are staying during this trip, and Andrea and Jack (picture 2). We went to see Andrea and Jack last Sunday and spent a pleasant evening at their house. The third picture shows Raymond and Shelby, their daughter Laura as well as her son Chad and daugther Brenna.

Savannah (US Part V)

2006-11-30T16:54:00.000+01:00

Savannah at the Atlantic coast is the oldest town in Georgia. Established in 1733 it soon became an important centre for cotton export to Europe. Today Savannah houses the nation's most valuable living collection of 18th and 19th century architecture. Savannah was well planned by its founders and consists of a series of nice central squares and with beautiful old buldings and cobble stone roads (picture 1 and 3).

We spend 2 nice days in Savannah just strolling around the squares and looking at the old buildings. We also went to the nearby Tybee Island with its majestic lighthouse and nice beach...

UT vs. Kentucky (US Part IV)

2006-11-30T16:53:00.001+01:00

What is the one thing you have to do when you go to the US? Watch an American football game of course!! So before we arrived in Georgia we asked Raymond and Shelby to look for tickets for a profesisonal game or a college game. As it turned out, Laura, their daughter who works at the University of Tennessee, found two tickets for the college game between University of Tennessee (UT) and University of Kentucky. It's a classic rivalry between two neighbouring states and with the stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee, holding 106.000 spectators we were in for a real American experience!! College football is a huge sport in the US even though it is not professional.

On gameday, Laura equipped us with orange UT sweat shirts and brought us to the stadium. Outside, a huge number of fans were 'tailgating' which basically translates into making a barbecue in the trunk of your car. So whole families sit down before and after the game and have a great time in the back of their car... (picture 3). Inside the stadium, we seated ourselves with binoculars, coke and hot dogs ready to watch the show. And a show it was with entertainment before and after the game as well as during halftime - including a huge band making all kinds of formations on the field (picture 2)

Alltogether, we had an excellent day in the most beautiful sunshine and 25 degrees celcius - and Carsten got to see his American football game as promised!

Great Smoky Mountains (US Part III)

2006-11-30T16:53:00.000+01:00

The day after Thanksgiving we borrowed Raymond and Shelby's car and drove up to the Great Smoky Mountains on the border between Tennessee and North Carolina (picture 4). The Smokies are in fact the southern part of the Appalachian Mountains, the tallest mountain range on the east coast. From Clingmans Dome, which is the highest point in the Smokies (2024m), you can see seven different states on clear days (Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama). We had a beatiful day in the national park and went to see a waterfall as well...

Thanksgiving (US Part II)

2006-11-30T16:52:00.000+01:00

Thanksgiving Day is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November in the US and has traditionally been a way of giving thanks to God for the things one has at the close of the harvest season. Today, Thanksgiving is the biggest holiday of the year and is the main get-together for most American families. So on 23 November we went up to Kentucky to celebrate Thanksgiving with Raymond's family in Raymond's childhood home (see picture 3).

On the way to Kentucky we stopped over in Tennessee to stay at Shelby's childhood home (picture 1 shows the barn). The drive through Tennessee and Kentucky was very beautiful especially when we crossed the Clinch mountain ridge (picture 2).

When we arrived in Kentucky the table was already set for a traditional Thanksgiving feast: lots of different kinds of food (picture 5), desserts and drinks. And of course football on the tv for the boys. Nice!! Additionally the weather was very nice so we all had a good day with the family.

Anne Sofie was happy to meet Raymond's family again since she had also gone to the Thanksgiving dinner in 1999. And I continued my practice of the various American accents now including Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky. One thing I have learned, which holds true for all three accents, is that y'all (you all) can in fact be a way of greeting a single person - as when people ask me "how are y'all doing"...

By the way, those folks up in Kentucky don't seem to be too proud of their road signs - if you enlarge picture 4 you can try to count the bullet holes in the Kentucky sign...

Cartersville, Georgia (US Part I)

2006-11-21T19:47:00.000+01:00

After 31 hours, including delays and a missed flight, we finally arrived in Atlanta, Georgia. The aim of this part of the trip is to visit Raymond and Shelby with whom Anne Sofie stayed while she attended college in the US 1999-2000 (see picture). Raymond and Shelby live in Cartersville 45 min. north of Atlanta and we have stayed at their house for the last couple of days trying to rid ourselves of the jetlag. On Monday we went up to Reinhardt College where Anne Sofie spend a year of studies. On Wednesday we are leaving for Kentucky where the family is celebrating Thanksgiving. That will definitely be an interesting experience...

A runner's diary

2006-11-21T19:14:00.000+01:00

I don't know if any of you have ever brought your running shoes on a vacation. If not this is an encouragement to do so next time you go.

At first it might sound a bit self-torturing to bring running shoes on a vacation. It might be, but my experience is that it also allows you to get a different impression of the places you visit. It offers some unique experiences which you would not get had it not been for the running shoes.

Here are some snap shots of what I have experienced by running during our trip - often in the early morning:

1. I went running with Morten, the Danish guy whith whom we stayed in Beijing. We ran in a nearby park and had a good talk about living in Beijing. Furthermore, I got to experience the air in Beijing on my own body... (Actually I think I was more healthy before we went running than afterwards due to the pollution levels in Beijing!)

2. The ancient town of Dali has a city wall surrounding the entire city. Running on the wall one early morning, I had a fantastic view of the city, the nearby lake, the mountains and the sunrise. I also happened to interrupt a group of old Chinese people doing tai-chi on the city wall. It was a tough run, however, but I ended up blaming it on the elevation of the city of Dali: 2000 m - rather than on bad shape.

3. The Dragon Pool Park in Lijiang is an excellent place to run. I went in bright sunshine one morning and besides from the view of the snow mountain I saw how the old men of the Naxi tripe gather in the park - each with a falcon on their right arm. I guess the falcons were once used as hunters by the locals. The park turned out to be a popular place for the locals to work out as well. Imagine a 80 year old man doing leg bends at 7 a.m. - that's inspiring for us young folks...

4. Ahh Yangshuo. Running around among the otherwordly topography of Yangshuo. Do I have to say more?? By the way I don't think the locals outside Yangshuo see that many white guys running around in shorts in the early morning. They were staring and a guy on a motorbike even offered me a ride - I declined since that kind of undermines the idea of running ;-)

5. Victoria Park in Hong Kong is very popular with locals in the morning. As in the rest of China it is popular to do tai-chi outside before going to work. In Victoria park I saw a lot of tai-chi but also groups of people doing some kind of exercise, maybe tai-chi, with a sword or a fan in hand. Pretty nice entertainment when you are running on your own!

6. And how does a white guy know that he is in Asia? Well, try running into a street sign in Taipei... Those Asian fellows are not that tall are they?? (I actually got a scar as you can probably see from the picture).

Good food and friendly people (Taiwan Part II)

2006-11-21T17:55:00.000+01:00

When we studied in London, JingBin used to tell us about how friendly people are in Taiwan and how good the food is. We challenged him and promised to come to Taiwan to see for ourselves.

At our first night in Taiwan, we were invited out for dinner by JingBin's parents (picture 2). We went to one of the best restaurants in the capital Taipei and had an otherworldly gastronomical experience. Numerous exotic dishes were served, and combined with the friendliness of our hosts we had a wonderful experience. Try baked papaya with mixed seafood (picture 1). Or how about a coconut filled with tender chicken in coconut sauce. Or deepfried fresh fish. Or white carrot cake..etc. As if that was not enough JingBin's parents invited us home for a fruit dessert the following night (picture 3). And it was, of course, excellent!

After two days in Taipei, we took a bus to the second largest city Kaohsiung, where JiaLing lives. Here we got to meet JiaLing's family as well and were invited out for dinner. And again, it was delicious.

Upon leaving Taiwan, our conclusion was that JingBin was absolutely telling the thruth back in London last year; the people of Taiwan is very friendly and the food is excellent!!

Tallest building and biggest ice cream (Taiwan Part I)

2006-11-21T17:49:00.000+01:00

Visiting the small island of Taiwan just off the coast of China is not the most obvious stop, when travelling around the world in a limited amount of time. Our reason for doing so was to visit our friends JingBin, JiaLing and WeiChing with whom we studied in London. Since WeiChing was working during our stay, JingBin and JiaLing (picture 1, JingBin right) kindly showed us around Taiwan during our 5 day stay.

Taiwan is de facto an independent state. However, China does not recognize its independence but sees Taiwan as part of China. As a result, Taiwan is not recognized by most countries in the world as an independent state. Nor is it a member of the UN or other international organisations. The reason is that at the end of the Chinese civil war in the late 1940's the nationalist Chinese general Chiang Kai-Shek fled to the then Chinese island Taiwan conceding defeat to the communists under Mao. Mao wanted to take Taiwan as well but risked a clash with the US, which was supporting the Nationalists and Chiang in the civil war. Thus, Chiang was able to stay in Taiwan and during the past 50 years Taiwan has developed into a modern westernized society pretty much like Hong Kong. However, China has continued to claim that Taiwan is part of China and thus should not be recognized as an independent country.

A clear sign of the prosperity of Taiwan today is that the tallest building in the world is located in the capital, Taipei. At 508 meters the Taipei 101 (101 floors) is the landmark of the capital. We went to see the building one evening and had a great view of the capital from the top (brought there by the fastest elevator in the world - of course...). Furthermore, Taiwan has the 16th largest economy in the world!!

Of course we all know that prosperity is not reflected in the trivial question of who has the tallest building. A much more important question is - who has the tallest ice cream!!! On that account, this street stall in Taipei is a good bet - at least Anne Sofie seems to think so ;-)

Pictures for Hong Kong Part II

2006-11-21T17:42:00.000+01:00

The first picture shows Carsten and Emma chosing dishes from the trolley. Underneath is the famous Star Ferry crossing Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong. Finally a picture of HK at night.

Hong Kong II

2006-11-21T16:50:00.000+01:00

The original plan was to spend one and a half day in Hong Kong before leaving for Taiwan. Instead, we ended up spending four days in Hong Kong since we got a bit tired of mainland China in the end. As it turned out, we did not regret that choice!!

Hong Kong is quite a pleasant city to visit. The combination of Eastern food and traditions, raging capitalism and British colonial history makes Hong Kong a unique place to visit in Asia. The tram on Hong Kong Island - which will also take you to the picturesque Victoria Peak - and the famous Star Ferry, which will take you across the harbour, remind one of 18th century Britain. The magnificent skyline and the pulse of Central district underline the importance of business and money in the identity of the city. On the other hand, when you leave the beaten track and walk around the back alleys of Hong Kong you see how traditional Chinese life is also flourishing in Hong Kong: street restaurants, markets, tempels and tai-chi in the parks in the morning. It is all there in the cultural melting pot that is Hong Kong today. And we like it!!

Our main reason for coming to Hong Kong was to visit our friend Emma with whom Anne Sofie studied in London. Emma is from Hong Kong and works there as well. So we hooked up with Emma and her boyfriend Sheng and had a couple of very good days in Hong Kong with them. We visited an island outside the city center and also went to the town where Emma lives - again a bit outside the city center. The most memorable experience was the Sunday morning dim sum we had with Emma on our last day in Hong Kong. Dim sum is the cantonese version of a western brunch. Usually the entire family will go to a restaurant and order a huge number of small dishes and then while away a couple of hours eating, talking, and reading newspapers. We went to a local restaurant close to Emma's home and had a good time ordering different dishes, eating, and just watching the locals. The most distinct feature of the dim sum experience is that waiters are pushing trolleys around the restaurant, while announcing the dishes they have on their specific trolley. If you like it you simply go up to the trolley and ask for it. It is a good way of trying new dishes but as you can imagine, when the popular dishes are on the trolleys the restaurant tends to turn in to a crowd of people rushing around and 'fighting' for the good dishes...

Hong Kong...

2006-11-15T16:00:00.000+01:00

These are impressions from Hong Kong where we met with YungFan, our friend from LSE, and her boy friend, Sheng. We enjoyed a couple of days in the city of tall buildings - and dim sum! Since we are currently in Taiwan, doing our best to make the most of our short stay here, we will have to return later with more information on HK - and of course on Taiwan as well...

Offending Mao? Apparantly so...

2006-11-10T11:11:00.000+01:00

Has anybody heard about the infamous Chinese internet firewall?? Firms like Google have had to accept that the Chinese government limits access to a number of web sites which are critical towards the Chinese government.

When we first arrived in Beijing, we were able to access the jj.explorer blog without any trouble. But since we published the first reports from China on the blog, we have not been able to access the blog. We have been able to upload pictures and text but not see the results ourselves. On Monday we arrived in Macao, a former Portuguese colony, which is now part of China as a special administrative area - just like Hong Kong, where we are now. In both places we are now perfectly able to access the blog. So apparantly we have written something which has been deemed too critical by the Chinese authorities!! And apparantly the ugly hand of the Chinese government cannot limit free speach in the former colonies of Macau and Hong Kong!!

Interesting - don't you think?

By the way, Macau was not very interesting. It is like a mini Las Vegas with a lot of casinos. We did get a nice day on a beach though - all by ourselves...

Pictures for Yangshuo part II

2006-11-10T11:05:00.000+01:00

So we managed to get the pictures for Yangshuo Part II uploaded. Sorry for the first being on the side...

Picture problem

2006-11-05T06:35:00.000+01:00

Hello.

As you can see there are no pictures from Yangshou at the moment. We are working on the problem - but we can promise that they are very good!!

Boat trip (Yangshuo Part III)

2006-11-05T05:42:00.000+01:00

On Saturday, we hired a local guide to take us down the Li River to a small village. We had a small boat for ourselves and could relax on the front deck enjoying the, once again, beautiful wheather. Passing by the fantastic topographical scenery of Yangshuo, local fishermen on bamboo rafts, water buffalos relaxing in the river and locals doing their laundry on the shores, we, once again, had a fantastic day...

On two weels in the rice fields (Yangshuo Part II)

2006-11-05T05:38:00.000+01:00

Going on a bycicle trip in the fields surrounding Yangshuo was one of our priorities when we arrived and something we had been recommended from different sides. Thus, when a nice Chinese woman called Wendy approached us during our late lunch on the day of our arrival we promptly agreed to having her as our guide.

As it turned out we had a great day in beautiful sunshine and 25-30 degrees C. Wendy knew a lot of shortcuts and small roads leading us through rice fields, orange gardens, beautiful mountains, across rivers and not least into her home in a small village outside Yangshuo. The province is very fertile and farmers are able to grow bananas, oranges, pomelos, peanuts, sugar canes etc. By cycling around in the fields we got a great impression of how people live outside towns and larger cities. It is lovely and romantic but also very very inefficient if you ask a Westerner. No machines are used except an occasional tractor and a simple machine that seperates the rice from the straws. That's it!!

Another great aspect of the trip was that Wendy, who had taught herself to speak English so that she could earn enough money to send her kids to university, was ready to answer all our questions about China. It was striking how many times she would refer to the way things got better after 1980 - i.e. when Deng Xiaoping took over from Mao. Farmers were able to grow other crops than rice, they now own their own houses, and are able to make a profit by working hard. She even told us how her grand mother had died during the famine following Mao's crazy "Great Leap Forward' in 1959. However, to underline the ambiguity of China today, Wendy still had a big Mao portrait in her living room...as they say in China: Mao was 70 % right and 30 % wrong. To us it seems to be the other way around!! (se picture of Wendy, her mother-in-law and her son).

Yangshuo (Part I)

2006-11-05T05:13:00.000+01:00

Ahh Yangshuo! Located in what must be one of the most special topographic areas in the world, Yangshuo is a small town perfect for relaxing after travelling for 5 weeks. This part of the Guangxi province in Southern China is world famous for its small dotty mountain ranges with each mountain (or hill) taking a unique shape. In fact the city of Guilin 65 km north of Yangshuo is one of the most famous tourist spots in China. However, smaller Yangshuo is much more cosy and the mountains are more plentiful and more beautiful here compared to Guilin. Thus, we chose to go directly to Yangshuo, which we did not regret!!

We have been in Yangshuo for 4 days. To spoil ourselves we took a room with a balcony and a view (120 yuan pr. night= 90 DKK). As the view from our balcony suggests we did not regret this choice either... (first picture).

Tiger Leaping Gorge

2006-10-30T05:44:00.000+01:00

After two days in Lijiang we were ready to countinue our trip. We took a bus north to the famous Tiger Leaping Gorge. The gorge is 3900 meters deep and one of the deepest gorges in the world. The river flowing through the gorge is the early beginning of the Yangtze River. As can be seen from the pictures we had a beautiful two-day hike in the gorge. With steep ascends and descends there were plenty of challenges for both the well trained and the less well trained. At night we stayed at a nice guest house run by a local family with a bedroom panorama view of the gorge. Fantastic!!

Trekking the Gorge used to be somewhat of an adventure. However, today there is a paved road leading through the gorge and loads of Chinese tourists go there by bus. Luckily, this has not destroyed the scenery for people hiking the high trail. We only met 8 other travellers during our hike and could only faintly see and hear the road below us.

So here is one big recommendation if you ever pass through the Yunnan province (and if your legs are up to it) : walk the Tiger Leaping Gorge!! Especially in sunshine, it is some of the best hiking in the world.

Back in Lijiang we are now preparing for the next part of our travels in China. Tomorrow we'll leave for Yangshou in the southern Guangxi province and afterwards continue to Hong Kong. Stay in touch and keep the emails and news coming.

Lijiang

2006-10-30T05:29:00.000+01:00

Close to the Burmese border, Lijiang is an old city dominated by the Naxi minority. The old city is the primary reason to come to Lijiang with its narrow streets, canals and cobblestone streets (see picture 2). It is a nice city but as Dali it is very touristy. Even though it is quite remote, a highway leads up to Lijiang and since the airport was opened a couple of years ago tourism has increased. Thus, the old city is full of Chinese tour groups (easily recognizable since they are always wearing baseball caps in different colours...) and tourists in general making it somewhat of a challenge to find some peacefull spots in the city.

Lijiang is located just beneath the beautiful Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and the picture taken from a park at the outskirts of the old city is obligatory when you are in this corner of China. So here it is!! (picture 1).

A bit shocked by the amount of tourists in the old city, we decided to rent bikes and drive out into the countryside for a day. In beautiful sunshine we went to a small village, Baisha, 10 km outside of Lijiang and just at the foot of the Snow Mountain (picture 3). Baisha used to be the capital of a Naxi kingdom some 800 years ago and the city has been left pretty much untouched since then. Our impression of Naxi culture was therefore much better following our visit in Baisha compared to the impression of much more famous Lijiang. Still, there were lots of souvenir shops in Baisha as well...

We have realized that it is naive to think that you will ever be the only tourist when you visit some of the historic and beautiful places in China. With 1.3 billion people and a fast growing middle class the Chinese are travelling more than ever before. This is highly visible in the places we have visited...

Dali - Centre of Chinese Tourism...

2006-10-26T10:24:00.000+02:00

We arrived in the old town of Dali - an ancient capital of the Naxi people - on Monday evening after a long bus ride from Kunming. The bible - aka Lonely Planet - told us to stay at Jim's Tibetan Guesthouse which we did for three nights. It was a nice place with good bathrooms (YES!!).

Unfortunately, it turned out that the old city of Dali has been turned into one of the top spots for organised Chinese (and Western) tourism. In fact a large part of the old city has been rebuild to look as it did in 'the good old days' - not exactly our cup of tea. The streets were lined with souvenier shops and cafes serving western food. So eventhough the city was a quite pleasant place to stay it's historical value did not impress...

However, two things did impress us during our two day stay. First, the local babas (sweet pancakes) are delicious! (see picture). Second, we went to see the three pagodas which have made Dali famous throughout the world (see picture). They were build in the 9th century and are a quite impressive sight (the tallest is 70m). Unfortunately, as most of the archeological sights in China, the pagodas and the monastery next to them were destroyed during Mao's Cultural Revolution (1966-74). Thus, the pagodas and the monastery we saw were only reconstructions. In fact, the Forbidden City in Beijing is one of the only remaining original collections of Chinese architecture which survived the Cultural Revolution. We are amazed that an entire people could be decieved into flushing the remnants of one of the oldest civilisations in history down the drain. Sad!

This morning we left Dali for Lijian further north. Here we plan to spend close to a week touring the surroundings of the town. Take care.

Pictures to part III

2006-10-25T15:29:00.000+02:00

After a bit of trouble we finally managed to upload the pictures referred to in Beijing Part III - so here they are...

What Beijing is really about (Part III)

2006-10-24T05:55:00.000+02:00

Yes, we saw the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace. But these attractions were not what Beijing was about for us. We actually spend most of our time, and had the best experiences, doing some more down to earth things; eating, shopping and just walking around!!!

If you like a good meal Bejing is definitely the place to go. You can find food from almost anywhere in the world - good quality food, that is. We got a few hints from Morten and Nina and generally just tried our luck. That definitely payed off. The first evening we ate at a fancy japanese restaurant where each table had their own cook. Fresh and delicious - especially the king prawns. Quite a (pleasant) change after the milk/meat/dried yoghurt diet in Mongolia... From the Chinese kitchen we went to a number of good restaurant ordering 5-6 plates of delicious and tasty food and only paying 100 yuan (=75 kr) for two. That's a food lover's paradise. We even went to a vegetarian restaurant (Pure Lotus) run by monks. We were served a number of interesting dishes including a tofu(?) dish which tasted and looked exactly like a chicken - it was a bit too weird for our tastebuds though... Finally, we also got to try the famous Beijing Duck which, however, was somewhat of a disappointment (it was quite boring).

Another part of our stay was devoted to shopping. And even Carsten enjoyed it - most of the time... Beijing has a number of markets were you can buy very cheap clothes (usually fake brands) - but you have to bargain, since their starting price is usually 10 times too high... But we got a fairly good grasp of it in the end and made some good deals (so we think). A pair of sneakers for 75 kr, a North Face jacket for skiing for 150 kr. (fake of course), a polo shirt for 35 kr. etc. It's tough bargaining but also a lot of fun if you can stand the crowds and the pushy sales people...

Finally, we have discovered that the chinese are very good at offering very cheap massage. We tried so-called 'blind massage' which is basically massage by a blind person ;-). It was very good and we only had to pay 30 kr. for half an hour. I think blind people have a special talent for feeling where the sore parts in your neck are located... (see picture)

On Sunday we flew out from Beijjing to Kunming, the capital of Yunnan which is a province in the south western part of China. We are spending a couple of weeks down here enjoying the beautiful scenery and the nice (warm) weather.

Hope everything is OK around the world. We are starting to miss all our friends and family a bit.

The Big Three (Beijing Part II)

2006-10-24T05:32:00.000+02:00

We ended up staying in Beijing for 8 days at our luxury hotel (Morten & Nina's apartment...). That was probably the best experience in Beijing and we had a great time with Linus and Coco. During these days we did the grand tour of the three classic sights of Beijing; the Great Wall, The Forbidden City and the Summer Palace. The Great Wall was a nice experience even though our driver took us to the wrong part of the wall. We wanted to go to Simatai which is less touristy and less renovated. But by mistake our driver took us to Mutianyu which is very crowded. However, the view was nice and we got a fairly good impression of the wall after all. The Forbidden City was a more ambivilent experience. It was interesting to see the old palace of the chinese emperors but seeing it together with 1 mio. chinese tourists was a bit of a downer. It is an immensely crowded place and very commercialized. We even found a Starbucks cafe inside the Forbidden City - so much for the US being the big evil... Finally the Summer Palace, although crowded, turned out to be a quite nice experience. The palace is situated in a huge park where we had a nice stroll for a couple of hours...

Mongolia revisited

2006-10-17T11:23:00.000+02:00

By the way, we forgot to mention that if any of you want to go to Mongolia and experience what we have experienced (which you should) feel free to contact our guide Esse. He is more than ready to make a tailored tour around Mongolia for you. Esse's email is: horsetrek_khuvsgul@yahoo.com

Beijing (Part I)

2006-10-16T17:05:00.000+02:00

We have been in Beijing for four days now. The bad news are that the weather is really bad. Or maybe we should say the pollution is bad because I actually think the weather is OK - you just can't see it... Furthermore, Carsten got a stomach infection on the first day. But he is OK know. The good news, however, are that we have been incredibly lucky with our accomodation. We are staying at a Danish-German family who has an apartment in a fancy apartment building in central Beijing. Own room, gym, spa, butlers etc. It's really upper class and nice. And they have two great children, Linus and Coco, so we are enjoying ourselves. Today we borrowed Morten and Nina's bikes and drove around in Beijing's houtons (old very narrow lanes) which was great (see picture). Tomorrow we are driving out of Beijing to see the Great Wall. The weather forecast is promising and we are getting a free ride because Morten and Nina are trying out a driver for their children - soo Beijing is not too bad after all. Will be back with more pics in a couple of days.

Mongolian barbeque (Part III)

2006-10-10T07:59:00.000+02:00

Most peole have tried Mongolian barbeque at home. You choose some vegetables and some meat and then you get it fried by a cook while you watch. Forget it!! When we arrived at Esse's home in Khatgal near the magnificent Khovsgol lake in Northern Mongolia Esse and his friend Maya showed us the real deal. You put stones in to a stove and heat them until they burn. Then you take an iron case with a bit of water. Drop the stones one by one into the case while you add potatoes, onion, garlic and raw sheep meat (and no you don't cut out the good parts first). Close the case and shake if wildly while steam is pouring out. Leave it for 30 minutes. Open the case and pour the stuff out onto a plate. The boiled water is the sauce and you eat with your fingers. Bon appetit!! (See picture). By the way it tasted great!

We stayed at Esse's place for 3 days and enjoyed the hospitality of his older sisters family who runs a guesthouse together with Esse. We played a traditional game with her and her two girls where you use the ancle bones from e.g. sheep. Quite entertaining (see picture). One day we also went to se the beautiful lake which is one of the top attractions in Mongolia (See picture).

Back in UB were are relaxing and washing our clothes. On the 12th we take the train to Beijing in China and begin another part of the journey. See you there.

Carsten and Anne Sofie

Meeting Esse's family (Part II)

2006-10-10T07:49:00.000+02:00

One of the highligts of our trip was a three day stay with Esse younger sister in the area where Esse grew up as a boy. Esse's sister lives together with her husband and their 2 month old daugther in a ger and has the mother-in-law close by in another ger. Esse's mother and one of Esse's brothers live close by in another couple of gers. Each family has a number of horses, sheep, yaks, cows, goats etc. and live from these animals. They move the gers 4 or 5 times a years to get the best conditions for the animals.

We stayed with Esse's sisters mother-in-law and had a great experience of the traditional way of life in the Mongolian country side. All meals were served in the sister's ger and included dried youghurt, milk tea, sheep dumplings, noodles etc. We mostly liked the food but in the end the enourmous amounts of diary products got the better of us (I am never drinking milk tea again!!).

One day we went on a horsetrek with Esse and his sister's husband around the valley where they live. We borrowed the traditional clothing, dell (see picture), from the family and toured the valley on horseback (at a modest pace...). A fantastic experience in beautiful sunshine.

Land of the blue sky (Part I)

2006-10-10T07:37:00.000+02:00

So we are back in Ulaan Baatar after 13 days on the road. 2300 km of which only 300 were on a paved road. Result: A sore behind and great respect for Mongolian drivers!! Mongolia has definitely presented itself at its best. The weather has been beautiful with up to 25 degrees celcius during day and around 0 at night. We have had a blue sky for 11 of the 13 days. That's why people call it the 'Land of the blue sky'. The landscapes are magnificient and beyond description except from what you can gather from the pictures in this and the following posts. It's incredible!!

Furthermore the Mongolian people especially in the country side is probably the most friendly people in the world. The door is always open to visitors even if they are not family nor friends. You will always get a meal and a nights shelter if you need it - even when 4 people live in a single ger! We have not seen such hospitality anywhere else. It must be a result of the harsh climate, bad roads and low population density of Mongolia. You never know when you are in need of help and you therefore open your doors to make sure that you will be treated the same way should the need occur.

Because we had a local guide in Esse we got a unique impression of local life in the countryside. Naturally Esse speaks mongolian which made it much easier for us to communicate with the local herders and their families. Thus we have learned a lot about their way of living - an impossible task if we were to speak to them ourselves. Together with his friend Orgi, who was driving the car, Esse made our trip a very special one (See picture above, Esse on the left).

So we left UB on the 27 September and spend 4 days in the central part of Mongolia. These first days included a stay with a local herders family in a traditional ger including traditional food and airag - fermented horse milk which is the number one drink in much of Mongolia. We rode camels and experienced the beautiful landscabes which are present everywhere in Mongolia. On one picture Anne Sofie is sitting among the family drinking tea and airag. We also visited a very old monestary (Erdene Zuu Khiid) which was almost destroyed by the communists in 1937.

One day we were driving through a beautiful landscape and because we were taking a shortcut we had to ask for directions at a local family. It turned out that 8 teachers from a nearby school were fighting a forest fire close by and needed a lift to the forest. We put the 8 men into our car (not an easy task...) and set out for the forest. However, the engine got too hot on the way up hill and we had to make a break. The locals immidiately sat down and pulled out two bottles of vodka and a big bowl of airag. Then we all played a 'finger game' (like stone, scissor, paper): the loosers had to drink airag and the winners should drink vodka.... It soon turned out that one of the locals was the 4 time wrestling champion of the Naadam festival which is a yearly sporting festival in Mongolia. Since wrestling is the national sport and the Naadam is the biggest competition it is quite something to be 4 time champion. So Esse and Orgi had to fight him and lost. Then everybody pointed at the tall strange white guy, me, and indicated that I had to fight the champion. Having never wrestled before that was some challenge. Of course I lost but I think I put up a decent fight (even if he was not doing his best). The battle and the beautiful scenery can be seen on the last picture. The fire, by the way, seemed to be of less importance...

Moscow - Ulaan Baatar

2006-09-26T10:17:00.000+02:00

Dear All

So we made it!! Five days in a train compartment and the longest break was only half an hour...We boarded train No. 6 from Moscow to Ulaan Baatar Thursday evening at 9.35. Our bags were packed with clothes and books and we had just been on a spending spree in the loocal supermarket; cup noodles, water, milk and bread. The compartment on first class turned out to be small but nice and we were happy that we had not bought second class which would have meant less space and less privacy... So for five days we looked out of the window at the Siberian landscape, read books, played games, listened to music and just relaxed. Wonderfull!
On Monday we reached Lake Baikal, the deepest lake in the world which contains as much fresh water as the US Great Lakes put together. That's a lot! The picture shows what a wonderfull sunrise we saw over Lake Baikal. From here the train turned south towards Mongolia which we entered at midnight. We had to stop for 3 hours at the border and since the train toilets are closed when the train is at a stop the entire wagon really needed to go to the toilet when the train finally moved...
Today we reached the capital of Mongolia, Ulaan Baatar, in bright sunshine. We were picked up at the train station by Esse, a Mongolian contact we know from Henrik and Pernille. He is incredibly helpful and kind and has prepared a great 13 day trip around Mongolia for us. We are leaving tomorrow and are going to visit lakes, forests, waterfalls and his family who are nomads and live in gers at the great Khovsgol Nuur Lake. But more on that when we get back. Take care.
Anne Sofie and Carsten

First stop Moscow

2006-09-20T19:52:00.000+02:00

Dear All

We have now arrived safely in Moscow after a long day of travelling. It turned out to be quite decent, however. When we arrived in Moscow airport we were at first attacked by the Moscow taxi mafia. Fortunately, a kind Danish business man offered us a lift to the city centre in his brand new Mercedes. It turned out he had a driver who could take us to our hotel - a two hour trip through the horrific Moscow rush hour traffic!!! Magnificent...

Tomorrow we board the Trans Sibirian Railway. See you in Mongolia :-)

Best,

Anne Sofie & Carsten

Leaving soon. Please say hello sometimes

2006-09-02T22:05:00.000+02:00

Around the world in 90 days. That is what we have set out to do. During the following 3 months you can follow our adventures in this blog. We will write in the blog when we have the opportunity and you are more than welcome to comment on our emails - or just send a nice hello. We are writing in English since some of our English friends are, hopefully, following our trip as well. Enjoy!!