Vientiane, Laos to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Antics of Earthbound Astronauts

Wow! It’s been a long time since the last post, but we have been going strong and there is a lot to catch up on! Casey and I have enjoyed our time in both China and Tibet and have ventured forth into the unknown of Mongolia! I have a lot of information to cover, so I’m taking a slightly different tack and writing about location rather then day-by-day. Welcome back and enjoy!

To listen to our more then overdue podcast click here!

Vientiane & Luang Prabang, Laos - Mar 28^th to Apr 3^rd

After enduring Vientiane in all is ‘grandeur’ (or incredible lack there of!), we decided to continue on to Luang Prabang, the popular pinnacle of Lao tourism. Luang Prabang was a truly beautiful town, isolated from the majority of westernizations. The town was very laidback, making it easy to lose track of days. With the sites of the town consisting of a mighty 32 wats, the Pak Ou Buddha caves on the Mekong and the magnificently formed Kuang Si waterfall, it was easy to see why Luang Prabang was a highlight for anyone venturing into Laos. We joined a tour to see both the Buddha caves, which were naturally occurring caves consisting of Buddhas of all shapes and denominations, and the waterfall. The waterfall and associated pools were a truly majestic sight. Deposits of calcium had created a tiered waterway while simultaneously making the water an intricately deep turquoise. Casey enthusiastically photographed the landscape before we both relished the opportunity to swim in the beautifully temperate water.

Feeling that we were finally ready to farewell South East Asia, we organised a bus to Kunming in the Yunnan province, China, but not before I had the displeasure of joining Casey in the age bracket of the mid-twenties.

Kunming, China - Apr 4^th to Apr 9^th

After successfully entering China with near to no issues we reached our first point of call, Kunming. Kunming was our first real reintroduction to the western world in two months! Tempted by Maccas, KFC and a Chinese fast food chain, Dickos, we needed to employ self-control to avoid blowing our budget and maintaining our semi-authentic cultural experience. This was also where we fruitlessly tried to satisfy our hunger for fried dumplings, which in hindsight aren’t as common in china as Australian Chinese restaurants depict. An hour and a half from Kunming is a popular local tourist attraction that Casey was desperate to see, The Stone Forest. As the name suggests, the attraction was in fact an impressive forest of stone. Unfortunately, the forest was partially ruined by the sheer number of tourists and the attempt to convert the natural beauty of the site into an artificial amusement park, a more then common occurrence around China. The amount the Chinese government was involved in controlling the population was slowly becoming evident as we discovered we were blocked from accessing Facebook and our blog, and the number of police had multiplied since our time in parts of South East Asia where we didn’t even know what a policeman looked like. We then continued on to Guilin, only a torturous 24-hour seated train ride away.

Guilin, China - Apr 10^th & Apr 11^th

Guilin was a quaint town that we were using as a gateway to the awe-inspiring town, Yangshuo. We still enjoyed Guilin; where you can find a plethora of differing and exotic Chinese foods including self-selected skewers fried in a chilli sauce that really stimulates the taste buds!

Yangshou, China - Apr 12^th to Apr 16^th

Yangshou is the town that inspired the floating mountains in the blockbuster movie Avatar. It was incredible to see landmasses rising from the flat surrounding terrain in such close proximity to buildings as if the locals were oblivious to this formidable backdrop. The main tourist street, West St, was saturated by Chinese tourists (that included all nightclubs), which was refreshing, having recently escaped the tourist demographic of South East Asia. After seeing bike rental businesses all around town, Casey and I decided that would be the best way to see the incredible landscape. We, of course, needed to do this in style so we hired a tandem bicycle. We inevitably were a spectacle, as people did not see two large bearded westerners riding a tandem bike regularly. Yangshou was a truly magical location and it was easy to see why this was such an iconic site.

Shanghai, China - Apr 17^th to Apr 21^st

After another grueling 24-hour seated train ride we arrived in westernized Shanghai. Now, Shanghai is an amazing city and is definitely one of my favourite cities we’ve visited thus far. Casey having visited China twice before was able to act as my tour guide around some of the ‘cultural’ sites such as the main shopping street, East-Nanjing rd, and a local electronics market where sales people were ruthless for a sale. Not only were we targets for people trying to lure us to teahouses, but Casey is convinced he was offered ‘services’ by a guy in the male toilets. It was also in Shanghai we decided to obtain visas for Mongolia, which ended up being incredibly easy and falsely foreshadowed what we would expect from our next country, but more about that later. The highlight of Shanghai for us, and inevitably the people that have to look at us, was the shaving of our beards. I bravely opted for full facial hair removal where as Casey decided to only trim his facial monstrosity. As we farewelled our homeless look and welcomed back a small amount of class, we prepared for the jewel of our Chinese adventure, a tour in Tibet.

Lhasa, Tibet - Apr 22^nd to May 2^nd

Our visit to Tibet had been an impromptu decision whilst we were in Luang Prabang, and even though we had to join an intensively organised tour to see this mysteriously isolated area, the organisation of permits and payments still added complication to our very fragile plan. Whilst in Shanghai everything had finally come together (except monetary issues with the company that continued into our first few days in Lhasa, involving calls from our travel agent ‘Debbie’ whilst we were inside sacred Buddhist monasteries...). We had organised to catch two 48 hour trains to both arrive in and depart from Lhasa after our eight day tour of Lhasa and the Mount Everest Base Camp (EBC).

We boarded the train in Shanghai and both got comfortable in our hard sleepers on the highest level in our cabin of six beds. This was an interesting train ride for numerous reasons, not only did the train reach an elevation of 5000m while we ogled the beauty of the Tibetan Plateau, but we also had to adjust to having about 50cm between our beds and the ceiling of the cabin. Elated to have arrived in Lhasa, we were welcomed by the sight of extremely heightened security. We were collected by a guide holding a sheet of paper garnishing our names and taken to our three star hotel, which was possibly the nicest we had stayed in thus far. Lhasa was exquisite! As we drove through the streets for the first time, we were met by a strange mixture of present day domineering China fused with the repressed, yet courageously prevalent, Tibetan culture, all on a formidable backdrop of snow capped peaks. Every Tibetan person we met was so merry and friendly, solidifying our opinion of the Tibetan people as the kindest and warmest we have encountered thus far.

The following morning (whilst I was battling with a slight level of altitude sickness) our freshly formed tour group visited the oldest Buddhist temple in Lhasa, the Jokhang temple, and the surrounding Barkhor st, a remnant of old Lhasa. This was followed by a visit to the Potala Palace, the rightful residence of the exiled 14^th Dalai Llama. The Potala Palace was magnificent, a structure that commanded respect by its sheer position above the town and the deep religious significance the palace held to each and every Tibetan. The intricacies of the palace were a marvel in themselves as we caught a glimpse of the spiritual ideologies that form the cornerstone of Tibetan culture. Throughout the following days we saw a multitude of monasteries such as the Drepung monastery, the Sera Monastery and the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery. All the monasteries we visited were unique in so many ways, differentiated primarily by the founding denomination of Tibetan Buddhism or the particular focus of worship. Unfortunately, due to the number of monasteries we visited, it became increasingly difficult to distinguish them from each other, however, this did not subtract from their individual majesty. We did have the privilege of seeing monks debating in a courtyard, which they use as a method of revising their teachings. This was a very impressive sight as we were able to see monks in their natural environment.

Travelling from Lhasa to EBC was incredibly impressive as we skirted the beautifully vibrant Yamtso Tso Lake and scaled vastly steep mountain ranges whilst enduring frequent police checkpoints and permit checks. After staying a night in the very authentic Tibetan Rongpuk Monastery, which is the first EBC, we were taken to the second and third Tibetan EBC. Mount Everest was a spectacular sight! Casey and I were truly mesmerized by the beauty of the peak and the highest point on Earth, a sight that makes you ponder the magnificence of nature. We had reached the pinnacle of our tour, so we then began the decent back to Lhasa and inevitably our return to reality outside of Tibet. We boarded another 48-hour train, this time to Beijing, continuing to gestate the experiences we had gained and the memories we will forever cherish. I cannot mention our time in Tibet without mentioning our German friends Thomas and Hanna. It was more then a pleasure to meet them both and a definite highlight of the tour and our travels thus far.

Beijing, China - May 3^rd to May 8^th

Arriving into Beijing demonstrated that our time in China was drawing to an end before we departed to Mongolia. We were determined to be proactive and visit the Kazakhstani embassy to obtain visas for our distant arrival; we, unfortunately, were met by about fifty well-prepared Chinese nationals, which ruined even the slightest chance of obtaining even the forms required. Determined to make sure this day of enthusiasm was not in vain, we continued to the train station to buy tickets to the Mongolian capital, Ulaanbaatar. We were again met with disappointment as we were told that they could not sell international train tickets at the train station and we would have to visit the “International Hotel”. After visiting said hotel and refusing to pay the $200AUD for a ticket, we determined that we could reach the border town by train and, at the insistence of our hostel manager, would still be able to leave the country before our visa expired, which is profoundly frowned upon by Chinese customs officials.

We booked a tour to see the Great Wall of China, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. As amazing as the Great Wall really is, the highlight of the day was getting to toboggan down after walking the steep incline of the wall. The construction of the Great Wall is truly impressive and it’s hard to believe that it stretched as far as 6000km. As Casey had already seen the Forbidden City, I ventured to the well-known sight solo before meeting Casey at the Chinese national museum. The Forbidden City was amazing and is definitely a testament to the Chinese dynasties of the past. However, I must admit that the number of security personnel and cameras around the Forbidden City and Tiananman Square was a true spectacle in itself and took away from the whole experience. Casey and I were able to use our time in Beijing to not only decide on our plans for the next few months, but also book some flights to ensure our continued world journey.

We were both ready to say our goodbyes to China and boarded the train to the tiny border town, Erlian, the only point where tourists can cross from China to Mongolia.

Zamin Uud, Mongolia - May 9^th to May 11^th

Waking up in Erlian still in possession of all our belongings was a good start to the day that, unbeknown to us both, was only going to get longer. We fortunately met a nice Dutch couple that we decided to accompany across the border. Now, the border between China and Mongolia can only be crossed by car, and only certain cars are allowed to cross. So after an hours walk to the first border checkpoint we had to pay for a jeep. After paying a guy and getting into his vehicle we waited by the side of the road waiting for him to drive before another vehicle pulled up that we were ushered into. This new vehicle crossed the first checkpoint, but the driver was then abused by a solider and made to turn back. We, again, waited at the first checkpoint until we saw our first driver exiting from the second checkpoint guard station. We then successfully managed to cross the second checkpoint and were dropped at Chinese immigration and the vehicle entered the line so we would be met on the opposing side to continue our journey. We crossed immigration, relieved to know our visas were still current (with only four hours remaining), and continued to wait for our driver. After waiting 45 minutes we came to the upsetting conclusion that we had been left at the first immigration stop and would need to find another ride to continue. This was quite an issue as most cars had people hanging out the sides at any rate and luggage on the roofs and bonnets. Luckily, a jeep was just about to leave the third checkpoint and saw an opportunity to make some money and welcomed us in, there were now nine people crammed into the jeep. With Casey sitting on my lap and both our packs unsecured on the bonnet, we arrived at Mongolian immigration before repeating the process and arriving in our first Mongolian town, Zamin Uud.

When arriving in the barren wasteland that was Zamin Uud, we headed straight to the train station to secure train tickets to Ulaanbaatar that night. We discovered that there is no order in the train station, after waiting two and a half hours in one line, Casey had moved, yet it was possibly a metre in the wrong direction whilst being sandwiched between two Mongolian women. I, joined by my Dutch friend, was lucky enough to reach the front of the line where after waiting for two hours was told that the tickets were sold out and that we were unable to buy tickets for the following day until morning. Leaving the train station incredibly frustrated we eventually found an incredibly overpriced hotel that had a shower but no water. We then ventured to a restaurant and managed to consume a very oily meal that was supposed to resemble a steak.

The following morning we again went to the train station to try and secure tickets for that night. There were four police officers present that had managed to form three almost orderly lines in front of the three ticketing booths and were stopping people from joining at any point. Casey and I, each with one of our Dutch friends, joined two separate lines. The police presence was great until they decided to leave when I was still ten people away from the window. This caused an abrupt amount of both pushing and general chaos. Luckily, the police returned and we were able to buy four tickets to the capital. Whilst on the topic of chaos, I have almost been hit by cars twice since our arrival in Mongolia. My theory is that no one needs to drive properly because the police are busy maintaining order in the train station… We easily jumped on the train and arrived in Ulaanbaatar the following day, but I’ll leave that for the next blog. Our opinion of Mongolia so far is not great, but we are hoping that the border town is not a true reflection on the remaining country. We have found this to generally be the case in other countries and still have high hopes for the remainder of Mongolia.

That brings us to now. There was a lot of time to cover and I’ve skimmed over some truly amazing experiences and locations, but it’s a pretty good overview of what we’ve been up to. Our time in China and Tibet was amazing, the people and the landscapes are truly incredible, and I feel lucky to have been able to see so much of it in such a small amount of time.

To keep you all in the loop, Casey and I have booked a few flights for the next few months for: Astana, Kazakhstan to Tbilisi, Georgia; Casablanca, Morocco to Amman, Jordan and Cairo, Egypt to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Also, Casey has enrolled to do a two week course in intercultural experience in Germany and I have enrolled in a two month long intensive French course in Lyon, France. So we definitely have some pretty exciting things to look forward to in the coming months. As always our love goes to our friends and families and we hope everyone is well and enjoying their own adventures. We are now back on the radar and have unrestricted access to Facebook and the blog, so we’ll make sure we don’t leave it too long.

Keep posted.