The Great Mall.. and the Wall.

Let's be honest.. the two main reasons that brought me back to China where

1- because it's on the way from Mongolia to Tibet (which is a separate country for everyone in the world expect for chinese!)

2- for shopping in Beijing!!
Just like in Shanghai, the photo mall in Beijing drives me insane! I replaced at least the essentials of what i got stolen in Moscow and I'm buying film by the truck load and now i can't close my bag anymore!

Amongst the "essentials" i also bought a super tiny super high-tech camera phone that does everything from mp3 player/recorder to movie player to karaoke to alarm clock to calculator to.. you name it.. i'm not even sure i can use it as a phone but at this point who cares??

So here's me as pictured with my phone:

film anyone?...

And then of course, aside from the Great Photo Mall of China.. i had to go check out the Wall as well..

That's actually not disapointing at all.. I can't compare with any other "great wall experience", but the treck from Jishanling to Simatai -although a bit tough under this sun- is really worth it.. great scenery..

My tourist pic on the wall.. got to have that one, right?

and that's me suffering and hard walking in the sun (can you feel the pain??)

and well.. that's my ass.. up some pretty steep stairs..

I also walked around the forbidden city and the temple of heaven parks.. nice walks.. didn't enter any though.. bit too much of a tourist trap, it felt.. and tomorrow, the summer palace.. that's supposed to be neat..

I also managed to figure out some kind of itinerary to make my way through China:

Taking a train on monday to Xining (south west of Beijing) to then reach Xiahe, by bus.. Xiahe is supposed to be tibetain like town, the main temple being the second place of worship after Lhassa.. from there make my way south to some remote moutain towns that noone here seems to have heard of (Serxu, Manigango, Ganzi, Kangding..) and down to Lijiang.. then back up and west inside Tibet, accross another bunch of remote places and to Lhassa...

Sorry but that's as precise as my sense of organisation allows.. what do you think??

I think it's gonna be nice.. and now i'm more excited about my trip to China..

ps: i would have loved to throw a couple of exclamation marks here and there but my keyboard doesn't allow... so you get to choose where you want them..

Back to the most capitalist communist country!

I took the long backpacker's way but i made it to China!

A first train to Sainchand, in the Gobi, where i spent two days pretty much sleeping, just crushed by the heat!
Sainchand is a typical countryside town.. with its wide dirt streets and 2 stories buildings scattered around.. the colors, the dust and the heat give it a typical Vim Vanders movies feeling.. almost Tarentino even..

The Train to Sainchand was quite an experience in itself.. As we were approching the desert, the air filled with sand dust to the point where it was barely breathable.. all the beds and the people, everything was covered with sand.. it was surreal!

After Sainchand, another train took me to Zamiin Uud, just at the border to China, were i took a cab to pass the border.. (needless to mention the doors were packed with "stuff" to get to the other side!)

From there i caught a sleeper bus to Beijing.. and after 12 hours of bathing in my own sweat, here i am in giant Beijing!

Quite a change after the Gobi!!