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> MAY 2007
JUNE 2007
the bogey-changing shed
face of urban and rural china
beijing train station
palm trees outside our hotel room window
outside the forbidden city
muggy shanghai
outside the jz club
Thurs 24th May 2007
After a thoroughly tedious but (mercifully) uneventful two-hour Mongolian border crossing at Zamyn Uud (the hottest place in Mongolia), the train trundles into Erlian (just inside China), for another two-or-so hours of more border formalities. What makes this part much more interesting, however, is that the all the bogeys on the train have to be changed to fit Chinese rails. It seems that Mongolia and Russia are alone in the world with their own special bogey sizing. So the whole train - with us and all the other passengers still inside - creeps into the bogey-changing shed to get fitted-out. It's great to watch, although the near-endless shunting back and forth seems to go on forever!
After a couple of hours, it's all done, and we're off into China proper. Just in time to see...nothing. Again, like when we crossed into Mongolia last year, it's now after midnight, so there's hardly anything to see and no choice but to get some sleep to regain energy for tomorrow.
Fri 25th May 2007
We awake to...greenery!!! It's amazing after a year in Mongolia how much we've missed the greens of a nature that hasn't been blasted by extremes of climate. What's also great is that - unlike our arrival in Ulaanbaatar at 7.32am - we're not going to arrive in Beijing until 2.30pm, which means ample opportunity to view some splended countryside out of our compartment window. The San Gan river is one of the definite highlights - clear blue and edged with lush green vegetation, with a mountainous backdrop. Breathtaking.
The urbanisation of China is less of a highlight, for sure. As we approach Beijing city centre, the highrise flatblocks take over from ramshackle villages and it's not long before we are pulling into Beijing Train Station. In fact, we are caught somewhat offguard by our arrival and have to do some minor scrambling around to fully pack our stuff away into the two suitcases and one rucksack we have managed to cram our lives into.
Beijing Train Station is immense, and during the trek from the platform to our hotel (thanks to some careful forward-planning, only 300 metres from the station, and cheap) it seems like ages before we leave it behind. The heat is something we were not prepared for at all - humid and sticky and somewhere in the mid-30oC - and even after a mere 300-metre walk to the hotel, we're glad to put the stuff down and check-in.
Even though we thought we'd got rid of all the unnecessary stuff from our belongings, we're almost certainly going to have to reduce our luggage even further to continue our travels - it's all just too heavy to lug around.
Mon 28th May 2007
The hotel is great - cheap and clean and relatively luxurious. Real palm trees outside the window and a mouth-watering aroma of Chinese food in the air. The perfect antidote to Mongolian khuushuur and buuz (not to mention the plastic palm trees on Baga Toyruu!). Plus there's a computer in the lobby for guests to use the internet, so we are able to email family to say we're ok and have arrived safely. The only downside is there's no lift to our fourth-floor room, and after a sweaty day trudging along the streets of Beijing, the last thing you really want is to ascend four flights to your room. But that's the only problem. Tonight we are going to go to the Zeta Bar in the Hilton Hotel to see the Andy Hunter Band from Shanghai, in Beijing for the Nine Gates Jazz Festival. Andy Hunter is a trombonist and one of the guys who plays at the JZ Club we're going to check out once we're in Shanghai. Should be interesting...
Back from the gig. Great band, and great arrangements. Passed on a couple of CD's of my stuff and hope to be able to play with these guys whilst we're in Shanghai. Fingers crossed...
Wed 30th May 2007
One annoying observation about Beijing is that it's damn near impossible to get anywhere on foot. And when you do get anywhere, it takes another long journey to get somewhere else! So our feet are considerably battered from all the trudging about over the last couple of days. Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City were great to see up close, and the narrow streets surrounding the FC are great fun - lots of little restaurants and shops to explore.
We spend the day hanging around for the night train we've booked to Shanghai. The Lonely Planet guide to China says there's an English-speaking ticket booking office at the Beijing Train Station, but if there is, we didn't find it after repeated attempts. Luckily, we managed to book tickets for Train Z5 from one of the Chinese-speaking booths. It's a sleeper train and we'll have to share the cabin with two strangers. From what we can find online, the cabins are seriously luxurious, so we're looking forward to settling down for the night to awake in Shanghai.
Thurs 31st May 2007
We arrived in Shanghai at 7.30am and found our way to the apartment where we're going to stay with a family friend for a week-or-so. The ticket officer at Beijing station gave us tickets in seperate cabins - obviously unbeknownst to us! But, luckily for us, one of the other passengers swapped so we could at least be in the same cabin.
Found the JZ Club and the JZ School - both are pretty close to where we're staying, in the old French concession area, which is a great part of Shanghai. Shanghai is very muggy and after a year of almost no humidity in Mongolia, it's taking a while to become adjusted to humidity again. We're going to watch the Andy Hunter Band (who we saw in Beijing) at the JZ Club tonight...
Back from the JZ Club. Great playing again. There's a baby grand piano on stage and the room has a good vibe. There's no cover charge, but the drinks are very expensive, I guess to cover the musicians' wages. Some loud-talking idiots invaded the area we were sitting in for a while, but that's expected wherever you go, and it certainly happens in Birmingham, too.
Talked a little again to Alec Haavik, the sax player from the band, and am hoping to get to play soon. It's been exactly two months since I last touched a piano, so my fingers are getting pretty itchy at the moment!