Arriving in Vietnam

My flight from Honk Kong to Hanoi was over two hours late but luckily I had booked a room in an hotel room at the airport so I didn't have to try and find somewhere to stay in Hanoi in the dark.
The next day I took the bus from the airport to the city. It was easy enough but hilarious. The bus had a big flat screen tv at the front showing some kind of Vietnamese version of The X factor.
Also a little way into the journey we were wedged into the smallest petrol station to full up with fuel. That doesn't happen on the National Express.

Third (sunny, with a little bit of rain) day in Hong Kong

Causeway Bay to Tung Chung - MTR Train

Ting Chung to Ngong Ping - 360 cable car

Ngong Ping to Tai O - Bus Number 21

Tai O to Mui Wo - Bus Number 1

Mui O to Central - Ferry

Central to Causeway Bay - Tram

Second (rainy) day in Hong Kong

I met Phoebe and Karmen on the first week of my trip in Amsterdam and they offered to show me around HongKong. We had a lovely day which included; lots of food, dim sum for lunch (not sure about the chicken feet soup) and amongst other things pork stomach for dinner. With some street food snacks in between. I got my fortune told at the Wong Tai Sin Temple and was very unhappy withe the fortune I got. It's a good job I don't believe it. I learnt about MK (Mong Kok) style and went shopping. We went to the Museum of History and we all learnt that there are 263 Islands in Hong Kong

First (rainy) day in Hong Kong

Some of 112 skyscrapers Hong Kong Island

Xian to Hong Kong (via Guangzhou and Shenzhen)

As you cannot get the train directly from Xian to Hong Kong I had to get the train to Guangzhou. The train took 7 and a half hours. This was definitely a food sharing train, I was given a peach and some brown dried things in a packet, not sure what they were but they tasted fine.

The hostel in Guangzhou was definitely the strangest I have stayed in. It felt like I was staying in some ones apartment. The father sat in the corner and painted. The mother seemed to be the cleaner and the daughter dealt with the bookings. Most of the other guests were young Chinese girls who had moved to Guangzhou for work or to look for work and seemed to be permanent residents of the hostel, and some seemed to have been there so long they were part of the family.

Museum of Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses

Bus number 306 from Xian main railway station. I knew I was in the right place as it was the only bus with a queue. And the queue stretched a long way... in the rain.

Xian

The Bell Tower and the Drum Tower

Beijing to Xian

I don't think these pictures do justice to how huge and intimidating Beijing West Railway Station is. (What i am trying to say is that i am very brave) When you arrive their are hundreds of people sitting with bags and suitcase outside. You can only get into the station if you have a ticket and ID that relates to that ticket.

And then I was left on my own to explore...

No more air conditioned minibus..... It is the metro all the way. (Although that has air conditioning too)

Which, it turns out is very easy and very very cheap - about 21p a ticket!

I never did work out why the gaps would make your finger bleed though.

All change

The Trans Siberian tour is over and everyone who I have spent the last two weeks with fly home or off to different adventures. Including my dad.

I also go from 4 star....

Beijing

First night exploring

Trans Siberian Railway - Part Four

Ulaanbaatar to Beijing

30 hours 15 minutes

One border, one bogie change

Hustai Nuruu National Park

The Naadam Festival

The view of the stadium from our hotel room

UB - Mongolia

The station clock is correct - we arrived at 6.15am

Trans Siberian Part Three - Irkutsk to Ulaanbaatar

One time zone change (strangely back an hour)

34 hours 29 minutes (including 8 hours at the Russian - Mongolian border)

The trains seem to be getting worse the further east we go.

Irkutsk

Listvyanka and Lake Baikal

We get off the train in Irkutsk and are whisked away to the village of Listvyanka which is on the shore of Lake Baikal

We are staying in a beautiful wooden hotel in a valley which leads down to the lake

A little hillside chappel next to the lake

Russia's version of a beach resort

Locals selling clothes to tourists and smoking fish from the lake

We has a little trip out on the middle boat.

The water was really clear

Views of the village from out boat

I had omal from the lake for dinner, I didn't realise it would be served raw but it was delicious

Lake Baikal

The Trans Siberian Railway - Part Two

Yekaterinburg to Irkutsk

Three nights - 56 hours 20 minutes - two time zones

Waiting for the platform to be announced at Yekaterinburg Station

Train number 80

At every stop a man went along hitting the wheels with a long hammer

We left at 10.20pm local time. It was still light an hour later.

This train was not quite as modern as the first one. When you flushed the toilet you could see right onto the tracks.

In no danger of dehydrating while looking out go the window.

Some of the views from the train. Mainly birch tree forests

Dinner on the Trans Sib

Stops at Omsk and Barabinsk

Dried fish for sale on the platform at Barabinsk

We were in second class so had a four bed cabin. Luckily for most go the trip we were on our own. Third and fourth class consisted of open carriages with 50 or 70 beds.

The Americans on our tour decided they needed clean windows at the stop at Omsk

Yekaterinburg

The birth of the city happened in 1723 when the River was damned and the fortress built.

Lenin street and the Lenin Statue

Central Yekaterinburg

The Europe - Asia border near Yekaterinburg

Gania Yama -The new monastery built on the abandoned mine where the Romanovs bodies were destroyed

Memorials to the Romanov Family; The last Tsar Nicholas, his wife Alexandra, their four daughters and one Son who were murdered on 16th July 1918

All female visitors to the monestry had to cover their hair and wear a skirt.

The Church of the Blood

Built on the sight of the house where the Romanovs were killed. The basement where the murders took place has been reconstructed after the house was deasroyed in 1977 and The Church of the Blood was built on top.