We’re in China!

And have been, for just over a week. Our first stop in this massive country was Chengdu, in the Sichuan Province. The 2012 Kathmandu – Istanbul group is now complete: Carolyn joined the group in Chengdu, and we met up with our other crew members Simon and Teresa, not forgetting Calypso (our expedition vehicle), as well as Miss Sophie, who is our local Chinese guide, with us for the duration of our stay in China. A full house now with 24 on board.

(Just before we get into China news, I must add that some had a great farewell departure from our hotel in Kathmandu, finding what they thought was a dog poo outside their hotel room door. Reassuringly, the hotel manager informed them that it wouldn’t be dog, it must be cat!)

3 nights in Chengdu gave us time to familiarise ourselves with a new currency, new language, new script – not sure if we’ll ever manage to learn much of the language or decipher the Chinese characters, though Sophie is very patient in translating menus and teaching us a couple of useful words.

Andrew E, Phil, Annie, Andrew P & Carolyn

Relaxing in Chengdu

Also, and probably one of the most exciting things about travelling to far and foreign lands  -  new food. Chinese take-out is available all over the world, but if you wish, you could eat it 3 times a day here! It just could be a bit of a gamble what you end up with, especially when you order off a completely Chinese menu at a local restaurant. Noodles, lots of them; spicy food (in Sichuan), hot plates, hot pots, noodle soup, pork – twice-fried, sweet n sour, shredded; quail eggs, tofu, steamed buns, wantons, chicken heads, chicken feet, the list goes on. And many dishes that we don’t have a common name for. Most of the hotels we’ve been in so far have had the odd bit of western fare on the menu, so if you fancy a good old English breakfast with some tea (other than green) that is possible in the more major areas. Ordering food certainly has made for some interesting times – Toby and Paul landed up with a whole chicken each on their plates in Maiji Shan, and Cathy, after motioning like a chicken, ended up with an omelette.

Toby tackling his next meal

Is that a whole chicken?

Some of the group headed out of the city to have a look at their ancient irrigation system.

In Chengdu, we also visited the Giant Panda Breeding Centre and Sanctuary. While a little bit theme-park meets zoo-ish, due to the bus loads of mostly local tourists, it was lovely to see these beautiful creatures, who spent most of their time lazing about. We saw them feeding on bamboo, and then having to recline afterwards! A couple of smaller pandas were perching in trees, not unlike koalas, but the bigger ones sat fairly stationary. They also have a breeding program at the sanctuary and we saw some infants in incubators. Amazing that they weigh only about 100g when they are born, with no fur, pink and really quite ugly.

There were also visits to a local opera in Chengdu, for more of a cultural evening.

Leaving Chengdu, we had our first long drive day on the truck. About 740km to Xi'an, but most of it on good highways, making it a reasonable day. Xi'an has some attractive land marks and features in the inner city, within the old city walls. There are the Drum and Bell Towers that make for good sights, as well as the Goose Pagodas. The Muslim Quarter comes alive at night with a big food market. The city walls, 14km in total, also make for a nice walk (or run if you’re Nigel H), or you can hire bikes and cycle on them, or go round in a golf-cart type shuttle.  Apart from these land marks, the sight that many people base themselves in Xi'an for, is the Terracotta Warriors, labelled the 8^th Wonder of the World. As our guide Crystal drilled into our heads, this hidden army was only discovered/uncovered in 1974, when a farmer was digging a well and unearthed part of this army.  Built by an emperor to take with him to his next life, there are said to be over 6,000 individually carved life-size warriors, each one unique. There are sceptics in the group and I’m afraid we couldn’t establish how they uncovered the whole story of the warriors, and how it had remained hidden for so long, but it is an amazing find and phenomenal to see these statues, each with different facial expressions. Also interesting are the other tour groups and tour guides with their umbrellas held high for the group to follow. Made for some entertainment when our minds wandered from Crystal’s lecture!

Information overload from Crystal

Too much information perhaps?  Paul S relaxing after warrior overload

Cycling the city walls

Xi'an city walls

Outside our Xi'an accommodation

Andrew E & Andrew P

Nigel C, returning for his second Odyssey after having done Cape to Cairo with us in 2010

Xi'an by night

Glad to say Calypso’s bar crew stocked up on supplies in Xi'an so for those long days when one gets thirsty, and for the bushcamps to come, we are now fully stocked drinks-wise. Have had less success on the grocery-shopping front – no mayo, no butter, no cheese – makes for new sandwich combinations!

Bar stock enroute to Calypso

Lunch stops

From there it was a breath of fresh (and pretty crisp) air in Maiji Shan, to chill, do some walking, and have a look at some Buddhist statues high up carved into rock.

Ann S, Cathy, Anne W, Carolyn near the statues at Maiji Shan

Another long drive partly on roads that are still under construction, and we are in Xiahe, with the second largest monastery outside of Lhasa, home to a largely Tibetan community. We arrived in the rain, but woke up to a sprinkling of snow on the surrounding hills, apparently the first of the season. We can definitely feel it. At 2,900m we have put our sandals away and winter gear is most definitely in use. The town is brightly decorated, the interiors of our rooms too (one even with a mushroom!), and easy to spot are the maroon-robed monks, residing at the Labrang monastery. More culinary delights are around to fill our senses – Tibetan specialities including momos, thukpa (noodle soup), yak meat, Tibetan tea, and of course a local brew too.

Exploring here for a couple of days before we descend and start heading along the Silk Route to some of the more arid (and hopefully slightly warmer) regions.

In the meantime, we already have a fan club and some wanna-be new group members!

Paul O and his fan club

Hang on, there isn't room for everyone on the truck!

And we’re off!

Odyssey’s 2012 Kathmandu to Istanbul expedition has officially begun, and we’ve hit the Nepalese roads running. More about that to follow...

I’ll start with a little introductory photo, so you can see the faces of those who are making Odyssey history, and also as a reminder for later on as to ‘how things were in the early days’. The obligatory beginning-of-tour group photo.


Almost hidden in the very back row on the left: Carmel.
In front of Carmel, from left to right as the faces appear: Paul S, Nigel C, Paul O, Phil, Nigel H, Andrew P, Annie, Ann S, Anne W, Norman, Jacq, Cathy, Fraser, Andrew E.
Crouching in the front, from left, Ann H, Mignon, Toby, Jill.
Missing from the pic are me (Alison, as I took the pic), as well as Carolyn, Simon and Teresa – all joining us in China. No doubt there will be another group photo there!

So that’s who we are, a group of (in no specific order) Australian, English, Scottish, Irish, American, Canadian, Kiwi-American and South African travellers.

I was reminded today at lunch by Nigel C, who travelled previously with Odyssey in Africa, that ‘what happens on tour stays on tour’, and some of it may well have to, the way things are going ;-) but I think we’ll share with you a bit of what we’re up to.

We had several days in Kathmandu. Most people arrived a couple of days prior to the start of the trip, to get their bearings and do a bit of exploring and sightseeing. Sights on ‘the list’ included Durbar Square, where the city’s kings used to rule from; Pashupatinath, Bodnath and Swayambunath temples (the latter is also known as the monkey temple). Some people did a day and/or overnight trek. Norm, Nigel H and Jacq headed off to Chitwan National Park for a night, to see the rhinos and do a bit of elephant riding. And 5 got up very early to do some flight-seeing with Buddha Air, and had amazing-looking glimpses of Everest.

Temples

Mt Everest

Just peaking above the clouds

Durbar Square

Odyssey's new Kathmandu office?

The streets of Thamel

Elephant riding in Chitwan National Park

We’ve also sampled several of Thamel’s many restaurants – including the Funky Buddha, Bamboo Club, Black Olive, most offering Nepali, Indian, Tibetan and various different versions of western cuisine. Lassis are becoming a popular choice, but then so are Everest, Gorkha and San Miguel.

If you can't climb it, at least you can drink it!

Ghurka beer

The first of many group meals I'm sure!

After enough of the hustle and bustle and noise of Kathmandu, we headed down a windy road, getting out of Kathmandu before the roads were closed due to strikes, and wound our way towards the Tibetan border. Our destination: a pocket of paradise called The Last Resort. Green , tropical and lush, with the sound of the river, and quite often the sound of rain too, this is a peaceful haven away from the noise and pollution and busy-ness that go with cities. It is a beautiful tented camp that runs off solar power. There is a plunge-pool, lots of shady areas to ‘chill’, an open-plan bar, dining and lounge area – the only catch is that you have to walk across a very high suspension bridge to get here! And if you’re crazy enough, take the plunge like Toby, Nigel H and Anne W did, and do a bunji or a swing into the gorge from the bridge. Well done team!

Stunning mountain scenery

The gorge at The Last Resort

Nervous?  Toby & Nigel H

3...2...1... bungy!  Toby takes the leap

And Anne W

Cathy

6 of us decided to go canyoning – basically abseiling down waterfalls, to the bottom of the gorge. Thanks to Nigel’s GoPro camera we have some funky shots of this.

Norm

Abseiling down a waterfall

Safety briefing

Nervous anticipation

Don't look down!

Others of the group have taken advantage of these chilled days to read, relax, have a massage – really start to feel on holiday.  There have also been some walks through terraced rice paddies, ending up at the local school.

We were determined to get to see the border to Tibet, unfortunately closed to us this year. Tired of waiting for the local bus which was rumoured not to be passing that day, those explorers accepted a lift on the back of a cement truck (well all except Nigel who was – arguably – privileged to sit in the front). There were some delays enroute, as it had to navigate over a landslide, and around an overturned truck, at which point most got out and walked, and were later picked up by the cement truck once again. They got to the first border gate in the end, and opted for the bus back as the prospect of the cement truck without cement bags to sit on (as they had now been offloaded) seemed less appealing. I believe the bus ride was just as ‘exhilarating’?!, the bus driving dangerously close to the edge of what passes for road. Living on the edge?

The bus back from the Tibet border

We are all getting to know each other – through these adventures, discussions, and over competitive games of Uno in between, and I think some are wondering where does the 12 wks go from here (well I’ve heard some say it!) but I read that as it’s gonna be fun(ny). Secretly wondering the same – but I’m excited.