Moscow, June 2016

Ice cream at gorgeous Gorky Park

We had perfect weather in Moscow- cool temperatures and beautiful blue skies with lovely clouds and sunlight shining on gorgeous architecture. I felt as if we were walking inside of a classical painting. It was our first city that felt European. It was also our first experience of being mistaken for locals- people asked us for directions many times, at least we think they did, since it was all rapid Russian and we could not understand! Our rental apartment was comfortable and we cooked there, we could get delicious cheese and bread and fruit from a grocery store, we had a giant bathtub and great views from the 12th floor, the highest in the building. We used the subway, which was inexpensive and had frequent trains. People were usually helpful when we asked for directions but somewhat standoffish in general- we were rarely given unsolicited smiles and no one asked for a photo- but occasionally we were approached by English speakers who were quite friendly. We knew we wouldn’t be celebrities like we were in Asia but people weren’t as stern as we expected either.

When we first arrived, it was 4am and though the sun shone brightly, the subway wasn’t even open yet. We had a break at a diner where patrons were enthusiastically drinking beer despite the early hour. We found our rental apartment after some wandering, left our bags and headed back out. After a detour through a very swanky shopping district (we needed a computer store), we went to Red Square.

Shopping district (above) included an entire mall with children’s shops (below)

I was drawn to St. Basil’s Cathedral like a bug to a flower and wow what a flower! The place is colorful with unexpected dollops of more color and exuberant design. Strange that it was begun in 1555 to commemorate Ivan the Terrible’s war victories. Apparently he built several churches for this reason. Anyway, now it is a museum and I feel very lucky we got to go inside and check it out. We also watched a changing of the guard at the Kremlin wall that day. A different day we returned and went into Lenin’s tomb, where his 100-year old corpse is preserved to celebrate communism and freak out the younger generation. 

DH outside the mausoleum, no photos allowed inside

Mao’s mausoleum happened to be closed while we were in Beijing so this was our first experience like this. It was creepy but also interesting to contemplate the importance of this one person who’s relatively short life (he died in his early 50’s) affected millions. The kids got yelled at by a guard for talking, by the way.

St. Basil’s inside and out:

More of Red Square:

One of the buildings is a very fancy mall. Fiercely outside, fountain inside:

The Old English Court Museum (below) caught our eye as we passed it leaving the Kremlin area for the metro so we returned to check it out. 

It’s a beautiful whitewashed stone structure with a wooden roof. It served as a merchant and trade building for a time and when later the traders became ambassadors it was a court. It was restored in the mid-1990’s when Queen Elizabeth visited. I’m not sure I would recommend it (cost more and not a lot to see relative to other sites nearby) but it was nice and the kids were interested so I’m glad we went. 

Gorky park- I mean Gorky Central Park of Culture and Leisure has rental skates/scooter/bikes and many paths. Bring your passport or they won’t rent to you! We found this out the hard way. We were at the western end of park, which runs on the east bank of Moskva River. We crossed an amazing bridge to get there.

Bridge and view from the bridge:

At the park, the beautiful sky was a backdrop to fountains, a rose garden, sand volleyball, giant bean bag pillows and reclining chairs, riverfront cafes, and a sculpture garden. 

One more thing I have to mention- ‘kbac’pronounced kind of like ‘kras’. It is a grain-based, mildly sweet, beer-like drink with a negligible alcohol content. It looks fairly easy to make and I want to try to make it at home someday. So delicious! This post brought to you by KBAC!

Irkutsk to Moscow, 100+ hours on the Trans-Siberian Railroad, June 2016

The dining car, above, scene of a small birthday party

Yikes! We made it! We pulled into Moscow around 4am and stepped off the train we had boarded five days earlier. We blinked in the bright sun, which barely sets these days. With the five time zones we had crossed, the sun shining over 20 hours a day, and the constant movement of this long train trip, we were a little discombobulated. 

Cozy Really in her bunk

The twins had their 10th birthday and we had celebrated Father’s Day onboard, we did a little schoolwork and read a lot of Harry Potter out loud. We ate a lot of noodle bowls, we met some passengers and probably annoyed a few. We saw small towns and many forests of Siberia. It was a good trip. 

The kids had a four-bed room to themselves, while DH and I were about 12 rooms away in the next car, sharing a room with a rotating cast of characters. We spent a lot of time in the kids’ room. Somehow their room was in a higher class- they had better linens, got a snack and toiletries when they boarded, and the bathroom and a/c were nicer in their car. We had booked on two different websites since the Russian Rail site only allowed us to book four seats at a time then refused our credit card repeatedly. The arrangement was not ideal but did not cause any problems. It was kind of nice to have some separation at times, actually. 

We went basically on the pink line from Beijing to Ulaan Baatar then, this trip was on the brown one west Irkutsk to Moscow.

The compartments are fairly small- about 7x7x9 feet I would say. Two bunks, with a table against the window. DH and I had upper bunks, so we really didn’t have access to the table when the lower bunks were occupied, which was most of the time. The beds were comfortable and I slept well. We shared the compartment with two couples, one of which drank a lot and became very friendly and a little smelly while unfortunately remaining monolingual and we just couldn’t understand eachother. They laughed a lot and shook our hands a lot and DH and I tried some Russian words. They seemed to be either drinking or sleeping for the roughly 24 hours we shared the space. The other couple was very quiet and we just said hi. The third pair was a friendly woman and a man I never spoke with, and for one lovely day we had the compartment to ourselves. It sounds wierd to an American, I think, to share such close quarters and sleep so close to strangers, but it was surprisingly not wierd, being the norm on most of Russian Rail.

Some practical details. One major thing to remember: all Russian trains run on Moscow time, even though you could be five hours ahead as we were in Irkutsk. And the bathrooms: they lock the doors for up to 1/2 hour before and after larger stations, so plan accordingly! Other than that, for meals there are many stops to buy food- bread, cheese and fruit were easy, affordable, and tasty. There weren’t any food sellers with trolleys in the aisles like in China and India. We stocked up on noodle bowls, since hot water is always available. Many people brought mugs and teabags for hot drinks. Alcohol is plentiful and popular, if you are so inclined. There were several families in the two cars where we were and I didn’t notice any troublesome drinkers. I should mention here, though, that Fiercely did receive a marriage proposal once when we were in the dining car. Apparently meeting on a train insures that a couple will have many children, good to know! I imagine train staff would help with any problems; there were one or two per car and they were very visible and approachable. We ate in the restaurant car a few times, and though the car was spacious and the views spectacular, the food was disappointing and overpriced. It was best for tea and hanging out as opposed to eating. 

We passed many trees and small towns with wooden buildings. There are so many stops, ranging from 2-30 minutes, rarely more than an hour apart. These are timed exceptionally well, I don’t know how they do it with such accuracy in such a long journey but there is a timetable and it always matched when we checked the time. People get out to smoke, stretch their legs, walk their dog (we saw two at these stops!), and get a snack. Of course, people also embark and disembark at the stations. Another thing we noticed at the longer stops was that a railroad staff guy with a hammer on a very long handle would tap different parts of the undercarriage of each car. The taps sounded like music sometimes with different pitches on different parts of the undercarriage as he hit them. 

The Moscow subway- wow! The cars are built like tanks and look vintage. The station looked like an elegant ballroom.

When we arrived at the train station, we did a little planning at a diner with wifi where a surprisingly large number of people were drinking beer at that early hour, about 430am. We figured out our housing location- we had booked an apartment rental for a few days in the southeast part of the city. We dropped off our bags and went sightseeing since it was so early in the day and settled into our few days in the capital of Russia.

Listvyanka and Lake Baikal, June 2016

We had a special interest in going to Lake Baikal, kind of a long story.* From Irkutsk, it is an easy van ride (take tram #1  from train station, then tram #4 for 2 stops to van area, keep saying ‘Listvyanka’ and you’ll get there) to the town of Listvyanka on the shores of Lake Baikal. We went and stayed a couple of nights. The weather was cool and rainy and we didn’t venture to Olkhon Island as is popular, but we enjoyed spending time near this UNESCO recognized lake. It holds 1/5 of the freshwater on the planet and has biological and geological significance including its own seal species. 

The surrounding area, which we had glimpsed from the train, is gorgeously forested. Clearly this place deserves much more exploration but we had time and budget limits and we just relaxed at our cozy, pinewood cabin-style hotel and walked around the outskirts of town, getting a little taste of rural Siberia. The wooden houses are so lovely, the place was so green, we found a little historic church, and there were picturesque cows adding to the scenery.

There were flower petals falling like snow one day and dandelion flower crowns. A place called ‘retro art’ had whimsical metal sculptures like the metal fisherman above.

The town itself is quite touristy, full of Russian tourists and booming pop music and plenty of bars and travel companies offering boat rides and other excursions. We had trouble getting cash due to a hold placed on a bank card (they just realized we were traveling?! It’s been 10 months!) and hotels were pricier than Irkutsk. We stayed off the main drag and were surrounded by grass, paths, cows, birds, and trees. We found a little store that took our credit card and let us practice some Russian. The food was all behind the counter and you had to tell the cashier what you want. We cooked at our hotel. A funny incident happened when a local, a large bearded man, somewhat stern looking as seems typical in Russia, gave us many smiles and bought us some frozen dumplings-he had seen that we were buying the vegetarian ones and wanted us to have the ‘better’ pork ones! I took a lot of photos, finally up close after seeing this type of scenery from the train. Maybe we’ll come back here someday, there is much to see, I’d love to go camping and hiking further north along the lake.

 *When we started going to the Pennsic Wars, a festival of the Society for Creative Anachronism, we camped with the Barony of Baikal. They are a great, welcoming, arts-oriented (as opposed to combat-focused) group named after the lake in Russia, and the way they came about this name is amusing. They shot a dart at a world map, and the dart landed on Lake Baikal. They proceeded to mispronounce the name, hence they are called the Barony of Baikal, rhyming it with ‘ale’- they say ‘buh-KALE’. The correct pronunciation is ‘bye-call’, so we thank them for the inspiration to get ourselves here! We’ve even been traveling with a Barony of Baikal flag; here is a photo of it in Baikal’s clear waters.

Irkutsk, Russia, June 2016

So there we were in Russia, and of course we had no place to stay. DH wandered out of the train station with a phrase book and the best of of intentions. He returned with a couple about our age and a story of friendly locals. In the end, we had an excellent dorm-style room in a new hotel and the couple’s 18 year old son as a guide for the evening. DH had met the couple, who spoke some English and were very friendly, outside the station. Together they three of them had checked out several places to stay, including a hostel where their son Andre worked. We didn’t stay there but Andre likes to practice English and wanted to show us around so off we went. 

We took a tram, a steel-plated formidable tank of a streetcar with a stern-looking attendant, to the 130th district where there was a busy pedestrian walk and a mall. A statue there depicted a babr- a mythological tiger with beaver tail and paws, once believed to be real- with a fox in its teeth. It is the representation of the strength of the local people and was on their shields when they would fight long ago. Also, we drank kvas, a non-alcoholic mead-like drink very popular in this area. It is so popular that it is difficult to buy less than a liter at a time! I liked it but we couldn’t finish the whole bottle of kvas. Andre pointed out several performance theaters and statues as we walked around. We had plenty of time since the sun doesn’t set here until well after 10pm in mid-June. He was such a nice guy, a little nervous since he is taking his big end-of-school tests. If he doesn’t do well enough, he has to join the military, which he does not want to do. We wished him the best and we hope he can visit us someday.

We went to Lake Baikal the next day, then returned to Irkutsk for a few more days. On our second visit, a young woman approached me and the kids one afternoon while we were walking around town. Her English was excellent. She said she was studying photography and wondered if she could take photos of the kids. We had a short conversation (we were looking for an English language bookstore) and soon we were planning to spend the next day with Marguerite. She offered the kids some Harry Potter books in return for her taking their photos, they loved the idea. 

DH wanted to see an ice breaker ship that had been made into a museum and was docked nearby. Marguerite happened to have volunteered on this ship and so we all went aboard the Angara, a ship that was built in 1900 to break ice in lake Baikal and later moved products and passengers until the 1960’s.

Wooden house and climbing on statue of film director in Irkutsk 

Afterwards, we went to a bookstore to stock up for the next leg of the train trip to Moscow which would be over 100 hours long. We had lunch at one of these cafeteria style diners we had been to around town. They are fairly cheap (around $15 for all six of us), and it is easy to point to what you want if you don’t speak Russian. It was great that Marguerite could tell us what the food was before choosing it- I had had an interesting experience a couple days earlier when the delicious yogurt and berry dish I chose turned out to be sour cream, beets, and some sort of fish instead! 

Anyway, the last place we went to with Marguerite turned out to be phenomenal. It was an historic wooden house like those we had seen since entering Russia, beautiful wood with painted shutters, built around the turn of the century. This one, though, built in 1907 had been made into an art space with stonework, stained glass, sculpture, and performances. The resident artists were quite friendly and showed us around. There were indoor and outdoor performance areas, a screen for films, workshops, and some antiques to wear and look at just for fun. Also there were two dogs, always a draw for us. The place had such a great vibe and the woman who showed us around had an interest in old buildings like I do (we were mutually interested in each others houses when she learned our house was built in 1896) and there was so much to see it was just great. We thanked Marguerite and also invited her to visit us. We really lucked out meeting these friendly, bilingual locals on the street at such a great time. 

The next day we packed and prepared for the big train ride- five time zones, 100+ hours, and around 3,000 miles! Thanks, Andre, Margeurite and Irkutsk in general! dosvedanya for now! 

Tran-Siberian Railroad Ulaan Baatar to Irkutsk, June 2016

They threw milk at our train as we pulled out of Ulaan Baatar. It is a blessing, a custom for good luck and a good journey, an offering to the local gods. When we stayed at the rural ghers, the people had a special wooden spoon for this purpose; they threw milk at dawn and dusk we were told. And as they bid their loved ones a good journey, they threw milk and our train pulled out of the station.
We were in two adjacent rooms with sliding doors and two bunk beds each. We lucked out with the car being mostly empty and we had the rooms to ourselves-eight beds when we had paid for six- the whole trip. It was nice but the rooms were smaller than I’d imagined, about 7’x7’x9′. The upper bunks had much more space than the triple-tier Chinese trains, but there was less space outside the cabin with only 4 folding seats by the hall windows. If you had only an upper bunk, you did not have access to a table. I noted all of this because I knew our next train ride, the five-day trip to Moscow, we had a similar two-bunk room, but our other seats would be upper bunks in the next car. So we enjoyed this extra space this trip.

We were on our way to Irkutsk! And Russia- yikes! Would our visas be ok? We had a bit of a wait to find out. The trip took about 24 hours, including a one-hour time difference and a border crossing that took almost four hours, starting at around 10pm. 

At the Mongolian side of the border, they seemed quite strict as we showed our passports and left our beds so they could check our luggage in the storage space under the lower beds. Then, the train went on for what seemed a long time, at least 20 minutes, to the Russian side of the border. This time, they made us all stand up and smile to look like our passport photos. It was late and the kids were sleeping so we had to wake them up. The stern uniform-clad inspector woman scanned and photographed our passports and visas. Then they checked our luggage again, then came drug-sniffing dogs. Actually, I just saw one dog. It was medium sized with curly black hair and a friendly wagging tail- more cute pet than professional law enforcement. There was a lot of waiting around and eventually the train started moving again and we went back to sleep. 

The next day we were treated to sunny skies and bucolic scenery. We saw Lake Baikal, container of 1/5 of the fresh water on the entire planet, and gorgeous snowy mountains. We were in Siberia! It was green and forested and sparsely inhabited with little wooden houses, gardens, shirtless men, motorcycles, pickup trucks and occasional farm animals. The lake was truly impressive as we skirted its shores for many miles. Sometime in the afternoon, we reached Irkutsk, the scene of our next adventures. Zdravstvuyte, Russia!

Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia, June 2016

Choijin Lama temple in downtown Ulaan Baatar

We spent only a couple of days in the capital of Mongolia, but the days were long. There is so much sunlight from sometime after 4:00 am to after 10:00 pm. Here’s just a little on the capital of Mongolia. We spent only about two days here. There is much mixing of old and new. We saw skyscrapers and vertical Mongolian script. People walked around wearing business suits and robe-like garments of felt or silk. There was a centuries-old temple surrounded by city streets.

We walked around one day and went up an elevator in a random office building to get a better view of the city. It was a clear day and we had a good view. 

It is interesting to see the ghers in an urban environment (not easily visible on this photo, they are the white specks near the hills) after seeing them out on the steppes surrounded by so much land. But here in the city they sit, another mixing of ancient and modern in this captivating place.  

We passed by an interesting installation of many painted hands. It turned out to be a call for Mongolians to vote in an approaching election. A young woman who spoke English well explained the project to us. She said voter turnout is often low and they hope to reverse this trend. The hands look like those waving in the air being recognized and counted, hopefully beckoning  voters to exercise their right. Each was painted the previous day by passers-by and the display was an attention-grabber in my opinion. We wished them luck.

With our guide, we went to a Buddha statue built in the early 2000’s, a 1960’s monument to honor Russian soldiers in WWII (Mongolia was attacked by Japan and got help from Russia), and the National Museum. There is a natural history museum I would like to have seen (Mongolia’s Gobi desert has yielded hundreds of dinosaur fossils) but it was under renovations. 

Random Mongolia pics:

  selfie with yak (Above), dung beetles below!  

I really hope we can return to Mongolia some day. The landscapes are like nowhere we’ve seen and the low population density makes everything seem even more vast and untouched. The blending of traditional and contemporary is mesmerizing, as is the changing political scene. Valuable copper mines were found fairly recently and are bringing a new source of wealth to thiscountry that once claimed lands as far away as Thailand and Western Europe as its own. For now I plan to read more about Ghengis Kahn and remember our short but wonderful time in Mongolia.

Above: vertical writing in traditional Mongolian style, below: detail from monastery, layers of gher wall, mama and baby camel 

Mongolian countryside, June 2016

We took a multi-day trip to the countryside with a tour group recommended by a woman we met who had traveled with them last autumn. We were so happy when Zaya, the tour group leader, met us at the train station with our name on a placard. Our friend had let Zaya know of our arrival. Every time we go to a new place, we see this happening, but the placard never is for us and in fact we almost never know where we are going! So this was a nice change. We went to Zaya’s cozy guesthouse in a nondescript cement apartment building and had a big breakfast and planned our trip. We left the next day.

Family gher where we stayed first night, rock pile shrine nearby

Being a small group ourselves, we were outfitted with a tank of a van, a driver and guide, and everything we would need to explore. It is hard to describe our surroundings without sounding as if we were in a fairy tale. It was wonderful to see this timeless place in the late spring as grass carpeted the land, blue skies and many-colored clouds filled the air above and young yaks and horses cavorted with their herds. There were sheep, goats, and cows too, all nursing their fuzzy young ones in ethereal light and brilliant colors of the Mongolian steppes. Mountains, some with traces of snow and others with pine forests, stretched out for miles and miles, into the vast distance where they became muted and soft. There were small piles of rocks with a center pole and fabric, these are holy places where people pray and make offerings. Circular white nomadic homes- I know them as yurts but here they are called ‘ghers’- appeared alone or in clusters on occasion. Men and women in silk and felt robes rode horses and sometimes, jarring me into the current century, motorcycles. Our guide, Boyna, and driver conversed in that gentle language we had heard on the train, each sentence seeming to murmur itself into whispers like a Tolkien elf language. We bumped around in the van (Russian made, Korean motor, Mongolian driver!) to the local sites such as a massive sand dune and a waterfall, we rode shaggy Bactrian camels and the feisty horses that are Mongolia’s pride. 

above: Van like ours, not my photo.

Below: DH wrestled a local! It’s a popular pastime, and he did survive btw.  Note yaks in the background!

We ate home-cooked food prepared by Boyna including hotpot- a meat stew cooked by hot stones. We stayed in ghers every night, with a fire going when it got cold. We went to a musical performance with Mongolian throat singing, which was eerie and astoundingly beautiful. It had the tune of a whistle and the drone of a didgeridoo and impossibly came from one person. Here’s a link for an example.  We heard the haunting string instrument played like a cello and it brought the traditional lives of the Mongolian countryside to us in music- wind, rain, horses running. I felt again like I was bathing in beauty, drinking it with my eyes and ears as I tried to take in what I could of this lovely culture and landscape. When we walked in the fields, there were tiny flowers, surely thriving like the most ephemeral of artwork in their short life of warm-enough weather. There was an herb, too, that brought to mind sage with a fresh strong scent as we walked in the fields. There is even a magical element to the practical picture here: Mongolia gained independence from Russia about 90 years ago, became democratic about 20 years ago, and maintains a literacy rate of 98% among its 3 million inhabitants while simultaneously practicing the millennia-old nomadic pastoral (30 million livestock, BTW!) lifestyle. It gets along with massive neighbors Russia and China, and also with the US, which it calls its ‘third neighbor’. The population density may be the lowest in the world, with just two people per 14 sq km, compared to 67 people in that same measure in China! Below: riding horses, sand dunes, a small town where we had a picnic on a hillside, outside under the sky and inside the van, also the musicians we went to see- amazing singing and playing!

As for eating, Mongolia is to vegetarians what India is to meat-eaters. We knew that going in, and we tried to adjust. Personally, I am not burdened with moral absolutes when it comes to new experiences and I was interested in trying the local cuisine. The salty yak milk was pretty good. The kids were less flexible, but somewhat willing to eat some meat. No one starved. Boyna made us some vegetarian foods, but also more meat than we have eaten in our lives. We ate it, most of us, feeling a little strange but we did have the comfort in knowing the animals had free-range lives because we could witness it all around us. The sheep and goats were largely unattended by humans; they roamed without fences across the green fields, stopping traffic when they crossed the roads, cows and yaks too, and the majestic horses galloped across the land, manes and tails flowing like banners behind them. In fact, I read that the herds are half wild with little intervention by the herders. The traditional life here revolves around the animals and the diet is heavy with meat and, especially this time of year, milk and milk products. 

Young man in family where we stayed herding goats, mama and baby yak, curious goats

Regarding the bathroom situation, we used a lot of outhouses. They generally had wooden floors, with one floorboard absent and a deep hole beneath. We had the unique experience of dropping and retrieving an electronic device in one of these excrement-filled pits. The locals, after politely expressing some concern, loved that one. Good times! 

Above: Family gher center of ceiling with special blue silk, below:guest gher where we slept

The ghers have a consistent and ancient order inside. Each entrance faces south. As you enter, you see the back wall which is shrine-like with sacred objects such as small metal bowls, idols, special silk robes, photos of loved ones, and musical instruments. We were asked not to touch anything or even look behind silk fabric hanging in front of the area. To the right was a bed and closer to the door on the right we were told was the ‘women’s area’ and kitchen. To the left of the door was the ‘men’s area’. The center had a wood-burning stove and stovepipe exiting the center of the roof. Looking up, the center of the roof had a round wooden part like a spoked wheel. From that piece radiated long pieces of wood that upheld the roof and connected with an accordion-style wooden fence that defined the walls. The wooden parts were painted beautifully and covered in white fabric with a thick layer of felted wool. Outside, the fabric was belted to the structure with two strips of strong fabric woven of wool or animal hair.

We also visited the old (1200’s) Mongolian capital of Karakorum.  There was a monastery there Erdene Zuu that was especially beautiful under a big sky and with the hills all around. 

There is more to write and I hope I can remember it all. For now, time and the trip move on and we are in Siberia at the moment! I’m trying to keep up as we move more quickly than we did earlier in the trip. I’m signing off for now, do svyidoniya!

Trans-Siberian Railway: Beijing to Ulaan Baatar, June, 2016

Noodle bowls on Chinese train

The Trans-Siberian Railway was a big goal for us and we had to do some research to make it happen. We were even forced to do some advance planning, not our strong suit. There are several ways to get from Beijing to Moscow and it takes about seven days. We hoped to stop in Mongolia, and in Irkutsk, Russia. We assumed we would have to pay a travel agent for tickets since we would be crossing three countries and multiple time zones. Also, buying tickets locally or even online in different languages and time zones and currencies for the six of us could prove difficult. But then we looked into local trains from Beijing to Mongolia and it didn’t seem too hard. It also looked like booking it ourselves for that leg alone would save us $1300. That was worth some hassles! 

And so we found ourselves getting Chinese rail tickets to the capital city of Inner Mongolia. Yes, we were going to Hohhot, a little out of our way but an easy connection to the border, and then to the Chinese border town of Erlian, or Erleinhot, or any of a number of other names we were told. In the Chinese Rail system, it is Erlian and we had to argue three times in different locations before China Rail would sell us tickets from Hohhot to there. China Rail kept insisting that it was an international journey; it is not. In fact there is an overnight bus from Beijing to Hohhot, however we opted for the longer, marginally more expensive option of the train. It defies logic at times, I know, but I just love riding trains. Besides, the last Chinese sleeper bus we took was a little uncomfortable. We had an amazing journey. 

Scenery in China from Beijing to Hohhot 

We spent a day getting to Hohhot and the train was comfortable and the scenery was gorgeous. The landscape had little villages with wooden and brick buildings, rivers, rocky hills, fields, and eventually a lovely sunset. We didn’t spend any time in rural China, so it was nice to get a glimpse from the train. We arrived in Hohhot, which was refreshingly cool, and had a layover of about three hours before we got on the next train. We saw Mongolian script, which is fluid and vertical, for the first time. We heard the language, too, soft and full of whispers. Inner Mongolia is part of China, but has people who consider themselves Mongolian and do not necessarily speak Chinese. We met a Mongolian man on the next train who spoke English fairly well. He explained that he is a Chinese citizen but is Mongolian. He showed us photos of horses and camels belonging to his family. He also told us proudly of a film- I think it is called ‘Horse Boy’- about a boy with autism who finds help from horses and shamanic treatment in Mongolia. Another thing he told us is that camels cry when they hear traditional Mongolian music. He said people play this music to mother camels who do not take good care of their babies and it causes the mothers to nurture their young. But this was an overnight train and mostly we slept. At around 5am, we arrived in Erlian. 

Leaving China

Our next challenge was crossing the border into Mongolia. Luckily, we were able to follow a local woman heading home from university in China. She helped us understand that the man with the car would help us cross the border in a couple of hours when it opened. We got into the man’s car with her and a young man from Kuala Lumpur. Instead of waiting at the border, though, we were taken to what seemed to be the driver’s house. We were trying to get settled in their living room, which looked like it doubled as a small convenience store, when DH offended the proprietress by using her deep freezer as a seat. The twins were trying to nap on Fiercely’s lap, the three of them plus Cleverly on a small couch. I was sitting on our luggage and worrying we had broken the freezer. The lady of the house clucked and fussed over the freezer legs but the locals laughed and told us not to worry. During this time, the driver left and returned with four Israelis and not long after we went to the border. Another vehicle arrived and it appeared he would take us through the border. We agreed on a fee and packed into the van. The driver wanted everyone to pay the full price upfront. We refused but offered to pay half, which he refused. I was determined not to be left at the border office as I had read can happen, and I’m glad we held out. 
This border was a simple crossing. We did not need visas, thank goodness. Our driver, who had stopped multiple times on mysterious errands before taking us to the border, suddenly was in a hurry. He hustled us into the border offices and tried to hustle us out but the traveler from KL was having trouble and we wanted to wait for him. The driver started playing us, telling that traveler we were in a hurry and telling us we should leave the guy and the Mongolian woman who was helping him. Coincidentally they had already paid the driver while we and the Israelis had not. We insisted on waiting until the KL traveler said he would be there a while and we should go. Then we went with the driver to the Mongolian border town, Zamiin-Uud. Cleverly and Fiercely sat up front with the driver and said he was very uptight, cursing (presumably) at someone on his cellphone and yelling at them for trying to lock the door and put on their seat belts. It was entertaining, and then he tried to charge us extra for the twins even though we had agreed on a rate before leaving. So, lesson learned, don’t pay until you get where you are going, agree on a price beforehand, and be extra wary at border crossings.  Our train in Mongolia

So then we were in Mongolia but we needed a ride to the capital Ulaan Baatar. The woman who had helped us get across the border helped us get train tickets, thank goodness, because the ticket office was small and no one seemed to speak English. One small issue was that the train did not leave for seven hours. There didn’t seem to be much to do, but we joined forces with the other travelers, piled our luggage together, and took turns watching it. The guy from KL even showed up, having successfully crossed the border. We all were heading to UB on the same train.  

Going through the Gobi desert

I took the twins to eat, first at a local place where we tried dumplings likely made of goat meat. Not a big hit with the mostly-vegetarian Fantastics. Then we tried pizza as advertised two doors down. This ended up taking nearly two hours to reach our table and had the meat of at least three types of animals on it. We had heard about meat-oriented Mongolian food, and here it was. We gamely (ha!) ate a lot of it and went back to wait some more at the train station. Eventually we could get on the train.  The train was kind of luxurious, in an old Soviet kind of way. There were carpets on the floor, patterned thick blankets on the beds, heavy wooden door and window frames, and an actual wood fire heating hot water. It was the hot water that got my personal journey off to a rough start. I was filling up our metal water bottle with the hot water to drink later when it cooled. I hate buying the single-use plastic water bottles, and the trains have boiled water which is safe to drink. It is extremely hot, however. I was filling up a second bottle when the train attendant started yelling at me in Mongolian. The first bottle was spilling onto the floor, and somehow onto her leg, though she was a few feet away. I apologized and went back to our seat, but she came by at least once to show me the red area on her leg and give me a dirty look. Oops.

Dining car and wood-fired hot water heater

We slept on the train and arrived in Ulaan Baatar early the next morning. It took us three trains, about 36 hours, and about $50 each (including border transportation) all told. We were in Mongolia!

Beijing, May 2016, part 4

Other Beijing sites 

We went to a few other places besides the major sites. The Temple of Heaven, built in the early 1400’s, is a UNESCO recognized ceremonial area that is surrounded by a park of over 600 acres. We walked around part of the park and saw some of the religious buildings. An important function of the complex was animal sacrifice for a good harvest, and we saw several structures for this purpose.  It was a vibrant city park as well, with people doing ballroom dance, playing traditional music, kicking a hacky sack style toy, and singing with a portable mic and speaker. 

 

The Beijing Ancient Observatory was really cool, and would likely draw more visitors if it weren’t overshadowed by Beijing’s other sites. It was built in the 1400’s and used for 500 years. The instruments predate telescopes, similar to the observatory we saw in Jaipur, India, so they have intriguing designs. With their dragons and other details, they are far more ornate in comparison to Jaipur. A small museum describes different ways of measuring the stars going back several millennia in China’s history. 

Jingshan Park is north of the Forbidden City, used to be a part of it, and offers amazing views from its hill. We walked here one day from the hostel where we were staying and just enjoyed seeing the City from on high. The park is over 50 acres and had some plaques with historical information, specifically about the Chongzen Emporer, the last Emporer of the Ming dynasty, who committed suicide there in 1644 at age 33 rather than surrender to invading forces.

View of Forbidden City below. Above is looking north towards the rest of Jingshan Park and beyond, the ancient bell tower and beyond that, modern Beijing.

Russian Visas We were in Beijing several weeks waiting for visas for Russia. We had read that it is almost impossible to get tourist visas (transit visas, good for 10 days, are said to be easier but would not be long enough for us to get through the country by train and do some sightseeing) outside of one’s home country, however we did get them in the end. It felt like a gamble, but it turned out ok. There is a 10-page form that must be done for each applicant, and Mr. Fantastic did all six of them twice to fix minor details as instructed by the Chinese staff at Beijing’s Russian visa processing center. It took him over seven hours! And they still found mistakes, which meant either starting over or paying them to correct the mistakes. At the third visit, we decided to pay. Then we gave them our passports and our applications and waited six business days. We waited to buy train tickets because if the visas didn’t work out, we wouldn’t be going by train. We paid something like $1300 for the visas, which would not be returned if our applications were rejected and we didn’t want to risk more. It was nerve-wracking for us low-budget backpackers! We were relieved to get our passports back and delighted the visas were in them. I really wish countries could just get along, though, for many reasons- to end wars and ugliness and of course to end visa hassles and encourage traveling! But that is another topic.

As for our continuing story, we left Beijing heading for Moscow on the Tran-Siberian railroad! And the first stop was Mongolia!

Beijing, May 2016, part 3

Forbidden City? Who isn’t drawn by that name? We had to go! I was intrigued even before we left the US. It turned out to be a truly beautiful time in a fascinating place, and a relatively easy adventure for our time and budget. We went on a weekday around 1pm and waited not at all to buy entrance tickets. We were amazed at how low the price was* and how uncrowded the place felt. 

Golden Water River moat shaped like a bow has five bridges (above), Hall of Supreme Harmony with large plaza (below)

It is a very large place with over 900 buildings. Some are intact for viewing, some are not open for visitors, and a few have been made into museums. We entered through the south gate as most people do and walked north. After crossing the moat and seeing the large plaza and big three center buildings, we spent time at the Hall of Clocks and Watches. 

The King’s Dragon Throne at the Hall of Supreme Harmony (above), and building details (below). The twins are clearly enthralled LOL

The Hall of Clocks and Watches was neat- many clocks with complicated moving characters from the 1700’s, some European, some Chinese made, all amazing. Some used running water to mark time, many had animals and/or people that move, some seemed to have a clock as an afterthought!

The writer below actually writes Chinese characters with real ink and brush!

The elephant below moves its trunk and tail! The whole thing marches along- and it tells time, I assume. See the tiny clock?

The imperial garden was a little more crowded but manageable and very nice.

Ah, I could have spent more time there. But we didn’t, we needed to go to a different place. We needed an electronics store, what a contrast! We took the immense subway and went to the Wangfujing station commercial area. This place has designer stores as in Bangkok or NYC and we found what we wanted to buy. Then we ate a fried tarantula! Fiercely took a video of the event. All of the kids tried it, too!So gross.

We went to this area several times for different reasons. There are good bookstores and excellent people-watching. There is a night market down an alley that I liked. We lost the twins there briefly but they were fine, hanging out with some friendly Europeans. 

The subway, by the way, is one of the largest in the world. It is clean, cheap, and well-run but often crowded of course. We were surprised by how elaborate the stations often were- they looked like airports with long tunnels and many escalators- and with how far we had to walk when transferring lines. I even wondered if the long walks between subway lines were done by design to spread out the masses and keep them from all being at the platforms simultaneously.  

So, there is some of our experiences at the ancient city and the modern city! We were in Beijing several weeks, more to come…


*about $10 each for us adults and $3 for each kid (even Fiercely, age 15, who is charged adult price for everything)

Beijing, May 2016, part 2

Looking for marshmallows and barbecue sauce near closing time at the Beijing supermarket was a doomed endeavor. Benyuan was doing her best, but the 25 people coming for an “American meal” would not get to experience rice cereal treats or bottled BBQ sauce in the end. Happily, the pasta salad and tapioca pudding turned out alright!

After we stayed in the hutong, we were invited to stay with another couchsurfing host-unbelievable! About the time I received this invitation, an article came out that said 95% of Chinese surveyed welcomed refugees to China with 46% willing to welcome refugees into their own homes. These were the highest percentages in the poll. I am impressed with this generosity, even more so after our family being hosted twice here ourselves. In addition to being lovely people in general, the Chinese are also among the most hospitable folks on the world!

As for us, Benyuan contacted us and mentioned a weekly party for travel-minded friends who would enjoy eating American food and hearing about our trip. We thought it sounded like fun and started brainstorming about what we might cook. We are (mostly) vegetarian and most of the recipes we make would not be described as American but rather Mexican, Middle Eastern, Indian, or just vegetarian. We considered burritos, lentil soup, and pizza before settling on pasta salad, BBQ tofu, French fries, marshmallow treats, and Fiercely’s tapioca pudding for dessert.   

People seemed to like everything; the tofu and fries were especially popular. I’m pleased with the BBQ sauce I made myself. Marshmallow treats were not possible since we couldn’t get the cereal and the only marshmallows we could get had a jelly-like filling inside (they were also individually wrapped, by the way). The people at the party were fascinating to me- all spoke excellent English and had exciting lives. There were several involved in film, one scuba diver, a ballet dancer, and many travelers, including one (Kayla) who had recently been to Mongolia, our next stop. They were interested in our trip and especially curious about homeschooling. We did our best to answer questions and explain our travel and homeschool lives.

We spent the next day with Kayla, who had invited us to Xiangshan, ‘Fragrant Hills Park'(above). This is a hilly area west of town which used to serve as a countryside getaway for the king. There are a few traditional buildings with beautiful painted wood, and a paved path up to a lovely viewing place. It was a clear, sunny day and we enjoyed the breezes and stunning views of the city as we climbed up the hills. 

The kids declined the opportunity to go to the very top (still tired from Nepal?) but I was eager to continue with Kayla and her friend Andrew. We went up some pretty steep steps and came to an area with many red ornaments hanging from the trees. Andrew said they are for couples and they are red for love, like valentines.

More steep steps, and we came to the top. Beijing stretched out wide and flat beneath us. The Emporer liked this, I was told, and he liked the area for its feng shui. 

Kayla and I most of the way up (above) and with Andrew at the peak

It was a beautiful clear day and there was a slight haze to the view, but nothing like the pollution we had expected from this city. It has been a little warm here, but otherwise nice weather and much cleaner air than Kathmandu or Varanasi. As for fragrance at Fragrant Hills, we did enjoy the pines and fresh air and we caught some nice herbal scents at one area. Apparently it is named for the appearance of the hills, said to be similar to incense burners. We have more Beijing adventures to report, coming soon!

Homeschooling, everywhere, September 2000-present

This is a brief, general post on homeschooling since people in China had so many questions. There are many resources online; I have included some links, good luck! Feel free to contact me, as well.

Why? There are many reasons. In the US, the biggest reason is religion, but that is not why we homeschool. My family decided to homeschool after meeting and being impressed by homeschool families we met when our first child was born. We were living in a major east coast city with many problems in its public schools, in fact I taught in a poor-performing high school there before having our first child. I began reading about education and I was impressed by the ideas of John Holt, A.S. Niel and Summerhill School, the Albany Free School, John Taylor Gatto, and some other authors I can’t remember at the moment. 

How? There are many ways to homeschool. Some, often called “school-at-home” look like traditional school. There are online schools where the child has teachers and activities similar to traditional school, some parents mimic school structures and use typical textbooks, and some use a mix of tutors and community groups. At the other extreme is “unschooling“, where parents act as guides or facilitators to children following their interests and often learning in non-traditional ways such as building things, independent research at libraries and museums, travel, or volunteering at community institutions. Personally, I loved the ideas of homeschooling, but in practice I don’t think that it would work in our family if it wasn’t for my husband, a very patient and knowledgable teacher. Also, our children have done well in this style of learning. Outside of our family, we have found homeschool groups in the two places we have lived since beginning this journey. We prefer to work with other families for classes, projects, field trips, and resource-sharing. 

State requirements: These are different for different states. In Pennsylvania, where we live, we are required annually to submit forms for physical health, an intention to homeschool, a portfolio of the previous year’s work, and a proposed plan for next year. We are lucky that a homeschool mom has a website detailing the legal requirements for our state. We get our forms and much information from her site. We also must submit standardized test scores for grades 3, 5, and 8. For this requirement, we order tests through the mail (they cost about $40 each), send them to be scored, and receive scores in the mail. To follow the rules, we give the tests to our friends’ kids and they return the favor. This can also be done online instead of on paper. Here is an example of a company that makes and scores tests. 

Who? In some countries, like Germany, homeschooling is not legal. About 3-4% of American students, or 1.5 million children in the US, are homeschooled, according to a quick internet search. In China, the Internet says it is less than 1%, 18,000 children. In China, it appears to be unregulated, and may be illegal. Here is an article from 2013 about homeschooling in China. 

I hope this answers some of the questions people have about homeschooling!