North Korea - Part 2

The next day we were taken to the Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang which is the mausoleum of the president Kim Il Sung. I don't know the history of the building - whether it was constructed specifically to hold his corpse or whether it was his residence and was converted after he died, but it was a vast marble-lined palace - effectively empty except for his body and a room detailing his awards and gifts from other countries. There were hoards of people outside, barely speaking and all dressed in their best clothes (I even had to buy a shirt and tie in Beijing before I left).

When we entered we stepped onto a travelator which carried us at a pre-determined speed through the palace to give us time to contemplate that great acts of the great man. It's easy to joke about it but to the North Korean people this man commands deep respect and it would extremely rude to joke around just because you think he's a vile murdering egomaniac, so we politely kept quiet and did what was expected of us - we could save our comments about him for when we got to China.

As we got deeper into the building, rousing fanfare music playing on a continuous loop got louder and louder and we entered a room with a massive portrait of the president. The whole atmosphere was of deep reverence and as strange as it sounds you did get carried along with it a bit. We were led into the room with his body - the light was low and he was lying in a glass case, covered with a sheet from below the shoulders. We walked round the body in groups of four and were expected to bow four times, at the head, each side and his feet before we were led out.

We were given a portable audio player which told of his last days and which bordered on the ludicrous. I don't remember the exact words but it was something like the citizen's tears formed rivers which carried him to heaven or some such nonsense. It was delivered by an Englishman who was either deranged or just a comical genius - I couldn't decide. The same speech was given in Korean by female guides and many of the Koreans in the room were in tears.

This last point was very interesting to me because I remember in 1994 when Kim Il Sung died, the news reports showed pictures of throngs of people weeping in the streets, and not just a few tears either - they were really getting stuck in and collapsing and screaming and everything. The reporter said that it was unclear if it was staged or not but it was pretty clear to me that it must have been because it's just not a typical reaction you see to the death of a world leader. But, as I saw these women crying over 10 years after the event I did start to wonder whether that outpouring of grief in 1994 was actually genuine after all. I'm not saying it's normal but if you're brought up to believe the guy is immortal (and apparently they used to start every day asking for the eternal life of the leader) then I guess you'll be a bit miffed if he went and died. Of course, you could say that the tears in the mausoleum were staged as well and I'll never know but from a personal point of view I don't think they were and what's more is that I don't think I saw very much at all during my trip that had been staged. The Korean people we saw just didn't seem to have much interest in us - so they'd have a look at us and note that we were Western but unless you made an attempt to interact with them by waving then they'd just carry on as normal.

Anyway, that's what I think so there we go!

After the mausoleum we went outside to wait and found ourselves in the middle of a Korean military display. I don't know how many troops there were but there must have been a good few thousand that marched past us, all of them singing and I must commend them on their tunefulness - if they fight as well as they sing then they'll go far. Unfortunately our guides weren't happy with us taking pictures up close but I do have some from a distance and they make quite an impressive sight.

Afterwards we left Pyongyang to go to a farm in a place called Wonsan on the east coast. The drive was fun since one of the buses broke down (we were split into two groups) and we had to hang around for 2 hours until they caught up. It did give us an opportunity to go off and wander and take the opportunity to make our guides very nervous. We enjoyed waving at passing army trucks and cars as if it was quite normal to encounter a bunch of western guys strolling along the road miles from nowhere in a country that is supposedly closed to foreigners. Then when we got back on the road it was getting dark and we discovered that the bus had no heating. We were frozen as we got to the hotel and were looking forward to our dinner but as we got to the restaurant it had no heating either. Then they served us some mildly warm fish and some cold cucumber. But of course nobody dreamed of complaining because we were dining like kings while people were starving in this country.

The farm itself wasn't hugely interesting - basically they were trying to show us how the country can survive on its own without any help from the outside (an assertion which is complete drivel) but we enjoyed having a look around a town that wasn't Pyongyang. We even saw a cruise liner that our guides told us was used to ferry Japanese passengers to North Korea for them to meet family members (presumably left over from the Japanese occupation) but it's rumoured that it's not allowed to leave port because it's used for North Korean drug running. Tut tut!

The drive back was far less entertaining and thankfully it was still light when we arrived in Pyongyang - after the long drive through the fields and general nothingness of the North Korean countryside, Pyongyang was quite the little thriving metropolis and all the statues, towers and grand buildings were floodlit giving the city a very pleasant look. It was certainly a different look to the place when we first arrived because most of the city was in darkness - probably in the midst of yet another blackout. It can't be denied though that Pyongyang at night is a sight worth seeing - and with barely any traffic and no McDonalds or Starbucks then you have to see its attractions.

The next day was one of the largest events in the North Korean calendar - the birthday of the Great Leader Kim Il Sung. Quite what was going to take place today nobody seemed to know but Pyongyang was in celebratory mood. As usual we woke up to revolutionary songs at 7am blasting across the entire city (call me picky but if that happened where I live I'd be out there in the middle of the night with a sledgehammer demolishing those speakers) and we set off to do some sight seeing around Pyongyang. First stop was the Juche tower - Juche being the principle of 'self-reliance' developed by yes, you've guessed it, the big Kim I-S coming atcha. We got the lift to the top and then I saw perhaps one of the scariest things I've ever seen. You see, we had a cameraman following us around all the time in the hope that he could sell us a DVD at the, shall we say ambitious cost of 40 Euro each after the tour. He was quite a character and could generally be seen in his black head to toe outfit racing ahead of us to capture us walking, or standing, or his particular favourite: walking over a bridge. He often complained that he was very hot which was unsurprising because he was always running somewhere in search of his next cinematographic (now there's a word!) masterpiece and he often embellished it by hiding behind some flowers so you would get a sort of out of focus flutter flower in the foreground. Kim Jong Il (a renowned movie buff, even if he has dire tastes) would have approved of this talented individual. Anyway, at the top of the Juche tower he decided that his best angle was to be found from clambering onto the 6 inch wide wall and crouching down to the height that he would have been had he been standing up. Ignoring the 150 foot drop, he climbed onto the wall one handed, camera in the other hand, in a style reminiscent of a drunk man trying to tie his showlaces and shot his two seconds of footage - footage of 10 very pale westerners with jaws agape wondering if they were about to see our cameraman die for his profession. In anticipation of 250 quid from "You've Been Framed" I whipped out my camera but alas he survived.

We spent the rest of the morning going to various statues and stuff that celebrated Kim and his triumphs and great acts and all the rest of it before heading to a park for a stroll. The park was full of North Koreans who it appeared had spent the day celebrating and who were now rather jolly and quite frankly completely hammered. They were all dancing and having a great time (apart from the unconscious ones) and they all seemed incredibly relaxed. They received us warmly and before long those of us that didn't have their wits about them were dragged into the dancing - much to the amusement of the locals, since we didn't have a clue how to dance and were making prize fools out of ourselves (not me of course - for a start I managed to avoid the boozed up 150 year old women that were prowling around and secondly I am a formidable dancer). It was a special experience - everybody on the tour felt the same and it was probably one of the highlights of the trip for me.

We went to see a Mass Dance in Kim Il Sung square but I'm not sure if it materialised or not. We definitely saw about 20,000 people dancing but we were told that this was a rehearsal so we went into the art gallery to look at some revolutionary paintings about Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. All around the city were photos of the pair of them in a school or in a factory or a hospital or something. And usually it said something about them offering 'On the spot guidance' which was a term that we came to love. The fact that they could just turn up and tell some scientists how to do their job was ridiculous but if you can do no wrong then you can say what you want. When we came out the rehearsal was still going so we went off for dinner and then went back to the hotel.

Our last day we were all pretty tired from the hectic week we'd had - the schedule was pretty tiring but very fulfilling and after the day we'd had yesterday then it would take a lot to beat that. We started by visiting the Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery which is where Korean War Heros are buried (including the wife of Kim Il Sung who apparently did some ambiguous heroic task during the war). It was very nice though - perched up upon a hill overlooking the city, each grave had a bronze bust of the hero in question with the facial features as close to the individual as possible.

Afterwards we went off to see an old temple but I wasn't really too interested by this point - I wanted revolutionary propaganda and weirdness!!! Finally we went to see the birthplace of Kim Il Sung which looked like it had been built from new and had lots of pristine tools and things. I don't think many people believed it was genuine but we politely listened.

And that was our last full day in Pyongyang. The next day was an early start to get the train to China. The journey was interesting because you got a glimpse of what North Korea is really truly like behind the mask. There were apartment blocks that were completely run down and barely any roads, just muddy tracks - even as a main street. Obviously we didn't see much but it looked like tough living, and in winter it must be unbearable.

Before long we were at the border and after a speedy 2 hour customs check of the train we were into China. The difference between the countries couldn't have been more stark - as we crossed the river into Dandong (a city that sells its tourism based on its proximity to DPRK) we could see glitzy neon lights and high rise buildings. As we looked back into DPRK we could see muddy fields and darkness.

I've missed out a few things that we did - mainly because I forgot what day we did it on. We visited the USS Pueblo which is an American ship the DPRK captured while it was spying on them. Naughty Americans. The sailors were released after an apology from the US but not before they were tortured (not that we were told this last part during the tour). We also visited the Philatelic Bureau and bought lots of revolutionary stamps with drawings of Americans being crushed and things. The Korean War museum gave the North Korean side of the story basically accusing the Americans of being aggressors and it also displayed lots of captured American military hardware.

Well, this was quite the epic blog entry but there was so much to tell and I really wanted to try and give you a picture of the place. Like I say, if you can visit then do because it's not your typical tourist destination and it's an experience to be cherished.

North Korea - Part 1

Hello!! Or as we say in China: Bonjour s'il vous plait.

Well, I'm happy to announce that I'm not writing this blog from a North Korean jail or death camp - for a start they don't have web access there and secondly I managed to enter and leave the country without being kidnapped or arrested or anything else.

So, I don't want to be too smug but I think there should be a significant amount of humble pie being eaten now. "No tact", some people said. "He'll create an international incident for sure", some other people said. "They'll kidnap him because he's suave and sophisticated and what's more he's got a great sense of humour, blessed with fantastic looks and quite frankly the best bottom I've ever seen", everybody agreed. But no, I managed to visit the place without any hassle and I like to think I gave them a taste of the kind of happy-go-lucky-good-looking-witty-charming-etc-etc guy that they might find on the outside.

Being serious for a moment, I don't think I'll manage to really get across what the place is like. It's not that it's so massively different to what you expect or that it's so mindblowing that it can't be comprehended, it's just that we did so much in that one week that I could write for a fortnight and still only give a brief idea of what it's like. All I'd say is that if you want to visit then just do it. You won't be disappointed and regardless of what your expectations are you'll still be surprised in so many ways. It's incredibly easy to visit (as long as you're not South Korean, American or Israeli) and while it's not cheap it's definitely worth it. Also, it's probably not going to stay the same for ever so best see it while it's still around. I travelled with these guys: Koryo Tours who are pretty much the main people in the UK to visit North Korea with.

One other thing is that the North Korea I saw isn't really the real North Korea. I had glimpses of it - not least on the train back to China, but essentially I was only shown what their government wanted me to see because they're trying to show themselves in the best possible light. It's no coincidence we spent most of our time in Pyongyang because that's the showcase capital and where most of the money has been spent. People are picked to live there so they're generally quite happy and they realise that they're lucky compared to the rest of the country. They need a permit to leave Pyongyang and I suppose (although I don't know) that those from outside the capital need a permit to go there.

Another thing is that I'm not a North Korea expert by the longest stretch of the imagination. I know a little bit about it and I know some of the rumours about their current leader Kim Jong Il but because so little news filters out from the country then I don't know what's true and what's not and I also know very little about the history of the country and some of the major events, especially in the last 50 years or so. So if I come across as a little naive or if some of the stuff I'm saying is just plain wrong then don't bite my head off! I just wanted to see the country for myself.

Anyway, we flew out from Beijing on the Tuesday morning with Koryo Air - the national North Korea airline (which is banned from European airspace apparently because their safety record is so bad). We got an in-flight meal which was pretty good but I quickly lost my appetite when the stewardess came on the intercom to say that the flight was going very well and it was because the president was in charge of the flight. Just to set the picture - the North Korean president has been dead since 1994 although he still fills the role of president, just with a little less enthusiasm.
I was quite glad when we landed with all of my limbs intact and still attached to my body but will admit to a few nerves as we rolled up to Pyongyang airport and went through DPRK (Democratic Republic of Korea) customs. In the event it all went nice and smoothly and we were ushered to our bus where our driver and two guides (Mr Lee and Mrs Lee (no relation)) were waiting for us. Our guides were there to show us around but they were also there to make sure we didn't take pictures of things we shouldn't be taking pictures of. Apparently in the past guides have lost their jobs and worse has happened to them because of tourists taking unauthorised pictures so we were told in Beijing to ask before taking pictures and to give some thought to the consequences to the guides if we thought about snapping a few secret shots from the bus. Clearly it's not a country to fool around in so we were all on best behaviour as we got on the bus and we were immediately whisked away to a school to see what was basically their school show.

Well, this was surprise #1 (of many) on the trip. These kids were really very talented indeed and we were treated to dancing and music of a very high standard - much more than I've seen any any school production in the UK - not that I make a habit of hanging around schools before you ask. The thought came to me that back in the UK these kids would be nicking cars and beating up pensioners and yet here they were in this repressive country working really hard to excel at something. Comparing what I saw in DPRK to what I knew in the UK became a pretty common theme thoughout the trip and in the end left me pretty confused. I suppose food shortages (and I mean serious food shortages - famine conditions in some parts of the country apparently) focus the mind somewhat .

After the show we were taken to a massive bronze statue of Kim Il Sung - the Eternal President and the Great Leader. My history is shaky but I think he was installed by the Russians as the leader of North Korea once the Japanese ended their occupation during the second world war and he was also responsible for starting the Korean War (although DPRK claim it was the Americans). When the war finished (or at least, when the armistice was signed) then he set about rebuilding the country, closing it off from the rest of the world and developing a serious personality cult. So, as you travel around you see lots of statues and massive pictures of him and his son Kim Jong Il. By the end of the trip I was getting sick of looking at him, and what's more is that he has one of those faces that you wouldn't tire of thumping. I didn't voice this opinion at the time though...

We were all expected to bow before the statue and lay some flowers. As the guys in Beijing said, "Go along to get along" and since it would be a massive loss of face to our guides if we didn't lower our heads then we were happy enough to do so. It's quite hard to get across just how much the North Koreans love him. They're brought up with stories about him and all the good he's done for the country, and conversely they're brought up to believe that the Amercians are evil and that all the problems that DPRK faces is because of them. For sure the Americans have a lot to answer for (especially for forcing Tom Cruise upon us) but there is a lot of anti-American propaganda that isn't 100% true. As a tourist I picked up lots of books detailing the crimes of the Americans (or the American Imperialist Aggressors as they're referred to) and lots of stamps of big angry Koreans crushing little American soldiers. It was quite odd but quite entertaining too.

After the statue we were taken to the Arc of Triumph which was constructed to celebrate the North Korean 'victory' in the Korean war. It's a little bit weird seeing these massive glorious constructions when you know that the country is really struggling and where power cuts are common but I suppose that's what comes with having a nutter for a leader.

After the statue it was getting dark and we were taken to our hotel. I was a little concerned about this because I didn't know what to expect but I was very pleasantly surprised. It had about 70 stories and a revolving restaurant at the top and was placed on an island so that we couldn't go wandering off. I expected it to be dead but it was actually very busy because there was a friendship festival on which meant it was filled with Russian dancers and musicians and also with lots of strange communist-Kim-Il-Sung-wannabees from around the world. If you were looking for a definition of the word surreal then this hotel provided it. All week I was trying to avoid mulletted Russian men with crop tops, spandex tights, shirts that were undone revealing just too much chest for any civilised country, sideburns that had been shaved off on a straight line above the ear and women with make up that was applied in the dark with a paintbrush. Imagine Eurovision circa 1987 and you're getting there. The other entertainment was provided by the lift system which juddered and shook its way to the 73rd floor and stopped at whichever floor it wanted to stop at, regardless of which buttons you frantically pressed. In the spirit of adventure I once chose to avoid the lift and took the stairs and ended up in the hotel kitchen, but they kindly let me walk through so that I could get my dinner with everyone else.

The hotel room was really nice - probably the nicest room I've been in on this trip with a great view over Pyongyang and it even had BBC World on the TV (although this got cut off a few days later - possibly because they were discussing DPRK and their nuclear ambitions).

The next day we were up early to go to the border with South Korea and the De-Militarised Zone (or the DMZ as they like to call it). I was looking forward to this because I'd seen Michael Palin visit South Korea and look over to DPRK so I was hoping that I would see some Americans and could shout obscenities and make rude signs at them. Not because I have any view on the Korean issue (although you have to have a bit of a soft spot for a country that's banned Americans) - just that I wanted to shout "Yankee go home!" and see what they did. In the event though there were no Americans to see and not even any South Koreans. I did officially step into South Korea though. There are a series of huts where negotiations took place to try to resolve some of the issues between the North and the South and the demarcation line runs through the middle of the huts. The North Koreans have a door on one side and the South Koreans have a door on the other so because I wandered to the other end of the hut I can say that I have visited South Korea, and for the record it looks exactly like North Korea.

The DMZ has lots of oneupmanship going on - the South Koreans built a flagpole so the North Koreans built a bigger one (which turned out the be the biggest in the world and the flag has to get taken down if it gets too windy in case it breaks the pole). Also the North Korean building that looks into South Korea is something like 6 inches bigger than the opposite South Korean building. Finally we were given a propaganda tour of the 'concrete wall' that the US built in the 70s to stop any attempted invasion but there was no mention of the electric fence that the North Koreans built to keep South Koreans out

I took loads of pictures of course and even got my picture taken with a North Korean General and a Colonel. It was interesting that the Colonel was asking who had been to South Korea and what it was like there. They were quite inquisitive and even our guides were interested in what our home life was like. I found it strange that they could be aware that there was a different world out there that is more luxurious and that is effectively hidden from them but still be happy in DPRK. I suppose they resolve it themselves by blaming all their hardships on the Americans and they wouldn't consider putting any blame on the leadership.

We visited a town called Kaesong, close to the DMZ and which also had a grand statue of Kim Il Sung but which couldn't be called the real DPRK either. We had lunch there and then made our way back to Pyongyang. The drive was interesting though because we were seeing those people that weren't permitted to live in Pyongyang working in the fields and cleaning the roads and things. People in DPRK are split into the Intellectuals, the Workers and the Peasants and we were seeing what I assume were the peasants working in the fields and cleaning the roads. Generally the roads were pretty poor but the road to the DMZ was probably the best road in the country. It was reasonably smooth and pretty much went in a straight line from Pyongyang to the DMZ - through tunnels and over bridges and things - yet another display of North Korean pride.

Well, this entry is getting pretty long and I'm only on day 2 so I'll quit here and add some more at another date!

Poo!

Oh well, no Everest trek for me then! They've postponed it until the 7th May but I can't make that date because I'm doing the Trans-Siberian a few weeks after.

But I suppose that it's better to miss out now and do it some other time rather than getting stuck in Nepal. Apparently the guy from the tour company who went out there to see the situation couldn't get a flight back home.

So, I'm in Chengdu now and trying to figure out what to do next. Tibet is a short hop away so I think I'll head there but I need to get permits and things organised. Chine beauocracy at it's best!

Also, I've been writing up my North Korea trip but it's turning into an epic and I'm only on day two, so I'll post what I've done so far and then add to it in subsequent posts.

Just a quickie

Two things:

First up - my photos have been updated here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gregorontour so feel free to swing by and see what I've been seeing.

Secondly - this blog might not be updated for a while since I'm meant to be going to Nepal tomorrow to do my trek to Everest Base Camp and I doubt I'll get any internet access there. However, it's probably quite likely that I won't get to go because the Foreign Office are advising against non-essential travel due to all the troubles that are taking place there and my tour company are to decide today whether to go or not.

So, if you don't hear from me then I'm in Nepal and if you do hear from me then I might be a bit grumpy.

Gregor

From Chongqing to Beijing

Last time, we heard that our hero had arrived in Chongqing and our readers were left on the edge of their seats whilst he checked into a hotel. Let's see how the drama is unfolding...

Hello!

I'm in Beijing now after going to Shanghai, Beijing, North Korea and back to Beijing again (just arrived this morning). I'm falling further and further behind in updating my blog but I have a few spare hours now so can catch up on the housekeeping.

After the dodgy hostel in Yichang and the boat trip I decided that I needed a bit of luxury so I pushed the boat out and checked into a more expensive hotel than usual and had a ridiculously extravagant shower and a well deserved lie in. The next day I went out to see Chongqing and was surprised by just how big the place is. I'd never really heard of it before but it has a population of around 3 million people (or 15 million people if you believe this site http://www.paulnoll.com/China/Population/population-cities.html - Chongqing is a bit of an anomaly in China so different people measure the population in different ways). I heard a statistic the other day that the UK has 5 cities with over 1 million people and China has 94 cities with over 1 million people.

Anyway, it was a nice place to chill out for a bit and while I was still pretty much the only western person there (apart from an old, seriously lost looking European couple) I didn't seem to attract quite as much attention as I had in some of the other places I'd been to so it was a bit more relaxing. Because I was pampering myself for the day I went to Pizza Hut for the first time on this trip and stuffed my face with pizza and ice cream. It was great!

I rolled out of the restaurant and went to book my plane ticket to Shanghai. I was going to go to Xi'an but decided that I'd go to Shanghai and try to sort out my Russian visa at the embassy there and then head up to Beijing for my North Korea trip. I managed to get a flight the next morning at 7:30am so I did some of the sights of Chongqing, one of which included a cable car ride across the Yangzi river - although the pollution was so bad that you couldn't make much out and then I had an early night so that I could get a taxi early in the morning. I wasn't sure if there would be any around but I could worry about that later.

Just as I was going off to sleep the phone in my room rang and a strange Chinese woman was on the line. I'd heard about this before and assumed it was a prostitute offering her services so I just unplugged the phone and tried to get to sleep. Then the phone in the toilet rang so I had to get up to unplug that as well - I double locked the door too just in case she burst in and forced herself upon me as most women tend to do when they see me.

My alarm went off at 5am and I went downstairs to check out and try and find a taxi. There was no one at reception but the security guard went off and came back with a woman in a hotel outfit with her pajamas protruding from underneath her suit so I guess I must have got her out of bed. She didn't seem too pleased but I was lucky enough to not really care less.

As it happens, I got a taxi really easily but as we got to the airport I could see that the lights were off and there was no one around except for one or two people hanging around outside. For a moment I thought that he'd brought me to the wrong airport and I wondered whether to even get out of the taxi but I guessed that the airport was just shut so I got out and waited. Eventually the doors opened so we piled in but it was quite strange sitting around while the airport woke up around us with lights flickering on and departure boards coming to life.

The flight was pretty uneventful and I got into Shanghai easily but a combination of a woefully inadequate Lonely Planet map and my stupidity meant that I wandered around Shanghai for 45 minutes until I managed to find somewhere to stay. In the end I was quite lucky since I got a reasonably cheap dorm room which was empty for all but one of the nights of my stay and it had a TV with Star Movies that was showing a James Bond movie marathon type thing each evening so I could catch a movie before I went to sleep.

Shanghai seemed pretty cool. I expected it to be like Hong Kong but it wasn't quite as manic and was a lot more spacious. My hostel wasn't far from the main shopping/tourist street that led down to the 'Bund' that consisted of a load of colonial buildings built on the waterfront in the 20s and 30s and in a variety of styles from Europe and America. Then over the other side of the water is the typical Shanghai skyline that has only really appeared in the last ten or fifteen years. As I got the bus from the airport to the town I was amazed at just how many skyscrapers there were and I wasn't surprised to hear that Shanghai is one of the fastest growing cities in the world.

Walking down the main tourist street was quite nice because it was pedestrianised but it was a bit of a pain because every couple of minutes a tout would come up trying to sell you either DVD's, a watch bag or a suit. It was funny for about 10 seconds and then it started to get annoying so I put on my "I'm really grumpy" face which usually works well in the UK. It didn't work so well in Shanghai so I was forced to deliver the odd flying kick to the sternum to ward them off. I found this a bit tiring though so I just ignored them and they ended up getting bored and leaving me alone. In the evening though, the things on offer changed from watches and DVD's to massages, women and sex. For some reason this totally wound me up and I was a getting a bit angry and curt with them so I started to avoid this street at night.

There were loads of tourists in Shanghai and it was quite a change from the last week. If I'm honest I sort of missed the minor-celebrity status I had in the other places but on the other hand it made Shanghai a nice and easy place to spend a few days so I visited a couple of museums and went to the Oriental Pearl tower (essentially a big tower that defines the Shanghai skyline) as well as going to the Shanghai Library to use the internet and look at some UK newspapers. I'm now an official member of the Shanghai Library! There was a restaurant across the road the library called the Brasil Steak House that did a great buffet lunch consisting of giant slabs of various types of meat and potatoes. It was heaven and I was so full up when I left that I didn't need to get any dinner that evening.

After speaking with Cath and the hassle it was going to be to sort out a Russian Visa for the two of us (the bureaucracy in Russia is crippling- especially if you're trying to sort it out from China) we decided that I'd get a firm in Beijing to sort out the Trans-Siberian for me and we would meet in Poland instead. I didn't have much else left to do in Shanghai so I booked my train to Beijing (which involved a lot of pushing and shoving and elbows in the ribs at the train station - it was quite the mass of humanity) and I also booked my flight to Nepal as well since I've got a trek booked there on the 27th April.

One thing that I should mention about Shanghai is the traffic. Quite frankly I've never seen such a shambles (and I've been to Rome) and crossing the road was quite the adventure as well. Traffic lights appeared to be there for decoration and it didn't seem to be too clear what side of the road you were meant to drive on. Pavements were frequently just as dangerous as cycles and scooters came tearing down next to you with inches to spare and you were often accompanied across a zebra crossing with motorbikes and carts. It was incredible and even more incredible was that I never saw any accidents. At one point, on a road where scooters and bikes had been banned there was a traffic jam on the pavement. They were just sitting there blasting their horns at each other and not moving and I couldn't get past, so I climbed over a few bikes and scooters - scraping them with my rucksack as I went. I didn't look back and for all I know they're still there.

The only other noteworthy thing that will stick in the mind about Shanghai was the man sitting at the side of a very busy road having a dump on the pavement. I would have enjoyed kicking him in the face as he squatted but I was too stunned and walked away not quite believing my eyes.

After that it was on to Beijing on a very plush overnight train. I only had two nights there before I headed off to North Korea and most of it was spent getting some shopping for the trip, sorting out currency, getting my camera fixed after it had developed a fault and generally getting myself organised.

I'd love to write about North Korea here but I've only just got back this morning and haven't quite managed to get my head around the place. It's a crazy place, that's for sure but I was surprised to find lots of very happy people and parts of the city to be really really pretty. It'll take me a while to write about everything I saw there so I'll save that for another day.

Until then - all the best!

Gregor

From Yangshuo to Chongqing

Hello!

I'm in Shanghai now. I arrived on Saturday (although I thought it was Friday - how your mind plays tricks on you when you don't have a routine anymore) and I think I'll probably move on up to Beijing tomorrow night or Friday night. I'll take the overnight train because I feel I've been getting a bit too much sleep lately and deserve a night in a cramped bunk with a train that stops and starts every 10 minutes with a jolt and bang. I can't wait.

Anywho, the last week or so has been quite an experience and I've been checking out some of the real China and not the Chinese Great Yarmouth equivalent of Yangshuo - not that I'm bitter about the place putting me in the hospital or anything, but it's aimed very much at western tourists so everything there is nice and easy and you're not really seeing much of what China is really like.

So, I left Yangshuo on the bus to go to a place called Luizhou where I was going to get an overnight train to Yichang on the Yangzi river which is the site of the Three Gorges Dam project. From Yichang I was planning on getting a hydrofoil up the Yangzi river to Chongqing and from there I was going to fly to Shanghai.

The bus journey was interesting because along with the usual constant blasting of the horn and various diversions through fields and rivers to avoid wayward cyclists we also had the joy of a Chinese karaoke video, presented at an ear-splitting volume and featuring the Chinese equivalents of Cliff Richard and Gareth Gates. I quickly lost the will to live within 5 minutes but luckily I managed to punch myself unconscious so the journey passed without incident. Actually, the last bit was a mild exaggeration and I spent the journey looking out of the window at some of the rural little towns we passed through. People just sat and stared at the bus as it went passed - one or two people noticed me on the bus and started at me instead. The little towns were these dusty communist little towns with massive TV towers and bizarrely one of them, which only consisted of a street or two had a giant Space Needle thing like in Seattle.

Once we arrived in Luizhou the driver claimed we were at the train station and told us to get off. We (a German couple on the bus and myself) were pretty sure we weren't at the train station but the guy didn't speak English and was adamant that we were there so we got off, figuring we could get a taxi if we couldn't find it.

As soon as we stepped off the bus people from across the street started shouting and laughing and pointing and taxi drivers were tooting their horns at us and things. My mind recalled a sentence in my guidebook saying that foreigners were a novelty in Luizhou and it looked like we were the main event for the evening. It was quite unsettling but I just tried to enjoy it and gave them a wave and a smile. We set off to find the station (passing shops selling roasted dog - lovely) but there was no sign of it - I tried some of my fluent Mandarin on someone but that got us nothing except a puzzled look from him so we jumped into a taxi and the driver took us to the train station which was actually a good 3 or 4 miles away. Pah - next time I see that bus driver I'll register my extreme displeasure with him using the international sign of a short sharp kick to the goolies...

I was relieved to find that the station was huge because my train wasn't leaving until 11:30pm and I had visions of sitting in a dark hut somewhere in the middle of nowhere with nobody else around except the local rapist and some curious rats. Luckily the waiting room was full of people staring at us, including the guy next to us who sat for about 30 minutes with his head turned to face me and refusing to look away regardless of what I did. I gave a nod, and then a smile, and then I tried to ignore him, then I gave him a stern look and he only finally looked away when I delivered a piercing blow from my elbow to his adams apple. What a strange country.

I also got my first introduction to the delightful national pastime of spitting. It's quite extraordinary to be sitting next to some little old lady who then lets out a dramtic "hhrrrrruuuuuuuggggggghhhhhhhhh" hacking sound and then spits the contents on the floor of the train station. To be honest, I was expecting much worse but it takes a bit of getting used to and I find it really minging. Whenever I see someone spitting I'm always tempted to go and spit on their feet or something and see how they react but I've managed to resist the temptation so far. Thankfully the Chinese government are trying to stamp it out and quite often you see people spitting into a tissue or something which is a good first step I suppose, but it'll take a while to get people to quit completely. Much like smoking, which must be the other national pastime in China since just about every man seems to smoke like a chimney. I wonder if the two facts are related?

Anyway, the train appeared and I plonked myself in my bed which was on the top bunk and out of the way of people staring at me. I was glad of the rest and slept OK until we got to Yichang 19 hours later.

When I got there, I went to what I thought was the hostel but was in fact some dodgy old hotel and I got a room there for the night which didn't have a bath or shower (which I desperately needed after a night on the train) and the toilet was just a festering hole in the ground. Not my idea of luxury, but when in China etc...

By this time it was getting dark and I wanted to get my boat ticket so I went down to the ferry terminal but it was shut so I went to get some dinner instead. It was quite a change from Yichang because nobody spoke English, despite this being a city of over 3 million people and also because people just stared at you as you walked past. Some brave ones shouted "Hello" or something at you and then giggled as you replied but most people just stared as if your fly was undone or something (and believe me - I checked. Many times!). I was starving because I hadn't managed to get any dinner last night since the train station didn't have a restaurant and I'd had to survive on Pringles and fruit for the day so I found a decent restaurant and had a bite to eat (which was very nice actually, plus they cooked it at your table and it only cost about 1 pound). Then I found an internet cafe so I fired off a few emails because I was feeling like I was on the moon or something and was feeling a very very long was from home.

When I got back to the hostel I called room service to come and fluff my pillows and tuck me in, then I ordered the continental breakfast and finally set my alarm for 7am so that I could get out of that dump as quickly as possible and sort out my boat trip.

The next morning, the town was more appealing in the hazy morning sunshine. The railway station overlooked the whole town and it looked like some old Soviet city from the 1980s. I found it quite attractive in a strange way with their old concrete buildings and long straight roads and I set off to CITS, the chinese travel people - run by the government I think - to sort out my boat trip. Initially they tried to sell me a 4 day cruise up the river to Chongqing but I didn't fancy that so I managed to book myself on a hydrofoil leaving to go to Wuzhou at 12am where I could "easily" get a bus to Chongqing. I should have known when they gave me seat number "0" that it wasn't going to be easy...

I had a couple of hours to kill so I found a bakery and devoured some cakes for breakfast and then went back to devour some more because I was still hungry. I took a wander down to the river and there were lots of old people playing badminton in the park and doing Ti Chi and stuff. I'd seen pictures of people doing this but didn't realise that they did it all over China. I was tempted to join in but all I could really do were a few moves from the Karate Kid and I didn't want to scare them so I just walked past, sharing a knowing look with some of them who realised that I was a deadly machine and had spared them.

When I got back to the travel agents they herded us onto a bus to get the hydrofoil. I thought they were going to drive us to the ferry terminal but in fact they drove us up past the dam so that we wouldn't have to go through the 10 locks to get to the correct river level. I was gutted - I really wanted to see the dam but I only got a quick glimpse as we drove past it. Mind you, that was quite enough for me to realise just how big it is - I mean, I knew it was big but the sheer scale of it took my by surprise. It's absolutely vast - a bit like standing at the bottom of the Empire State Building and looking up but it's wide as well. Very impressive. Unfortunately, it's environment impact is massive and some experts are predicting that the dam won't be strong enough to hold back the river and it'll collapse at some point. If it does, then Yichang and it's 3 million inhabitants will be washed away within 30 minutes, so I got to the front of the bus and asked the driver to put his foot down a bit.

However, if I was disappointed that I didn't get to see the dam properly then I was exhilarated with the actual trip on the river itself. I'd wanted to do this trip ever since I saw Michael Palin do it in "Full Circle" and in fact the boat trip was the initial basis for me doing this trip because I wanted to see the Three Gorges before they were flooded by the dam. The first stage of flooding took place in 2004 and the next stage is due to take place in July. The scenery was quite stunning though - the guide book said that people have found it a bit boring because they expected mile high gorges either side of them. That wasn't what we got but the scenery was really dramatic, the gorges closed in quite close on either side and it was exactly how I remember it from "Full Circle". It was fantastic and the 6 hours just flew by as I stood by the door shooting picture after picture. Of course, seat "0" didn't exist, but that's no great shock.

What was more worrying though was that there appeared to be no buses in Wuhzhou to take me to Chongqing. A friendly taxi driver pretended to take me to a bus but as we arrived at his clapped out heap of junk doing a poor impression of being a car then I shook my head and walked away. Then a bunch of about 10 or 20 taxi drivers started screaming and yelling at me - I was getting a tad concerned at this point but when I looked at them they were all laughing and giggling so it was just a bit of a joke. I thought - I mentally revised my Karate Kid moves in my head just in case. I walked past a couple of policemen and asked them were the bus was to Chongqing and they told me I'd have to walk about 5 miles into town. At this point a gaggle of Chinese taxi drivers had surrounded us and were taking part in our little conference so the policemen took me to one of the taxis and we all jumped in for a merry little excursion to the bus station.

The thought occurred to me that they could be taking me to some warehouse for their friends to give me a good doing and nick my stuff but as we pulled up to the bus station, the policemen paid the taxi driver, absolutely refused to take any money from me and pointed me to the bus station. What a nice guy! I felt a bit bad really, since I'm pretty sure he would earn a pittance and yet he was still quite happy to pay for a taxi for the "rich westerner" as I'm sure we're thought of. It's often said that the people with the least give the most and he was a prime example.

I bought my bus ticket and sat in the bus station for a couple of hours. I used my best Mandarin to ask the guy next to me where the toilet was and he seemed to understand me so we got into a little discussion where I told him that I was from the UK and that I'd come from Yichang on the boat, that the boat was very ice-cream and that the dog headphones flew from Shanghai. My Mandarin is a bit rusty.

Once I'd got to Chongqing it was getting past midnight, I was tired, very smelly and just needed to get a hotel and a bed but unfortunately I had to get a taxi from the bus station to the centre of town. I had a hotel in mind so I spoke with a taxi driver who didn't know where it was and wanted to take me to his mates place. I did what any good British person does when abroad and repeated what I wanted but louder and slower. This didn't do any good so I stabbed at the map with my finger and basically yelled at him (I'm not great when I'm tired). Incredibly this seemed to work and after what I can say with 100% certainty was the scariest taxi journey of my life, we pulled up to the hotel with smoking brakes, melted tyres, a few slow moving pensioners splattered across the bonnet and a little puddle of something wet in the passenger seat.

Well, this is turning out to be quite the epic so I'll stop here I think. Once I'm in Beijing then I'll fill you in on what I've been up to there and also in Shanghai and Chongqing.

I'm going to go and rest my weary fingers now.

Cheers,
Gregor