fillingthegaps

In a sense, there has not been much to “write home about” just lately. The day of our train journey was filled with getting our gear organised, haircuts for Rach and ERgirl2 and a final walk around part of the base of the Old City Wall’

 

Lboy8  got to grips with a park abacus,  and Spring abounded………….

 We have train-ed up from Xi’an to Beijing and then got settled in to our new digs.

The train journey happened overnight, about an 11 hour starting at 8,0pm and arriving in Beijing early morning, so there was not much opportunity to see the passing countryside. The sleeper was the deluxe version of stalag III having semi-enclosed bunks, 2 rows 3 high facing each other. The bunks are “firm” and not conducive to a restful night for an old bloke with a sore back – but the rest of the team declared them excellent, so I bow to their superior experience in train-rating.  But the dawn did reveal an as-yet unexplained facet of farming up here in the northern regions. The light was too poor for photography so you will have to be content it my words.

We were passing through an agricultural area – acre after acre of large flat fields with neat rows of seedlings sprouting away. But set in neat roe=rows among the plants were these strange mounded structures. At first glance they appeared to be long neat mounds   of earth. The shape was that of a long rectangular aero plane wing: the leading edge of the ‘wing rose vertically for about 1 1/2 m and gracefully curved over to the ‘top’ of the  wing, which then curved gracefully downwards towards the ground. The ‘wings ‘ were about 100m long. It was a real puzzle. Later on in the journey we saw some ‘wings’’ under construction. A rammed earth or block wall was formed at the leading edge, then what appeared to be saplings or maybe bamboo was set into the wall at about 1/2 m intervals. The vertical ribs were then pulled over in a graceful curve to be secured to the lower wall at the trailing edge.  When we first saw these things we thought they were quite low mounds. With the increasing light we were able to see that they were high enough for a person to walk under.

After the ribs were bent over, a layer of polythene was laid over them,  followed by, rattan matting, unrolled on top of the plastic sheeting, So now we have a sort of a greenhouse structure, but with the barest of filtered light coming through. What was the purpose? Our best guess is that they are for raising seedlings in the early season when protection from frost would be vital. But who knows?

We arrived at  Beijing West railway station – not the main station. But of course it was, as we have come to expect, vast, and teeming with thousands of people. Having arrived, we decided to purchase our next set of train tickets while we were on the spot so to speak. (we also had time to kill before arriving at the new Guest House)  

  

But nothing is ever simple to the stranger: an enquiry at the ticketing hall revealed that tickets for Mongolia had to be purchased at the International hotel. ( a travel guide book also said that the tickets could be purchased on the 2nd floor of the station, but a quick search drew a blank in this area. Digging into Lonely Planet revealed that the Hotel was on a certain bus route so it was decided that Rob and I (taking Tgirl4  and ER2 along for the ride) would shoot off and see if we could get the tickets, Well get them we did but only after baling out from the bus a couple of stops early (its not easy picking the right spot when you are not sure if the conductor knows where you are going and all the signs are Chinese!) So we grabbed a taxi who took us to the hotel.  There we discovered that the Ticketing Agency had an office on the 2nd floor.  Rob found out the cost, so then we had to get some cash. ATM in a 5-star hotel? Of course, but  what a pity it was out of order! Still we found a bank across the road and loaded with wads of the ready, Rob made the bookings and got the precious tickets.

 

My key role in all of this was to help get some cash, and keep the girls happy. We  caught the bus back. As always, the bus was jammed full, but for a father carrying pretty girls and a grey-haired old man, seats were quickly offered to us both! Actually if you politely decline the offer, people get most agitated, so now we have learned to accept the kind offers.

When we got back to the Station we discovered a real circus in progress. AS usual our group (even without the 2 small girls) attracted a lot of curious onlookers.

 

 Apparently the station police had already told 2 crowds to move on, but when we got back there was still a mob there, with some of them playing cards with the boys!

Finally the mule-train got itself organized and we shouldered our way out of the station looking for the bus stop to take us to our digs.

 

This station had four major outlets labeled North, South, East and West. Each appeared to have its own set of buses. When Rob and I went out the first time, purely by chance  we stumbled upon the right exit and found the right bus waiting for us. This time, now that everyone was fully pack-laden, the station did not give up its secrets so easily! We trailed hither and thither, up and down stairs and escalators, in out and across the station until we gradually homed in on the pot of gold. As we were barging, shoving, jostling and elbowing our way along, sometimes with the flow. often fighting against or across it, I remarked to Jaala that the whole station was like a human ant’s nest: endless lines of thousands of scurrying insects, all intent on their own business and not to be impeded by anything or any one

The final test of our resourcefulness came as we boarded the bus. It was already full to capacity but based on past experience Rob stated confidently that we would all get on.!0 people, each with a large pack on back and some wit6h smaller one at front, baby in arms, folded up pushchair, plastic bags of extras, one very heavy wheeled suitcase and a heavy pack filled with Robs electronics, on a wheeled carrier frame. That would have been challenge enough, but we had to fight off the mob who were also intent on boarding! There were two rugged guys with huge cloth sacks on their backs, who newer determined to get on. The leader had shoved us out of the way and had got on before us(even though he arrived well after us, but we were determined not to let the second guy split up our group The kids were on and we were going to get on too! So Rach had the pushchair in front of his legs, I had my elbow dug into hiss chest and I think Rob had his bum in his face. The guy was frantic-but we were frantic-er, and we won, As thee fellow screamed that he had to get on, the driver screamed back at him, and the doors hissed shut in his face, trapping my pack, incidentally, which I managed to wriggle free. Oh boy, was that bus loaded!  Nevertheless, seats were immediately offered to myself and Rob who was carrying ER!

So we have arrived in a most interesting Hostel, but more of that later.

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