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Halfway around the world in 1 year
Welcome to Sotje62 ! My blog intends to make the world a smaller place. Automatically and real-time, the blog traces Beatriz and myself's whereabouts, it might just tell you a thing or 2 that interests me - therefore not you, that's the privilege of having a blog - but read new blogs on the top and click on the pictures in the side bar to see older blogs, the blog,and Beatriz and I hope you grow a good 'travel' appetite. Sotje62 travel blog is in Vlaams (donker gekleurd) and in English (light coloured). So read what you understand and again what you like.
02-07-2009
High altitude train from Lhasa to Xi'an ; Xi'an
Xi'an. Night view of the South Gate from on the city walls.
Xi'an. The city walls.
Xi'an. High street.
Xi'an. These are the beers that you can find in a supermarket. Nothing really popular, only HANS beer, that is very famous in China. It's supposed to be German !?!
Xi'an. It has been a while that I've seen a full-shelfed supermarket so I took a picture of one.
Xi'an. This food is looking at you.
Xi'an. This food is hearing you. (We thought we had this on our plate one time, we know the Chinese character for the word 'ear' now.)
Xi'an. This food has chicken legs.
Xi'an. This car is supposed to go after the bad criminals.
Xi'an. And this is the bad criminal.
Xi'an. We see more and more fancy cars, unlike what we saw in Tibet (except for Lhasa then, Lhasa is as developed as any Chinese city now).
Xi'an. Bea and a Terracotta warriors, the city is full of terracotta statues.
Xi'an. Me in the square of the god temple.
Xi'an. Bea in front of the god temple.
Xi'an. City god temple.
Xi'an. Bea at the entrance of the city god temple.
Xi'an. Chinese are very fashionable, this woman is an example of that... don't put your nose up now, ok different fashionable then.
Xi'an. High street, notice the KFC in the corner !! They are all here, Mc Donalds, Pizza hut, KFC, Starbucks!! And there is Mr. Lee, a Chinese fastfood place, that we don't have :)
Xi'an. Bea in the Muslim quarter.
Xi'an. A ventilated streetfood shop.
Xi'an. Me after I got caramel cookies 1 Euro.
Xi'an. Muslim quarter, what's cooking ?
Xi'an. Muslim quarter. This is the appetizer, cooked onions with chili sauce. Hmmm, special...
Xi'an. Muslim quarter. This is the main course, a bread soup with meat. And this is what we thought was 'ear' :)
Xi'an. The Muslim quarter.
Xi'an. There is nothing special to say about this picture but that it is a street !
Xi'an. A BEA bank!! After India, where Bea means 'marry me' in Hindi, Bea is a bank in China.
Landscape between Lhasa and Xi'an. If you look well you see Bea's reflection.
Landscape between Lhasa and Xi'an. There is mountains because the Tibetan-Qinhai plateau runs until in Xi'an.
Landscape between Lhasa and Xi'an, it is like the sky is fluo blue here. Fantastic sight.
What you can find on a cookie bag ! :)
This is the high altitude train from the inside. The train has coupees with 6 beds, and there is a corridor all the way through. With chairs and a small table to eat your noodles. Hot water supplied.
Golmud. The first train stop.
Bea is sleeping like a baby. We really slept well because of the supplied oxygen, and I have to say the beds were comfortable.
Lhasa. 08:40 am. A picture just before we leave Lhasa. I look like a little boy in this picture.
16.09.09. Half-Round the world in 1 year / Kick off. 9th of April 2009, Mumbai, India’s biggest city, is our best destination to take the train south to Goa, Kerala and Bangalore. From there we go 4,000 km by train back to north India, see Karnataka, Rajasthan, the Taj Mahal, Varanasi and Nepal. In Nepal we do small treks in the Himalayas and visit Kathmandu. Over de friendship highway, the route goes from Kathmandu to Lhasa by jeep, maximum altitude 5250m and we get to see the Mount Everest. In Lhasa we take the train through China, see the Terracotta warriors in Xi'an, and go 3,500m north to enter Mongolia and arrive in Ulan Bator. In Mongolia we camp in the Khovsgol area near the Russian Siberia, and renew the Chinese Visa to go back south. The clock says 4 months when we trained through China and see Yunnan, South China with its wonderful terraced rice fields. We enter the tropics and after 6 months travels we are in Vietnam. 2 months after that, we should have seen Angkor, the beaches in Thailand & Maleysia ...<e.d. 25.10.09. There is a change of plan after Angkor: we fly from Bangkok to Manila, we go to the Philippines!!> and on a ferry to Indonesia. From either Kuala Lumpur or Bangkok, we find our way to Sydney and work for 3 months. We will have traveled for 1 year when we are in Oz and ... and ... and ... that is how far we planned. But we were supposed to come back in 1 year but we are only half around the world. Beatriz and myself love Asia!! So much for planning ahead and scheduling. Let's just see how we get on and the more exciting our trip will be. Wish us good luck on the trip!!
