Borneo beginnings

End of one journey, start of another

Training - Fieldbase, Kota Kinabalu

Arriving in Kota Kinabalu, the home of Raleigh fieldbase - the hub of operations and my home for the next couple of weeks.  This marks the official end of my journey from a damp March day in Waterloo to the heat & downpours of Sabbah, Borneo; 187 days, 19 countries and 47 different modes of transport








The first few days were spent in a whirl of training, information, swim tests and getting to know my fellow project team with whom I'll be working for the next 3 months, in just 2 weeks 60 venturers (volunteers) are arriving and we'll be delivering much of the training back to them

choosing dinner - KK, Borneo

There was time to venture out in the evening to a local market for dinner, the main items on the menu: seafood & chicken bum













Fish market - KK, Borneo

















It wasn't long though before it was time to really get out and get a taste of how we'll be living for the next few months with some training at Base Camp, the return point between 3 week stints on projects.  It's relative luxury with (cold) showers on site and a permanent roof structure to keep most of the rain off our hammocks.

 

putting up mossie nets, Base Camp














Local wildlife, Base Camp

The next night was a little wetter, but a good lesson in how important putting a tarp up properly to protect your hammock is. The day was spent a few hours trekking through the jungle, only covering a few kilometres in 4 hours, but it was enough to appreciate just how difficult the extended trek I'll be going on later will be.

Enter the jungle

We also found out our project allocations, I'll be spending 2 'community' phases (6 weeks) constructing a gravity water feed - much more detail to follow as we are about to go on a 4 day trip to plan it.  My final phase is the 'adventure' phase, 2 weeks jungle trekking followed by a week diving, the chance to gain a PADI qualification and try something I've never done before.   

Get out of the cities

My last week in China was spent in province, the main attraction being the incredible cast scenery which includes the setting of the 20Yuan note.

First up was a visit to the Langshou rice terraces where the immaculately tended crops stretch into the distance.



Langshou rice terraces

Langshou rice terraces

To get from Guilin to Yangshuo the plan was to take a bamboo boat most of the way along the river.

plastic bamboo boats, Yangdi

Once on the bus however we were soon informed that the boat was actually a plastic raft (45) but we'd have the chance of purchasing a separate trip on a bamboo boat (46) later that afternoon. Both trips were excellent despite the usual tourist trappings of tat sellers the scenery was great & the skies blue.







Li river, Xilong

Cormorant fishing, Jinlong

Water buffalo, Jinlong

bamboo boat, Jinbao river

The next couple of days were filled with cycling & walking. The hostel rooftop bar providing views of the river and Yangshuo town brimming with souvenirs, bars & restaurants it's no longer the hidden backpacker treasure of the old editions of lonely planet. Nearby the up to twice nightly Impression Liu Sanjie show plays to packed audiences of thousands, with a cast of 600+. It was directed by the guy who did the Beijing Olympic ceremony and wows mainly due to marvelling at the co-ordination of setting this on a lake (the Russian dancing horse still wins for entertainment).

En route to the fishing village

One day hike to me to the village of Xing Ping, where I finally found some of the hidden backwaters. Although in the nearby fishing village (it has no name) a local showed off photos of Bill Clinton sitting in their house.

Xing ping

Staying overnight in Xing Ping also gave the chance of a climbing a hill for sunrise. Setting off at 5.30 we waited for the sun to come up, but as is one of my overbidding memories of china, the mist win out & it just got lighter.















I can also claim to have cooked the best food I ate in China. Under careful instruction of a cooking class we prepared 5 dishes including a local speciality: beer fish. Before the cooking commenced we were taken around the local marker to get some final ingredients, fortunately that didn't include the dog that I watched being dismembered.

5 courses of culinary brilliance

beer fish being cooked

Onto one final overnight bus ride (47). This one counts for the crazy layout of full (for a chinaman) length bunk beds throughout the coach, I was do surprised at arriving in Shenzhen on time I forgot to get a photo, so instead here is Shenzhen's oddest attraction window to the world contains scale models of most famous monuments you can think of.

Window to the world, Shenzhen

Panda-monium

So the prospect of 28 hours on a hard seat was enough to board a plane, sometimes life's too short.

After a couple of extra hours in the airport it was onwards to Chengdu, a city of ~9 million.

Mao statue - Tianfu square, Chengdu

The main draw is the world leading giant panda breeding centre. Successfully breeding pandas since the 80s there's over 100 pandas in the huge park & less than 2,000 in the wild. The baby's we saw were a month old and still tiny, often new mothers will accidentally kill their cubs as they are so fragile at birth so at the centre they tend to grab them quick & reunite them when the cubs are bigger.

juvenille pandas

red panda

baby panda <1mth

adult panda hanging out

A visit to the Chinese opera is more of a talent show with a series of performers taking the stage. The finale the highlight with a face changing act including a mannequin breathing fire.

face changing at the opera

Back to the train station for one last overnight sleeper. After a 4 hour delay (spot a common theme emerging?) we were on our way. There's something magical about going to sleep in the dark, leaving a city behind, and waking in the morning to a view of terraced farming and fields of colour. The hours fly by looking out the window & reading, War & Peace seemed suitably epic to take on a long journey but it's easier to read at night without the distraction of the scenery. A couple of changes on this train, I'm now the only foreigner in the carriage, the attendants are even more smiley & casual than before & there's no more western toilets.

Who doesn't love a toilet picture

view from the train - Chengdu to Guilin

Enter the dragon

Beijing - the last stop with the train gang and a final few laughs including electric bike racing (44) through nighttime streets;

Bike racing with Steve & Sam

Group hat buying and an astonishing display of acrobatics drawing a local crowd and the paparazzi.

All for one hat, one hat for all

A variety of delicacies on offer at the night market

Time was fairly short, but having been here 3 years ago I took the chance to get out to the modern art district area 798. Full of small galleries and exhibitions it's a really interesting place to wander around. A couple of issues n negotiating the correct change of buses meat I got to see an area of Beijing currently under major skyscraper development


Made in China - 798 art district



World trade centre, Beijing 



Buggy



Staying near the forbidden palace I took an electric buggy (43) and got some photos in the smoggy air. Quite a change to last time with snow & blue skies. I was also comparing the guards at Tianamen Square, they seem a bit more relaxed, not everyone fixed at their post with a blank stare. But then I came accord the 'secret' police marching in formation & realised there's still a large security presence.



 



I also had the chance to visit a section of the great wall at Mutianyu. An astonishing creation, this section is a couple of hours from Beijing and quite tourist friendly with only a short, very steep, step climb. There's plenty of steps on the other parts too as you are restricted in the restored section. There's also a toboggan run (42) to get you back to the base of the hill, beats a return cable car trip.

Great wall, Mutianyu

Toboggan

End of the track?

The final leg of the Trans-Mongolian, still to decide how to travel through China so that could be the last couple of nights on the train.



Trans-Mongolian Train, UB to Beijing



The Mongolian train was a instant upgrade from Russia, friendly attendants, an improved but expensive restaurant car, 2 bed sleepers for those in the posh seats, charging points that worked & located in the room, toilets that didn't get locked at every small stop and a shower!

The wilderness of Mongolia was on full display for most of the day, 12hrs to the boarder through the steppe of the Gobi desert.

Mongolia through a train window



Camels in the Gobi

 After a comparatively quick (1.5hrs) stop to exit Mongolia we moved onto the China border and the bogie changing shed. For non-train aficionados China operates on standard gauge, 3.5" narrower than the rest of the T-M route and the bogies are the wheels the carriage sits on. So after a lot of shunting the train was split up and each carriage lifted on large hydraulic arms as the bogies are switched. The whole operation took about 2.5hrs which gave us the full midnight hour back on the platform.

bogie changing

Waking up in China and the scenery had changed dramatically. The trees were back and large fields of crops, particularly sunflowers, were interspersed with a clusters of buildings and a couple of large towns. Approaching Beijing and the views changed again to rocky hills before we met the edge of town around 40km out, not too much of a surprise that a city of 20 million people takes up a bit of space.

An early view of China

Before we got off the train there was one challenge remaining. To fit 15 people in the cabin.

all the gang in one cabin

From L-R (top) Tracey, Chelsea, Oli, Mark, Lois, Anne (bottom) Raya, Sam, Jared, Minna, Bec, Tony, Steve, Simon, Andre

photo credit Dom/Eva

Mongolia

Back on the train again for 2 more nights, during which we covered the vast majority of the 1,000+ km to Ulaan Baator. This means of course we spent much of the day stationary not all of it for any apparent purpose. The first 3 hours on arrival at the Russian boarder were spent climbing hills, eating ice cream, playing frisbee & drinking beer. We then got back on the train for the Russian officials to collect passports and return an hour later. Another 3 hours at the Mongolian boarder was the point where Oli's magic key proved invaluable at unlocking the toilet doors (a british gas key for anyone going in future)
In contrast to our previous train the Mongolian carriage attendants were a cheerful bunch.

Trans-Mongolian train, Irkutsk to UB

Arriving in Ulaan Baator, where half of the 2.9mill population of Mongolia live, it was clear this city is a work in progress. There are a number of building sites, in fact it feels like there are more building sites than completed buildings. You get an idea of the state of the roads when you detour through a petrol station forecourt just to avoid potholes.


Sukhbaatar Square, UB



Culture show, UB

Eagle



After a night in UB we headed off for one of the trip highlights, visiting the nomadic people and staying in a traditional ger.



Yak
























turtle rock



It turns out that the nomadic lifestyle is not fully traditional, they tend to stay in the same place for the electricity supply to power their modern fridges and satellite tv. We did however get to try a variety of foods & drinks including fermented yaks milk and curd.

Local delicacies being served

horse riding

The ger camp was also somewhat modernised with a toilet block and restaurant alongside permanent concrete based gers. The setting however was spectacular on the side of a valley with a rocky backdrop. A couple of days sped by climbing hills, dressing up, archery & camp fires.

Ger sweet Ger

Great location

The camp