7622 km accomplished in 120+ hours

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Marie and Jean-Christophe

We recommend

Trains & Visas

Seat61 for general information
Legend Tour or Svezhy Veter to book tickets
Russian Concept in order to get a touristic voucher for the Russian visa

Russia

Narine mum's Pelimini and Kotlets :)

Mongolia

Arburd Sands Tourist Camp to get the nomadic experience in the Near Gobi
(the people running the camp are the best horse trainers in Mongolia)

China

Peking Youth Hostel in Beijing is heaven
Niuge Jiaozi (85 Dong'anmen Nanjie - see lonely planet) is paradise for
dumpling eaters
Whampoa Club in Beijing for modern Chinese cooking in a beautiful and
traditional setting
Peng Lai is near the yellow sea and a perfect place if you want to get out
of Beijing. Sea food is fantastic

JC

Untold Stories

We never got to see Mao in the Mosuleum at Tienamen square. The whole
city is being shut down for the Olympics - this morning we saw a tank
going down the main street. Now is the moment to get away if you don't
want to get stuck at your hotel. Altghough we are very greatful for
the traffic restrictions during our days in Beijing.

The sound of crickets is sometimes deafining load, specially in the
hutong. Many Chineses transport bird cages, contruction material and
lots of other necessities on their bicycles. One block in Beijing is
like five or six blocks in Stockholm or Paris; we always ended up
walking at least one hour. The Beijing metro is very modern, air
conditioned and informative - in English and we regreted not having
taken it earlier...

In Mongolia, going back from the ger camp in the desert we experienced
four hours in Hell. The spring system in the Russian "Volkswagen" bus
was non existant so we hit the roof many times on that bumpy road. To
the point that JC got sick for two days. He was all pale afterwards
and we were both exhausted.

We had a whole duck with Gavin and Kassy

Smoking sign from our hotel in Peng Lai

During the customs stop between Russia and Mongolia, JC got to see the
locomotive from the inside, thanks to a very cool Mongolian driver.

Marie

The Great Walk

We like hiking, but on the Great Wall, it takes another dimension.
First I felt amazed by the immensity of the construction, following the
curves of the mountains as its shade indefinitely. Second, I felt very
humble in front the work done by hand by these millions of people; it
is hard enough to do 4km, I can not even begin to imagine how they
managed to build such a masterpiece hundreds of years ago. The stairs
that we took were unbelievable, with steps of approx 40cm and 70%
steep. Up and down, up and down, during 4km, you enter a cycle; reach
a tower, climb down, walk, climb up these crazy stairs, loose your
breath, and reach the next tower. At the end your muscles in your legs
are so contracted that you can barely move them. They say the Great
Wall is the only human construction visible from space; well now I see
why. JC

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