Last post!  Home again after gaining a day.  Left at noon on Sunday and arrived home on Sunday at 7 p.m. after long, long day.  Will take us a few days to recuperates.  Some blogs will be out of sequence or repeated because for three days in China we had no internet for gmail, or google or Facebook so I wrote emails, and when I got home, cut and pasted them to the blogs. Good to,be home.  This travel,is hard work!  Saw many interesting things are increasingly grateful  for home!  

In Beijing today.  What a huge place.  24 million people and it is hot!!  Steamy, hot, and polluted too. But some most spectacular buildings..specially for Olympic Games.  Today went to see the Great Wall and walked to the bottom of the wall and stood there.  It was so hot we could go no further.  Prior to the visit to the wall we saw a Jade Factory with some most beautiful things, none of which I bought.  We had chines food lunch then off to see a burial place where all I could think of was where is some shade.  Pathetic!  We were all dripping and I can’t help but wonder if all the umbrellas the chimes carry could do any good.   I was so hot I took no pictures.  Finally returned to the hotel at 5 and after a rest went for Chinese food dinner.  Tomorrow rickshaw  ride in the a.m. after a visit to a silk factory.  Life will be dull after returning home.  When I look at the pictures I realize how full each day has been. 

Diane Draffin 🌷

Today in Ulan Ude which is nearing the Mongolian border and all of a sudden there are many Mongolian looking people.  No surprise I guess.  We had many steps and down to walk today..often getting out of the train station seems to be the worst.  After a short tour of this city, we went for a performance of two groups of people.  One was the Cossacks and the other Burat people.  It was so colourful and fun to see.  There was one fellow who played a bunch of different instruments and sang in a deep voice, like throat singing.  After that to a restaurant typically Buratian and the food was so good and interesting. The soup was delicious with noodles in it and the salad lots of red peppers and cucumbers and then main course was three large dumplings which are typically eaten with your fingers.  They were delightful too.  The dessert was a cake which was a bit crunchy..made with some local,berries which are ground up and dried and added to the cake batter.  It looked like a chocolate cake but in fact wasn’t. it was kind of gritty, but good.  After that a trip to a Buddhist  monastery, which involved more stairs and walking around in a clockwise fashion outside before going in where there was a lot of chanting going on.  Many on the train..well maybe 8 in our group- are suffering from food poisoning and unpleasant indeed. Fortunately I had a prescription in case of such an emergency and have been glad of it.  Both Joyce and I are feeling the fatigue as a consequence of the many trips to the bathroom. 
Tonight we cross into Mongolia and I guess passports need to be out for examination by the Russians both at 9:15 and 12:15 a.m. 
it was hot today.  
Well, the Russian’s have been in to check the passports.  Intimidating as can be.  They spent about 5 minutes in each passport perusing it thoroughly ...we can now go to bed!  At midnight, the Mongolian’s come on board and check the passports.  We have to leave them out and they will come and photocopy or something them. ,

Diane Draffin 🌷

We had an amazing assortment of food in the hotel restaurant for breakfast after a restless night for both Joyce and me.  Our tummies were rebelling one way or another from the excess of food.  However, we got our bus carrying our walking poles and carry on baggage...a chore I might say...and visited a old village made of wood.  It was a series of buildings that are just as they were.  Most interesting with great high steps to enter them and small doors, both because of their size and to keep the snow out.  I gather they have lots of snow starting October until April.  -35 C seems to be the norm.  Fur coats and hats worn by all.  We then drove to lake Baikal and had a walk along the waterfront where we helped out the local economy in the usual fashion.  Our walking poles have proven to be invaluable.  At 1:10 we boarded the ferry to rejoin our train and immediately went for lunch.  The train is proceeding along the shore of lake Baikal through tunnels and when we stop at 6 or 6:30 there will be a swim for those who wish it.  Apparently the water is 8 degrees Celsius so I’m not doing that!  
They use coal here to provide heat.   Also some hydroelectric dams, too.  Apparently average income is $500 per month.  One can buy an apartment for the same price as a Ford Explorer.  Flat income tax of 13%.  This is apparently an  earthquake prone area and the last big quake was 2008 and they have been coming about 10-12 years. Houses were built of wood because of the abundance of it.  
The Lake is approximately 1037 meters deep and 600 km long and varies from 20-70 km wide. The water is pure apparently and has more water than all the Great Lakes combined.
I just realized our cabin here on the train is about the same size as my walk in closet!  

Diane Draffin 🌷

Well yesterday nearly put us over the edge. We went through customs and immigration leaving Mongolia and a long wait it was indeed. Then a bus tour of Erlian in China where there had been dinosaurs years ago. The made replicas of them in what looked like bronze through a large area just as if they had been there for ever. Lunch was indifferent Chinese food and the only toilet that was western was in one of the hotel rooms. Went to a lovely show which I slept through as my cold had really taken hold. I wakened intermittently to clap enthusiastically. Following that we were offered the opportunity to visit a local food market and as we were all totally beat from the heat and humidity we declined so our option was to go to the restaurant and have our dinner and wait there for the meal and then bus to the train. The dinner was kind of cook your own in a broth but I wasn’t up to much enthusiasm for it. We then waited for the bus to take us to our train at 9:30. We boarded and immediately fell asleep totally exhausted. The train compartment is about the same size as the Russian train but two beds and hard hard mattress. It is an electric train so quiet. And blessedly cool. We have lunch on the train then a tour of something prior to our hotel. 
Can’t get gmail or write my blog as China has blocked as well as Facebook. Boohoo. 
What I do in Beijing other than loiter in the hotel room remains to be seen. Heat and humidity unbelievable. 
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Nearly home after three frenetic days in Beijing.  We had no gmail, or FB, or google, so I was basically cut off from the internet.  It was unbelievably hot and humid and our first afternoon we were meant to see the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square and because of the heat and humidity there was the thought that we all go via wheel chairs and be pushed through as there was no turning back once you got in.  The consensus was we would miss that trip.  We were all pretty weary after the trip,through Mongolia and the night on the Chinese Train.  That train was more spacious than our Tzars train and was electric so quieter also.  No toilets or showers en suite, but there was a flush toilet close by so not a problem.  Our night in the turf proved nit to be as cold as expected so didn’t use my down vest, or jacket, however this was used to cover my progress to the bathroom in the middle of the night.  I did look a sight!  
Beijing is a most beautiful city and the buildings are something to behold.  All glass exteriors, and lots of green spaces and trees.  I believe they plant many trees each year which helps with the pollution too.  Skies weren’t clear for most of the time we were there.  Oddly enough, we had Chinese food, three times a day..it was on the buffet table at the hotel at breakfast.  All very good, too.  Our hotel was quite splendid, and we enjoyed spreading out after our time on the trains. Our highlight of the time there was a rickshaw ride through an area of the city called HuTong.  These are small houses around a central courtyard and are passed down through the generations. No toilet facilities there so all the families visit the communal toilets and shower facilities.  Poor rickshaw driver was sweating with the exertion of having two of us in his carriage.  
We went to the Great Wall of China and a few walked to the first or second tower...we didn’t even go into the wall as the humidity and heat so incredible.
Left the hotel in Beijing this a.m. at noon for the one hour drive to the airport.  The traffic unbelievable. The airport a mass of humanity and finally arrived at our gate about a hour from departure at 4 p.m.  our flight was uneventful and long and it took us over an hour to retrieve our luggage.  We were prepared to claim at baggage for lost luggage when finally the last ones arrived. We were met by a coach and finally arrived back in Kelowna at 8 p.m.  
it has been a long and busy trip.  What an adventure. 
Diane Draffin 🌷

We arrived finally at 7 pm and our yurt is quite spacious with two large beds and nice decor but no bathroom or shower as do some. We have some rocky stairs to get down and then a nearby building with four steep stairs for our night time ablutions. We have some tentative thoughts that the grass might appeal in the middle of the night. Dinner was held in a central large building and was adequate. It was same as our lunch and was beef and rice and broccoli preceded by coleslaw. Ice cream dessert. Once again we wonder “what were we thinking”. Glad I brought a little flashlight. 
The night time wasn’t as difficult as expected. The yurt remained pleasantly cool not freezing cold. It was lit outside with bright light so trips to the bathroom weren’t as intimidating as anticipated but I used walking poles for the stairs which were concrete and irregular. And I used my down jacket over my nightgown. There were barking dogs during the night and who knows why. This  a m we visit a Mongolian family. 
Back to the train later for our last night on the train. Tomorrow a Chinese train. 
Later.    
Went to see the yurt family home this a m  and tried some delicacies. Some hard squares of pastry and some cheese made from cow’s milk. It was followed by mare’s milk, fermented. Apparently this causes lots of problems in Mongolia with liver cancer due to the alcoholism. Weather quite mild and I didn’t need my down wear. 
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