We had a long journey from Thattakad to eventually find ourselves in Delhi early evening of the 17th. We started at 4am from Ms Sudah’s home-stay in a taxi which took an hour to reach Kochin airport, from where we had an early flight to Chennai. As we had changed our travel plans a little last minute we couldn’t connect our later flight to coincide with the early arrival at Chennai and so we spent a good four hours or so working on the blog and editing whilst we sat in the Chennai airport departures lounge waiting for check-in to open. We had a 1.25pm flight to Delhi which got us in just before 4pm. When we exited the airport we picked up a taxi and went straight to our B&B, G-49 Bed & Breakfast located in Nizamuddin West.

After we checked into our very nice ground floor room we simply kicked back and relaxed before deciding on heading out for a walk. The bed and breakfast is a really nice building located on a corner and with only 5 rooms they were full, although the place wasn’t exactly bustling with people as the rest of the guests were a documentary film crew from Switzerland working on a project in the local area. We decided to stay local and explore the streets after getting our food order in for later on. Nizamuddin is the heart of the Islamic district in Delhi and so only a few steps out of the B&B we were submersed in rich culture and flare as we wandered around the back alleys.

Dress-makers were in full swing whilst children huddled around us to be photographed and passers by crossed us in their cycle rickshaws. It was all quite over-whelming having spent most of our time in India in the relaxed Southern states. When we were back at G-49 we enjoyed palak paneer, rice and a mixed vegetable curry. There aren’t many accessible eateries in this area so the owner suggested we eat in. We did feel like we were cheating a little but after all this time on the road it didn’t really matter.

The next morning we were up fairly early and enjoyed a good breakfast of eggs, toast, muesli and fruit, enough to set us up for a solid day of Delhi’s sights. First on our list was Humayun’s Tomb which is only a 10 minute walk from the guesthouse. When we got there we were chuffed to find out that there was no charge of entry as the date marked 150 years since the site was graded as a World Heritage monument. A free day for us so far!

The main tomb is massive, built by a grieving wife, Dave requested that Helen should build one for him to mark his existence on the planet…hm! They did like to go over-board on these monuments though, it was a fantastic build holding the tomb of Mughal Emperor Humayun and commissioned in 1562AD.

They really did know how to do it back then and this particular tomb is said to have been a huge influence on the build of the Taj Mahal. The walled gardens are well kept and pleasant to walk around, we read that a renovation project had taken place around 2007. There were lots of school children in large groups being escorted around the site and so we were rushing ahead each time to get photographs of the space before they would come bounding in.

When we left the tomb site we jumped in a rickshaw and went to Lodi Gardens, on the way the driver kept trying to convince us we should hire him for the day but we didn’t want to caught in the trap of being taken to shopping malls and so managed to leave quickly as soon as we arrived at the gardens. We walked around this lovely site which is open to the public and has lots of nice paths interweaving their way through the park and along it’s edges. There are also ancient tombs and mosque’s in this park and we enjoyed the walk.

When we left Lodi Gardens we exited out of the north entrance which led us to a road up to India Gate. The walk took around 40 minutes and once we were at the gate we took a few photos and then left, mainly because we were being hassled by hawkers trying to sell us things we didn’t want, beads, henna, drinks, food etc…So off we went along Rajpath Road towards to the Parliament State and the Secretariat buildings, all of which are all fantastically built, symmetrically and very monumental indeed.

After we convinced a driver to take us to Connaught Place for 70 rupees we had to again persuade him not to take us to another mall or a different restaurant. When we arrived at Connaught Place we managed to find a vegetarian restaurant in L block that served excellent dosa’s, we were recommended to go there by one of the book shop owners we’d been chatting to earlier on. We’d already noticed the price difference between eating in Delhi compared to Kerala, prices were around double per meal.

We wandered around Connaught Place for a while, went into a few shops, explored the Janpath and Palika Bazaar’s and then went to the peaceful site of Jantar Mantar located very close to both market areas and Connaught Place. Neither of us were in the mood for shopping or haggling with the ever-keen and ready stall and shop owners and so we just scooted around before coming to a complete stop in Jantar Mantar. This is a very impressive architectural site made up of huge instruments built to measure and observe space. We couldn’t imagine these vast instruments being used and it really is a beautiful place to go and observe. This was also a free attraction and so we didn’t spend any money on sight-seeing other than our rickshaw rides.

We sat and people watched for some time before going round and documenting the place as best as we could. It was quite amusing to see the locals being distracted by a blonde 2 year old who was being carried by her American parents, people kept going up to them asking to be photographed with their young fair skinned daughter.

Later that night we ate at Karim’s one of Delhi’s most famous restaurants and there was one a 10 minute walk away from where we were staying. Again we delved back into the local area and enjoyed a very nice north-Indian cooked meal, what we didn’t know is that Karim’s is a mainly meat serving restaurant and so when we asked for vegetarian food we didn’t quite get looks of approval. The food we did have though was really good and different from what we’d experienced in the south.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0, 18mm f4, 90mm Tele-Elmarit f2.8 processed in Lightroom 3)

We have quite a lot to fit in on this post so here we go…

We had a night train booked to go to Xian, leaving Beijing West on a hardsleeper. The train was full and we were 2 of 6 in our cabin in a carriage that houses around 10 or so cabins! There are also around 20 carriages so the trains are pretty massive. The price for our bottom bunk was 275 RMB each, not bad as it’s our accommodation and travel in one. Once we were ready to get into bed the lights went out and everyone went to sleep until our arrival the following morning at 8am.

When we got to Xian station our hostel Shiyuan were waiting with a sign saying Helen Roecoe…we knew it was for us! There were a few other backpackers on the taxi bus to the hostels, most were dropped off at Yin Tang Inn a few streets away from us. Shiyuan is a YHA hostel located near to the South Gate of the city wall. It’s a pretty good location and they were really helpful. We were impressed at being able to check into our room at 8.30 in the morning. For our time in Xian we booked a mixed dorm room so we could save some money and meet a few other backpackers. On the first night though we had the place to ourselves. They have a decent cafe at the hostel and breakfast is fairly substantial and at a good price. You also get free coffee and beer every day you’re there!! Not bad!

We had a few things to sort out when we got there – our ticket back to Beijing was one, breakfast another and looking into the tour to the Terracotta Warriors. Getting the train tickets was easy once we found the little ticket office a few streets away!! It’s well located to the hostel but it is tricky to find – appearing as a kiosk to an ICBC branch. You can’t buy return journeys over here, so each time you arrive in a place you need to pick up your return or the connection to your next destination. We got back to our hostel having purchased two hardsleeper tickets for two days time. After some breakfast at the cafe we went to the reception desk to book ourselves onto their tour the next day. We know we could have done this ourselves and got the bus to the site for a lot less, but we wanted to book a tour so that we could meet a few other backpackers/travellers in Xian. Having sorted this out we then walked up to the South Gate entrance to the City Wall, paid the entrance fee of 40 yuan each and then found a bike rental service quite easily once we were on top.

Cycling on the XIan city wall was really good fun and we stopped plenty of times for sights that we wanted to photograph. Construction of the city, demolition areas, temple rooftops, large apartment blocks on the other side of the wall, lanterns and a strange collection of animal shaped floats left on the top after some type of carnival…we couldn’t quite figure out how long they’d been left there and whether they’re still in use!! All of this mean’t that we were stopping every 50 meters or so at some points! We even managed to set up the self-timer on the Olympus to get a shot of us cycling toward the camera! Oh fun!

We cycled the wall for around 2.5 hours and paid an extra 10 yuan for the privilege. We would recommend doing this if you get to Xian! Later on we went for some street food in the city’s manic Muslim quarter. This is quite an experience with so much food being cooked right on the street under burning flames, hot pots and local delicacies are thrown into the limelight and under your nose. Mixed in with the food are a few streets of tourism gift stalls, dried fruit and restaurants. Again probably a must if you get to go. We had some of the Cool noodles, which is supposed to be a famous local snack but it is what it is…cold noodles!! Helen had a vegetable hot pot dish and Dave opted for the Chinese sandwich with beef. We got back to the hostel at a good time and Dave rang home.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

26th – Terracotta warriors

We left at 9am for the trip to the Terracotta Warriors with a few people from our hostel and went onto Yin Tang Inn to pick up some more people on the tour. We met a great group who’d all met at the hostel the night before, most of whom were traveling around China and had loads of tales to tell of their experiences. After some brief bonding we were interrupted by our tour guide Jha Jha (“Lady Jha Jha” apparently) who proceeded to inform us about the warriors and the local area that we were traveling through. She is quite a character and well known amongst travellers as she loves the line, “My name is Jha Jha, I’m 27 and single!” which made us all chuckle. Our fellow sight-seer Sam was her target on this trip and we all teased him about this as the day progressed.

Make sure you take some photo ID with you when you visit the warriors as security is tight and you have to go through airport style security twice before you get anywhere near. Whilst walking to the entrance from the bus drop-off point you have to walk through an 80′s style English pedestrianized shopping mall! It’s pretty kitsch!

The warriors are located in bunkers that are covered by huge structures. It did feel a little Indiana Jones with a smattering of easy tourism thrown in. Bunker 3 is the biggest and best site so with that in mind we were taken to 2,1,3 bunkers, saving the best until last.

It’s an impressive site with excavations continuing to be undertaken which all happens after 6pm when the sites close. The visit is a worthwhile one however we were expecting more!? We felt that you would be able to get closer to the masses of warriors, that it would be more of an under ground cave system and that in-fact there would be more warriors. We did learn that there are more sites around the area however they have not been officially located yet. The background story is an impressive one involving Mercury ingestion by a power hungry/eternal life seeking emperor and ultimate death for the workers under his control.

As we are in China and we are tourists we were taken to a gift shop selling various things such as jade jewellery, warriors and the man who discovered the site itself was sat behind a desk signing books for those seeking that extra special touch! We couldn’t quite believe that he was there…it was a little surreal but very typical of the levels tourism have reached here.

Following on from the trip to the warriors site we had a brief journey to the tomb where the crazed emperor is buried, it sounds like an amazing site, but it is yet to be reached due to the dangers of a mercury moat and oxygen damaging the hidden artefacts with his body. So you can see a hill in the distance and after about 5 minutes we went back to the bus to leave! On our way back we stopped at a hotel for a big lunch all at a bargain of 25 yuan. As Helen and Ian don’t eat meat they had to sit on a separate table to the rest of the group…romantic meal for two! The restaurant was huge and only had about 3 tables full so this looked pretty funny! David and the meat eaters gouged on pork and other unknown meat-like objects whilst Helen and Ian were very civilised in their Pak Choi and sticky potatoe spread.

When we got back to Xian we decided to get a taxi over to their hostel a little later on as there would be a dumpling making party! A couple games of pool some beer and a few snacks later and we were all making speed dumplings! We’d say a little more atmospheric than the one at the CCC earlier in the month…Jackson 5 on the soundsystem and we were on our way to dumpling heaven!! They weren’t much better though than the last one’s we made and after a while when they’re cooked they do tend to be very samey! Still it’s all in the fun of making them!!

A couple we’d met the day before came to join us for beers at the bar after the dumpling making session and we chatted about plans for China travel, we are doing a very similar route but at a different time so it was good to get some ideas. We then went to the bar street…hmmm not really Liverpool’s Matthew St but there were a few bars offering cheap beer so we went in for an hour or so before saying goodbye to our warrior buddies and went back to our dorm.

27th – Next day Helen was ill, we didn’t do much as she had some kind of tummy bug so it was a light and slightly teary stroll to the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, which was a lot further than we had anticipated, we followed this up with a taxi back to the hostel where we managed to get a room for the day. We decided later on that it wasn’t a good idea for us to leave that night for the train. The hostel were very accommodating and let us have a dorm room for 4 just for the two of us. Helen slept and Dave went out for food. We didn’t know this at the time but we could have taken our train tickets back up to 2 hours before leaving Xian in exchange for a refund with only a fifth of the price lost. We didn’t know this so we did loose out on some money and had to buy tickets for the next night. 28th – Helen was feeling better the following day although we laid low in Xian and ventured to a local park in between hanging out at the hostel for most of the day. We could only get a soft sleeper back to Beijing, which was okay but not that much better than a hardsleeper! Still it mean’t we had a quitter cabin. The train left Xian at 8.34pm and arrived in Beijing at around 7am. It took us around half an hour to catch the metro back to Xinjeikou on line 1 as the rush hour was pretty crazy! We literally only just managed to squeeze on with our bags after watching several locals climbing their way off the train. Madness.

On the 29th we spent the main part of the day at the apartment resting, writing, washing clothes, watching Peep Show and only ventured out once to the supermarket. Sometimes you just need to have a lazy day (and have a washing day)! We followed this up the next day with a spot of Christmas Shopping at the Yashow clothing market on the other side of town, it was fun bartering and we managed to buy most of our prezzies too. Good times! The bookworm also delighted us by providing some nice solid western food. We also went out for food with our hosts the chen family, but for some stupid reason we forgot to take our cameras out with us!! What were we thinking! The food was really good aswell…ah well we think you are enjoying the food pics so we will have plenty more to show and we had a very enjoyable evening – big thanks to them for helping us out with our accommodation whilst we have been staying in Beijing.