Overland To Aus: August 2009

Monday 31 August 2009

Day 60

31/08/2009

Leaving Vientaine we were at the Thai border within 30 minutes, and clear of Laos in another 30 minutes. Before crossing Friendship bridge across the Mekongl we crossed over to the left side of the road for the first left hand traffic country since England.

Thai roads are of a reasonable standard but our initial progress was slowed by there being no where to buy car insurance at the border, and having to drive into town. We were also looking for a bank to change Laos kips to Thai baht but non would change them. They told us we'd need to exchange them on the unofficial market.

Tesco have several stores in Thailand and we stopped at the Nong Khai branch to buy something for dinner. Wouldn't accept my Clubcard though.

We drove south during the afternoon covering about 300km then stopped to camp. Mosquitoes were on good form and the deet was applied liberally, but we all ended up with a bite or two.

Today is the half way point of the trip, in time available at least. We are certainly more than half way in distance so hopefully we get time to drive a little more of Australia than our original itinery allowed for.

Lat 15 24.41 N
Long 102 27.79 1
Distance 18595 km
Nearest Town Phon

Sunday 30 August 2009

Day 61

30/08/2009

One of the reasons for stopping at Vientiane was that it has a rehabilitation centre where they make and fit artificial limbs, many of which are for victims of cluster bombs. These were dropped by the Americans between 1964 and 1973 when they flew over 500,000 sorties in Laos, dropping more than 2m tons of bombs. Cluster bombs are a large bomb which opens during decent to allow around 670 bomblets (or bombies as they are called here) to spread out and detonate on impact. There small explosive charge and a hundred or so ball bearings will kill over a range of tens of metres.

Unfortunately as many as 30% of these bombies may not have exploded, and many are still waiting to be found by villagers in the affected areas. Children are particularly at risk as they find and play with the bombie, and also farmers tilling the soil. Victims who are not killed outright often loose limbs and eyes. The approach here is to educate the children so they don't play with the bombies if they find them, provide experts to deal safely with them, and also to provide support and practical help to those injured.

As a group, we chose a UK based charity to support called No More Land Mines, which has unfortunately become a victim of the economic downturn and transferred all it's assets to a charity it has worked with in Kosovo, called the Mines Awareness Trust. We will split any money we raise between MAT and the organisation in Laos called COPE.

Vientiane doesn't have a huge amount to offer by way of sight seeing, so we occupied ourselves with visits to a couple of markets, and wandered around the shops selling copies of electronic goods, particularly mobile phones. Simon bought a Nokia N97 phone in China for about £600 I think, the copy here is $150. Not sure which bits will actually work for that money!

Day 59

28/08/2009

After breakfast (bacon and eggs) we explored the town a little more by bike. The old (and best) part of town is really three parallel streets occupying the peninsula of land between the Mekong and the Nam Khan, one of it's tributaries. The main (middle) street is almost exclusively made up of tour operators and restaurants, with the other two streets having the rivers on one side and a wider range of shops and hotels, including ours, on the other.

A visit to the Buddhist temple, dinner by the river, cycling the full length of each of the streets and a visit to Laos massage house (purely to compare their technique to the Chinese of course) filled the day, with a stop off at our hotel for a cup of Earl Grey mid-afternoon. Life is so hard out here.

There are wide range of excursions to choose from with elephant riding, visits to waterfalls and caves, tubing further down the Mekong just a small selection. In the evening, a market takes over much of the main street selling Laos hand made items like clothing and bags, T-shirts, jewellery and lots of other stuff. Bought some chop-sticks so I hope we don't loose the knack of using them after our three weeks in China of using nothing else.

Day 58

27/08/2009

A fairly short drive of 100km to Luang Prabang today and the road was reasonably good though the number of villages it passed through kept our average speed down to about 40kmph. Filling up with fuel meant handing over 250000kips for 29 litres, which equates to about 60p a litre. You really would need a wheelbarrow if you wanted to buy a car with cash as the biggest note available is 50000kips, equivalent to about £3.40.

Not sure how to describe Luang Prabang. It is the second city of Laos, but has a population of less than 100000. Lonely planet has hyped up the place so that every 21 year old on their gap year comes here. The problem for us is that we have travelled for the last 6 weeks or so, and barely seen a "western" face, and we drive into the town, and we barely see a non-western face. English and Australian accents are everywhere.

It may be a bit selfish but we've become accustomed to having the place to ourselves, and now we're no longer special.

We have booked into a really nice hotel (US$70 per night) for a couple of nights so we can experience what is quite a nice place to be. The architecture has a hint of French colonial about it, the people are very friendly and there is a lot to do.

We got bikes as part of the hotel deal so have been out exploring. After dinner we found somebody to take us out on a boat on the Mekong river or an hour. We've been close to the river for most of the last week so a boat trip seemed obligatory. It's already about 400m wide at this point but still has a long way to go to reach the sea in south Vietnam.

Lat 19 53.89 N
Long 102 08.63 E
Town Luang Prabang

Friday 28 August 2009

Day 57

26/08/2009

A short trip to the border where we cleared Chinese exit procedures in under 1 hour and said our good-byes to Tracy.

Laos immigration was almost as quick and we were sorted inside 2 hours in total. We did get talking to two Kiwis (the only other non-Asians at the border) for a while but with the hour we regained we were on our way by 11:30.

We were unsure of the roads in Laos, but the first 20km were excellent, then we moved down a notch or two but the main impediment was the multiple sharp bends as the road wound it's way around the impressive hillsides. Scenery is certainly on a par with the best in China.

Progress was quite slow (about 30kmph) but any progress today was better than our plan. In the end we did about 180km and found a guest house (cost £3.20 for a double room).

The Laos entry in Lonely Planet says it is very laid back, and it's not wrong. Thereis a hint of French colonial influence from the distant past but the pace of life is slow, and it's clearly not an affluent country. One of the advantages of having your own transport is you have a great deal more choice in where to spend your tourist pound. Directing it to the privately run guest house and small restaurant along the street has to be better than the chain hotels of the more obvious tourist spots.

Lat 20 23.48 N
Long 102 21.31 E
Distance 17752km
Town Pakmong

Not sure when the next post will be as I can't send e:mails from my phone in Laos for some reason, so will be next time I have internet access, or when we reach Thailand around 1st September.

Tea growing on Chinese hillside

Hong He bridge

After effect of Chinese massage

Temple in Kunming

Waterfall at Bamboo forest

Dinner time

Car transporter - 2 rows top and bottom, total 22 cars.

How much can you get on a lorry?

The only warrior so far found intact

Terracota army (in the background!)

Thursday 27 August 2009

The storm on it's way

The calm before the storm

Yak herding

Stopping for fuel

One of the many temples we have visited

The fort at the end of the Great Wall

Western end of the Great Wall

Traffic .....

Remains of the city built inside the hill

Those impressive mountains again

Softer than it looked

Picture from China - at last!

Most of our first week or so in China we were surrounded by mountains like these.

Tuesday 25 August 2009

Day 56

25/08/2009

The last full day in China and a fairly short drive to Mengla which is about 50km from the Laos border. As we had a fair bit of time available,
Beth chose to visit the tropical botanical gardens at Menglun which I think it would be fair to say was not everybodies first choice of a stopping point. Sometimes you have to go with a minority decision.

The gardens covered an area of about 633 hectares - pretty big by any standard, so a ticket for the bus was a necessity (but only cost £1.80) There really was loads to see and I didn't hear any complaints at the end of the 2 hours that the time had been wasted.

We arrived in Mengla a little before 4pm and after a false start on the hotel selection (hole in the floor toilets) Tracy was able to go to the customs hall and make sure that everything was in place for a smooth exit tomorrow.

For those of you with good memories, you will recall that this trip originally had 4 vehicles on it. There was also another Baja Beetle driven by Fiona and Rica. The reason for no mention of Fiona and Rica is that Fiona was successful in obtaining an Iranian visa and was insistant that she was going to stick to the original Iran, Pakistan, India and Nepal route to China, even though Rica, as an American citizen could not get an Iranian visa.

They left the UK about 4 days behind us and after initial problems with a starter motor in Belgium and a bit of friction between the two of them, they made good progress all the way to Turkey where Rica flew ahead to India and Fiona drove the bug on her own across Iran and Pakistan. Fiona did suffer from food poisoning during this time requiring a couple of days in hospital. At some point between India and Nepal they started to experience problems with the car which required some major engine work including replacement of piston rings.

They arrived at the China border 8 days later than planned and after a compromise was reached over the additional cost incurred by the guide who had been waiting for them, they set off into Tibet. The car was clearly not well and struggled to exceed 30kmph so a 12 to 14 day tour from entry to exit was not going to be possible. Having arrived late, they were also going to run out of visa time travelling at this speed.

They reached Lhasa yesterday and one viable option was to put the bug on the back of a lorry and carry it to the Laos border but the £700 cost seems to be beyond their means and still may mean arriving at the Laos border after their visas have expired.

An alternative may be to abandon the bug in Lhasa and get an official document saying it has been scrapped to allow them to leave the country and NAVO (the Chinese tour organisers) to reclaim the deposit they lodged with the customs on Fiona's behalf. Not a nice situation for them to be in.

We had our final meal with Tracy, Shun and Tao (no idea how you really spell the names of Tom's driver and girlfriend). Two weeks ago Simon had floated the idea of a "come as you are caught" party where each person takes a photo of a particular other person, hopefully in some less than flattering attire and they had to turn up tonight dressed in exactly that way.

Well, in short, everybody didn't, which meant those who had taken the photos were able to select a forfeit for them. To make it extra confusing, some people hadn't taken a picture of their victim either, so some smart Alec's like Beth and I were able to choose forfeits for two people. You really need to see the pictures to see how funny this ended up.

Tomorrow we leave China and head into Laos. My sister found this to be a very laid back country when she was here 5 years or so ago. I hope this extends to their border official, but that they have sufficient momentum to get us cleared within the day.
.
Lat 21 28.99 N
Long 101 33.81 E
Town Mengla

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Day 55

24/08/2009

It was sad this morning to be saying good-bye to Rachael after nearly eight weeks travelling together. She will fly from Kunming to Bangkok on Wednesday afternoon and spend a few days there before returning to the UK and looking for a job.

Tom is continuing with us into Laos.

The distance to the Laos border is about 800km and with two days to cover it we'll split it roughly in half. This should mean about 6 hours driving each day, roads permitting.

Driving in China has been quite an experience aswell as something of a privalage few non-residents experience. In our 3 weeks here we've only seen 6 other non Chinese registered vehicles, all of which were German. The first 5 were travelling together and passed us on the expressway a couple of days after we entered China. They were serious overland vehicles in the Paris-Dakar support truck style. The 6th we saw in the queue to a toll booth so we were able to exchange a few words with them. They were doing a tour of China then heading back to Germany via Mongolia and Russia.

On today's drive we crossed a bridge which the road signs claimed was the highest bridge in the world. I haven't been abe to check out this claim but the bridge name was Hong He for anyone wanting to check.

Today we reached Simao which seems to have enough hotel rooms to sleep most of China so we got a very good room for less than £10.

Pat and Simon didn't eat with us again this evening. The restaurant we went to was interesting in that it didn't have a menu - you simply chose your ingredients from those in the chilled cabinet and the chef created dishes for you.

Lat 22 46.49 N
Long 100 58.62 E
Town Simao

Sunday 23 August 2009

Day 54

23/08/2009

A rest day in Kunming so each couple opted to do different things. Pat wanted a day of doing very little, Rachael and Tom had luggage to sort through and parcels to post home, and Catherine, Beth and I decided to explore the city.

We took a taxi to a park which was filled with locals walking, exercising and out on the water in boats. As we hadn't had breakfast, we went to a vegetarian restaurant early which served a wide range of dishes mosty made to look like (and often taste like) meat.

Next door was a temple with a large pond filled with terrapins and large goldfish, and a very relaxed environment for a city centre. We then headed back towards the hotel via the main shoppng area and a bird and flower market, which seemed to have more stalls selling jade than birds or plants.

Arriving back at the hotel with time before Catherine needed to leave for the airport we went to one of the many massage parlours in the next street where the ladies had foot massages and I had a head and shoulder massage, which ended up being full body. The massages were very good but took well over an hour which left Catherine a bit tight for time to get to the airport - she made it 5 minutes before the check-in closed.

The evening was a fairwell dinner for Rachael and she opted to go to the restaurant we had been aiming for last night. The food was good but it was more of a fast food place. Pat didn't want to eat anything remotely spicey, and she and Simon went off to eat elsewhere (KFC!).

As we had eaten quite early everyone headed off to the massage parlour we'd been to earlier with 3 of us having foot massage, and the other 4 going for the full body.

Day 53

22/08/2009

The last two weeks have certainly been a "driving" tour of China, and today continued that theme.

Pat was given the go ahead to travel by the doctor this morning as her temperature was a normal 36.5. We had 600km to cover today, which fortunately was on good roads - not all expressway (dual carriageway) but at least the surface was smooth.

We didn't depart until 10:15 and had a one hour delay while we waited for a small landslip to be cleared from a road, so our arrival in Kunming was not until 8pm, followed by an hour and a half to find the hotel and sort out parking. My sister had booked into the same hotel, and we went off to find food at 10pm. After a fruitless search for a restaurant locally we took a taxi to a Lonely Planet recommendation, but when we didn't immediately find it a "pub" was spotted, serving western food. This was a major mistake as the food was mediocre and expensive, and the recommended restaurant was about 50m away. Worst meal ofthe trip so far.

We decided this evening that we would stay in Kunming tomorrow night aswell and use up our final extra day here where there are things to see, and also have a better final meal with Rachael before she flies to Bangkok.

Lat 25 01.55 N
Long 102 42.32 E
Town Kunming

Friday 21 August 2009

Vehicle

Thought I'd gather together a few comments on our likes and dislikes about the van - so those of you planning a similar trip can make an informed decision on what vehicle to take.

Engine - could do with a bit more power and a bit less fuel consumption. An engine swap, perhaps for a 1.9 tdi, could be a good move Fuel consumption has averaged a little over 24mpg which isn't too costly at 55p/l. The electronics on the engine were a concern but so far, apart from the connection on the water temperature sender, have proved reliable.

Engine oil - We have used Redline 20w/50 and it is very good. Oil pressure is up on the Mobil 15w/40 and drops off less with temperature. Oil consumption is about half a pint between changes at 10000km intervals (mostly due to the leak at the low presure sender).

Gearbox - reported to be a weak link in the T3 and needing a rebuild at around 150k miles but seems fine at present. Hopefully the Redline MT90 gear oil is doing it's job. Gear ratios are a little stretched with the larger than standard wheels but that is keeping the engine revs down at motorway speeds. We did have some noticable tinny noises from the prop shaft below 1800rpm before I removed the front diff to sort out the viscous coupling a few month's ago, but these have mostly vanished.

4 wheel drive - probably worth having but the way it works didn't help when we got stuck in the sand. The engine needs to be above idle to get the front wheels to drive but the back wheels were already so deep in the sand that spinning them at the required speed would have buried the engine aswell. Diff locks may have helped at that point, as would a decoupler and solid shaft (in place of the viscous coupling), but I quite like the idea of the viscous coupling working seamlessly with no driver intervention.

Wheels/Tyres - a good move to go to 15" rims increasing ground clearance and BFGoodrich All Terrain tyres are excellent, showing very littlle wear at this stage (maybe 2mm all round). Just don't put tubes in them. Wheel carriers on the back are good but do put weight a long way back.

Suspension - smoothes out the bumps very well and was tested severely in Kazachstan. Perhaps fitting the stiffer front springs from a pickup that are in my garage at home would have improved ground clearance a bit more, along with extra spacers above the rear springs.

Interior - layout is good especially the pop up roof. Cupboard arrangement puts weight to the rear so we carry spares and tools in boxes behind the passenger seat. A more efficient fridge would be better in the heat, it runs on 12v when the engine is running but needs the gas lighting when not. We opted not to burn gas to keep it cool as we would then need to source replacement gas bottles far more frequently. The space inside the van is OK for two and can be arranged to fit three if necessary. But the overall criteria of fitting inside a shipping container prevents a larger vehicle.
Seats are comfortable for long distance driving and armrests help with this.

Spares - we have brought alot of spares with us as some countries we are passing through didn't have the T3 sold by VAG. Europe was OK, as surprisingly was the area of southern Russia we passed through. Kazachstan had no T3s until we reached the south east corner. I think these were all secondhand imports from Europe. So far we haven't seen a single T3 in China. Our spares and tool list is quite large so I won't post it here but will add it to a dedicated T3 Syncro list in the next few weeks.

Overall we like then van, and assuming no disaster befalls us, intend to ship it back to England and keep it for the forseeable future.

Day 52

Chinese breakfasts are notoriously difficult for the western palette to get used to. They tend to include a bowl of rice in a very watery liquid, small plates of cold spicy vegetables such as green beans and maybe some cold meat, which could be chicken claws.

Often there is some kind of dumpling either plain or filled with meat, and the saving grace is a hard boiled egg. I think we must be getting used to this after more than two weeks as this morning we virtually cleared the table.

We headed out of town to a bamboo forest for what was almost a full day visit. The forest covers many hundreds of square kilometres of mostly steep hillside and within it are various walking opportunities to visit waterfalls, lakes and of course some retail opportunities.

It was a very enjoyable and relaxing day except for Pat who has a bit of a temperature.

Heading back down from the hills, it was apparent that Pat was really not well, and we opted to stop short of our planned destination so she could get some professional advice.

Tonight's hotel seems a cut above the previous few nights but the cost is still only £13 per room. So far we haven't spoted a single cockroach, and the toilet is not a hole in the bathroom floor.

Tonight Pat is in the clinic next door where her temperature is down from over 40 to 39.4. If it's below 38 in the morning the doctor is happy for her to continue travelling to Kunming. If it isn't then he recommends she stay in the clinic. This would give me a bit of a problem as my sister has flown from Shanghai to Kunming this evening so we can meet up there tomorrow.

Expected cause of Pat's fever is not aclimbatising, by riding around in an air conditioned car, then getting out into the heat and humidity. This apparently stops the body's cooling mechanisms working correctly and there is a heat build up in the body core.

Lat 28 37.74 N
Long 104 24.01 E
Town Shui Fu

Thursday 20 August 2009

Day 51

20/08/2009

A lazy morning to allow for some shopping and to give Tracy time to go into the NAVO office to collect the parcel of metal stamps Rachael had arranged to be sent from England so we could stamp a chassis number onto the Beetle. A bit unnecessary now.

Then we headed south again with a stop at a dinosaur museum which was built on the actual excavation site where some of the bones had been found. The excavation site is one of the exhibits and there are still many bones visible as if they had just been uncovered.

A further 80km and we stopped for the night at Yibin.
Lat 28 47.79 N
Long 104 36.33 E
Distance 16055km
Town Yibin

Wednesday 19 August 2009

Day 50

A shorter driving day allowing us to arrive in Cheng Du with time to visit the Giant Panda Reserve in the afternoon. Got some good pictures of them running around and the youngsters playing, and saw two babies less than a month old.

Cheng Du is Tracy's home city so she went to her flat this evening after taking us to a "hot pot" restaurant where you cook your own food in a bowl of boiling stock with spices in it. We caused a lot of amusement as we clearly didn't have a clue what we were doing, but one of the waitresses took pity on us and showed us what to do.

Lat 30 39.24 N
Long 104 05.28 E
Distance 15761km
Town Cheng Du

Day 49

Arriving in Xian one day later than planned due to the accident delay and much worse road conditions than expected, has put us one day behind schedule. As there is also some uncertainty about other roads for the remaining days, we have asked Tracy to extend the tour by 3 days, which combined with the day for border delays means we will now leave China on 26th August. This will also allow us to be less rushed each day.

Since arriving in Xian the weather is a little cooler but now very humid. Attempts to keep on top of the washing of clothes by doing a bit each day are failing as they are taking too long to dry. Taking a shower gives very short term relief before perspiration resumes.

The drive today was on the expressway but the most scenic since we entered China. We climbed up narrow wooded valleys and through tunnels and across bridges to cross into Sichaun province. The land is much greener and the houses look like they might still be standing after the next light breeze has blown by.

Simon and Pat took an evening off from Chinese food and ate stew and mashed potato from their store cupboard. We had more variations on Chinese food, and more 60p/600ml beer.

Lat 32 25.75 N
Long 105 48.95 E
Distance 15455km
Town Guangyuan

Tuesday 18 August 2009

Day 48

A real "Wow" day. We headed 40km out of town to see the Terracotta Army, but however many pictures you have seen of them in advance, you are still not prepared for that first view as you walk through the entrance of the hanger like building that covers Pit 1. I can only say that I was stunned.

All bar one of the soldiers that have been excavated so far were damaged and a major reconstruction of them has been underway almost since they were discovered in 1974. When first uncovered they were brightly painted but this has faded over the years and is one of the reasons most of the estimated 8000 soldiers remain buried.

Aswell as Pit 1, which was the first "army" found when a local farmer was digging a well, there are three other pits. Pit 2 contains the command centre with ceremonial guards and generals, Pit 3 contains archers, cavalry and chariots and Pit 4 is empty, apparently never completed. Presumably they have surveyed the entire area for other treasures before they covered it in concrete.

It seems incredible that nothing was known about it until the farmers well was dug in 1974. Yet the official Chinese history is now able to state that 720000 people were involved in it's construction, and it took 40years. That's the advantage of being able to write history.

Back into Xian and some lunch then Beth, Tom, Tracy and I went up onto the city wall with the intention of cycling the entire 13.2km, but the heavy rain of yesterday afternoon had apparently made the cobbles dangerous for cycling so the hire shop staff had been given the day off.

We walked about a quarter of the distance then took a taxi back to the hotel, where Simon and I did some vehicle maintenance. I rotated my wheels to keep the wear even, and removed the low oil pressure sender which was remote mounted along with the sender for the oil pressure gauge. The sender had been leaking a bit of oil since before we left home and no amount of tightening or replacement copper washers seems to have sorted it. The low oil pressure warning light hasn't worked for some time (perhaps due to this sender being faulty) so I keep a regular eye on the gauge.

Xian is the most north-easterly point we reach in China - from tomorrow we turn south, and a little bit west.

Day 47

The tension of last night is considerably eased this morning after a truce was reached with Tracy and her combatent.

We continued our journey into Xian which in total took 17 hours from hotel to hotel.
Arriving at 3pm just gave us time to take a taxi to the museum, which must have had a special deal on for locals as the ticket office queue was huge. With the museum closig at 5, Tracy did her tour guide bit and pushed in at the front to buy the 5 tickets and we made the most of the hour and a half available. The exhibits cover the Chinese dynasties from several thousand years ago right up to the end of the Ming dynasty around a hundred years ago (if I was listening properly)

Our usual wander in the evening found a good small restaurant of which there seems to be dozens even in the smallest of villages. A meal for 7, including beer is averaging around £11.

Lat 34 15.22 N
Long 108 58.11 E
Town Xian

Saturday 15 August 2009

Day 46

If we were expecting a straight forward drive to Xi'an today, we were going to be disappointed.

The road condition wasn't too bad, but the number of lorries, single carriageway and the hilly terrain made for slow progress. We had expected to be on a good dual carriageway within 100km but this was still under construction.

After a refuel and lunch stop around 1pm, we carried on but soon encountered the back of a queue of lorries. Not seeing any cars in the queue, we overtook them, but after about a km of lorries realised something wasn't right. It transpired that there had been an accident several km ahead and we'd just pushed past vehicles that had already been waiting several hours.

With no alternative route, we joined the queue which occasionally crept forward a few hundred metres, with the usual Asian overtaking manoeuvres leading to chaos when there was no space to pull back in and they then blocked the path of oncoming vehicles.

After a total of more than 5 hours in the queue we passed the scene of the accident which looked like the result of a blind bend overtaking where the innocent oncoming lorry had ended up on it's side.

An hour later we reached the toll booth where they still had the cheek to charge us. By this time it was getting dark and several members of the group wanted to stop for the day. We pulled over to discuss the options only to witness a totally unecessary personal attack on Tracy by one of the group accusing her of forcing us along against our wishes. I'd like to think this person would regret their words tomorrow, but I know there won't be any appology forthcoming.

After a point blank redusal to move another inch from this person, we did eventually agree to drive to the next town to find a room of some sort for those who needed it.

Oh the joy of group travel and decision making.....

Lat 34 28.88 N
Long 106 33.38 E
Distance 14656km
Town Tuoshi

Friday 14 August 2009

Blog site

Tried to get onto our blog site last night to read and reply to comments and load some pictures but it seems like anything ending blogspot.com is barred in Chinese internet cafes. Will try again in a day or two but may have to wait until Laos.

Day 45

Tracy woke up this morning saying she'd had the best night's sleep since the tour begin - which surprised a few people, but we have been eating late, and up fairly early.

Today was a travelling day with the intention to get to Lanzhou at least. Lanzhou is apparently famous for it's noodles so when we arrived there around 2:30, several of the group went to test them out.

As it was still relatively early in the day we pushed on further to Dingxi by about 5:30pm, then a split decision went in the minority's favour to stop rather than get past the only bit of poor road we are expecting to see in the next couple of days.

China'a vehicles are quite a mixed bag. We have seen far fewer bicycles than I had expected, but still way more than you would see in England. There are quite a lot of small motorbikes around, in the 100 to 150cc range, but very few larger than that. Out of the towns, tricycles are everywhere, the front end of a motorbike of around 125cc with a load carrying area above a 2 wheeled rear axle. Also in this class are 3 wheeled pick-up trucks which sound like they have a single cylinder diesel engine.

Next up the food chain would be the 3 wheeled taxis that seem very popular in some towns, but non-existent in others. Then the standard car size vehicles are split between home grown makes I've never heard of, and east Asian makes from Japan, Korea etc. The real surprise in this sector is the VW Santana, which is everywhere. Popular as taxis and private cars, I think it must be built in China under licence, as there is a new model Santana here I have never seen in Europe.

In the lorry range, they are predominantly Chinese makes, with a small number of Mercs, Scanias and Volvos. They seem to try to get as much onto their lorries as is physucally possible and how they transport cars is an excellent example. In the UK, vehicle designers have worked out convoluted ways to squeeze 10 then 11, and occasionally 12 cars within the constraints of the regulations. Not so here. They seem to have started with a simple double deck car transporter, then when they decided 8 cars wasn't enough they made it longer to hold 10, then 12 cars. Not content with that, they decided they could carry 50% more by having two rows of cars side by side on the top deck. The construction and use regulations would make interesting reading.

Tomorrow evening we expect to be in Xian, home of the terracotta army, and the highlight of China for me.

Lat 35 35.05 N
Long 104 37.41 E
Town Dingxi

Day 44

I had a change of mind about replacing the air flow meter this morning, and instead connected my ECU (the control unit for the engine)monitor which showed the coolant temperature sender was reading very low. The engine started OK and I let it warm up. The coolant sender was then reading what it would normally read when the engine was cold, which means the ECU would be running the engine very rich. This would mean poor running at speed and difficulty starting when hot.

I pulled the conector off the sender intending to change the sender, but even before it had disconnected I heard the engine revs drop slightly. One of the symptoms of the problem is an idle speed about 150rpm above normal, so it looked like it had been caused by a poor contact on the sender. No problem the rest of the day so hopefully.....

A short drive out of Xining brought us to the Taer Monastery which is a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery. I was disappointed as it was very commercial and there is a limit to how many Buddhas can interest me in the space of two or three days.

We then headed up into the hills towards Qinghai Hu Lake, which is the largest salt water lake in China. We found a spot to camp at the water's edge and after a visit from the land owner, and agreeing to his request for about £5 for all of us to camp we set about cooking, chating, taking pictures, etc.

I took the opportunity to change the oil and filter and put some new spark plugs in.

After eating we sat and watched a storm further around the lake which was slowly heading in our direction. About 8 o'clock we started to clear up in anticipation of the rain, but within 5 minutes were hit by very strong winds which were literally pulling the tent pegs out of the ground. 4 of us bundled up Tracy's tent, including contents and put it in our van, and we then moved our van so the wind was blowing against the back which minimizes the amount of flapping of the canvas sides in the lift up roof.

Unfortubately moving the van exposed Tom and Rachael's tent to the full force of the wind, and they then performed a similar bundling operation to put their tent into the front seats of the Land Rover. A rearrangement of the rear then allowed 4 people to be accommodated.

Meanwhile we'd made enough space in the van to be able to fold out the downstairs bed, no mean feat as those who saw the van when we left will know. Early to bed seemed the best plan so most were in bed soon after 9pm.

Lat 36 33.86 N
Long 100 44.13 E
Position Qinghai Hu Lake

Wednesday 12 August 2009

Day 43

Good roads again mean't we arrived at our visit for the day soon after noon. We saw the second largest clay Buddha in China (having seen the third largest in the Magao valley caves).

This one is in a lying position rather than seated and was made in 1372. It contained many artifacts, and like a lot of Chinas treasures, many were destroyed or disappeared during the cultural revolution. Thanks to the ingenuity of the original builders, however, many important Buddhist documents survived as they had been hidden behind a false wall.

In the afternoon we had reached our planned destination by 3pm, so decided to continue and reduce tomorrows mileage. Somewhere within this discussion the intention to camp was lost and we phoned ahead to book a hotel in Xining.

The afternoon's drive could only be described as spectacular, and we rated it above any day of the journey so far. We climbed up a winding valley on to the edge of the Tibetan plateau surrounded by grassy slopes, goats and Yaks. The local people look somewhat different to the Chinese we have seen so far and more like Nepalese. Their homes were no more than tents, but usually ex-military rather than anything traditional.

The late afternoon drive was only spoilt by the return of the misfire in the van, as we accended the second major climb. It struggled up the hill, seemed happier close to the top and on the decent, but then ran quite rough all the way into town, stalling twice, but restarting both times.

Early tomorrow I plan to change the air flow meter as that is the component associated with the Vanagon Syndrome I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, but the symptoms could also be caused by something like a sticking fuel injector or a faulty sensor so we will wait and see if this fixes the problem.

Lat 36 37.59 N
Long 101 47.85 E
Town Xining

Tuesday 11 August 2009

Day 42

A successful start to the day as Rachael and Tom had found a driver who was willing to take them right across China on a simular arrangement to the previous taxi. Contract was signed and we were away before 9am.

Roads were very smooth all the way, but at the cost of nearly £12 in tolls. We arrived at our tourist destination for the day (the western most end of the Great Wall). earlier than expected so were able to pay a very leisurely visit to the wall, fort and museum. I hadn't really realised how many dynesties were involved in building the wall, how many different sections of wall there are and how many years they were built over.

This section marked almost the extreme westerly reach of China in 1372 when the fort was built. It was built here as there is a relatively narrow valley between two mountain ranges so with a fort and some wall and ditch building it could be defended relatively easily.

It looks nothing like the picture postcard version near Beijing, being made of mud and straw.

We had planned to camp this evening but wrongly left the choice of site to Tracy and Rachael and Tom's driver. The first site was a stoney riverbank next to the toilet and a railway bridge in the town. Then we headed out of town on our choice of road to be told by the driver that we wouldn't find any where on this road and were persuaded to turn round and leave the town on a different road. As we got closer to town, the driver decided that actually there were wolves near that road and we'd have to camp in town. An hour and a half had gone past by this time and our relaxed evening of camping was rapidly disappearing, so there was a unanimous rebellion from the fare payers to find a hotel in the town.

Tomorrow night we camp, but we'll select the site.

Lat 39 44.40 N
Long 98 30.56 E
Town Jiuquan

Day 41

A 420km drive to start the day, which took us out of the region with no international phone or internet access on roads which are drivable but a little uneven. More of a problem is that they are single carriageway so overtaking slower lorries reduces our average speed, but the local technique of overtaking even if you don't have enough room makes the task easier.

Driving in the morning/early afternoon suits us much better than sightseeing first then driving, so we'll try to adjust the itinery accordingly.

This afternoon we visited the Magao valley caves, also known as the 1000 Buddha caves, which were built between 1500 and 1000 years ago, with refurbishment of some during subsequent centuries. I was sceptical about whether they were worth a visit, especially when the entry cost was £15 each, but seeing the 33m high Buddha in one of the caves was one of those wow moments you remember for a long time.

The caves had been lost for many hundreds of years and were only rediscovered in 1900 when a local man noticed some painting in a small cave on the side of the hill.

The "taxi" that Rachael and Tom are travelling in has decided that he can't cope with the long distance driving despite having 2 drivers and has excercised his right to exit the contract at this town. So this evening Tracy has been assisting them in finding another. After we ate, they went of to the bus station to see if there were any long distance taxis there as the taxis around town were having difficulty working out what price they would be happy with. We'll see tomorrow what the outcome is.

Lat 40 08.22
Long 94 39.71
Town Dunhuang

Monday 10 August 2009

Day 40

We started with the sightseeing left over from yesterday which for me was worth the wait. First we visited the underground irrigation system started over a thousand years ago to collect the rain and snow melt water from the hills several km to the north, channel it through underground passages and bring it back to the surface in the town for drinking, washing, crop irrugation etc.

The system is in use today and still supplies 30% of the modern town.

Next we visited the ancient town of Jaicho, again over 1000 years old, built on a strip of land at the convergence of two rivers. The daytime temperature around here regularly exceeds 40C so the town was carved into the soft sandstone leaving the rock covering the buildings. Much of the town has weathered away over the years, but you can still make out individual rooms and some of their features.

Our third site to visit was disappointing as there wasn't really anything to see. It was a rather superficial explanation of the grape growing and raison drying in the area set in a bit of a theme park. The only upside was the street vendors selling dried fruit and particularly the dried tomatoes.

At 2pm we set off on our 420km drive on roads not quite as good as earlier in China, arriving in Hami at 9pm. At around 3pm we crossed the 90 degree east longitude line.

Tracy has confirmed that we will have an extra day to complete the tour at no cost to us (apart from an extra night's accommodation).

Lat 42 49.52 N
Long 93 31.44 E
Distance 12201km
Town Hami

Day 39

Not quite the day we had planned. Rachael and Tom went straight to the car hire shops first thing while the rest of us took a more leisurely breakfast and had a wander around the local shops.

A little after 11 we got a call from Tracy to say the car hire wasn't going to work out at a sensible price as their understanding of one way hire involved getting a guy to fly to our final destination and drive the car back, at a cost of 14000 yuan (about £1300) so they were looking at buying 2 motorbikes.

Once we realised that motorbikes weren't allowed to travel along the toll roads we had used yesterday and should have been using most days whilst in China, they ceased to be an option as the slower roads would add 3 to 4 days to our China tour at a cost of about £200 per day to the tour company, plus the extra wear and tear on our vehicles.

Finally the solution came by hiring a taxi on a long term basis to carry them all the way across China. The cost of this was a little less than the total for the car hire, was to be paid in stages, and didn't require a deposit of near to £2000 to be paid as demanded by the hire company.

By this time it was 4pm - virtually another day gone by. The drive today is only 180km but we should have had about 6 hours sightseeing so that will have to wait for tomorrow.

Turpan and the road we will travel for the next few days are at the northern edge of the Gobi desert, which looks more stone than sand so far.

Lat 42 57.00
Long 89 10.90
Town Turpan

Day 38

After breakfast we leave on our longest driving day so far. We need to cover 603km but will still be a day behind our itinery. We have asked Tracy whether it us feasible to delay our departure from China by a day as there is not really any slack in the schedule, but we don't yet have an answer.

The driving starts off OK, but the nice dual carriageway comes to an abrupt end and we have 2 hours of almost Kazachstan style driving to cover the next 50km.

Fortunately the nice road is re-instated, and we have a further 6 hours of trying to stay awake at the wheel, arriving in Urumchi at 8pm, precisely the time the car rental plcaes close.

Fuel here is 55p a litre. There were some good bits to Kazachstan.

Upmarket hotel tonight, £12.80 per room. Definetly worth the extra compared to last night.

Lat 43 48.23
Long 87 35.82
Town Urumchi

Day 37

So far it's been the dullest day of the entire trip. We had breakfast at one of the many small cafe in town, then checked out of the hotel at noon (Beijing time - GMT +8) and we have now been sitting outside the customs office for more than 4 hours waiting for a stamp or signature, or something that is apparently vital to our onward journey.

I'm sure Tracy is as frustrated as we are by the process. Today was supposed to have been a long driving day, but it now looks like the next three or four days are all going to be long days if we are to catch up but still see what we planned to see.

There doesn't appear to be any car rental places here to looks like Rachael and Tom will be asking for a lift to Urumchi. Not too happy about this as we had only really allowed enough spare weight capacity to carry Tracy, and the first mistake of any overland trip is overloading your vehicle.

The required bit of paper finally arrives and we are off to Yining, about 90km away to have the vehicles checked, which comprises a check off the lights and brakes, and that all important component of any vehicle here, the horn.

Then across to the other side of town to the licencing office, where we all do an eye test, and are subsequently issued with a Chinese driving licence, valid for 1 month. About half an hour later we also get a temporary Chinese number plate for each vehicle, which disappointingly is simply a piece of paper in a plastic laminate to stick in the windscreen.

Not sure if their scales are accurate but if they are I've lost 5kg since the start of the trip.

We drive back 60 of the 90km and find a hotel, which is just £3.80 for a double room, but it does look like a £3.80 room. Simon and Pat decide to sleep in Tiny, but the rest of us brave the fleas, and get our money's worth.

Evening meal for 7 in the restaurant next door is £7.90, and is good enough that we persuade them to open at 8:30 tomorrow to give us breakfast, cost £3.70.

Lat 44 11.50
Long 80 44.85
Town Qingshuihezi

Sunday 9 August 2009

Day 36(2)

The Chinese returned from their dinner break after 2 hours and we slowly progressed through the process, attracting a lot of interest as we were the only non commercial vehicles crossing.

China are very concerned about the health of people entering their country and took all our temperatures to ensure non of us had any flu like symptoms. Rachael was hotter than the prescribed temperature and was given a face mask to wear, and taken away to a quarantine room. Two blokes in full chemical protection suits went into the room to check her over and did give her the all clear. But it did keep the rest of us amused.

The Kazachstan officials had still managed to cause us problems even after we had left their country as they should have provided us with a 3 page A4 document as we left to allow China to complete the registration of our vehicles. In the end, this meant we had to stay at the border town overnight as we didn't complete all the formalities before things stopped at 19:00.

We have however had our first short drive in China and met Tracey, our guide for the next 18 days.

Our hotel tonight cost 68yuan, which is about £6.30 and the room is fine with en-suite shower/toilet. The 7 of us went out to eat and had soup, 6 dishes plus rice, 5 beers and a coke and the total was 89yuan - about £8. I think I quite like China.

The one problem in this region is that there are no international calls and no e:mail service from my phone so you are probably reading this several days late.

Lat 44 11.95
Long 80 25.00

Tuesday 4 August 2009

Day 36

A short drive to the border after a bit of a push to get out of the soft sand first thing.

We passed through 4 control points on the Kazachstan side before actually reaching the border proper. No great hassle in leaving, just the paperwork takes ages while they copy forms by hand and write our details into their ledger books.

We're now in no man's land waiting for the Chinese to finish their dinner.

Day 35

We had no mobile signal at our campsite overnight to be able to let the children know where we were so we drove around the area to try and find one this morning, but with no success.

A lazy morning followed with time for a few vehicle checks and a clean out of dust from cupboards and engine.

We then headed off with a stop to fill our water tanks and buy drinking water in a town about 40km from the border.

While waiting for Beth and Pat to buy the drinking water, a silver Audi pulled up with Rachael and Tom in it, so after 8 days, the group was re-united.

Camping tonight proved a little more interesting than usual as I managed to get stuck in a patch of very soft sand concealed beneath a thin crust. After a pull backwards by Tiny, I was able to drive through OK. I felt less foolish when Tiny also got stuck in the same patch and the winch was deployed for the first time.

Barcelona or Kazachstan? Difficult, but I think China tomorrow just tips the balance. Hope you all have a great time.

Lat44 13.47 N
Long 80 15.61 E
Dist 10696 km

Day 34

Having to leave a comfortable hotel was more difficult than expected and it was 10am before we got away from the buffet breakfast. We'd been slightly embarrased by the cleanliness of our vehicles so had asked about the nearest car wash, and we headed across town to get them cleaned before going north and then east towards the Chinese border.

About 20km out of town, Simon was pleased for the first time to be stopped by the police, as when they asked for his passport, he realised he hadn't collected it from the hotel reception when he checked out. Rather than drive back into town, we phoned the hotel who despatched it with a taxi driver.

At the end of the day we are still about 180km short of the border, but that will give the children a chance to get here from Almaty tomorrow, and let us get to the border in the evening.

Lat 44 11.01 N
Long 78 44.48 E
Dist 10514 km

Sunday 2 August 2009

Day 33

Tourist day in Almaty. Leisurely breakfast then followed the Lonely Planet walking tour of the city, some pictures from which you can see below. It is a fairly cosmopolitan city where you barely see a Lada - the cars are just about all German or Japanese, but I did spot a couple of Range Rovers.

Here they all seem to be nearly new, wheras for the last few days we have been seeing an increasing number of older German cars, often still bearing the sticker from their country of origin (D, NL, CH etc).

Update on the children - they have unpacked from the Bug what they can reasonably carry and caught a train from Aqtobe to Almaty which takes about 48 hours. They are hoping to hire a car in China, then buy whatever their funds permit on arrival in Laos.

Day 32

A day of driving into the former capital Almaty, highlighted by a police checkpoint where both Simon and I failed to come to a complete stop at their stop sign. Simon got away with it as the officer he was talking to failed to stop several other cars who also failed to stop while they we discussing the situation.

The officer I was talking to was clearly a bit short in his holiday fund so our discussion went on for longer and once we'd established that he did not wish to issue a formal ticket, we could negotiate a small contribution to said fund (in US dollars, of course)

The rest of the drive went without a hitch and we negotiated the traffic to find our chosen city centre hotel relatively easily. At £75 for a double room for a night, it's not cheap, but we've saved so much on all the free camping in Kazachstan we feel we should put something back into the economy.

Lat 43 15.65
Long 76 55.98
City Almaty

Thanks for all the comments

We're not able to get on the internet very often so haven't been able to reply to individual comments but will try to upload pictures when we can. Kaz has been an interesting experience, and a real car breaking country.....

Don't think we'll come back again, but the people are really great, except the police who seem to see foreigners as an ATM.

I'll keep up the Lat/Long as I knew there'd be a few anoraks out there like me.

Hope everybody is well, and keep posting those comments.

Mark and Beth.