July 2008 Archives

Is the Thirteenth a good day to start an Overland journey when the truck has Thirteen passengers?! Time alone will tell. I can never forget the day that I was made redundant: Friday the 13th of October 1989, when my life changed immeasurably for the better... No more 9-to-5s for me, thank you very much!

The passengers onboard Dragoman's truck 'Giselle' are a good mix, though rather older on average than one would usually expect. From the the original group that left Dover on the 17th of March, there is just me, and trip-leader Jay. Warren and Jan, who joined the truck in Xian after a mixed itinerary through Indian and Pakistan, are still on board. We have all spent the last 15 days in Beijing, waiting for the new passengers to arrive. All are now here - a mix of Brits, Canadians, Australians, and an American.

I really enjoyed Beijing. It is a fascinating city, though very spread out and rather difficult to get around, as mentioned previously. I got a lot done, though, both looking around the city and onlnie, sorting out the new maps and photos that I hope you have all has a look at.

We are now in Datong, having had to catch the train from Beijing, to meet the truck which had been stranded here. The train trip was excellent, and very interesting - I am really glad that we were able to include it.

I am just posting this little Blog to let everyone know that there is little likelihood of internet access in Mongolia, so if you don't hear from me for a month or so, don't be surprised. Ditto Facebook Friends. I will update this, and that, when it is next possible!!

In March 2008, I joined a Dragoman truck to embark on an Overland journey from the UK to St Petersburg, via Central Asia, China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan. (See the full route here.) Starting in Istanbul, and continuing every driving day since then, I have been recording the route that the Dragoman truck has taken, using my Garmin GPSmap60Cx GPS receiver. (For technical details of how this was done, see here.) I thus have a series of files, one for each day, that stores all the details of speed, position, and altitude as the truck moves about each driving day. Some trekking or walking maps are included as well. These files have now been processed to produce an online Google Map for each day, plus a detailed Route-Report that shows a number of graphs and useful statistics.

To view the maps, click on the links below. The map will initially load as a standard roadmap, but you can also select a Satellite view, or a hybrid view of the two, using the buttons in the top right of the screen. The amount of detail that the Satellite view will provide depends on Google's current satellite photos for that area. In the countryside this might just show a general view that identifies built-up and rural areas, whilst in bigger cities you can often zoom in to see individual buildings, and decide which exit we took from a carpark, or even where we parked in that carpark! The detail can often be astonishing. You can click-and-drag to move the map around, and zoom in and out using the +/- slider on the left of the screen. Note that Google provides no maps for Georgia or Azerbiajan (why not?), and the western parts of China are similarly blank, so you will have to use the satellite photos instead.

The Route Reports are stored as PDF files, so to view them you will need a PDF reader installed on your computer. (Available free from Adobe.)

Note: All route and stored position data are copyright 2008 Tim Makins and MapAbility.Com

The truck, or at least its passengers, or at least some of them, have arrived in Beijing.

Robyn (the mysterious) left some days ago to fly to Hong Kong. I saw her a few days later, back from Bangkok, where she had to go for her visa extension. The remaining passengers from Dover: Chris, myself, and Mr & Mrs Upgrade, plus Izzy, Graham and Renee who joined in Istanbul, plus an extra 7 who joined in Xian: Wayne and Dinah, Warren and Jan, Sharon and Colleen who all came on the re-routed Tibet truck (via Pakistan - don't ask!), and not forgetting Peter from Boston who came just for the Xian-Beijing section... all arrived in Beijing by coach, the truck having been safely parked many miles away, in a hotel car park in the city of Jixian. This was due to the current pre-Olympic regulations which ban all Dragoman trucks (and other large vehicles) from coming within Beijing's outer city limits. These regulations are in an effort to reduce the thick pall of pollution that normally hangs over the city, and so stop the athletes wheezing so much. Will it be enough to clear Beijing's skyline? Is there sufficient time for this cunning plan to work? I doubt it. The athletes in the know will have been training for some time in Mexico city. No, not for the altitude.

Most of the above passengers have now flown off, or caught trains to other parts of China. Warren, Jan, and myself have a free 11 days whilst we wait for the other passengers, and a new driver, to arrive for the start of the final 11 week super-tough section to St Petersburg. I am staying at the Huguosi Hotel - not so super-tough, and just 2kms north-west of the Forbidden City. Quite handy for all the sights, plus not too far from the metro and various bus stops either. Beijing is very spread out, so access to public transport is a must. The good news is that public transport is cheap: just 1.5Y for a bus ride, 2Y for the Metro, and 10Y for 3km in a taxi, of which there are quite a few. Amusing little detail: most taxi drivers don't speak English, but their taxi meters do - yes really. When they turn the meter on, it greets you in English, then at the end of the journey thanks you for the ride, reminds you to only pay what the meter says, and then suggestd that you take the receipt, which it helpfully prints out.

As promised some time back, I have finally got around to uploading some of my Overlanding photos for you all to check out. More will be added as and when. In the meantime, here's a list of all the new photo pages:

• 2008.04.09: Europe and Turkey Photos


• 2008.04.10: Georgia Photos


• 2008.04.11: Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan Photos


• 2008.04.27: Uzbekistan Photos - 01


• 2008.04.28: Uzbekistan Photos - 02


• 2008.04.29: Uzbekistan Photos - 03


• 2008.05.19: Kyrgyzstan Photos - 01


• 2008.05.20: Kyrgyzstan Photos - 02


• 2008.05.21: Kyrgyzstan Photos - 03


• 2008.05.26: Kashgar Photos - 01


• 2008.05.27: Kashgar Photos - 02


• 2008.05.28: Kashgar Photos - 03


• 2008.06.16: Silk Road Photos - 01


• 2008.06.17: Silk Road Photos - 02


• 2008.06.18: Silk Road Photos - 03


• 2008.06.19: China Photos - 01


• 2008.06.20: Terracotta Warrior Photos


• 2008.06.27: China Photos - 02


• 2008.06.28: China Photos - 03


• 2008.06.29: China Photos - 04


• 2008.06.30: China Photos - 05

What with having so much time here in Beijiing (11 days) and also having free internet access in my hotel room, it gave me the impetus to find the local computer quarter in Beijing, and buy a second-hand A/C power supply that I should have brought with me from England. Anyway, I have thus been able to get a lot done online, sorting out my photos and choosing the best ones to share with everyone. I hope you enjoy them. Comments are welcome. If you haven't already, do check out some of the Blog pages as well - you can see a full list in the Archives.

A couple of days ago, I went to the China Post office on Jianguomen Beidajie to see if there was any mail waiting for me. The service is very good there - I was met at the door by a lady who spoke English. She took me straight to the Poste Restante counter, where there were about 40 letters waiting to be collected. Two of them were for me - hooray - from Rosemary Holland, and Wayne and Dinah Rogers. Thanks, everyone - they are very welcome. If someone else has sent a letter to Beijing then sorry - it didn't get here, or it is still on its way. In either case, it should eventually be returned to the sender's address. My next, actually my final mail pickup on this Overland journey, is in Almaty, Kazakhstan. If YOU would like to send me a card or letter, you can post it to:

MAKINS, T
Poste Restante
Central Post Office
Bogenbay Batyr 134
Almaty
KAZAKHSTAN

You should post letters to Almaty by the 1st of August, or a few days before. I will be arriving there on the 18th.

I have been to see the Forbidden City - made more special by seeing so much of it in the film 'The Last Emperor' - which is a brilliant movie, most colourful and well photographed - if you haven't seen it I would recommend that you borrow it from the library. The site is quite extensive, with supposedly 9,999 rooms, though I didn't bother to count!! There were HORDES of people there, despite going as early as I could. It is the major tourist attraction in Beijing, so hordes are to be expected. Also quite busy was the Olympic site, with its strange 'Bird's Nest' stadium, which I had wanted to take a look at. Construction is still being finalised, though, and finishing details checked, so the whole area is fenced off, despite the opening being in less than one month. I guess they don't want to get the new facilities dirty beforehand, or have people taking souvenirs either. I got a photo or two of the buildings through the fence. Lots of other people had the same idea.

Another site of major interest to me was the Old Summer Palace, which is infamous for having a Marble Boat built by the Dowager Empress Cixi, who used the money that was originally earmarked for building up a new imperial navy. No wonder their empire didn't last long after that! The Summer Palace is a wonderful site, on a really huge scale. The ferryboats across the lake are shaped like dragons, which is fun.

I have met a few of the travellers from another Dragoman truck, which has just completed the trip FROM St Petersburg. They tell me that there is little or any internet access in Mongolia, so if you don't hear from me for a month or two, that will be the reason.

That's enough Blogging for now.
Best wishes to all !
Travelling Tim