A Broke Down African Melody

**This post contains a video, so don't forget to go to www.continental-drifters.blogspot.com to view it!**

So our interesting story starts with the drive north from Maputo in Mozambique. Our destination was Tofo, about an 8 hours drive.

But, since our trip had been relatively big-problem-free, fate decided to turn on us. Our car decided it had had enough of the pot-hole riddled road we were enduring, and broke down going up a hill about 3 hours south of Tofo.

A bunch of local kids started staring, so we got them to help us push the car off the road. Here is where a cell phone might’ve come in handy, although in the end it wouldn’t have made a difference. Dark was setting in, but luckily several local cars stopped and tried to help. None of them could figure out what was wrong with the car, so one guy offered to tow us to the next “big” town. Supposedly this town had a hotel and food, so we could sort out our car situation. But, it being dark now and on a busy road, the hotel was full, so we started to worry. We didn’t even get dinner as we spent most of the night trying to call back to South Africa and contact the rental company, to no avail.

Our only choice was to sleep in the broke down car.

Definitely the low point of our entire trip thus far (and cross your fingers that that’s it!)

Neither of us really slept, as we were constantly on the lookout for any suspicious locals. Nobody bothered us and we made it till morning safely, though we now know that they rake the gravel parking lot at 4am.

We tried to phone the rental company a few more times after breakfast, got through, but didn’t get a definite answer as to what to do about the car. The last we heard was that WE had to tow the car back to South Africa at our own expense. Huh. Yeah, right. Our cash was getting low, as to call South Africa required buying airtime for the local’s cell phones. But wouldn’t you know, the little town of Quissico had an ATM (two actually). One hotel, but 2 ATMs.

While Ryan was waiting in line, a voice behind said a friendly hello. He turned around to meet Jaji Stam, a South African woman now living in Quissico. After an explanation of our situation to her, Jaji said not to worry; she would take care of us and get us back on our feet. We were almost desperate for help at that point, so we took her up on her kind offer, not really knowing what to expect.

One to always carry a tow bar, she was able to tow our car to her place, and offered us hot showers, cups of coffee, and a clean comfortable bed. She even called the rental company for us and used her knowledge of the South Africans to get them to send a new car all the way to us, which arrived 2 days later.

We owe an overwhelming amount of thanks to Jaji, who is a true lifesaver and one of the most genuine, caring people we have ever met. She moved to Mozambique 4 years ago, and is currently in the process of building a tourist lodge to be called The Crow’s Nest, so called because of the thousands of crows that roost in the coconut trees around the property, opposite an amazing lookout of a big lake sitting right next to the sea.

While chatting with Jaji, she told us about her involvement in the local community, and that she sometimes takes groups to see Mozambican everyday life. We had been feeling as though we hadn’t experienced the real Africa yet, so we climbed into the back of her used-to-be-4X4 truck and off we went. This experience was one of the best ever!

Highlights included: visiting a local school where they put on a timbila (a type of xylophone), drum, and dance performance for us:


visiting Ngyadane, a local witch doctor who performed a ritual involving calling up her ancestors (Anna was told she has blood flow problems and to get that looked at!):

drinking and eating lots of coconuts (Adamir, Jaji’s assistant climbed the tree to get a bunch):


seeing cassava being uprooted (Jaji makes the best cassava fries, yum!):

and pumping water for the local girls to carry back on their heads:
The nights were clear and just slightly chilly, so a bonfire was whipped up on a dune overlooking the ocean one night, and we drank our Dois M’s (local 2M beer) while saluting the stars and a full moon.

Of course, to top this all off, Jaji cooked up some delicious meals!

So what else can we say about this breakdown except that it was a great one!

After 3 days of enjoying good company, we said goodbye, loaded our new car which was a different car entirely and 100 times better anyways, and drove north to Barra (right next to Tofo) to enjoy the beach and do some diving. Jaji referred us to her friend’s Palm Grove Lodge in Barra, where we settled into a casita 20 meters from the beach, and would enjoy 6 nights of sand, sun, and seafood.

Every morning, locals would come by our porch trying to sell prawns, calamari, fish, and crayfish (lobster); every night we had something different to braai (bbq). We also did 2 dives, one of which was an adventure dive cert that now allows us to dive to 30 meters instead of 18. The reef we dove at was called Manta Reef, known for its population of Manta Rays, but of course, they were nowhere to be found. Some humpback whales did perform for us on the boat ride back, however.

In addition, we met some more friends of Jaji’s; Abrie, Irma, and family, who kindly invited us for an afternoon on the beach. Again, some of the nicest people! A big reason we look forward to coming back to South Africa and Mozambique is the kind people we have met.

After getting our dose of sun and sand, we had another adventure to look forward to. We had reservations for a hut in the Kruger National Park, so had to drive back down the Mozambican coast (not forgetting a stop-in to say thank you to Jaji again) and into the park, which borders Mozambique. We took an out-of-the-way road to get back to South Africa, where at one point we thought we were lost...nope, just in the middle of Mozambique.

Abrie and Irma have a fantastic lodge in Komatipoort near the southern Kruger gate (they are also building one in Barra) called Ambri Africa, where we stayed the night before entering the park. We chatted with them the next morning, telling them of our plans to definitely return, before heading off into Kruger.

The speed limit being 50 km/h (35 mph) in the park (don’t want to hit an elephant going 90!) it took us most of the day to drive to our camp at Olifants. Of course, this takes into consideration all the animal sightings you see. Just that day, we got lucky and saw two lionesses lying in the grass very close to the road, not to mention a rhino, elephants, zebras, giraffes, impalas, hippos, and more.

The view at our hut at Olifants was pretty nice, as we could watch hippos, crocodiles, giraffes, and elephants drink their fill at the Olifants River, down the hill from the fence.

We spotted all of the Big 5 (buffalo, elephants, rhinos, lions, and leopards) over the next four days, plus all the other wildlife roaming the park.


One very early morning, we took a walk with armed guides into the bush with the wildlife (you can only get out of your car at various camps in the park, for obvious reasons, so it’s all wildlife viewing sitting in your car). The rangers pointed out two Impala kills hanging in a tree, dragged up there by a leopard. Unfortunately, the leopard wasn’t around that morning but we did spot some giraffes and an elephant, accompanied by lion roars, which can be heard for up to 8km.

Each camp has a board with animal spotting markers, so we drove toward where a leopard had been spotted, and lo and behold, there was a big cat lounging way up in a bare tree!

Not more than 0.5km farther down the road, we witnessed a little rhino and mom chase a hyena from their grazing territory!



But the best viewing place on our drive out of the park on our last day. A pair of leopards in a riverbed crossed under the bridge we were on, and one came so near the road and our car (albeit partially hidden by brush) that Anna started rolling the window up! It got about 10 feet away before ducking under the bridge. We were so excited that we could only manage to snap a few blurry pictures as they walked out of sight.

But what a way to end our Kruger Park experience! We then took the rest of the day to drive to Nelspruit for one final night in South Africa, before catching our flight to Cairo, Egypt.

South Africa and Mozambique have been the highlights of our trip so far, so much so that “when we come back…” has been a much-used phrase. It may be a long flight, but it is well worth it!

Living the Life in South Africa

Our flight from Mumbai landed in Johannesburg, but we had heard that it isn’t the safest city, so we decided to book an onward flight straight to Cape Town, and we sure were glad we did! Arriving in the city, we almost froze due to cooler weather that we haven’t been accustomed to. Beanies, jackets, and scarves all came out of the bottom of our bags. However, Cape Town was having an unusually cold week when we arrived.

We had booked 2 dorm beds at The Backpack Hostel, which was a super nice place to start out. Nice clean sheets and comfy down comforters and pillows only helped us like it more. It’s been a little difficult getting used to sometimes sleeping with others in dorms after all of Asia affording us our own room, but it’s been fine. Something we loved straight away was the Afrikaans language, a derivative of the Dutch language, but with a few English and native African words mixed in.

The day after arriving, we took the metro down to Simonstown, a cute quiet town about an hour south of the city and facing the bay. We were there to see a penguin colony, and they definitely didn’t fail to entertain.

We followed the penguin viewing with lunch/dinner of delicious fish and chips with a tasty beer and we were already commenting “I think we could live here.” We did errands the next day (got all the Indian dirt and smog out of our clothes), enjoyed a delicious braai (bbq) and decided to climb table Mountain the next morning.

We got lucky with a beautiful day for hiking. The Platteklip Gorge trail is the most common way to the top, and it’s a tough uphill climb most of the way. We made it, and got amazing views as reward. You could see all the way past Cape Town out into the ocean, to the other side of the big bay, 360 degree views of the entire peninsula! We even spotted a whale!

We enjoyed a little picnic up top, a beer celebrating feeling alive again, and then took the steep cable car back down. What a great wonderful day that was.

After a lot of financial debating, we decided to hire a car for our stay in southern Africa. We had taken local transportation since Australia, and this was a country to explore on our own. We picked up our rental, stocked up on some groceries (good cheese and bread again, yes!) and a pair of binoculars, and drove to a great lookout to eat lunch. Our ultimate destination that day was Stellenbosch in the wine country, so we booked it out there to find a place before dark. Ryan had been craving some good steak, so we finally enjoyed a nice dinner of steaks and wine. No wonder we like this country so much!

Wine tasting the next day was okay. Most of them charge for tasting, and most of the wines were so-so. Guess we really are spoiled Californians! But it was wonderful weather again, and we were one of the few people tasting, so we had a good time.

Our next stop, after a beautiful drive along the coast, was Hermanus, close to the town of Gansbaai, where we booked a shark cage diving adventure! We paid quite a bit of money for this, but were a little disappointed – not with the sharks, they showed up! The boat was tiny for the 15 people onboard, and there was a swell that was just enough to make a few people sick and made getting changed in and out of their inadequate wetsuits (the water was freezing) nearly impossible. But, when the sharks showed up, they were what you think of – eyeing you as they swim past, showing lots of pointy teeth, and wrestling around with the bait. We saw 6 different sharks, the biggest of which was 4 meters long! We have an underwater camera that we haven’t developed yet, but here’s an above water photo:

That same night we drove down to Cape Agulhas and stayed at a very nice, almost empty hostel. South Africa’s wintertime is their low season, which has been obvious in many places with a lack of people. The next morning, we proudly stood at the southernmost tip of Africa!


After indulging in that accomplishment, our drive took us inland along the Garden Route, with port tasting, cheese and elan (a type of antelope) jerky buying, and ostrich sighting. We ended up in Wilderness, a little town back near the coast, where we were again 2 of 4 people staying in our hostel, and where we got to pick chard and sweet potatoes from their garden for our dinner that night. Not a bad day.

Our good weather was coming to an end, as the next day brought super-winds, and dark clouds. We were headed to Jeffrey’s Bay, home of the famous surf break Supertubes. En route, we again got to stop and buy some yummy homemade cheeses and bread. Once in J-Bay, we found a wonderful, modern 2 bedroom apartment at the Zen Guesthouse that was probably the best valued accommodation we’ve had yet (thank you low season)! Helping matters were the owners, Logan and Lisel, who were extremely friendly and helpful, and had a killer DVD collection that we got to borrow from! Even better, we could see Supertubes break from our bedroom window, a view that Ryan would take advantage of every day. A gigantic swell was rocking J-Bay at that time too, so all the breaks were going off.


It started to rain the day we arrived, but we were perfectly happy watching movies, taking advantage of a full kitchen, and not driving for a couple days. Another plus was watching the U.S. beat Spain in the Confederations Cup that had been going on here in South Africa! After 4 nights in J-Bay, we decided to check out, but it happened to be on the day the clouds cleared and the surf got more surfable, so Ryan decided to rent a board and wetsuit and get some waves before we left. He was pooped afterwards, but stoked that he got out.

We had casually looked at the mini-laptops that are for sale everywhere now, but on our way to East London, we stopped in Port Elizabeth, found a great price on an Acer, and bought one. So far, it’s been a great addition.

Our stop that night was at Buccaneers, a hostel in Chintsa, a little off the beaten track, but that’s what we were aiming for. Well, we aimed wrong, as the hostel was almost completely booked with a volunteer group. We got the last 2 dorm beds in the place, which were in the middle of a room full of drunken volunteers. Needless to say, it was a rather sleepless night.

It was raining the next morning, which didn’t help our already crabby moods. On our drive north, we saw at least 5 accidents, some of which were kind of funny (“how did they end up backwards up that embankment?”) but a couple that did not look good. Passing one, Anna viewed a man lying covered in a quilt, being comforted by his family, but the look on his face was agony. Ryan had been driving super safe all day, but as we came up to a curve, another car came around it obviously out of control. At that point, we knew we would not be the cause of an accident – the others would be. It was the most scared that we have ever felt while driving in a car. And, to top that entire wonderful day off, driving toward our hostel after getting something to eat, we ran over a piggy. Yep, didn’t even see it until the last second. Poor little thing. Oh wait, did we say the awful day was over? Not quite…that evening the U.S. lost to Brazil during the final of the Confederations Cup, and our “hut” at our hostel was about the same quality we had in Laos, for about 4 times as much. Ughh.

Durban was the next destination, where we stayed 2 nights at an overpriced hostel that at least had comfy beds and wireless internet for our computer! We didn’t explore the city much as it’s pretty dangerous and the owner of the hostel had just been mugged the night we got there (not near the hostel!). Instead, since the weather had turned nice again, we relaxed in the Botanical Gardens, Anna got her hair trimmed up, and we finally saw Transformers 2 for only $2.50 per ticket (not as good as the first, but they never are!).

After our quick Durban visit, we decided to drive to St. Lucia Estuary, a little town near the big Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park, where hippos and crocs live on the banks of the estuary and the supermarket closes at 5 on Saturday nights. We got a good deal for another apartment rental, complete with its own braai, so Ryan got to braai up some good steaks, though we’re now lugging around a huge bag of charcoal! Everything was within walking distance, and we explored the beach, complete with resident hippos. Anna found some tall wood giraffes that she knew she wanted to get when in Africa, and we bargained hard for them.

We took the wooden giraffes hostage and bagged their heads

On the 4th of July, we took a trip into the Park, which contains a good variety of wild animals, and these “loop” roads that turn off the main road to more easily see the animals. We weren’t disappointed! And by the end of the day, we had seen hippos, crocodiles, warthogs, deer, kudu (a type of antelope), dolphins, buffalo, eagles, zebras, and the elusive rhino! See some pics below:



The sun was shining, and, being farther north now, it was much warmer, so we relaxed on the beach for a few hours. We could’ve been at home for the 4th of July, there were so many families out! All in all, it was a wonderful day, and one that was much needed for our bodies and souls.

Then, it was out of South Africa and into Mozambique. En route, we stopped one night in Swaziland to break things up, where Ryan had some of the best chicken he’s ever had. Secret ingredient? Peri-peri, a mild chili pepper that grows in this region, and which Swazis and Mozambicans use constantly. Easing through the borders the next morning, we got into Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. We only stayed one night as the warmer waters and weather are calling our names, and Ryan is getting antsy to surf again.

Mozambique has an interesting background, as it’s the only country in Southern Africa to have not been ruled by the British at some point. Instead, the Portuguese colonized it. Today, Portuguese is the main language, which we don’t mind as it’s very similar to Spanish. That and we can practice for when we meet Anna’s parents in Portugal in August.

We had an interesting experience after we left Maputo, but that’s for another blog entirely…

Videos

This is just a quick note to say that our last blog contained 2 videos, and have heard that sometimes they don't show up in the email version if you are subscribed. SO...to see the videos, make sure you click on the link in the email to open our actual website, where the videos should appear - www.continental-drifters.blogspot.com

Hope you enjoy!

In and Out of India

We thought we'd seen it all, but India is all of it mixed together, and baked at 110 degrees for a few hours.

Our entry into the country didn't exactly start out with a bang. Our flight arrived in the middle of the night and our pre-arranged pickup didn't show up, so we ended up waiting an extra hour and a half at the airport. Arriving in the Pahar Ganj area (the backpacker hub) of New Delhi at 2:30am isn’t exactly a welcoming site either, rather a bit scary. The next few days we took it easy and tried to get accustomed to the heat and madness of India, which never really happened.

We visited the Red Fort, which we thought wasn’t worth the required rupees, and perused some of the main markets. However, two and a half days in Delhi were all we needed, so we hopped on a 2nd class train north to Hardiwar. Luckily, we sat right next to a nice couple from France with whom we would hang out with for the next week. Unluckily, we arrived in Hardiwar in the evening, along with thousands of Indians on yatra, their annual pilgrimage to holy cities around the country. It took the four of us quite some time to find rooms at a reasonable rate. Our ultimate destination was Rishikesh, the "yoga capital of India," about an hour’s bus ride north, which would have to wait for the morning. On the search for a room, an old man with a gray beard stuck his hand out at Ryan, who wasn’t sure if he wanted to shake his hand or was asking for some spare rupees. Ryan took a chance and reached out his hand and came away with flower petals in his palm. A meaning or just a welcoming gesture? We’ll never know - but that’s India for you.

After a terrible night’s sleep, we woke up with some delicious chais at the restaurant next door. While walking out of the place, we had to yield to a giant elephant accompanied by his mahout making their way down the tiny side street! We looked at each other and knew that we were definitely now in India.

We hopped on the overcrowded bus to Rishikesh with our new friends from France. Ryan befriended a 15 year old Indian boy from Delhi on the bus ride. He decided to give Ryan a gift after conversing, a ring with a purple stone (albeit plastic). Was this another sign?

We made it to Rishikesh and found a great room at the Sheela Mohan Palace. We ended up staying in Rishikesh for 6 nights. Unfortunately, Anna got sick for a few days and it was still quite hot, so our plan of becoming yoga experts didn't quite happen. We did end up taking one yoga course, which was a unique experience in India (much more spiritual than most classes in the states). We also enjoyed the food in town, which was purely vegetarian with no alcohol (Anna went vegetarian the entire 18 days in India). Ryan has a huge paper masala dosa in this photo:

Like Hardiwar, Rishikesh lies on the holy Ganges (Ganga) river, and is another holy city that draws thousands (if not what seems to be millions) of spiritual Indians each year on their pilgrimage. This includes bathing in the Ganga and feeding the many cows wandering around.



In trying to escape the crowds and the heat, we decided to visit the tiny hill station of Kausani. It took us two days of winding, hairpin turns on local buses, but we finally made it to the little town, complete with views of the Himalayas. We had a room overlooking a huge valley, but unfortunately the clouds covered our view of the Himalayas for most of our stay. The monkeys in the nearby trees kept us entertained nonetheless:

The weather was finally pleasant so we were able to take a hike to a local Hindu temple:

and a tea plantation where we sampled some of the tea that grows right in the valley (these are the pickers returning with the days leaves):

On our last morning in town, the skies opened up and there were the Himalayas. They are huge mountains!

We knew we needed to get to Agra soon, so after two nights, we headed back down the hill. We shared a taxi with two very nice Indian men to Haldwani where we then caught an awful overnight bus to Agra. Never take overnight buses in India! We'd heard stories of them, but since it was our only option, we took the plunge. But it's not advised.

After 10 hours of constants bumps, thumps and no sleep, we arrived in Agra and found a room with AC for 700 rupees (~$18), a bargain in the Taj Ganj area. That night we had dinner on the rooftop at Stuff Makers restaurant, complete with excellent views of the Taj Mahal. The next morning we woke up at 4:45am to see the Taj Mahal at sunrise (and also beat the heat as it was around 110°F by 11:00am). Despite the hype, we still thought it a beautiful monument to love. And gorgeous at sunrise! We spent a few hours soaking in all the shadows, lights and angles:


Our original plan had been to take the train from Agra to Mumbai, where our flight left for South Africa, but as we were short on time and didn’t really feel like taking another 30 hour train ride, we booked a cheap flight from Delhi. However, our train back to Delhi from Agra was late and when it finally arrived it only stopped for a minute. We literally had to run and hop on to catch what turned out to be the wrong train (we weren’t the only tourists who made this mistake)! With much luck, this train was also headed to Delhi but we were forced to sit in the non AC 2nd class (when we had paid for AC).

By mid-afternoon the next day we were in Mumbai. We knew that accommodation in Mumbai was not cheap, and we ended up paying about $30 for a room that should have cost about $10 in India. Anywhere else in India or SE Asia, a $30 room is considered luxurious. In our opinion, Mumbai was much nicer than Delhi, at least the city center and backpacker areas. They also had a few good pub and grills, where we got our fix of western food. Besides doing some last minute shopping, we pretty much just hung out for the next 2 days waiting for our flight to South Africa.

Looking back, this was definitely the wrong time to go to India as a backpacker (traveling around in luxury would be a different story even with the heat) but hey, we had to stop and check the place out. We were also getting a little tired of Asia in general. We'd been on the continent since mid-January, so a change was going to be nice.

Now we are loving South Africa. And, since we broke down and bought a little mini-laptop, we will be getting our blogs out quicker than we have been!

Cows eat whatever they want, including posters right off a wall!

China By Train

Okay, so China blocks Blogger, and India had no computers that our hard drive worked on. So, finally, Cape Town is allowing us to finally get a blog done! So sorry for the wait!

We departed Hanoi, and took a bus to the border crossing town of Dong Deng, where the entire process of entering China was the easiest border crossing yet! We had heard that Chinese officials had confiscated Lonely Planet China books as they don't include Taiwan as part of the country, so we hid our counterfeit copy (shhh, don't tell LP!) beneath the cover of our Vietnam LP. Luckily, no one seemed to care so, we continued on to Nanning, the first big city from Vietnam. Being a completely non-touristy town, our first night in China was not the best.

Chinese Border Crossing Gate

We met YuPeng Xeng walking from the bus station to the rail station like we were, and he kindly pointed us in the direction of some hotels. Turns out he is from Chengdu, which was our next destination, so we planned on meeting up again. Our first impression of China was: big but organized, and they like to stare as if they've never seen a Westerner. Nanning wasn't a great city to start with, which we realized when we got to Chengdu.

Trains in China are the easiest way to get around, so the next day we boarded a Chengdu-bound train - but not without an interesting confrontation with a local: this curious fellow looked as if he wanted to rob us in broad daylight. He even tried to sit next to Anna and fidgeted with her combo lock. Luckily, he left after receiving many stares.

Once safe inside the train, we had 2 middle berths on a sleeper car, which was good and bad considering it was a 33-hour train ride. Bad because we had to climb up to get in them and couldn't sit up once up there - only laying down; good because no one else could use them as a place to sit and our bags were close. Instant noodles are a must on any Chinese train ride and luckily for us they sold them on the train.

We read a lot, slept a lot, and gazed at the landscape passing by during the day. Much of the countryside was beautiful - with karst mountains, rice paddies, and gardens everywhere. Unfortunately, their apartment buildings were not very pretty.

After one and a half days, we got off the train at 9:00pm in Chengdu (the Sichuan Province) and took a taxi (luckily we had a map to point at as the taxi drivers don't speak any English) to Sims Cozy Garden Guesthouse- by far the nicest hostel we've stayed in. It is run by 2 former backpackers and they've got everything right. The first night, exhausted, we stayed in a dorm where all the beds had their own privacy curtains, which you don't usually see, along with a private bathroom. However, as we weren't quite used to sharing a room (this may has to change for future places) and Anna almost fell out of the top bunk, we changed the next day to a private room with bathroom that even had a DVD player! The facilities themselves were great - restaurant, bar, internet, books, laundry and a travel desk.

After settling in we took a bus to explore the downtown area. We visited the People's Park of Chengdu where everyone was getting their exercise through organized dancing and there was a ton of dancing going on. In fact, we saw this throughout China. Any little park usually had a group getting their dance on!

That night we decided to go out and try the famed Sichuan hotpot where you cook your choice of meats and veggies in a cauldron of broth and red hot peppers. We had heard that this was even too hot for many locals to handle, so we wimped out and used the non-spicy broth that came along with it. We did try a touch of the red broth, which was all we needed as it was by far the spiciest thing we've ever tried (Chengdu is referred to as the Spice City).

The next morning, we went to see one of the most obvious things you would see in China - Pandas! The Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Center is about an hours drive away, a perfect opportunity, and is one of the largest breeding centers in China with 83 giant pandas in the reserve. We got our moneys worth when it came to watching the youngsters play with one another:



Anna also gave a little donation and was able to hold one of the smaller red pandas. Panda cubs are just too darn expensive!

That night we hooked up with Peng, who took us out to a wonderful hot pot dinner downtown (Thanks Peng, we owe you one!), and walked around a restored traditional neighborhood.

We boarded another train the next morning, now bound for Xi'an. Luckily, this train ride was only 18 hours, and we knew what to expect. This time, we really enjoyed our noodles. Here's proof:

The train arrived at 5:30am and we hopped on a taxi and found our hostel near the south gate of the city. Ancient Xi'an was a walled city and is one of the few cities where the entire wall remains.

Although the wall was impressive, Xi'an is more famous because it is close to the Army of Terracotta Warriors, which we visited on our third day in the city. The sight was impressive with hundreds of warriors that have been unearthed so far, and hundreds more still underground. The grounds were also very beautiful and we couldn't have picked a better summer day to visit:



We also got in a bit of exercise at the park near our hostel:

The following evening, we boarded our last train bound for Beijing and it was a short 11 hour overnight trip. After two nights in a not-so-great hostel we stumbled upon No. 161 Hostel, a just-opened place with friendly staff, where we would spend our remaining 5 nights. We didn't have any trouble filling our week in Beijing. We spent another perfect day at the Summer Palace (where royalty would spend their summers) and another exploring the endless halls of the Forbidden City:


Our main highlight, however, was taking a day trip to hike 10 km of the Great Wall, from Jinshanling to Simitai. It ended up being another excellent day weather-wise and the Great Wall was more impressive than we imagined. Although there were many people also hiking beside us, it was easy to stop, take in the views, and start off again without feeling like we were in a crowd. We highly recommend hiking this part of the wall!




We ended up really liking Beijing with its cheap and easy transportation (with signs in English!), endless food options (the scorpions are tasty!) and multitude of sights and activities.