There are way too many photos to upload, having taken over 500 since leaving Beijing, so I've had to be super efficient with my choices. They're not all the best quality ones, I've tried to take a selection from across the board. I've covered many miles and even more sights since leaving the capital, and just so Beijing doesn't feel left out there's even a few of my brief sightseeing tour there. It was a short stay, the way I'd intended, but less hassle than anticipated. It didn't make me feel like extending my stay there, it is a city after all. I forced myself to go and sightsee, but only once I'd sorted out a ticket. I couldn't believe they only had standing room, it was a 16 hour journey, I just preyed they could offer me an upgrade on the train. The advice I received was to ask when I first boarded, many people book and fail to show up leaving sleeping berths, at least a seat would be nice. (Photo: Tiennamen Square - Beijing)
As it happened I got nothing better, but I was forewarned and therefore very proactive in ensuring I got the best out of the situation. Turning up a couple of hours early I hustled for an upgrade, at the wrong checkin desk, but at least they pointed me in the right direction. then I walked straight to the front of the queue and laid out my rucksack so no-one else could squeeze past. My initial attempt to secure the upgrade failed, as did the second. But I wasn't about to waste time, boarding in front the hoards I got onto the right carriage and headed for the largest space available and once again planted me rucksack, staking my claim. From the looks I got off the other standing fares they were impressed at how well I'd managed. As the journey progressed I felt a touch selfish, having twice the space any of them did. Even when stretching my legs and offering my seat to others they politely refused. I had no leg room, only the length of my pack. It was adequate though, with my feet halfway up the carriage wall I could just about stop my hamstrings cramping up. (Photo: The forbidden city - Beijing)
Beijing really is immense, it takes ages to reach the boundaries of the city. But when you do the agriculture begins immediately, true, it is interspersed with plenty of ugly construction, but that comes and goes, the crops are always there in some form or other. Mainly maize is grown, I've still not seen any rice, I'm beginning to think it isn't the season yet. That can't be right though, it's the wettest part of the year, the best season for rice. So far the soil has been very sandy, you need waterlogged paddies to grow rice, so I can only assume that is grown in abundance elsewhere in the country. There is some diversity, some evidence of vines being grown, not much, but now and again a few fields look like it's vines growing. Potatoes are also found, not acres of them again a few fields interspersed with the ubiquitous maize. It's amazing how perfect the lines to the fields are, whatever sides follow natural borders are kept tight up to that border, no room is left for wasted space. The other sides are straight as a die. (Photo: Moat or waterway - Forbidden city, Beijing)
Broken terrain sported slight terracing, there wasn't a lot of need really, but they favour flat ground to grow in, it gives better control of watering. Many ponds were dotted about, fed by small streams, there seemed little need for artificial irrigation, the amount of rain recently gives testament to that. In the distance mountains formed a hazy background with thin lines of trees standing here and there. Within a few hours the landscape got slightly more rougher, hillocks of mudstone jutted from the flat terrain, solitary ones without much attempt at terracing them. I don't think the effort is warranted, every other space is crammed full of crops, I find it hard to imagine a food shortage. One thing I noticed, like most Asian countries, the fieldwork is mainly done by hand. In fact here I haven't even noticed the use of beasts of burden to work the land. (Photo: Terracing amongst the limestone- West of Beijing)
I actually slept, through most the hours of darkness, waking to a dull grey lunar landscape, made even duller by the persistent rain. The dull grey muddy black housing failed to improve the solemness of the land. Mudstone gave it all a dirty washed out look, though as it turned more to limestone it still looked pretty grim. Quarries didn't help there either, in otherwise deserted areas a quarry or cement processing unit gave it an even more dismal appearance. Yet still, in patches undisturbed by the plant machinery, crops lined ridges and depressions. The largest area of limestone was quite amazing, acres of land collapsed to form huge flat bottomed depressions. Both the sinkholes and the plateaus were chock a block with maize plantations. Then one area would be turned into a filthy dirty quarry pit, smoke belching from machinery, churned up tracks cutting through an otherwise resplendent scene. (Photo: Tibetan people - Xi Ning, Gansu province)
Amongst all this construction was underway, in town and country, housing tower blocks, industrial processing plants, roads, bridges, tunnels, and who knows what else. China is growing rapidly, filthy tenement blocks spoil beautifully turned out rail stations, which are freshly painted and spotlessly clean. Beside the old tenements soaring tower blocks stand in various states of construction. Passing through one city I lost count of the newly finished, but empty, tower blocks for housing. I got to estimating twenty, then thirty, and gave up, there must have been at least fifty of them. All were identical, in style, design, size and colour. Could this be China admitting their one child policy has failed, their preparations for the inevitable baby boom? I thought I could escape the huge city by leaving Beijing, if that was what I wanted I should have stayed clear of Lanzhou. (Photo: Mountain Pass - Xi Ning to Zhangye, Gansu Province)
There are way too many photos to upload, having taken over 500 since leaving Beijing, so I've had to be super efficient with my choices. They're not all the best quality ones, I've tried to take a selection from across the board. I've covered many miles and even more sights since leaving the capital, and just so Beijing doesn't feel left out there's even a few of my brief sightseeing tour there. It was a short stay, the way I'd intended, but less hassle than anticipated. It didn't make me feel like extending my stay there, it is a city after all. I forced myself to go and sightsee, but only once I'd sorted out a ticket. I couldn't believe they only had standing room, it was a 16 hour journey, I just preyed they could offer me an upgrade on the train. The advice I received was to ask when I first boarded, many people book and fail to show up leaving sleeping berths, at least a seat would be nice. (Photo: Tiennamen Square - Beijing)
As it happened I got nothing better, but I was forewarned and therefore very proactive in ensuring I got the best out of the situation. Turning up a couple of hours early I hustled for an upgrade, at the wrong checkin desk, but at least they pointed me in the right direction. then I walked straight to the front of the queue and laid out my rucksack so no-one else could squeeze past. My initial attempt to secure the upgrade failed, as did the second. But I wasn't about to waste time, boarding in front the hoards I got onto the right carriage and headed for the largest space available and once again planted me rucksack, staking my claim. From the looks I got off the other standing fares they were impressed at how well I'd managed. As the journey progressed I felt a touch selfish, having twice the space any of them did. Even when stretching my legs and offering my seat to others they politely refused. I had no leg room, only the length of my pack. It was adequate though, with my feet halfway up the carriage wall I could just about stop my hamstrings cramping up. (Photo: The forbidden city - Beijing)
Beijing really is immense, it takes ages to reach the boundaries of the city. But when you do the agriculture begins immediately, true, it is interspersed with plenty of ugly construction, but that comes and goes, the crops are always there in some form or other. Mainly maize is grown, I've still not seen any rice, I'm beginning to think it isn't the season yet. That can't be right though, it's the wettest part of the year, the best season for rice. So far the soil has been very sandy, you need waterlogged paddies to grow rice, so I can only assume that is grown in abundance elsewhere in the country. There is some diversity, some evidence of vines being grown, not much, but now and again a few fields look like it's vines growing. Potatoes are also found, not acres of them again a few fields interspersed with the ubiquitous maize. It's amazing how perfect the lines to the fields are, whatever sides follow natural borders are kept tight up to that border, no room is left for wasted space. The other sides are straight as a die. (Photo: Moat or waterway - Forbidden city, Beijing)
Broken terrain sported slight terracing, there wasn't a lot of need really, but they favour flat ground to grow in, it gives better control of watering. Many ponds were dotted about, fed by small streams, there seemed little need for artificial irrigation, the amount of rain recently gives testament to that. In the distance mountains formed a hazy background with thin lines of trees standing here and there. Within a few hours the landscape got slightly more rougher, hillocks of mudstone jutted from the flat terrain, solitary ones without much attempt at terracing them. I don't think the effort is warranted, every other space is crammed full of crops, I find it hard to imagine a food shortage. One thing I noticed, like most Asian countries, the fieldwork is mainly done by hand. In fact here I haven't even noticed the use of beasts of burden to work the land. (Photo: Terracing amongst the limestone- West of Beijing)
I actually slept, through most the hours of darkness, waking to a dull grey lunar landscape, made even duller by the persistent rain. The dull grey muddy black housing failed to improve the solemness of the land. Mudstone gave it all a dirty washed out look, though as it turned more to limestone it still looked pretty grim. Quarries didn't help there either, in otherwise deserted areas a quarry or cement processing unit gave it an even more dismal appearance. Yet still, in patches undisturbed by the plant machinery, crops lined ridges and depressions. The largest area of limestone was quite amazing, acres of land collapsed to form huge flat bottomed depressions. Both the sinkholes and the plateaus were chock a block with maize plantations. Then one area would be turned into a filthy dirty quarry pit, smoke belching from machinery, churned up tracks cutting through an otherwise resplendent scene. (Photo: Tibetan people - Xi Ning, Gansu province)
Amongst all this construction was underway, in town and country, housing tower blocks, industrial processing plants, roads, bridges, tunnels, and who knows what else. China is growing rapidly, filthy tenement blocks spoil beautifully turned out rail stations, which are freshly painted and spotlessly clean. Beside the old tenements soaring tower blocks stand in various states of construction. Passing through one city I lost count of the newly finished, but empty, tower blocks for housing. I got to estimating twenty, then thirty, and gave up, there must have been at least fifty of them. All were identical, in style, design, size and colour. Could this be China admitting their one child policy has failed, their preparations for the inevitable baby boom? I thought I could escape the huge city by leaving Beijing, if that was what I wanted I should have stayed clear of Lanzhou. (Photo: Mountain Pass - Xi Ning to Zhangye, Gansu Province)
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