Icy grip squeezes
Life from fingers, nose and toes.
Pale sun dabs with hope
Night food market in Beijing
Note the Star fish for sale
The last supper
Then we go our separate ways
At the Birds Nest Olympic Stadium
Louise - in icy wind
Last days in Beijing - as ordinary tourists
On the Great Wall
Presenting the slide show
In our Silk Roasd jerseys
Joan, Manon, Louise
We made it!!
The group on Tiananmen Square
Sweep for the sweep
On our last day into Beijing
Baskets of fire
Field of the small fiery chillies
Notice rows of flats behind
Ladies plucking off chillies
The lucky shot
Proud sweet potato saleslady
Fields of Chrysanthemums
Being harvested for seed
LOOK CAREFULLY-
See how the long lenghts of reinforcing are being carried on the highway
Cycle path into a city of 1,5 milllion-
Blocked with sheep and goats...
Massive elevated roads and railways under construction
Over hills and valleys -
But now the air makes all look hazy
These are very ripe Persimmons - not tomatoes
Roadside Persimmon tree
In pomegranite country
But the Chinese are going over the top about packaging
Caught in traffic in Xi'an
FACIAL DETAIL
Every warrioir has a different expression - and there are thousands of them
How the warrioirs were found when excavated
Horsemen in Terracotta Warrior pits
Terracotta warriors
Their restoration is to me even more amazing than their construction
Wreaths and decorations used for funerals
Hot pot dinner for my birthday
Busy, grey,wet Xian
Bell ringing performance
Dancers in Bell Tower, Xian
Bell Tower looking across to Drum Tower
Caves are cut into clay banks
Used for living and storage
Slit pants assist potty training...
Happy kids
Grandkids in the handcart
Peace and harmony
Kong Tong Mountain Monastery
Pagoda at Taoist sanctuary
This old guy wanted to have his photo taken with his glasses
Only the old men wear these amazing glasses - and the glass has no magnification!
Solar kettle with Clive
Every house had one in this area
Mountains of apples
We cycled through many kilometres of apple orchards
Tiny farmhouse
High in the hills
Rural Chinese housewife
She pressed two sugar cubes into my hand after this photo was taken
Noodles drying
Green ancient terracing
Mountains of potatoes for sale
Ploughing and sowing
Ancient methods persist - an old farmer and his daughter
Autumn colours and terraces
It snowed 4 hours later
Jimmy with Shepherd
Note felt cape, Great wall in background
Cabbage and celery vendor
For a giggle
Spectacularly mangled English on roadsign
All dressed up for winter
Milking the nanny goat
Just enough for breakfast
Look at this!
First snow of winter
Louise heads out in the snow
Face of largest recling Buddha in China
Made of clay
Golden Pagoda in Zhangye
Home of 37m reclining Buddha
Live sheep on motorbike
Passed by a load of Yak/cows
Going up the pass
Taking grandson for a bike ride
Walking your pig to market
Early morning lettuce harvest
Mom ,Dad and child
Autumn scene
Winter approaches
Man and beast at work
Intensively farmed roadside fields
Drying corn
Every inch is utilised - a derelict gas station
Sugarbeet harvest
Mendigout, woman trim
Onion harvest
Ladies cleaning and packing onions
Local village kids
They came running to view the foreign devils camping
Great Wall Campsite
Endless pollution
Snow back and front
Made it ! - by bike
The nWestern end of the Great Wall
Autumn colour
A Padmakers road side camp
Especially for my engineering Brothers in law
Gobi Desert lunch stop
Snow capped Qilian Mts in the background
Massive freeways, massive windfarms
Autumn reflections on a paddy field
In an oasis - still surrounded by desert
These tourists in leggings in the sand are hilarious
At least 400 camels wait at the dunes
Camel rides are a major tourist activity
Entrance to Sand dunes near Dunhuang
Big tourist attraction, rather commecialised
Entrance to Mogao Caves
Hundreds of Buddhists caves near Dunhuang
Dunhuang Night Market
Pupae, alive for cooking and eating
All sorts of weird and wonderful things were on sale at the Dunhuang Night Market
Celebrating
Beers on arrival at Dunhuang- after 860km in 6 days
All his eggs in one basket
Moving camels from A to B
They canter along in a most bizarre fashion
Strips of melon drying
A welcome evening bonfire-Mike, Joan, Stewart
We burned aany trash we could find - cast off shoes are great fuel
These piggies made a break for it
Piggies off to market
Kids make us smile - all over the world
The long straight road ahead
Roadside dinosaur?
Cause for a smile
Grey and sombre
The windy campsite
Manon in the wind
Hamging on for dear life
Chris and handcart
He is walking from Beijing to Germany
Descending into Turpan
The Turpan depression is 156 metres below sea level
Louise taking a break
Raod conditions great - but straight and boring
Colourful but shy cotton picker
Statues and shrines are plentiful along the way
Fun with the fake traffic cops
These dummies are at regular intervals along the freeway. Do they help?
Leaving Korla
A harsh desert
Climbing the straight long desert road
Then the descent into Turpan
Peace and harmony
Reflections at a fish farm
Fun with kids at a lunch stop
Piles of golden corn lie drying in the sun
My dream for Knysna?
Cant you see me doing the shopping in this...
Striking camp at dawn
Melons rotting in the sun
A cargo gone wrong
Masses of red chilli peppers are dumped in the sun
They are then sorted and bagged
Ladies sorting the drying Chillies
Acres and acres are devoted to this industry.
Happy Chinese Highway sweeper
A common site - roads are well maintained and the work force appearts highly disciplined
Rare desert reflections
After a grey day of rain...
Desert camp
Wedged between trucks and trains!
Overturned cotton truck
Road was wet and dangerous
Old cotton scavanger
A sad picture
All the horse and donkey decorations
Everything to buy for your animals every need
Weighing the rams
Feeling the scrotum was also an integral part of pre sale examination
Donkeys for sale
Leap of faith
Unloading cattle at the market
Splicd Sheep at Kashgar market
Haggling over the price of goats
The peace of the camping evening
Desert night in China
Bactrian camels a plenty
My first sight of the exotic looking double humped Bactrian Camels
Spectacular formations
Rolling down into China
Cooking at altitude
Our cook - Miles
High mountain camp
night temps well below freezing
Tough mountain nomad kids
In the high country
Peaks of 6000m in background
Inside felt lined Yurt
Still not that warm...
Our Yurt for the night
My Chariot of Fire parked along side
Buff keeps ears warm
Thanks Mary...
The top of the pass
Freezing- but Knut is Norwegian
Sharing the road
Trucks belch out volumes of black smoke
Switchbacks up the pass
Snow approaching
Yurt
At the start of the big climb
Lunch stop before the Talgit Pass
These photes are a bit out of order - see text
Heading into hills
Animals fill the roads, coming to lower pastures
Flat, straight, treelined
The highways through Uzbekistan - wide enough for 3 Soviet tanks abreast
This is not honey.....
Diesel - probablyhome made , is sold like this in rural Tagikistan
Roadside cosmos
Just like in SA
The patient donkey
Honey for sale
The white stuff is comb - good to add to Vodka- they say..
The reddest apples ever
Rows of apple stalls
Grape saleslady
We exchanged stoiries of our kids - and she gave me grapes - refused payment
The National Uzbeki Lunch dish - Plov
A mixture if re-fried rice, veges, and bits of the fattiest meat available. And it is regarded as an aphrodisiac...
Washing before a meal
Every restuarant has a conspicuous basin for hand washing. Note the intricate metal work on this one
Close up of mosaic work
Islam teacjhings prohibit the use of any living creature to be used as decoration - it places them then above Allah. The use innovative use of pattern and symmetry is astounding
Ornate gilded interior of mausoleum
The crypt of sons of Tamerlane and the famous astronomer - Ulagh Beg also lie here
Mausoleum of Tamerlane
A fluted magnificent dome covered in shades of blue tiles
Colourful gift shop in Samarkand
Actually inside a Russian Othodox Church- nolonger in use for active worship
Melon and squash vendor in Turkmenistan
We were invited to tea and melon in the heat of the day
Sturgeon Vendor in Ashgabat
Tese magnificent fish are endangered
Self-take on early morning watch
I look a bit worse for wear!!
View from my dockside shower cubicle
Dockside camping
Cooling avenues of nut trees in the country
Yet garbage abounds
Crusher plant
Environmental controls are rather few and far between in this country which is still struggling to aume responibility ince independence from Russia in 1991
Water buffalo
Needed- fencing contractors for national highways
Parliament buildings in Baku
" We have oil now "
Bazaar in the old city of Baku
Temp about 42 C
Looking onto the deep gorge between Turkey and Armenia
Taken through an archway in the Mosque at Ani
Mosque minaret, Ani
Built in Seljuk style
Frescos in a chapel, Ani
Outside of cathedral in Ani
This was constructed in 1039
Looking through to Armenia
Remains if an archway at Ani
Mind blowing scenery
Dodging tractors piled high with fodder
Winter fodder
This area of Turkey is under thick snow in winter and evry means of carrying bales of feed are used
Ancient farming methods
In North eastern Turkey fodder is still cut with scythes and loaded into carts with pitchforks
Tea with the road workers
There is 24 hour tea in Turkey - everywhere!
Lonely long distance cyclist
In the dry northern area of Turkey amidst road constuction
The modern and the ancient
Turkey is in the process of increasing its hydroelectricity. It is rumoured that it wishes to sell power to Russia
My kınd of country
Roadsıde fare
East meets west
These Burka clad Turkısh ladıes showed great warmth and feelıng towards us. Perhaps they were longıng to be ın shorts
Queen of the Mountaın
Mountaın campıng-spectacular
Roadsıde flora wıth hıgh mountaın backdrop
Tractors arethe famıly sedan and workhorse ın Turkey
Oldest man Joost and oldest lady Joan feast on melon at a roadsıde fountaın
SELF TAKE WITH HYDRO ELECTRIC DAM IN BACKGROUND
Broom salesman
Okra picking team
Okra Flowers
Under the vines after the clean up
the Hammami where we were scrubbed
Mosque ın dry Anatolıan Hılls
Turkısh style tea
Kıds sellıng Hazelnuts
From Epic to Epic
Getting fit on Prince Alfred pass
My Knysna at Dawn
1 comment:
Hi Joan
Amazing pics, Helluva story. Now you just HAVE to write a book! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! One not to forget in a hurry! Enjoy the rest of the journey and keep us posted with all the interesting stories! Looks like you must now keep warm.
Love Johnny and Di
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