From Weifang to Manzhouli

A long trip (journey) indeed. I travelled from Weifang University, Shandong – where I teach – to Manzhouli, on the Russian border, in Inner Mongolia. A journey of 1800 miles, which is TWICE the length of the UK.  Yes, China is a big country..

It took the best part of 3 days to get there.  Admittedly, I did travel five hours to Beijing first on the high speed D train and stay in a cheap ‘flea-pit’ (dirty, not good …) hotel.  The next morning was a high speed D train to Harbin.  That journey took eight hours.

 In the winter months Harbin attracts tourists because of the ice structures.  They create  buildings made from ice, put lights in them … and charge tourists 150 yuan to go in.  I didn’t go inside as I was only there for a few hours, but I did walk 500 meters across the frozen river. 

 And then it was a 13 hour journey on a sleeper train to the very north of China.  A city called Manzhouli, which is a border-crossing point into Russia.  The shops in Manzhouli all have their signs written in Chinese, Russian and Mongolian.

 I didn’t stay in Manzhouli – I traveled 2 hours by bus across the snow-covered plains to a small town.  A very small town indeed.  One of the Weifang University students lives in that small town and for 5 days she was my guide to the area.

Cold?  The temperature often goes down to -40 degrees.  That’s cold!  Yet there are people who live in tent-homes – round, traditional Mongolian homes.  They are poor people of course, but I found them to be very friendly and nice.  I enjoyed meeting them.  It was all a nice experience.

The sleeper train from Manzhouli to Beijing took 31 hours.  At this time of the year – the winter holiday and Chinese new year – it is very difficult if not impossible – to get train tickets.  Everybody is traveling home you see ..  I didn’t have a train ticket from Beijing to Weifang.

At Beijing, I waited outside a long distance bus station from midnight until 6.30 am, until the bus station opened.  I got a ticket on the long distance bus … though I had to wait until 4pm for the bus to leave ..

Eleven hours after departing from Beijing I was back in Weifang.  A big, long trip that was enjoyable.

There are a few photos on my QQ – QQ is Chinese chat/photospace.  To see the photos go to http://user.qzone.qq.com/1323790487/infocenter and click on the 2 Chinese characters 5^th from the left (or 4^th from the right..)

QQ is Chinese chat. To get it .. go to http://download.imqq.com/download.shtml  and download it.  It is available in English. My QQ number is 1323790487 .. but don’t forget to say ‘englishbaby’ if you send me a message