First Evening Film

Here's our dinner table after we'd attacked it on the first night at The Barracks, ie at the end of the long journey from England to Huangyagguan. Yes, those are chips. Yes, that's a bit of birthday cake in the middle. No, we didn't have anything other than chopsticks to eat the cake with. :-)

I may try to identify the dishes a bit more later... It's a bit early in the morning right now, though.

Here are the culprits responsible for the carnage, ie my fellow diners on the first night. We have Jan, Becca, Lola, Rhiannon, Llew, and Diana. Shortly after taking this picture I spent a geeky twenty minutes figuring out how to adjust Diana's alarm clock to Beijing time... :-)

All in all, a very nice (if short - we were all jetlagged and I crashed at about 8:30!) evening - pleased to meet you!

It's Llew, with some beer! The beer is Yan Jing, I believe - 5 yuan a bottle (about 40 pence), and a storming 2.9%. Generally described as "soapy rubbish", it didn't so much get you drunk as, well, keep you sober.

Chin chin!

Here's Llew in our room at The Barracks, on the morning of the second day (yes, it's dark outside). To say that the accomodation at The Barracks is "basic" is like saying that parts of the wall are "steep". But it was a great place and I'm glad we stayed there - and I'd go back tomorrow.

Here's a photo which should prove to Julie (who slept through it) that yes, we did have bonfire, honest! The blue star on the left belongs to Heather, the National Star Centre's Chef (I believe?). I think this is a great shot, if only for the large amount of ridiculous head decoration in it. :-)

(By the way, I took quite a few photos this night but hardly any have come out, due to the stupid throwaway camera's feeble flash - grrrr!).

Book of Hygienix, Chapter 5, verses 4 to 7:

And yea, they entered into their appointed room at the hotel in Jinshanling, and they saw that there was heating, and that there was hot water and yea, even television, and it was good. And lo, after a hard day's trekking, the hardest he had ever seen, and having not had a shower since the Friday, and this now being the Wednesday, Andy was sore in need of a good scrub down. And so he entered into the bathroom and he saw that there was a shower, and that yea, there was hot water, and so he gave thanks to the Lord, and entered into the shower, and made himself clean, and there was much rejoicing.

:-)

In fact, I was even tempted to take a photo of the shower-head - that's how good it was. But I didn't, because I'm not a complete lunatic.

If you look at any of the earlier dinner-time photos in my collection, you'll see that we're all wearing coats. Behold - no coats! And the food was bloody excellent - check out that fish. Yes, we've arrived at civilisation - the hotel at Huangu, before the fourth day's trekking. Oh, what a sight to behold it was.

In fact, the accomodation got better and better as the week went on, which worked out quite nicely. We started at the barracks, then to Jinshanling (where I had the best shower of my life), then this place, then another nice hotel, then finally the Exhibition Centre Hotel in Beijing. Of course, then Anthony and Cathay had to go back to The Barracks for the second trek - but I'd have gone with them if I'd had chance...

Pictured here, from left to right, we have: Pete, Shaun, Rich, and Bob.

Here's the gorgeously talented Rich singing his little socks off trying to win points for his team during a silly game of Anthony's devising. My team came last - phooey.

What is it with these napkins, eh? Instant hilarity!

Oh, by the way, the girl in the centre is Angela, who received the "latecomer" award, having had her purse and passport stolen at Manchester Picadilly railway station on the morning we were supposed to fly out. Well, fair play to her, she made it two days later, and trekked like a good 'un.

Steve leads the memorable "Kung-Fu Fighting" conga at the hotel in Huanghua. Steve assures me that in normal life he's a quiet kinda guy, but here we see him in full flow, giving new meaning to the phrase "acting the goat".

Apparently this hotel rarely if ever gets western guests, and had drafted in an English-speaking manager from another hotel especially for us. Quite what the poor staff must have thought of us, I do not know. :-)

Anita was one of our guides ("Trek Leader", in fact, I think), a lovely lady, despite making us get up early in the morning and go walking. Here we see her smiling politely and hoping the silly man will stop taking photos and go away. Sorry Anita!

Our room at Huanghu. This was, at that point, the most luxurious place we'd stayed, and very nice it was too.