If you would like to contribute the well being of this world, our world, your world, an easy and effective way to do it is to join a quality environmental group. There are many spread across the world all plugging away trying to make the world a better place for wildlife. We belong to Birdlife Australia, Bush Heritage, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC). You can donate your time and or money to these and many others knowing that the world will be a slightly better place because of your effort.
16th & 17th June
It was about 15.30 when we got into Colin’s car on a cold wet windy afternoon, so we cheated again, but it’s saved us standing out in the rain waiting for the bus to take us to Geelong. He dropped us at the South Geelong station and we were soon on our way to Melbourne. We had dinner of the parma special at the sports bar in Spencer St Station then caught the train out to Broadmeadows and then the metro bus to the airport, total cost of transport about $6. It was then a long long wait for the check in gate to open at 3.00. It took about 1/2hr to do that and get through immigration, and another 1/2hr to walk out to gate 20. The flight to Singapore was a few movies and a bit of a snooze long. We passed by nearly overhead where Bev worked at Cygnet Bay north of Broome, I recognized some of the roads in the area. We had a long long wait at Singapore for our flight to Shanghai, which was three TV episodes and a snooze long. We got in at a bit after 23.00 and got through customs a bit after midnight. We met most of the other Trip-a-deal travellers who had been on our flight, we piled into the bus that took us an hour to get to our Marriot Courtyard hotel Jaiding, our guide Thomas was well organized giving us our room keys on the bus, so it was up the elevator to the 17th floor and after a quick shower it was sleep time at about 2.00.
18/6
Up at 6.30 and I went for a walk along the Shanghai Greenway that starts just outside the hotel, runs down the canal to the river and runs both ways along the river on both sides. I picked up Light-vented Bulbul, Tree Sparrow, Chinese Blackbird, Little Egret, Black-crowned Night Heron, Barn Swallow, Swinhoe’s Whiteye, Oriental Magpie-robin, Long-tailed Shrike and Spotted Dove. Came back to the hotel for breakfast and then we hopped on the bus to take us to the Bund where I found a Crested Myna, back on the bus to take us to the History museum, which was very dark, the captions had English as well as Chinese, but because it was so dark they were difficult to read. I’d asked Thomas our guide to organize a driver to take us to Shanghai Changming Dontan National Nature Reserve. It cost us RMB900 for the 1 1/2hr drive return. We found that you have to book a seat on the bus that takes you from the entrance to the wetland, our driver who didn’t speak any English and didn’t intend coming out ended up doing all the paperwork on his phone to get us in. It doesn’t cost anything, it’s just limited numbers. There is a ring of boardwalks that take you out into the wetlands, where I found Whiskered Tern, Eurasian Coot, Little Grebe, Great-crested Grebe, Common Moorhen, Great Egret, Gray Heron, it was looking like I wasn’t going to get a new bird when a Yellow Bittern popped up onto a grassy tuft, but before I could get my camera on to it, it was gone, then I got a brief look at a Reed Parrotbill, again no photo. There were lots of Oriental Reed Warblers calling, but they were all too well hidden to get a shot, just a brief look as they skitted from one reedy tuft to another. Then one hopped onto a post to sing and let us get quite close to it. Back into the city where we had some traditional filled buns for dinner and met up with the others to do the night river cruise RMB280 each, for the hour long cruise on the Huangpu River to see all the building lit up with their quite spectacular in some cases light show. back to the hotel and bed
19/6
I was out on the Shanghai Greenway again for 2hrs this morning and added three species, White Wagtail, Chinese Pond-heron and White-cheeked Starling, I managed establishing shots of the pond-heron and starling but when I moved closer to try and get a better shot they were gone, and the wagtail although I found it twice just wouldn’t let me get a shot at all. After another hearty breakfast we were on the bus at 9.00 and through the country side to a motorway service stop, I went for a wander around the perimiter with the high speed trains thundering by every 5mins. It was hot to be sure but there were vertually no birds, I did get a fly by of a Red-billed Magpie. Back on the bus and over to Longjing Village to learn all about green tea from an effusive young lady, but I think they were disappointed by the buying response. When were were set free I went for a wnder up the road and a side street to see if I could find a bird to photograph, there were no new birds, despite the area above the tea plantations being intact forest, I heard little and saw nothing. From there we went through the tunnel to West Lake where Bev and I had a cold noodle dish with a hamburger-like pattie wrapped in what was possibly crispy noodle, no idea what it was called. Then we had toffee fruit sticks. A while later we had a boat trip around the lake. We had the boat to ourselves. The lake was busy with all manner of fantastic looking boats plying the lake, very popular spot. The only birds I added here were a Striated Heron and an eclipse plumage Mandarin Duck. It was now quite late and everyone was worn out so we headed into Hongzhou to the Fubang International hotel. Our room on the 15th floor has the widest bed I’ve ever seen, you could easily sleep 4 people across it. We walked around the corner to Lou Fang Noodle House where we were recommended to have ding po rou, a local delicacy with white mushroom dry tofu Chinese chives and pork dry noodle dish. We also now recommend this place. And thus the day ends
20/6
I was off early again with a short walk down to Shuijing park with lake, canal and some reasonable looking habitat. I added Eastern Spot-billed Duck, Little Egret and Common Kingfisher as well as hearing some new birds that I didn’t get to see. Breakfast wasn’t as good as in Shanghai, but still good. We were on the bus again at 9.00 and were soon on the tollway. Our quick stop today was at a service station in Xin Cheng where I got a photo of a Barn Swallow and got an Intermediate Egret in the fields nearby. By mid afternoon we stopped at Lingering Garden, an old rich man’s house that was packed with tourists, so was difficult to get a clean shot of anything. A short distance away was a silk outlet where another effusive woman tried to sell us some silk with the but wait there’s more trick, most people didn’t buy into it, including us. There were so many but wait there’s more items it took way to long. We then had a canal boat ride along the grand canal, but we weren’t allowed outside on this boat so we all had to jostle for photographs through the front facing door, not ideal. We then had some free time to jostle with the locals in the crowded streets of the old town. There was a shop selling insects that included spiders, scorpions and the one I tried, a giant centipede, for Y50 it looked big but was a hollow shell with a jerky like meat around the stick, so not good value, but a bit of a lark. I then went for a walk to get some shots of the canal that weren’t hurried. It was then back to the Holliday Inn Hotel and to a normal sized bed in a nice room on the 8th floor. We went acoss the road to the mall for dinner.
21/6
Up early and down for breakfast which was on about the same par as yesterday. At 7.00 we were in the bus that took us to the high speed rail station. We found our seats on the train and were on our way to Zhengzhou for a 5hr trip, there were a few stops but we hit 300kph in between. The smoothness of the ride belied the speed. I dozed off several times as we sped by the rural landscape dotted with cities, no woodland beyond a small copse though. First stop in Zhengzhou was the Shang Museum which is new, then on to the Hanan Museum which was a more substantial museum with more interesting arifacts but much more crowded too. It was then out to our hotel, a Marriott Aloft hotel, an older hotel but still a nice room. A short walk away was a BBQ restaurant where we had to communicate via phone translator, but the effort was worth it, with a very nice meal as we cooked our own meat. Added Azure-winged Magpie, Euarasian Hoopoe and Black Drongo, none of them though are new new.
22/6
There is a manicured creek that runs by the hotel, so at 5.30 I went for a walk along it, finding Oriental Greenfinch, Oriental Magpie and Vinous-breasted Parrotbill, then back for breakfast that wasn’t as good as the others, but still good enough. I had ummed and ahhed about whether to go on the option tour for RMB670 each or take a taxi to search along the Yellow River that runs just to the north of the city. In the end I took the easy option and went on the tour. We set off at about 9.30 and didn’t get far before the road ran out and we had to go another way. Our guide Olivia said that they were doing roadworks but it looks like they just haven’t got the road further or there was a landslide. There was a single lane concrete road leading past where we turned around. We eventually got to where we had lunch at a Kung Fu college, very nice but we only ate about half of what was offered. We were assured it wouldn’t go to waste. A short distance away we stopped to watch a 1/2hr Kung Fu presentation. There was what must have been an 8yo up to about 18yo. At one stage 3 guys from the audience were put on stage to try and immitate the masters. It was offered to two of us to do it, I’m glad I didn’t try. We then had a walk through the original Shaolin Temple complex, then past the Pagoda Forest, which is a forest of Pagodas, each commemorating a monk who served the nearby monastery with distinction. Just past there I got a Hill Pigeon on a wire. Then a walk up to the chair lift to take us up to the Sanhuangzhai Scenic Area with spectacular views across the plain, well it would have been if it wasn’t shrouded in a smoky haze. There is a walkway along the cliff face that you have to have faith isn’t going to collapse on you, plunging you down the vertical cliff. I made it into a gully where I found a female Daurian Redstart before I ran out of time and had to return. I found the male redstart near the chairlift. We had golf carts to get us back to the bus, and of course being a bunch of juveniles we turned it into a race at 8kph limited, I drove ours but we came last after leading at one stage, pooh pooh! On the way back Bev and I went for a stroll through the night market just down the road from the hotel. We had some food from Chinese Burger, a fast food chain. We struggled to get what we wanted but got something akin to what we thought we’d ordered via the phone translator of the girls at the desk. It isn’t perfect with the tranlator at one stage telling us that we were cool. Back to the hotel and bed.
23/6
An early morning rise saw us at the bus at 6.20. With a breakfast in a bag we headed for the train station for another very fast train to Xi An. We got there at 11.00 with speeds of just over 300kph again. In Xi An we were met by another Trip-a-Deal guide who first took us to a place where they make teracotta warrior immitations that sell for exorbitant prices along with other exquisit pieces of art that we just couldn’t afford. We then went to the Teracotta Warrior precinct, a vast tourist area milling with people. We had a meal at a restaurant that had plates on a lazy susan, that once again we couldn’t finish off, though we made a bigger dent in the plates this time because of the meagre breakfast in a bag. We then headed for the much anticipated pit 1 of the Teracotta Warriors. The wall was lined with people 3 deep so it took time to get to the wall to see the warriors all lined up or in some places looking like they really had been in a war, all jumbled up and broken. Pit 3 is where the generals are, along with the chariotless horses and charioteer, it having rotted away a long time ago. The archaeologists were working in pit 2 which is the least developed of the sites, but also where there is an example of each of the kind of warriors in a glass case that was an absolute bun fight to inch your way to the front to get a photo of each of them. We then had to run the gauntlet of all the vendors on the way back to the bus for the drive to the Yulong International Hotel for the night, we bought a few things from a nearby 7 11 for dinner as we weren’t all that hungry. On the way there I managed to find a new Chinese bird, some Common Swifts were swirling around the concrete pylons of the highway interchange.
24/6
The Swifts were still swirling around the pylons in the morning, sometimes crawling into the crack between the roadway of the pylon so they may be breeding here, which is apparently a recent development. There was no greenway here just a bit of greenery around the interchange. There was a row of tall trees by the roadside, which is where I got my bird of the day, a Gray-capped Pygmy Woodpecker. We gathered at the bus after an ordinary breakfast at 9.00 and were off to the railway station for a 5hr high speed rail journey to Beijing. It was 40C here and sunny, the hottest we’ve had. We’re staying at the Ramada Beijing North. The rooms in China have all been spacious and the beds comfortable, this was no different. Dinner was taken at the restaurant. We could only have one dish in Beijing. It had to be Peking Duck.
25/10
It was getting light here at 5.00 so out I went. I had about 2hrs to find something new. The only one I got was a Common Kestrel that I disturbed from a semi demolished building that had a squatter living off grid in it. There have been a few people that look like they’ve fallen through the cracks in the system. In general though this is an orderly well behaved people, there’s no graffiti, not much rubbish, and considering the amount of people in the cities the traffic moves okay. We set off at 8.00 for Tiananmin Square, there is bus lane into the city so that sped things up, but we had a to walk some to get to the entrance because the driver couldn’t get close. The queues to get through the security checks were tedious to ay the least, taking about 1 1/2hrs to get into the square. We stood on the spot where that woman faced those tanks, We only went through the aquare not into any buildings. We then walked into and through the Forbidden Palace. We were only allowed into the courtyards, not the buildings again, apart from the one with some artifacts. We had a short ride in a public bus, again because or bus wasn’t allowed near the palace exit. A short ride during which we saw The Leader’s cavalcade on the freeway. The others went off for a tour that didn’t interest me. I went for a walk around Qian Hai. I didn’t expect to see much on this man made lake, and I didn’t, but I did find a few Butterfly Flutterers and a Little Grebe that wasn’t as nervous as they usually are. I found a woman with a turtle dangling on a stick, I’d assumed that it was dead, but then I saw it struggle, I found that distressing, and I thought if it isn’t illegal it should be, and the fact that the woman was trying to sell it in the back street suggested it would be illegal, so I went back to the lake and found a policeman, but he didn’t speak English, neither did the second one, so I gave up. I had a few nibbles from a few shops for dinner. When we all met up again, a few of us went to an optometrist to get cheap glasses, we got 2 pairs each for total of A$1130. They still couldn’t quite compensate for my stigmatism, so I still see a bit double. It was quite late by the time we got back to the hotel.
26/6
Another good breaky and another 8.00 departure for a visit to a jade factory. Bev couldn’t find anything she liked so I bought a money dragon or Pishu, not because I believe that it will bring me wealth, but I like the story. From there we went to the Great Wall at Juyong Pass. I got up to fort 10, not quite to the top. The gradient is steep so I had to rest quite a few times. If I’d had more time I could have made it to fort 12 at the top. The birding was poor, which was diasappointing, with only another Daurian Redstart and a few Tree Sparrows. We had a quick visit to a pearl factory, but no one bought anything here despite there being some beautiful jewelry. Most people went to see a musical called the Golden Mask Dynasty, I passed as I didn’t think I’d get value out of it. From there it was back to the hotel for the night.
27/6
Last night during packing Bev discovered that she’s lost her camera, she thought somewhere at the Great Wall, so this morning Leo our guide rang someone up and amazingly the camera had been handed in, so it was put in a taxi to meet us at the airport. We left the hotel at 7.00 and drove into the city to visit a Chinese medincine hospital called Beijing Zhongke Bencao Ta where we were both examined by a doctor, Bev was given a prescription for sleeping, spleen and blood circulation. She checked the ingredients so with no endangered animals in the prescription she’ll give it a try for a month, which is what the doctor recommended. I was recommended something for my kidneys, but I’ve had a blood test recently and my horseshoe kidney is okay, so I passed. We were both recommended to eat less fried food and sugar, which I suspect should go for just about everyone in the world. Not long after we’d checked in at the airport the camera arrived for RMB700. So there are two lessons to be learnt from this experience. One, be careful with your belongings when you travel. It’s very easy to get distracted and forget to pick something up. The other is that there are good honest people out there no matter where you are. So although our goverments may be less humane to each other, the ordinary people are the same no matter where you are, and that is heartening. It was a 2hr flight from a very hazy Beijing to a slightly less smoggy Ulaan Baatar. We have three guides, two are in training including a 15yo who greeted us in traditional costume at the airport and is doing this as her summer vacation job. The traffic in this small city is very slow, so it took us a long time to get to our Hotel Platinum which three times the size of a normal room with a longe room, so I’m writing this lounging on the chaise lounge. We went to the Shangri La plaza for dinner at the Street Food place. Our first choice didn’t take cash. The echange rate here is an astonishing 2326 Tugrik to the dollar, so our dinner cost us T35800. I start my Mongolian bird list with Carrion Crow, Tree Sparrow and Common Swift, no photos though.
28/6
The shower in the hotel was luke warm if I’m being generous, they promised to have it fixed by tomorrow night when we return. We were on the bus and heading out of town by 8.00. First stop was the Chinggis Khaan statue, a huge stainless steel effigy of him on his horse with his golden whip. It’s possible to climb up and out on top of the horses head, which most of us did. I found an Isabelline Wheatear in the grassy surrounds as well as House Crow, Euarasian Magpie and we had a Cinereous Vulture soar nearby too. We went to Terelj Messenger of the Sun tourist ger camp for lunch. From there we went to Turtle Rock where I found a Pacific Swift nesting in a crack in a rock and Northern Wheatear. It was a short drive to Aryabal Temple at Aryapla Meditation Centre where we walked up the 108 steps to the Buddhist temple. I found a Northern Wheatear here. Another short drive to meet a local nomadic woman who gave us some traditional foods of milk tea, yoghurt and almost sugarless doughnuts. Bev was shown how to make a dumpling, which we then had some of. I found a Red-billed Chough in the grasses nearby, I was inching forwards to try and get a better shot when I noticed a cow bellowing and moving towards me, it was then that I noticed in the yard beneath where the chough was were some small calves, I decided that it was time to back off. On the way out I took a photo of a Ruddy Shelduck. From there it was back to our Ger tourist camp for the night. I went for a walk along the creek by the camp in the late afternoon and got some butterflies and flowers in the lightly grazed meadow. There were both White and Citrine Wagtails in the compound. After dinner in the failing light after 21.00 we had a thunderstorm roll on by us.
29/6
I was up at 4.30 with the light, but though the birds were calling with the Common Cuckoo call echoing through the valley, and the Northern Raven’s deep croon, the majority of the birds were not visible. At about 6.00 I found a track with some birds actively feeding and briefly showing themselves. I managed a few shots with Black-faced Bunting and Long-tailed Rosefinch the few I managed to ID. On the way back I mmanaged a Pine Bunting. Breakfast was at 7.00, a set menu that included pumpkin soup, pumpkin soup for breakfast? We headed back into Ulaan Baatar to Zaistan Hill which has a Soviet era statue on top with a panoramic view of the city. I had enough time for a quick look at the river but found nothing of interest. We then went to the main square which had no security, just a couple of guards and a simple chain fence in front of the government building, huge contrast to Tiananmen Square. We had a look at 200yo temples that had been reconstructed after the collapse of the communist regime who had of course destroyed all religious buildings. The artefacts had been saved, and pieced back together. We had a nice lunch at Nagomi Restaurant, another set menu of Japanese food with no little green ball hidden in there. We were then shown around the history museum by the curator, they had some nice artefacts but nothing belonging to Chinggis Khaan. We had an hours rest back at the hotel then some of us went to see a Mongolian culural show that included dance a contortionist who shot arrows with her feet whilst standing on her hands, and my favourite, a guy who did some throat singing, that I find fascinating. We had a Mongolian BBQ dinner that also had some cultural performance that included more throat singing. Then back to the hotel for the night. Although the rooms are palatial, the service isn’t all that good with only one towel and the shower floor hadn’t been cleaned when we first arrived. That had been rectified, but the shower was still too cold.
30/6
Sleep in this morning as there’s a lack of green spaces in the city. So after breaky it was on the bus westward. We stopped at Mongol Nomadic Camp, for more experience of nomadic life. I had a brief ride of a yak. As part of it we had another song done with throat singing, this time with three men, much better. Not long after we arrived a pair of Golden Eagles appeared briefly over the hill. Also the sparrows have changed from Tree to House. We had a brief stop at Urikhan road stop on the Tuula River, the same river that goes through Ulaan Baatar. Here I found Gray Heron, Green Sandpiper, Barn Swallow and Whiskered Tern. Another brief stop was at Budiin Bridge where there were 77 Demoiselle Cranes. I’ve been in the range of this bird a few times, so it was good to finally see it. As the main road crossed the Little Gobi Desert we stopped for a Bactrian Camel ride, just a been there done that experience really. It was late when we rolled in to Munkh Ger Camp, so it was dinner then bed.
1/7
I was up at 5.30 and over to the river a few hundred meters away, I walked upstream to the weir and back to the camp for breaky. I found some Great Cormorants, Eastern Spot-billed Duck, lots of Little Ringed Plovers and a Mongolian Gull. It was cold and windy to start with, but after I got past the weir I was in the lee of a hill where there were Rock Sparrow, Northern Wheater, Pied Wheatear, Common Rock Thrush, Black Kite and Upland Buzzard. After breakfast we went to the history museum that covers the local area around Kharakhorum which was the capital city for Ghingiss Khaan. The only ruins that are accessible by the puplic are underground in the museum under a thick sheet of glass, so no ruins to photo. We then went to the nearby Bhuddist Temple where there are a few temples that didn’t get destroyed by the communists, filled with artifacts that once again were secreted away, and donated back once the country became democratic. There is a large compound here with uneaten grasses where I found Blythe’s Pipit and Eurasian Skylark. Back to the ger camp for lunch, then we all had a rest during the heat of the day. At about 16.00 some us piled into the bus and drove over to a nomadic family on the north side of the road. It’s somewhat incongruous to see a 41 seater bus inching along tracks in the endless grasslands. The driver found the place and we all had a taste of fermented mares milk, it’s like a fizzy sour milk, not all that pleasant, and apart from our tour guides I don’t think anyone went back for seconds. We then watched them milk the 20 mares to get about half a bucket of milk, they do this 6 times a day, tough life, but it sells at a premium, so they do well out of it. The daughter does Mongolian caligraphy, so some us had a small poster made with our names in Mongolian. We then went to a lookout to see the Orkhon River that I walked up this morning. I then walked back, but the only new things I found were a mosquito and a horse fly, which tried to get a free feed off me. I was a bit late for dinner.
2/7
Last night as I went to bed I had the start of a sore throat. Bev has been sick for a while, but is now mostly recovered thanks to well prepared people whi carry drugs which Bev recieved with thanks, also our guides put her on to Seabuckthorn juice which is supposed to help cure colds. Anyway this morning I woke up with a cold and somehow also managed to twinge my back, so I’m not at my best this morning. I couldn’t drag myself out of bed to go search the river again. After breakfast we set off back to Ulaan Baatar, we had a few short stops where I added nothing new. We got to Hustai NP where we had to change for a smaller bus and went for lunch in the park, where I felt pooly enough to accept drugs, which helped. After lunch we set off on the small tracks to see if we could find some Prezewalki Horses or Tahki as they are known locally. We got quite a few Tarbegan Marmots as we drove along. These are different from the European Marmots and are endangered. It was at the end of the road where we found one of the rangers who had set up scopes to view the horses on the opposite mountainside. We also saw Red Deer here. There were quite a few Mongolian Larks being flushed by the bus as we drove by. We also got a Golden Eagle right by the road, but the driver drove on by and by the time we’d shouted stop! Stop! we were well past it, I tried to get a photo of it but it took off and flew directly away from us. It was quite late when we had finished inching our way through the endless traffic jam to arrive at our last roganized activity, our farewell dinner at a western restaurant hwere we bid farewell to our two excellent guides and headed for the Novotel. We were supposed to go back to the Platinum, but just about evryone had a complaint about it last time so they upgraded us to this better hotel.
3/7
I had a bit of a sleep in whilst Bev went off to look for some cashmere to buy, she came back with gloves and scarf. We were on the bus at 12.30 for the crawl through the traffic jams to the airport. Our flight left at 18.00 and for a while there I was worried we wouldn’t make it, but on the edge of the city the traffic disappeared so we had plenty of time in the end. With not many flights, customs was easy. The Mongolian Airways plane though left a lot to be desired. When I asked for a pillow to put in the crook of my back, I was denied. My seat wouldn’t stay upright properly wobbling back and forth and my seatbelt was a bit frayed. When I complained to the steward she looked sternly at me and asked what I wanted to do about it. I merely suggested that they should get maintenance to fix it. The worry is that if they can’t fix easy things like this on the plane, what more cruical things are being overlooked. I wouldn’t recommend this airline. As we were coming in to land a different hostess approached me to get me to put my seat upright, I wobbled it about showing him that it was broken and he laughed and walked off! The flights from Beijing and Singapore with Singapore Airlines were I’m glad to say in better repair.