CHINA

hello everyone!

don't worry guys, we have been fully briefed on what we are and are not allowed to take photographs of so we do not get arrested. we have also even been provided with a bible of road way rules and regulations, which makes good bedtime reading, and free postcards so you should all be recieving one soon as long as we have your address.

we are most excited as have made it to china in one peice. crossing the border into china did not take as long as crossing the border into russia which we were most pleased about; however, once we had got through the mongolian side and the chinese side of the border we had to sit around for fours hours while they were processing wilma. we were originally told we would have to wait only two hours; as you can imagine this made the whole camp rather angry. our lunch that day, during the wait, consisted of milk, water and some pretty intersting cakes that queenie got us (see next paragraph); however, as we continued to get hungry after our hearty snack, we decided to venture out of the compound and into the border town of erenhot. on the way back we had a pretty interesting time getting back into the compound as the guard told us that we had to go through in a car or bus.

whilst we were waiting for wilma and larry we found that the officials at the border were friendly, helpfull and amusing, which was a bit of a suprise- they even supplied free ice-tea. during this time we also met queenie, our guide, who tessie instantly began chatting away to in chinese and no doubt laughing at daddy's and my expense.
so far we have found queenie to be lovely (just incase she reads this) and is very good at dashing out of the car to ask for directions. she also has a tent of which we are most jealous and a blow-up roll mat that even has a built in pillow- snazy or what?
daddy has already waded in there with some political hot potatoes. good times.

today we have seen some great caves near datong and are now about 300 miles from the border. they were more impressive than the terracotta worriors for anyone who is one their way to china. we were along side the chinese in the phototaking stakes and had to dodge the crowds at times but the caves were generally well preserved and the intricate carvings were made all the more impressive when you concidered the height of the ceiling- over 20m- and the the colour of the rock.

since our few nights in china we have only managed to camp once as the weather has not been suitable and has been muggy all day and night; however the scenery has been quite interesting although queenie promises us that there will be better landscape to come. we have also finally come to some hills once again; the combination of hills and good old russian-like roads ensure that larry has continued to be tested. we have had some choice potholes in the ground aswell which daddy aimed for perfectly and got 10 points.

we a currently looking our for some good citroen machanics (apparently daddy has seen loads since being in china) to repair the brakes. at the moment we are living on the edge.