The first day was easy we hiked for about 5 hours (17 kilometres) and only had 290 meters to climb; from 2.580 meters to 2.870 meters. The trail was pretty easy in the beginning and we crossed beautiful fields where farmers were preparing the soil for the winter. Later the trail changed in a muddy and wet path, which was hard to walk. It reminded me of the computer game that was popular in the 80s, in which you had to cross a river by jumping from crocodile to crocodile. This meant that we hardly could enjoy the surroundings. The first night we camped high above a river at Shana Zampa. It rained heavily, and it was bitter cold. During the dark evening about 15 smugglers passed out tent. It was amazing to listen to their stories. They walked from Paro valley to Tibet, crossed the Chinese border to buy cheap Chinese goods. These guys risked lot. If the Bhutanese army would catch them, they would loose their merchandise and risk a high penalty (prison). These young men did the awful (dangerous) trip in about three days.

After a cold night we continued and walked towards Thangthangka, 22 kilometres further. It took us six hours to get there and climbed 760 meters to 3.630 meters. It was a nice trek, but again muddy and wet. The overcast was heavy and we couldn't see anything of the Djomolari yet. During the journey I met several other hikers who hadn't seen one tiny bit of this enormous mountain. You can imagine that I was getting nervous, I wanted to see her so badly; it is the most holy mountain in Bhutan.

Despite the fact that it is officially not allowed to make wood fires, the cold made us do it anyway, and I was glad we didn't obey these rules. My guide, the cooks, the horseman and myself were very cold in the evening, and the wood fire made it more comfortable, although the smoke is a real pain. The cooks cooked on natural gas, however, after a few days had to change their methodology (the gas bottle was leaking) and cooked traditionally.... on a wood fire. They made the most tasting meals, with little tools and basic ingredients. The following day we continued in the direction of the Djomolhari base camp; would I be able to see her? We started at an elevation of 3.630 meters and hiked for about 5 hours to 4090 meters. This was the most amazing campsite I ever slept at. It was on the foot of the Djomolhari and we were surrounded by the ruins of an old Dzong (fortress). With another group of hikers we stayed the camp, called Jangothang. We all, including the horses, were very happy to know that the next day would be a rest day. But still we could see the mountain. Clouds and fog made it difficult to see her. Even during the rest day she wouldn't show her face to us. During that day however, I made a short trek to one of the lakes in the area at about 4.390 meters. During that night I knew that I would be able to see the mountain the next day. Stars appeared in the sky, which meant good weather and no clouds. Again I woke up at 5:15 hours the next day and the scenery was incredible. Slowly she revealed herself, the sun made it an even nicer show. The tip of the mountain became orange and slowly the Djomolhari was in full sight. It was incredible. Unfortunately we had to leave the camp. We had to climb the Nyile pass at 4890 meters so we needed a full day to reach the other camp. The pass was not that difficult to climb, but for sure I felt that we were in 'thin air'. The view from this pass was the most dramatic I have ever seen. To the left was the Djomolhari (7314 meters), in the middle the Jichu Drake (6989 meters) and to the right the Tserim Kang (6789 meters). The sky was blue, the wind cold, but man I felt warm inside, is was gorgeous. I don't really know how to describe the scenery, maybe words cannot describe what I saw. For sure I will never forget it. It was worth all the effort and all the miserable trails we hiked. It was worth the mud and the cold we had seen for the last three days. We continued our trip to Lingzhi, a camp at 4010 meters, which is surrounded by a few yak herders' tents. Children were greeting me friendly with "hello, how are you". The next day was a rest day again. This day I really rested. I only did some laundry and most of the day read my book. After a good night rest we left early to Shodu, but before we could reach that camp we had to climb the Mo Chu pass (4820 meters). This was the toughest pass ever. On the top I could feel my heart beat and knew that I took it too fast. The scenery was again beautiful but not as dramatic as two days before. The next two days we hiked through woods that were incredible. We followed the Thimphu River and finally reached the capitol city at 2600 meters.

Dear friends. Just got back in Bangkok after a long trip returning from Bhutan. A cyclone hit the West Bengal area as well as part of Bhutan. Unfortunately the weather was awful. I was stucked in Paro (where the main airport is) for two days and couldn't leave the country. Bhutan only has two aeroplanes and they can only land on visual contact (no radar). Yesterday was the day. One Druk Air plane came in, so this meant that some of the many stranded tourists could leave. However, due to landslides the two roads to the airport were blocked. Five people died in Paro and many bridges and roads were destroyed. I had to cross a bridge by foot that was heavily damaged, but made it safe to the other side. It was sad to witness these unfortunate events. Bhutan is not a very wealthy country and many people live in poverty. Crops were destroyed and the infrastructure was heavily damaged.

However, my trip to the Djomolhari base camp (approximately 14.000-ft) was awesome. This trek was the best I ever made. I was pretty heavy but worth all the effort. We took two passes of 16,000 feet and had the most beautiful scenery. Bhutan is pure, the people are extremely nice and nature is unspoiled. The country is the size of Switzerland, has about 638,000 inhabitants and a pure Buddhist country. I also made a cultural tour to Thimphu (the capital city), Punakha and Wangdhi. The Buddhist monasteries and local government administrative buildings (called 'dzongs') were beautiful and the architecture very impressive. It was a great start of my adventure. In about four days I will leave for China and will travel there for about two months, taking the old Silk Route to the West and then going South to Tibet. I keep you posted. As mentioned before, I am back in the capital city of Bangkok, enjoying the wild city, the relaxed patio's on which I read the world news or my book, drink tea and talk to fellow travellers.

Bangkok, the city of many people, many canals, good food, and many, many tourists. Therefore the national sport of many Thai sales people in the street is to rip you off. It is a game, a game which you have to play without any guilt.

Food is one of the many things I really enjoy here, especially after Bhutan, where food is simple and where they do not have any variety. Potatoes, rice, beans, carrots and a lot of Indian cheese. By the way, everything you can get your hands on in Bhutan comes from India. I never realised that this little country was so depending on their big neighbour.

Despite the good food and the great fellow travellers, I look forward to leave this smoggy, hot and hot city. However, Beijing will not be different, more people and more smog. Anyway, in a few days I know more. What keeps me amazing in this city is the many canals and the many people who travel them and sell their goods. The water is brown and dirty, which, just coming from the source in the Himalayas, is weird for me to see again. In Bhutan I could, after a full day of tough hiking, wash myself in the fresh and ice cold water and even drink it during the days. Now, it is arrying long boats, little ferries and a lot of dirt and pollution. To get my emails done I left this morning for the backpackers Mecca called Khao San Road. This place changed dramatically over the years. It started as a nice quarter in the city with cheap but good accommodation. Now it is like a hippie scene, with cheap (but sometimes dirty) accomodation and now real Thai atmosphere. But, things like airfare, local excursions and checking email can be arranged for little money. One of the things I was never able to visit in Thailand's capital city was the Grand Palace. So today, after a good breakfast of Cornflakes and banana and a plate of fresh (Thai) fruit I head for that monument with a German who also stayed at my Guest House (Shanti Lodge, recommended, one bedroom $7 per night! 37 Sri Ayuthya Rd., ph. 281-2497). The palace was impressive but we didn't know how quick to leave again. I have never seen so many tourists in such a dense area. I don't know how many times people looked angry at me because I walked through their picture setting. I have been asked six to eight times to take group pictures. When a Japanese lady, in Japanese, tried to ask me to repair her jammed camera, the German guy and I looked at each other and ran to the exit. Never again. After finding some relieve of the heat in one of the many food stalls, we took a ride on the Chao Praia and headed back for our friendly neigborhood.

While discussion travel plans to Laos and Cambodia with two Americans and two French, we 'cooled down' with some Dutch beers. Life is not too bad!

After a relatively short flight from Bangkok (4 hours and 3.296 kilometres towards the northeast) I reached the capitol city of China; Beijing. The weather was different from Bangkok, about 15 degrees Celsius and foggy. I have never seen such a big airport with only a few aeroplanes. I was wondering if something happened, maybe Pakistan attacked China?

In the beginning my impression with China was not that positive. The people were not that friendly and didn't really take the time to listen to you. Clearly it is the 'national sport' to cheat foreigners. For most things tourists pay much more (sometimes double) than locals do. The chance that a taxi driver takes you on a unwanted tour through town is high. After a few days

I gave Beijing the title "Spitting Image", due to the fact that everybody spits, young and old. It takes a few days to get used to it, but after a while I just did it myself. The budget hotels are real budget hotels, no luxury at all. But what can I say, I pay US$3 for a night. The food is great. For US$2 you can eat as a king, including a huge bottle of beer. The city is very big, about the size of Belgium (with about 13 million people). Many times I thought I could walk a certain distance, but after a while gave up. Now I simply use the bike, it is a great way to get around and to enjoy street life. On the first day I visited the Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. The Square is immense, and it takes while to complete the circle. It was interesting to see that hardly any tourists were in the city. Most attractions were visited by Chinese themselves, which of course is understandable if you realise that there are about 1,3 billion of them; they are hard to avoid. The Forbidden City was very interesting. The area is huge and it contains of many buildings, little squares and many bridges. It doesn't take long to imagine how the emperors lived at the time. Unfortunately the City is one big Disney World, mini bars, t-shirt vendors and so forth.

I never had a trip where communication was so difficult. Hardly anything is in English and hardly any Chinese speaks a foreign language. In restaurants the Lonely Planet guide is a great tool and all the meals I ordered so far were great and according my order. This reminds me of a nice story one of my roommates told me. He spoke with our dormitory manager about dog meat (a real treat here) and he warned the Danish guy. He said, "be very careful when ordering dog meat, sometimes restaurants serve you pork in stead of dog!". Anyway, the language. Once I wanted to buy my own train ticket to Xi'an. I took me more than one hour, and still I didn't possess the needed document. I gave up and asked my hotel to do it for me. It 30 minutes the ticket was delivered by taxi to my hotel! When talking to other backpackers you hear the same stories, communicating is a real challenge here in China.

Yesterday I visited the famous Chinese wall. I went to a part that is not that touristy yet, however, a cable car is in full function and t-shirt/post card vendors are hard to avoid. I went to a part that is called Simatai, about 2,5 hours north-east of Beijing. The weather was perfect and therefore I was able to see very far. There are about 135 watchtowers at Simatai. Together with an Englishman (travelling for 1,5 years already) and three Danish I climbed the wall. Some parts have a 70 degrees incline. This wall dates back to the Ming Dynasty (13th century) and the section we saw is about 19 kilometres long and hardly unspoiled. It was a great visit, I never thought it would be that beautiful and impressive. Now I can understand that the Mongolians at the time, were not very successful in reaching the land behind it. Tomorrow (October 30) I will leave for Xi'an by train. The journey, on the overnight train, will take about 22 hours.

After a great train ride from Beijing to Xi'an, I arrived well rested in the former capitol of China. Over a period of 2000 years Xi'an has seen the rise and fall of numerous Chinese dynasties, and the monuments and archaeological sites in this city and the surrounding plain are a great reminder that once upon a time Xi'an stood at the very centre of the Chinese world.

In Beijing, just to update you on my last hours in the capitol, I visited the People Congress building. I labelled it as typical. Very big, grey and not very attractive. I was however, very surprised about the hall where the Chinese congress meets. Can you imagine, 10,000 seats, to accommodate all congress members! I also spent one day cruising through Beijing by bike, which according to me was one of my best experiences in Beijing. Just go with the flow, that was my motto. There are no rules, just be rude, ignore the hunking cars, traffic lights and traffic signs.

The train ride from Beijing (on the 30th) was an interesting experience. I had a so-called 'hardsleeper' place, which is very convenient, relatively cheap and a great way to travel. The train left at 15:10 hours precisely, no minute later and arrived in Xi'an as scheduled at 05:30 hours. My compartment had about 60 beds, and all units are open. Every unit has six beds, a lower one, one in the middle (perceived to be the best spot) and a high sleeper (the one I had, which worked for me). There is hot water for tea and soup and you are provided with a pillow, towel and sheets. I had a great time. There was only one other Western traveller there so I had a good opportunity to interact with the locals. To my surprise one lady spoke English so we were able to communicate well. Around 18:00 hours all Chinese unpacked there dinner; noodle soup, roasted duck, chicken, nuts and loads of beer. I enjoyed watching them eat. I felt pretty hungry after a while, and started nibbling on my limited dinner, fruit, soup and raisins and nuts.

All trains have bathrooms, that means, two toilets (the Chinese version; you can not imagine how much I am looking forward to a Western toilet facility!) and two wash places. I was warned to expect the worst in terms of hygiene, but it all looked pretty okay.

I arrived in Xi'an in complete darkness. After multiple negotiations with many taxi drivers I drove off to my hotel. Once again, one of those place you don't book for a nice and romantic holiday, but who can beat a price of 40 Yuan (about US$5) per night, including breakfast (tea, a cold boiled egg jam, and 3 slices of toast). This is the way to go! I must admit, I look forward to the Hyatt again.

Together with a Brit I also met in Beijing we took the local bus (just 6 Yuan as opposed to the 45 Yuan they charge at hotels) to the famous terracotta army. Here I noticed that the Chinese are making efforts to charge foreigners the same price as Chinese. One year ago it cost about 120 Yuan to get in this 8th world wonder. Now it is only 60 Yuan. The terracotta army exposition was interesting, but I am not sure if it was the greatest thing I ever saw. I guess I expected it to be more impressive. Fortunately my travel companion agreed. The Army of Terracotta Warriors was discovered in 1974, when peasants were digging a well. However, new discoveries are made even today. The 6000 terracotta figures of warriors and horses (in the main pit) face east in a rectangular battle array. Archaeologists believe that the warriors (which are more than 2000 years old) may be part of an even larger terracotta army still buried around Qin Shihuang's Tomb (he was the first emperor of China). It is believed that Qin supervised the construction of his own tomb as well as the fabrication of the large terracotta army.

At night we had a typical Xi'an dish, 'shuanguozi', a kind of hotpot. First you have to break two slices of bread into little pieces and put them in a soup bowl. Then it goes back to the kitchen where they put beef soup in it as well as very thin noodles. You mix it with fresh herbs and garlic (lots of it) and eat it with the famous chopsticks...... delicious! Today I will use to further explore the inner city, by bike. One interesting thing is that Xi'an also has a Muslim quarter.

Tomorrow I will continue the old Silk Route and leave for Liuyuan in the Gansu province. The train ride will take about 36 hours. From Liuyuan I will take the bus (2,5 hours) to Dunhuang. This are seems to be very beautiful and near Dunhuang I will be able to see the famous Mogao Caves.

Since I saw the modern center of Beijing I am surprised about the economical development of this country. Some of the street just look like the ultra modern shopping street in Europe and the US. There is hardly anything you cannot buy here. From fellow travelers who did the Trans-Siberia Express I heard that Russia is really behind in its economical development and is 'nothing' compared to China. Communism? Not here if you ask me. The Government might be very on top of things and there is not such a thing as freedom of speech but in terms of economical development it is far ahead of countries like Russia, Cuba and North Korea and many other countries here in Asia. There are of course some things you will be surprised about. The toilets for example. Did you ever sit next to somebody else doing your thing without being able to sit, and without any wall in between you and the other toilet visitors? Well here that's normal. It takes some time to get used to this procedure, as well as bringing your own toilet paper; imagine if you forget it. Also the sight of street butchers (slicing up goat, dog, mutton and chickens) without using any clean utensils. By the way, ever heard of 1000 year eggs? Well, they sell them on every street corner. They are sold out of a big bowl, in which the eggs are soaked in a brown coloured liquid. What that liquid is? Traditionally the Chinese soak these eggs in horse urine! They sell very well. Many times I was asked to buy one. I simply thought that the water they were in was dirty. Since that discovery I order a simple fried egg in the morning.