China calling (Normal service will not be resumed...)

To all ramblers who may have tuned in to this blog hoping to hear all about our travels, a sincere apology. Despite our best efforts(and pre-departure preparations), it has proved until this point nigh on impossible to surmount the various technical challenges put in the way of our accessing the internet whilst in China. Not so much Great Wall Ramblings, as Great Firewall Stumblings...
As a result, almost all of our first week, and our entire stay in Bejiing has passed by without us being able to post a thing about our experience to date. Which is a pity, because its been a bit of a cracker -  from wandering unexpectedly all alone on the Great wall itself, to paying our respects to Chairman Mao (on a 20-second mausoleum, walk through), a memorable few days has been had by all.
Far from certain when if ever we'll be able to add to this little outpost of postings, so we'll attempt a bit of a summary of how its been for us overall. Bejiing - a bit of a bundle of confounded expectations really, in all respects except one which we'll come to in a bit. One of us at least (well, OK, me) had arrived braced for a loud, chaotic, in-your-face stew of totally alien sounds and sights - a kind of Hong-Kong-on-Steroids mob-rule that we'd be pleased to be out of. But no. Busy, it is - with a population in excess of 23 million, that's inevitable. But chaotic, not really. Everything works - pretty well, on the whole - the city streets bustle but in a fairly quiet, orderly kind of way, and the vast majority of people you meet are just that - people of all different shapes and sizes going about their business and leaving you to yours. The modern part of the city has streets of shopping malls lined with luxury brand names that wouldn't look out of place on Oxford Street (communism, Jim - but not as we know it) whilst, in old Bejiing, we find a river walk lined with bars and restaurants that would have graced any european capital. All in all not exactly western, but certainly an experience recognisable to anyone from the west - a big, cosmopolitan city doing its best to grind through the gears of everyday urban life. So, Bejiing - an unreserved tick, were it not for the P word - the one respect referred to above. We'd arrived on our flight prepared for the pollution level to be bad. But there's bad, and then there's really, really bad. Walking around the city you can hardly see the next skyscraper right in front of your face. Dawn to dusk the whole of Beijing - and the surrounding country for miles beyond - lies under a thick grey pall of toxic gunge that must making living here long term a serious concern for health. The authorities, to be fair, are having a go - all scooters and mopeds registered for use on the road (and there are a lot) have to be electric, and new car registrations are rationed by means of a government lottery. But its barely scratching the surface, and there is going to be a long, long way to go.
Trains, planes and automobiles take us from Bejiing via a (very) short stop-off in Lanzhou up onto the Tibetan plateau in Xiahe (try, Shah-heh). A huge contrast in less than 24 hours - now its all buddhist monks, yaks and Tibetan prayer wheels. This is our start point for the travelling that will occupy the middle part of our travels. Hopefully we'll be able to blog some more about it - but don't necessarily bet on it.
Oh, and those wondering where all the photographs have gone - well, that's a whole other story...