The adventures of Marty the Motorcycling Giraffe Story 37 Marty’s amazing Asian Adventure Part 3 Marty goes for a walk on the Great Wall of China

The adventures of Mary the Motorcycling Giraffe

Story 37 Marty’s amazing Asian Adventure Part 3 Marty goes for a walk on the Great Wall of China

Marty the motorcycling Giraffe is on one of his most amazing adventures yet, a train journey through Asia.

After travelling through India where he visited the Taj Mahal and Nepal, where he climbed to the base camp of Mount Everest and was taught how to snow board by Santosh the snow boarding Yak, Marty is now heading for China, where he wants to go for a walk on the great wall.

As the train ram through the rolling hills of Tibet, Marty looked out of the window and enjoyed the beautiful countryside and was in awe at some of the magnificent temples built into the hills

Soon the train passed out of the hill and through miles and miles of marshy farm land (paddy fields) where the local farmers grew and harvested huge quantities of rice.

“Hmm” Thought Marty “I don’t really like rice, I hope there are a lot of nice twigs and leafs to eat in China, or I will get quite hungry

It was a very long train journey to the city of Taiyuan, where Marty was going to stay the night before going on to join the great wall at the Niangzi guan pas before walking along the wall all the way to Beijing (China’s capital city), and Marty passed the time by reading a book all about the great wall of China.

He learned that the wall was 8,851 km (5,300 miles) long and runs right across the north part of China from Shanhaigua in the east to Lop lake in the west, and was originally built thousands of years ago to defend China from the nomadic tribes and war lords that use to live in the Mongolian areas north of the wall. Marty also read that legend says that the Niangzi guan pass is a garrison that used to be guarded by female soldiers under the command of Princess Pingyan

“Wow” thought Marty to himself “visiting the great wall is certainly going to be a very exciting adventure”

It was very late in the evening when Marty arrived at Taiyuan, so he booked himself into a hotel for the night

The next morning Marty was up bright and early and after a quick breakfast set out into Taiyuan.

Taiyuan is a very large, busy modern city with lots of very tall buildings and a lot of people whizzing around doing their daily business.

Marty thought to himself that he and Peter would be very busy if they had to clean all the windows in this city.

A young man came up to Marty and said “你好’ (n ho)” (hello in Chinese) “Mr. Giraffe, you look a little lost, can I help?”

“Jambo” replied Marty “I am Marty, I am from Africa I am here on an adventure and want to get to the Niangzi guan pass, so that I can go for a walk on the great wall”.

“I am Cheng-Gong” the young man said, “and I can show the way to the pass but first would you like me to show you some of the sites here in Taiyuan”

“Asante sana” replied Marty “that would be very kind of you”

Marty spent the morning with Cheng –Gong  who  told Marty all  about  the city of Taiyuan and how it is an ancient city that used to be know as the Dragon city, and he showed Marty some of the main sites in the city, which included the very tall Hilton hotel ,  Taiyuan food street, with its traditional building variety of eating places all serving up delicious smelling Chinese food (but of course Marty didn’t want to try and of these different types of food because he only eats twigs and leafs) and finally Cheng-Gong  took Marty to see the Jinci temple.

The Jinci temple is a beautiful pagoda style building, and Cheng Gong informed Marty that it is over 1400 years old.

Marty looked inside the temple and was amazed at tall the beautiful artefacts and Chinese carvings that he saw.

Soon it was time for Marty to head off for the Great Wall of China, so Cheng Gong took Marty to a bus station and showed him which bus to catch that would take him to the Niangzi guan pass.

Marty got on board the bus, but because he is so tall he had to sit with his neck and head sticking out of the window.

After a short bus journey Marty arrived at the Niangzi guan pass. Marty picked up his back pack and walked up to the wall.

Marty was quite amazed by the size of the wall and thought to himself that it must have taken a lot of bricks to build this all the away across China.

Marty climbed into the Niangzi guan pass and up the stairs on to the wall and set off on the long walk along the wall to Beijing.

As he walked along the wall Marty looked out into the Chinese countryside and wondered if he might see a panda in the bamboo fields.

“Jambo Mr Giraffe” came a voice from behind him. Marty turned round to see a small African family looking up at him

The family introduced themselves to Marty as Daniel, Diana and their son Simon from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania East Africa

“We have come on a safari to China” Daniel told Marty

“I have been all across Asia” Marty told the family, “and I think this walk on the great wall will be quite an amazing adventure”

Daniel told Marty that the only thing spoiling their trip on the great wall, was tht little Simon couldn’t see over the top and was missing out on the great scenery.

“He could climb up and sit on my head for the trip” offered Marty “then he wouldn’t miss a thing”

Marty knelt down and lowered his head so Simon could climbed

“Hold on tight” said Marty as he raised his head back into air

“Wow this is fantastic” shouted Simon “I can see for miles”

Marty and the family then set off on the long to Beijing and chatted all about their various ravels and all the wonderful things they have seen.

“I will still be glad to get back to Africa though” said Diana “I do miss Dar es  Salaam”

“hakuna mahali kama nyumbani” (there’s no place like home)  smiled Marty

Along the way Marty and the family met lots of other people from all over the world who had came to China to walk along the great wall.

They also got to look across the lovely scenery with the rolling Mongolian hills to the north and the farm lands to the south

Then suddenly little Simon started shouting and pointing from the top of Marty’s head

“Look look Panda bears”

Every one ran to the look over the side of the wall where Simon was pointing and sure enough sat in a field of bamboo sat two large giant Panda bears.

“Jambo Mr and Mrs Panda” shouted Marty, but the Panda’s didn’t look up they just carried on eating the bamboo shoots.

“Mmm I guess Panda’s don’t understand Swahilli” joked Daniel which made Marty laugh so much that he nearly shook little Simon off his head.

“Careful Marty don’t hurt my little boy” shouted.

“Hakuna matata” shouted down Simon, I am hanging on tight to Marty’s ears.

“Ouch, he certainly is hanging on tight” exclaimed Marty and every one laughed again.

After a very long and tiring walk and just as it was starting to get dark, Marty saw the bright lights of Beijing, lighting up the night’s sky.

“We are nearly there” said Marty

“Yes Beijing here we come” said Daniel “but I don’t think Simon will know much about our arrival, he’s fallen asleep”

And sure enough Simon had wedged himself between Marty’s horns and fallen fast asleep.

They all walked into the busy city to the hotel where Daniel, Diana and Simon were staying (Marty was booked into a different hotel)

So as not to wake little Simon, Marty stayed outside while Daniel and Diana booked into the hotel and went up to their room on the third floor,

Diana opened the window to the bedroom and Marty leaned through the window and put his head down close to Simon’s bed, so Daniel could move the little boy into his bed without waking him.

“I have to go to find my hotel now” said Marty “and I am leaving for home on an early flight tomorrow”

“We are staying in Beijing for a few days” said Diana “so kwaheri Marty, kuwa salama safari nyumbani kwa Afrika “(goodbye Marty have a safe journey home to Africa)

“Kwahari” replied Marty “It has been lovely to meet you all”

Marty made his way to his own hotel and as he was so tired after the long walk he fell asleep very quickly.

He was up early the next morning and headed straight for the airport.

“My journey through Asia has been an amazing adventure” Marty thought to himself as be boarded the aeroplane “but I will be glad to get back to Nairobi to see all my friends, my little house, my motorcycle and most of all my Gillian again”

Soon the aeroplane was flying high above the clouds taking Marty back to Africa where there will sure to be lots more adventures for

Marty the motorcycling giraffe.

Dont forget to catch next weeks thrilling adventure  in story 38 Marty and Gillian's speccial night, to be posted Sat 3rd March 2012

Marty the Motorcycling Giraffe Story 36 Marty’s amazing Asian adventure part 2 Marty and Santosh the snowboarding yak

Marty the Motorcycling Giraffe

Story 36 Marty’s amazing Asian adventure part 2 Marty and Santosh the snowboarding yak

Marty the Motorcycling Giraffe is on one of his most amazing adventures as he is visiting Asia, after a lovely time in India, where he met a knew friend called Jai and visited the Taj Mahal, Marty is now sat on the roof of a train heading for Nepal and a small town called that is high in the Himalayan mountains.

After passing through the border between India and Nepal the train track started to rise steeply up the mountains as the train raced through the Nepalese countryside. A cold wind started to blow and Marty felt every exposed sat on the top of the train.

“If it gets any colder up here I am going to be worlds only blue Giraffe” Marty thought to himself as the surrounding countryside started to turn white with a thick covering of snow.

Marty was very pleased when the train finally came to a stop at Kathmandu station, and he could climb off the roof. Marty  quickly got his very long and very stripy scarf (that Mrs Smith made for him when he visited London on a previous adventure) and wrapped it round his neck (a rather long job)

“That’s better” said Marty to himself “I feel a lot warmer with my scarf on”.

As Marty trudged through the snowy streets, towards the hotel he was staying at tonight, he looked up at all the snowy mountains that towered above the small town and often seem to disappear into the clouds looking like they would go on rising into the sky for ever. Marty was very excited because tomorrow he was going to start a hike to the base camp of the highest of all the mountains, Mount Everest.

Although Marty has climbed very high mountains before in Africa and in South America, he has never climbed as high as he will do on this adventure.

Marty’s hotel in Khatmandu was very nice and had a big log fire burning in the main lounge area. So Marty sat in front of it warming his hooves before deciding to go to bed to get some rest before his big climb to the base camp of Mount Everest the next day.

The next day after a big breakfast of twigs and leafs, Marty met up with Adesh his guide, a rather small man with a very old wrinkly face and  grey bear, who was going to take Marty to the base camp of Mount Everest.

“Namaste” said Adesh “I have never had a Giraffe climb with me before” said   “have you ever climbed any mountains before”

“Yes” replied Marty very proudly, “I have climbed Mount Kilimanjaro back in Africa and the Andes mountains in Peru to see the lost city of Machu Pichu”

“They are fine mountains indeed” said Adesh   “but Everest is the tallest mountain in the world and although we are only going to base camp and not to the top, you will still have to climb higher than you have ever done before”.

Marty thought that this sounded like a very exciting adventure.

Soon Marty set off following in Adesh’s footsteps; it was very tough going trudging through the deep snow and up the steep slopes. It took four days and nights before they arrived at the base camp of Everest and Marty felt very cold in his tent each night and was very glad each morning when Adesh brought him a cup of hot tea and bowl of piping hot porridge. (Marty usually only eats twigs and leafs, but in this climate he was very happy to eat something hot)

Adesh was a very quiet guide and didn’t talk much as they trekked up the mountain, but at least he seemed to know the correct way.

Marty was feeling very tired when they finally reached the base camp of Everest, where there were a few other parties who made a similar trip and one group of intrepid mountaineers who were intending climbing on to the top of Everest.

“Wow” said Marty to the group of climbers “you must be very brave to be climbing to the top” as he looked up the snowy slopes to see the top of Mount Everest was still disappearing into the clouds.

“It  will certainly be a great adventure  replied one of the mountaineers “who added “maybe you should come back one day Marty and climb the whole of the mountain, and become the first Giraffe to ever reach the top of Mount Everest.”

“I would like that, maybe I will one day” said Marty.

Soon it was time for Marty and Adesh to start climbing back down to Kathmandu

Marty and Adesh had not got far down the snowy slope, when they heard a strange noise coming form behind them they looked around to see a large cloud of snow billowing down the mountain towards them

“Weeeeeee!” came a  noise from inside the cloud of  snow, and as it came nearer Marty and Adesh could see the cloud of snow was being caused by a Yak coming down the hill on a snowboard. The Yak came to a skidding halt just in front of Adesh and Marty, throwing snow up and into their faces

“Namaste” said the Yak “I am Santosh the snowboarding yak, and I live here on these mountains”

“Jambo, I am Marty the motorcycling giraffe, all the way form Africa” replied Marty.

“I have never seen a giraffe in the Himalayas before and I don’t think you could ride a motorcycle up here” exclaimed Santosh.

“No, I don’t think so” laughed Marty and he added “snowboarding looks exciting”

“I have a spare snow board in my back pack, if you would like to have a go?” offered Santosh

Marty said that would be great , so Marty and Santosh climbed back up the slopes a little way to find a good spot to snow board down, while Adesh quietly and patiently watched them.

After a few instructions from Santosh, Marty felt he was ready to go snow boarding. So they Marty and Adesh jumped on their snow boards and started to whizz down the mountains slopes at great speed.

“Wow! This is fantastic” shouted Marty

But suddenly Marty found that the snow board wasn’t that easy to control and he was heading straight towards the edge of a cliff…. “Oooh quick, help me Santsoh” shouted out Marty.

Santosh quickly caught up with Marty and shouted for him to lean to his right.

Marty did this and the snow board turned away from the cliff edge just in time.

“Phew that was close” exclaimed Marty, but as he look back at the cliff edge he didn’t notice a rock sticking out the snow and Marty hit the rock and full speed, that sent him and his snowboard spinning into the air, Marty land with a loud flumpy noise into a deep pile of soft snow, so that only his neck and head were sticking out of the snow.

Marty wasn’t hurt and he and Santosh were soon laughing about how he flew through the air.

“Snow boarding is great fun” exclaimed Marty as he dug himself out of the snow “but I think I prefer motorcycling”

Marty thanked Santosh for letting him have a go at snowboarding and he and Adesh carried on back down the Mountain to Kathmandu.

At Khatmandu Marty said “asante sana” to Adesh for helping him climb to the base camp at Everest and then shouted “Kawahari” as he climbed on board the train. Adesh quietly put his hands to together bowed and whispered “Namaste, Marty enjoy the rest of your travels”.

Soon the train was rocketing along the tracks out of Nepal and into China, and Marty thought to himself that he can’t wait to see what more adventures this trip will bring for

Marty the motorcycling Giraffe

Look out for next weeks tale of adventure Story 37 Marty's amazing Asian adventure part 3  Marty wlks on the Great wall of China , to be posted on Sat 25th Feb 2012

Marty the motorcycling giraffe Story 35 Marty’s great Asian adventure (Part 1 Marty and the Taj Mahal)

Marty the motorcycling giraffe

Story 35 Marty’s great Asian adventure (Part 1 Marty and the Taj Mahal)

Today was an exciting day for Marty, because today he is starting off on one of his exciting travelling adventures. Marty is flying to Mumbai in India to start his great Asian adventure.

Gillian, Peter, Gloria, Emmanuelle and Victor all turned up at the airport to wave Marty goodbye

“Kawhari, na safari njema” (goodbye have a good trip) they all shouted as Marty left for the plane.

“I’ll miss you” shouted Gillian, “I’ll miss you too” replied Marty and he blew Gillian a goodbye kiss.

During the long flight to Mumbai, Marty read all abut India in a book he brought at Nairobi airport, he was particularly interested in the Taj Mahal, which is magnificent building that was built by Shah Jahan (Prince Hurran) as a tomb for and shrine to his late wife Murmataz Mahal

Marty was quite tired when he arrived in Mumbai so he booked into a small hotel to stay the night and plan his trip to the Taj Mahal.

Marty spent the evening looking out across Mumbai from his hotel window and marvelling at all the different things going on and the lovely smells coming from people cooking spicy food on the pavements. Marty of course doesn’t eat any of these different types of food, so he settled for some dinner of twigs and leafs before going to bed to get a good nights sleep.

The next morning Marty went to the train station to catch a train to Agra, the nearest city to the Taj Mahal. Marty brought his ticket and went out to the platform on the train station and he couldn’t believe his eyes when his train came in, the train was so crowded there was no room in any of the carriages and lots of people were climbing on top of the train to sit on its roof.

“Come up here Mr Giraffe I will help you” said a young boy reaching his hand down from the roof, He took Marty’s hoof and helped Marty onto the roof.

“Asante sana” said Mary

“Namaste (hello)” said the boy “my name is Jai, I have never met a giraffe before, you are very tall”

“Jambo” replied Marty “My name is Marty and I am from Africa and I like visiting new places and having lots of adventures”

“Well a train ride in India is certainly an adventure” Laughed Jai, and then he shouted “look out! Duck down Marty!”

Marty looked up to see that the train was headed towards a low bridge and he had to lean his head and neck down the side of the train to fit through

“Phew that was close” exclaimed Marty

As the train passed through different stations on the journey it b got busier and busier and Marty had to hold on tight to stop him being pushed off the roof.

Marty thought that this was a very exciting way to travel and loved looking out across the Indian countryside, especially when he saw some Indian Elephants and a very fierce looking tiger walking quite close to the railway tracks.

Eventually the train came to halt at Agra train station and Marty and Jai left the station

“I can show you round the Taj Mahal, I have been there several times before” said jai

“Asante sana that is really good of you” replied Marty.

It was quite a long walk from the station, which gave Marty and jai plenty of time to swap stories about living in Africa and India.

When they arrived at the Taj Mahal, Marty instantly new the trip was worthwhile, the building was an absolutely fantastic site  with its four large towers and the wonderfully ornate stonework that created glorious archways and a simply magnificent domed roof and was set in the most beautiful gardens.

“That is truly an amazing building” exclaimed Marty “Shah Jahan must have really loved his wife, to have such a magnificent shrine built for her”

“Yes indeed” replied Jai “but you wait until you see the inside it gets even better”.

Jai and Marty spent the rest of the day inside and outside the Taj Mahal marvelling at all the treasures and secrets that the building kept. Marty was very impressed with Jai’s knowledge.

“You do know an awfull lot about the Taj Mahal, I am very grateful that you could show me round” said Mary “I am also surprised by how many people from all over the world are here to visit the building”

“Yes lots of people come to our country to visit the Taj Mahal, but I think you are the only Giraffe.”

This made Marty smile and feel very proud.

Soon it was time for Marty to leave and continue on his Asian adventure, as he had to catch another train to take him out of India into Nepal and the giant mountains of the Himalayas

Marty and Jai said goodbye at the train station and Marty made Jai promise that he would come to Africa to visit him some day

“I would love to show you round my home country” Said Marty

Marty then climbed on top of the roof of the train and shouted Kawahari  as the train left the station heading for Nepal, the Himalayas and yet more adventures for

Marty the Motorcycling Giraffe.

Dont for get to check next weeks adventure:- story 36 Marty's great Asian adventure part 2 Marty and Santosh the snowboarding Yak

Marty the Motorcycling Giraffe Story 34 Marty and Peter give Emmanuelle a big birthday surprise

Marty the Motorcycling Giraffe

Story 34 Marty and Peter give Emmanuelle a big birthday surprise.

One day while they were hard at work, cleaning windows in Nairobi, Marty, the Motorcycling Giraffe and window cleaner’s assistant, and his good friend Peter, the window cleaner, were having a chat about their friend Emmanuelle, the farmer.

“Did you know it is Emmanuelle’s birthday on Friday?”  Peter asked Marty.

“Yes I did know” replied Marty “But he will probably be too busy working on his farm to celebrate his birthday”

“He does work very hard” agreed Peter.

Marty then had an idea “why don’t we throw him a surprise party, then he will have to stop working and enjoy his birthday” he said

“What a great idea” agreed Peter.

For the rest of the day, as they worked, Marty and Peter discussed their plans for Emmanuelle’s party surprise. Victor (the trainee window cleaner) also joined in with some ideas.

By the time they had finished their work for the day the three boys had thought up a great plan.

On Friday they would start work early, and work really fast to get all the windows and all of Mr Makushi’s truck washed and clean before three o’clock in the afternoon, Then they would collect Gloria and Gillian and sneak to the small field on the side of Emmanuelle’s little house and set up a barbeque.

“Emmannuelle will be busy in his banana plant field at that time of the day, so we can set up the barbeque with out him knowing it” said Peter who added with funny smile on his face “I shall get my lovely new wife to make up lots of wonderful tasting smoothies as well” 

Marty and Victor laughed at this, because Peter also had a funny wistful look on his face when he thought of Gloria.

The three friends worked really hard for the rest of the day and they finished cleaning the last of Mr Makushi’s trucks by 2:45 in the afternoon.

“Me and Victor will go in the van and pick up Gloria, and the food” said Peter “and you Marty had better whiz off fast on you motorbike to the Masai Mara and pick up Gillian”

“Right away” said Marty, and it was his turn to have a silly smile on his face,

“He always has a silly look on his face when you mention Gillian” laughed Victor.

“Ha” replied Peter “you will understand Victor when a pretty binti (young lady) captures your heart”

Peter, Victor and Gloria soon arrived at Emmanuelle’s farm and started to set up the barbeque and put up some tables for the food and smoothies and Victor brought his I Pod and speakers so they could have some music.

When Marty and Gillian arrived, Peter asked Marty to ride to the banana field and tell Emmanuelle that he had to come quickly as someone has broken the door to his barn, and that the rest of them would hide in the barn and jump out to surprise him

“That should get him running here quickly, Emmanuelle keeps a lot of important farm equipment in his barn” said Peter with a sly smile

So Marty raced his motorcycle across the farm’s fields until he came to the field with the banana plants.

There was Emmanuelle making sure that all his banana plants were well watered

“Emmanuelle!!! Emmanuelle!!” shouted Marty “Come quickly, something has happened to your barn, the door has been broken off!”

“Oh no not my barn!” shouted Emmanuelle and he jumped onto the back of Marty’s motorcycle.

Soon they were whizzing across the field back to the barn where the others were waiting.

As they pulled up alongside the barn, Emmanuelle looked a bit puzzled.

“But there is nothing wrong with my barn Marty” he said.

Suddenly the barn door opened and out jumped Peter, Gloria, Gillian and Victor.

“Mshangao! (Surprise) Happy birthday Emmanuelle “they all shouted.

“Oh wow a surprise party for me, oh asante sana” excalinmed Emmanuelle

Peter then got the food cooked on the barbeque, Gloria handed out the smoothies and Victor put the music on.

Soon the party was in full swing and some of Emmanuelle’s neighbours from the nearby village joined in and everyone was dancing to Victor’s music and having a great time.

The party continued late into the night, but eventually it was time to go home and all the guests started to leave.

“Kwarhari asante sana” (goodbye, thank you) Emmanuelle shouted to his guests as they were leaving

“Yako kuwakaribisha, hakuna matata” (your welcome, its no problem) laughed Marty and Peter in reply.

By the time Marty had taken Gillian back to the Masai Mara and got back to his house the sun was coming up and he been awake all night.

“I am going to be very tired, but it was worth it. It was a good party and it was good to see Emmanuelle enjoy his birthday” thought Marty to himself and then he thought that he had better get some sleep or he will be too tired for the next adventure that might come along for

Marty the motorcycling giraffe.

Dont forget to check next week as Marty's year of adventures continues with story 35 Marty's great Asian adventure part 1 Marty visits the Taj Mahal