June 28 Kashkent, Uzbekistan

Up and had a great breakfast. Fried eggs and drip coffee! Excellent.
Off to the Ala Archa National park. 4 of us hiked up to the falls. We only had 3 hours to do a 3.75 km hike. It took us 1 hour 50 minutes to get to the top, and then 1 hour 15 minutes to get back down. Beautiful hike with some difficult parts. Very nice with the river and a couple of creeks close by as well. Got to the falls which are not that big but very nice.

About 50 m high with some water flowing but not much. Liam and I hiked up a bit more to see the falls closer but ended up taking a wrong trail and going further away from the falls. The best view was from the bottom. On the way down met a couple that were carrying their skis and walking in their boots! I don't know how they were doing it and they had a long way to go to get to the glaciers. A very nice lunch and then off to the airport for a flight to Tashent, Uzbekistan. Farewell to Kyrgyzstan. Such a beautiful country of mountains, country side and people. Much to short of a time to be here.

Arrived in Tashkent Uzbekistan and through the immigration and customs quickly. Short drive to our hotel, Hotel Uzbekistan. The hotel is from "Russian times". Very large and older but very nice.

Took a walk through the park across the street to a shopping area for water and beer. 1 litre of beer about $2. Then to an open air cafe/bar for something to drink and eat. A small burger and a beer, $2.50. Great little place. Set up like a band stand with columns and a roof in the middle of the square. The park was very busy with lots of young people hanging around. Still fairly hot, probably about 30 degrees, it is 10 pm!


June 27 Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

Ready for another 5 hour drive.

First stop at some petroglyphs which date back to 8th century BC to 4th century AD. 42 hectares of rocks with various drawings.

Lots of very nice countryside. All very green. The shops seems to all group together. There were the smoked fish, mostly trout, and then later a string of roadside fresh corn stalls. Smoked fish, large, $12. There has been everything from donkeys pulling 2 wheeled carts to very old combines to new combines and of course tractors of every age pulling carts.

Although the drives are long, there is always something to see.

A short stop at a supermarket, and buy some food. I got a sharma or gyro or donair, which had salad, cucumbers, tomatoes, beef and even french fries! It was huge but very good. Cost, 90 som, or $1.80.
Short picnic along side of road near Burana Tower, a Muslim minaret. This one made of brick and reconstructed in the 60s. About 25 metres high compared to the original which was 40. Nice view from the top. In the museum there were many balbals which are the Turkish grave head stones.

Pre Islam they put faces on the stone carvings, but post Islam, they were written in the local language which is Arabic like. There is the remnants of a city close by. Made of mud bricks dating back to the 9th century.

Arrived in Bishkek about 4, and off to the city centre for a walking tour. Caught the changing of the guards at 6 pm. Many statues of different people, Lenin of course, but also Karl Marx, and one to remember the young people that were killed during a protest in 2010. To dinner at a new restaurant, Navat, which was very good! Nika, the guide from the border crossing joined us and even brought each of us a small gift, a small Kyrgyzstan cup. This is a first!
As we missed happy hour, we had a beer sitting around the pool. Very nice a relaxing and also luxurious to have a pool.


June 26 Cholpon Ata

In the van and off to the Nikolai Przhevalsky Museum. He is the first European to study the geography in Central Asia. He attempted to get to Lhasa, Tibet several times.

A short drive to Cholpon Ata, a city that was a "Russian time" resort area right on the Issyk Kul. This is a naturally salty lake but at this time of the year it is still very cold. Tina and Gillian actually went in. But not for long.  A walk along the pier.  There were a few local people having vodka and jumping in.  They were willing to share if we went in.  But they were willing to share the vodka or beer wih us anyway.

A fairly relaxing day. Some of us walked up to the main street, about 2 km to have a look around. The usual shop and stores. There is not a lot of tourists around so fairly quiet. A few tour sellers tried to sell us horse or boat rides or a city tour.
Out for shisha after dinner.

June 25 Karakol
As went to bed about 10 last night, I was up at 5.30 but did not get out of bed until 6. Way too Early!

Guest house Karakul

But at least I was able to make some coffee. The water out of the hot water tap is so hot that is what I used. The heater is right in the bathroom.
Spent about 1 hour talking to the son in law. Amazes me how much you can get with just a few words of English and lots of gestures.

Another 5 hours in the van. At least these roads were not under construction, but were still not that smooth.

Picnic on Issyk Kul (salt water lake)

Stopped in a small town near Issyk Kul (Kul is lake). Stopped at the market and bought some fruit and vegetables. 2 cucumbers 6 som or 12 cents. Bananas from Ecuador $1.20. Then to the local bake shop for samosas. $1.20 for 2, one with potato and one with chicken. Also the bake shop for some fresh naan bread.

Stopped at the beach to have lunch, picnic style. windy and cool but still nice. This lake is 170 km long and 70 km wide, the second largest mountain lake in the world (next to Lake Titicaca) it is also salty. Made a quick stop at a Chinese design mosque.

Market

Mostly made of wood. Then to an Othadox church. Again made of wood, but this one was rebuilt in the 60s.

Happy hour at about 6. Drinking some Russian vodka. $4 for a 500 ml bottle. Really smooth, maybe too smooth.
Off to a local restauant. A very nice place. Several of us a local fresh fish. It was excellent. Dinner including an expensive bottle of wine came to $10.


June 24 Kochkor

One of sights on road

Another sight on road

Breakfast of cream of wheat and a 5 hour drive to here. I think is only about 200 km but the roads are all under construction and apparently they have been like this for about 5 years. The Chinese are building the roads with their own labour. All part of the plan to open up a land route to Europe for trade. It will be really nice when finished. Stayed at a very nice Community based Tourism guest house. Not much in the small town but did walk up to the local shop. 1 litre of beer 60 som, about $1.20, which is a little more expensive than the beer we bought on sale in China. Gas here is 38 som, about 80 cents, cigs 38 som as well. Money is going a long way here. The country side is beautiful and the people are very friendly.

Went to a felt making shop, that is such a labour intensive process. And the carpets are very nice. 4 x 6 ft carpet for less than $100. I would have bought but too early to buy, I don't want to carry it!

Interesting as everyone did survive 2 days without wifi, but hilarious that now that we have it no one is talking!
Dinner in the guest house, salad, soup and home made dumplings with chives and mutton chives with mutton. They were excellent This was on top of the tea with home made jam, cookies and sweet at 3 when we arrived.


June 23 Kygystan, Tash Rabat (which means stone building

Tash Rabat football game

So long to China today. One day later than itinerary specified due to the Dragon Boat festival holiday. Left hotel at 9, quick stop to change money from guy on street. Got 80 som for yuan, costly as real rate should be 96, but just easy. Got through The Chinese immigration fairly easily but we did have to wait until the guards showed up for work. Traveled for a couple of hours along a river with amazing scenery. Lots of little villages in'no owns land' for 100 km. It was a long couple of hours on some very rough roads. Getting into 3rd gear was a rarity!

Inside yurt - roommates

Just before the border we got stopped again at a checkpoint. At least an hour but at least here there was some entertainment as a local bus coming into China was stopped and lots of illegal cherries were found. Finally got through and they just waved us past!

Another couple of hours to cover 100 km of 'no mans land' before entered Kyrgyzstan. WE passed over the Torugant Pass which is about 3700 m high. Almost to the snow line.

Stream by yurt camp

Road started out really nice but that did not last long. Turned off after about an hour onto a dirt road. beginning to wonder where we were going. This is the sleep in yurt night! We ended up about 10 km into a very green valley with a small stream running beside it. about 6 yurts set up with a a local family nearby. Amazing, I am not sure I can really describe it! So green, rolling hills, sheep all over as well as cows and Kygy cowboys! This is amazing. Even though it rained most the the way it had stopped by the time we arrived, about 3 or 4, I lost track, I just know it was a long day.

panaramic view of yurt camp

Got set up in yurt and then off to see the Tash Rabat. This was a stopping off point on the Silk Road for the merchants. Some restoration work had been done. It could fit about 60 people and was a maze of smaller rooms, including an escape tunnel. No one knows whether it is 500 or 1000 years old. Great dinner in little salad, soup bread.

Couple of German guys also there. Great time, talking laughing and also drinking wine and vodka. There was a duty free at the border where you could get Australian wines, Jim Beam and many kinds of vodka. very cold here compared to the 35 degree weather we have been used to. Got down to 7 degrees along with the damp. Yurt had dung fire heat but still cool in morning.


June 22 Kashar (Kashi)

10.30 start today! Very nice, as got to enjoy a relaxing coffee.

Old city

Short walk to the Old city. Made out of mud bricks and straw. This area is slowly getting smaller as the government is relocating the people to newer apartments. These people do not want to leave. The area is clean and some are even doing renovations. Some houses are 3 stories high and even have sheep pens, some on the 2nd floor.
Quick taxi and at the Idgah Mosque. A large mosque in the city. Interesting as thet Time zone is same throughout China but they operate using their own time zone 2 hours later.

Happy hour and farewell to Richard the Gadventure CEO. Tomorrow we head to

old city

Kyrgystan, although a day later than planned we have enjoyed the extra time. The 7 of us are on our own tonight! We had planned to have dinner at one of the restaurants by the lake but it was all taped off with guards everywhere. Apparently there was an 'incident" and they closed the area off. We did find a muslim place with pictures of food in the menu. We had a great meal of noodles, kabobs and naan.
Early night.

June 21 Kashgar (Kashi)

Many scooters in special lanes

Got to sleep in this morning! We did not leave hotel until 10! This Hotel, the Tianyuan Hotel is VERY good, they actually have coffee for breakfast. But then again so did the one in Kurpan.

On the bus heading for the animal bazaar. This is where the local people bring their animals for sale. Lots of sheep, goats, cattle, and a few donkeys and horses. They pay a per head fee and then all the sales are made privately.

Animal bazaar

International Bazaar

I stood and watched one guy sell his goat. It must have been a good one as there were several men around and they seemed to be bidding for the goat. I could not see how much was paid. Our guide said that 1 donkey could go for 6000 yuan, $1200 and a sheep for $500. This seems very expensive and contradictory to the extra meat we are getting with our meals and not more expensive.

Then the the Fragrant concubine tombs. This is where one of the emperor's concubines is buried as her family lives in the city. The graveyard is really quite large.

Back to hotel and lunch and then off to international market. This market is huge. Everything you could want. Clothes, leather, nuts, jewelry, hats, shirts pants, shoe maker. The place was packed with people. While we were in the market the wind picked up and really started to blow and then the rain came pouring down! It only lasted about 15 or 20 minutes but enough to flood the streets. It did wash some of the dust out of the air which is nice, but it was still not enough to wash all the dust from the streets.

Mosque for concubine

Back to hotel, for a bit of a rest then happy hour. Nice to sit and talk about the day.
Dinner was held in the old British embassy building. The British left after WWII. It became the India embassy and then a few years ago a restaurant. Very nice building and we had a huge round table in a private room. A farewell dinner for our Chinese guide as he leaves us on the 22 and we get a new guide once we cross the border the Kyrgyzstan.

People's Park Ping pong

After dinner and nice walk through the People's Park just next door the hotel. A huge park and once again kids are out until 11 pm. Although the local consider it 9 pm. Gillian and Liam played ping pong with one of the local people. I think he took pity! Also a lot of badminton being played.

June 20 Kashgar (Kashi).

On the bus for a 2 1/2 hour ride to Urumqi.

Street lights and crosswalks all have second count down

We are now about 3300 km from Beijing. Amazing we have traveled so far and it seems is such little time, but it has been 10 days. We are in the far western corner of China. Very different. There is more Uyghur here. These are people that are decedent from Persia. Facial features very different. Also much more "Uyghur" style of writing signs. Dual languages on signs, Uyghur and Chinese.
Then onto a plane to fly 1600 km to Kashgar (Kashi). 2 1/2 hours flight.
This city very much Uyghur, about 65%. Very hot and very dry.

We had some free time so off to the supermarket! That is an experience in itself! Underground and monstrous! But they have everything you can imagine. Similar to a Walmart but this place had to be 2 times the size! But they have booze, beer and wine, which Walmart does not! Wine, cheap stuff at 35 yuan, $7, On way back to hote

l, the wind picked up and blew sand and dust everywhere!

Just to Chinese restaurant around the corner. As Ramadan started yesterday, any of the Muslim places are closed until sunset. Great food, and there is even plenty of meat in the dishes, which has been the case in most other places. Some you could not find it! But here no problem.

Glaciers in mountain range

Then just out for a walk. The police/military presence was huge. No problems, just showing a stand. They were not around for very long, but they are still present. 2 or 3 blocks down from the hotel is a lake. It was very busy with lots of families playing on the waters edge and taking boat rides. A small outboard the had the riders screaming as the driver made sharp turns. The people along the waters edge liked as there were waves. One of the group made friends with a small kid, around 1 years old. Mother took picture. Interesting as kids not really in diapers. These had their sleepers/ jump suits on that are completely open in the crotch.
Amazing as it was 11 pm and still fairly light! All of China is on the same time zone and we are now a long way west!

June 19 Night train to Turpan

Arrived about 5.30 and then into van for 45 minute drive to hotel. Interesting selection of amenities in this bathroom which include condoms!
Lunch at a little restaurant down the road. Fresh noodles that have just arrived. They are fairly big but the woman beat them on a table to thin them out to spaghetti size. They really stretch out. Noodles in broth with vegetables. Very good.

Then off to Jiaohe Island city ruins. They are high above a river that splits around this island.

All the buildings and Buddhist temples are made of local mud and straw. About 500 years old. Not much shade anywhere and must be 38 degrees out. At least there is a bit of breeze in some places. It is an amazing place! A very tactical place as so high and with the river, easy to protect from invaders but easy to be put under seige. There is no mention of growing any food but the area all around seems to be good for growing vegetables and lots of grapes.

Short drive to the Karez water system. This is a series of underground tunnels dug out to drain the water from the nearby mountain glacier streams. There are hundreds of them, many miles long. About 1900 km in total, some which are still used today. Some debate as to how old. Some say 2000 years to about 500 years ago. Amazing how they dug the tunnels underground and were able to get the to go in a fairly straight line. Sighting sticks used above and below ground in combination with square wells straight down.
Then to the Imin Mosque, built about 250 years ago. Amazing place as build out of bricks which several patterns on the minaret.

Stop back at hotel before dinner. Followed the signs to John's Cafe - apparently there is coffee! And there was! Espresso, but very expensive - $7. But tasted great, as it was the first coffee I have bought in ages.

On way to restaurant for food, stopped at an open air theatre. Looks like there are groups practicing for a singing/musical competition. Did not stay long but did see some interesting musical instruments.

Ended up eating dinner at the same restaurant as lunch. We did walk through a meat BBQ outdoor market. Always amazing what interesting things you find in these places. I will leave at that! But they did have dumplings with mutton and rice just being made and hot pots with rice and chicken that looked very good. Some people not ready for this.

June 18 Dunhuang

Well, believe it or not! We are in a desert but it is pouring rain and cool! Need a jacket this morning but still in shorts and sandals. Many people driving scooters holding umbrellas to keep the rain off.

Quite the sight!
Today out the door by 7.30 am and off to the Mogao Grottoes. These are Buddhist shrines built at various times from the 3rd century to 14th century. They have been dug into the side of a sand stone cliff. About 500 of the caves have very detailed paintings inside. There are about 500 other caves that are used for living quarters to the monks. One of the caves housed the library where 1000s of books, bamboos slips and other documents were found. Some of these are in various large museums around the world. Another amazing place. This is a crossroad of the East and West. This site has been visited by many monks from all over the west hundreds of years ago. Interesting in that although known during the Silk Road era, after it died down in about 1500AD, it was not rediscovered until the very early 1900s! And by westerners. Apparently the government was not aware of the site!
They have done a fantastic job. Spent about 500m yuan, $100 m, on a movie production and 2 theatres. 1 theatre is a 360 degree view of the grotto (caves). Very well done! The building is great.
Once again, onto a large bus and to the site. Difficult to see the grottoes as there have been protective walls built in front of the the cave entrances.

Back into the city and a few hours to selves. Lunch at pizza place, a nice change then a short walk along the Shule River. They have made reservoirs along parts of the river, otherwise very dry.
Back to hotel to relax a bit as have a 2 1/2 drive to another city to catch the train to Turpan. Wandered around a bit. Lots of watermelon for sale. On the corner 4 pool tables outside!
Train leaves at 10.30 pm and arrives Turpan at 5.30 am.

June 17 Dunhuang

9 am start. Civilized! Thanks to Joyce for saving these days! There is no coffee to be found! But I did bring some instant! Not the best but so much better than nothing.
A 1 hour drive to the Yu Men Pass. This is really a fort/castle/gate built 2000 years ago. Like so much in area it is made of mud, twigs and straw. Amazing how it has held up this long! There is also a beacon tower near by.

A short drive to a section of Han Dynasty Great wall! Again 2000 years old. This part has not be restored. It goes on for miles. The terrain is so flat and barren.

1 1/2 hour drive to Yardan GeoPark. This is called the ghost city. Huge sandstone outcroppings that have be shaped by the sand and wind. Several have been named. Alien, Sphinx, fleet of ships, peacock.
It is an amazing sight and site. The formations are great but the facilities are amazing as well. Definitely very new and geared to 1000s of visitors. You can only travel through the formations in large transit buses which looked new! Very nice.

June 16 Dunhuang

Awake about 6. Still pretty quiet on train. Very nice sun rise, brilliant red. The landscape is very moon like, except for the hundreds of wind turbines.
Got coffee with tea thermos like thing I found at train station.... feeling almost human! Trains have a boiling water tank in every car. And well used as everyone drinks tea and eats packaged noodles from the cup.
Train arrived at Dunhuang at about 9.30. I did get a far amount of sleep, and even though on the train for 23 hours, the time passed fairly fast.
Showered and off to National Museum. Some good displays.
Then off to the Sand Dunes.

They are just on the edge of the city at the end of this very wide and straight road. The dunes are huge! About 200 square km and 200 meters high. This is the southern end of the Gobi desert. It is very dry, but as we arrive, there was a bit of a sand storm and a few spits of rain!
Took a camel ride for about 1 hour up one dune. I am not sure why, but I did it anyway. They are not the most comfortable things to ride. At least these did not try to spit or bite you.

Then for a walk around the Crescent shaped Moon lake (????). It is a natural spring lake that has not dried up in hundreds of year. Fed by an underground spring. It is amazing to see. Also a nice pagoda on the edge.
Then a hike up the dune! Took only about 30 minutes, but a tough walk through the loose sand. Couple of us did it bare feet. Fortunately it was a cloudy day and the sand did not get too hot! Went up to see sunset but had to leave before hand and it was too cloudy anyway!

Sorry No pictures, I will post some as soon as I can.
Great trip, super people, amazing sights! We are kept very busy.



June 15 Train Xian to Dunhuang

Left Xian about 10.30 on train. Trip to take 23 hours. Once again in the Hard sleepers and train seems to be full. Bit of a Chinese history lesson from Richard, the quide. We have taken over 1 berth even though we do not have all the beds in the berth. I feel sorry for the 2 girls, they are stuck on the top bunks which are about 7 feet up.
Went to the dining car for lunch. We were almost the only ones in there that were not train staff. No English spoken, but were able to figure out beer! That is the only word I have worked out so far, that is food related. Small menu but nice variety. The food was really good. About 40 yuan, about Cdn$8.
Spent the afternoon sitting around, talking, reading writing. Then happy hour about 5 pm. Everyone brought out all the booze they had found at the train station. About 4 different types of hard alcohol ranging from 32% to 52%. All not too bad tasting. Of course there was beer as well! Also sharing all the snack food. Crackers, nuts, spiced and not, cookies, popcorn... the list goes on. There are 7 of us on the tour, each finding different things! Great the try different food and drink!
Back to the dining car for dinner. Same menu, but this time it was a bit busier. Food same but still good. Some other passengers had fish whole, head on. It looked really good.
Sat there until we got kicked out, about 9. Talked a bit more and then lights out at 10pm.


June 14, 2015 Xian

Arrived at hotel about 8.30 am! Got a fair bit of sleep, but a few snorers on train, but sure that I was one of them! A quick shower and into a van to head to Terra cota warriors. About a 2 hour drive.
Wow what a change from the last time I was here. I will have to look at my old pictures just to compare. I do not remember having to walk so far to get the the Pits. And the walk went through lots of vendors selling lots of tourist stuff! All the same as usual!
There are many more buildings on the grounds now. There is a super display of warriors and of 2 bronze chariots. There are 4 pits open to see, although Pit 4 is only a glass observation cover over a pit. Pit 3 and 2 are not as dug out as Pit 1. Pit 1 being the original pit where the farmer digging a well discovered the warriors. All 3 pits are covered by huge warehouse like building.
Even the second time the place is still amazing! I did resist to have my face imprinted onto a warrior or etched into a paper weight!
Then a short walk to a farmer's house for lunch. The house was really in the small town near the warriors.
Back in the van for 2 hours drive back to hotel. But took a detour to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. But on arrival in the huge park behind the pagoda was a musical water fountain display. Lots of people watching and was really a bonus find!
Spent 1 hour on a guided tour around the pagoda grounds. We were not able to walk up the pagoda but did get to all the other buildings on the grounds. I thought that we had been doing great as we had not be any place where you had to exit through the shop, but not here! Great guide but also a pretty high pressure salesperson - all sales to benefit the pagoda and residing monks. Some nice paintings and jade, but a little expensive.
Then a couple of public bus rides and we were in the Muslin section of the city. 2 or 3 blocks of foods stalls along a narrow street. Narrow yet the bikes were going by steadily, and leaning on the horns. They seem to have the right of way. Interesting as initially it just looked Chinese but there were some people that did have different facial features.
Then off to a banquet hall where we had a dumpling banquet. Another big feast of food that was all very good! Probably a dozen different types of dumplings, both flavours and shapes. The shapes were chickens, boats, monks and
just normal dumplings.


June 13, 2015 Beijing to Xian

Out of hotel by 8.30 am and lots of traffic. Overcast with showers in area. Lots of smog as well. Spoiled after the clear blue skies of Beijing.
We had the option of walking up for 30 minutes to the Great Wall or catching a chair lift up. Looked like an old ski lift! We are at a different location that before. Ended up at Tower 6 from the chair. Wow, amazing.... never sure just how to describe it! It is huge!
Walked to Tower 23, which took about 1 1/2 hours. Part were a tough climb up some stairs. Get there and a few vendors are selling you stuff or will help you with pictures. But found out later that they know a short cut up the hill! Walk back much easier, only about 1 hour. Mostly down hill. Once at Tower 6 took the toboggan back down. Similar to a luge run, single set on slides that runs on a half pipe. Slow as too many people going slow ahead of me. But still a good way to get down.
Stopped at a fruit stand on way back to Xian. They had cherries and apricots. Cherries were small and no where near as good as the Valley ones!
Grabbed suitcases from hotel and off to train station. The west one, not the busy Central station. But this one was busy enough. KFC, Starbucks, and McD's all present!
Onto train about 7.30. We are in the hard sleepers. And it really means hard. 6 bunks to a berth and all open, no curtains no doors. At least the beds are long enough and my feet did not stick out the end!
Busy place for most of the next few hours but lights out at 10 pm and all quiet.


June 12, 2015 Beijing


Breakfast and off by 8.30 am. Weather is hot, clear skies and windy.

Subway to Tienanmen Square. All blocked off for dignitaries from Angola.
Thousands of people everywhere. So much so there was traffic control police for the pedestrians.
Then to Emperor's Palace, the Forbidden City. Spent 3 or 4 hours wandering around. Amazing place, even with the thousands of people today. Apparently a quiet day! I can not imagine what it would be like if busy!
Then on bus to Hutong shopping areas. Pedestrian streets with many shops where you can buy just about anything. Some touristy type stuff but lots of others. Lots of food stalls.
Then to a very nice lake. Surprising to see such a nice place in the middle of the city. Signs everywhere saying NO SWIMMING, NO FISHING, but that did not seem to stop some!
Long day of walking in heat. But still super. Lunch was special noodles cooked in high heat water, with quail eggs, chicken slices, some vegetables. It was great. Of course beer as well. Need to keep the liquid levels up.
In evening, to a performance about the history of Kungfu. Very good. Super was at a street restaurant of BBQ vegetables, chicken and eggs. And beer.


June 11, 2015 Beijing


Night food stalls. Some things you could buy to eat - deep fried scorpion, centipede, bee, earthworm, snake, but also had deep fried ice cream.

June 9/10, 2015 Kelowna to Beijing

Well off again on another adventure.
Left Kelowna at noon on June 9 and arrived Beijing at 2 pm the next day. 15 hour time change and an 11 hour flight from Vancouver. Got to hotel and off to have a look around. Very humid, but I guess it had rained all morning. Nice to get out and walk around. First China experience - coffee from Starbucks! Desperate need for coffee if going to adjust to time change quickly