Mongolia

We spent our last day in Beijing looking around Tiannamen square and then the forbidden city. It was interesting but it was a stinking hot day and there were so many tourists (us included obviously). We were planning on visiting the olympic stadiums in the evening but somehow wound up drinking at a couple of little bars on one of Beijings "Bar Streets". Very Enjoyable.

Not so enjoyable getting up at 6 to get on the train the next morning. The train was great. We shared a cabin with Cath and Dave, a couple from Newcastle who had managed to bring the oddest assortmnent of Chinese food I have ever seen. Needless to say I didn't have any sugared baby crabs, dried squid or pork floss - but Ben did.

The first part of the trip was really mountaneous and beautiful. It soon flattened out though and there were about 8 hours of nothingness. Ben, Cath and I were the only 3 to stay on the train for the changing of the bogeys (wheels). It was really interesting.

We went through the Gobi during the night so we didn't get to see much of it. But there was enough sand in our cabin in the morning that we got the general idea of what it was like. The rest of the journey was quite flat. Its hard to describe the landscape. Photos and words don't do justice to how vast and awe inspiring it is. I love it. We arrived in Ulaanbaatar about 2 in the afternoon, checked into our hotels and went for a walk. Its not like I was imagining. The buildings look quite poor and run down but everyone is so well dressed with the latest mobile phones and new cars. It's a weird contrast.



That night we went out to dinner where the brave members of the group had horse for dinner. I opted for the vegetables. Ben described it as "chewy beef" so I don't feel like I'm missing out on much. We tried to go to some pubs with Cath and Dave but I supect something was lost in the mongolian translation of the word "pub" as we spent most of the night sitting in empty restaurants.

The next morning it was onto the bus and out into the Terelj national park for our stay in the ger camp. Feeling full of confidence I convinced Ben that we HAD to ride the horses for 2 hours. I don't know where my misguided belief that I could actually ride a horse came from but lets just say the following 2 hours were a steep learning curve. And the bus ride home today reinforced the fact Ben and I won't be comfortably sitting down for quiet some time!

The night at the camp was great. We learnt how to cook traditional dumplings and got outside just in time to see a full moon rising over the rocky mountain tops. It was definately one of the most impressive things I've ever seen. Sleeping in the Ger was fun as well. Not sure how fun it would be in the middle of winter - but summer is great.

Today we came back into town and went and visited a local orphanage run by intrepid. The children are so gorgeous - although apparently it is bad luck to tell them that so you are supposed to tell them that they are ugly. Poor little guys must have some pretty low self esteem as we were all telling them just how ugly they were!

Anyway - enough for now. One more day in Mongolia and then off to Russia.

great wall

Hey all, we're still here in Beijing and loving it. Yesterday we saw the "temple of heaven" and today we went out to the great wall. It was amazing. Quite hot and a LOT of stairs - but well worth it. I think the area we were in was aimed at western tourists as we had the option of taking a tabogan down from the top. I'm no expert on chinese history but I don't think this was the conventional way of getting down. Was loads of fun and sure beat the stairs. For those who are interested you're welcome to come over when we get back and I'll show you the other 500 or so photos.

the summer palace

Hi all,

We've been in Beijing for 2 days now and loving it.

Today we conquered the metro system and made our way out to the summer palace. It was beautiful and luckily my camera seems to make the sky blue even though we sure didn't see it that way. I think we may resemble some kind of celebrities over here (Ben thinks its probably a younger bearded George Clooney while I suspect Cameron Diaz) as we had people taking photos of us all day - one group of teenagers even worked up the courage to ask to have their photos taken with us - many peace signs ensued.

Food has been interesting to say the least - the restaurant downstairs has a special tonight of "Zebra" - I think they may need to fire their translator.

the plan so far.....

Hi all,

For those we haven't bored senseless already with talks of our trip. This is a very brief summary of the plan so far..

On June 17 we fly to beijing where we hang around and do the touristy thing for a couple of days, then hop onto the trans-mongolian train for a 30 hour trip into mongolia and up to the capital Ulaanbaatar. From here we travel out into Terelj national park for some time in a traditional ger camp and a couple of nights in a yert. They include some mongolian cooking lessons which should prove interesting.

Then back into Ulaanbaatar where we spend the next couple of days seeing the sites with the option of helping out at an orphanage run by intrepid for local homeless kids.

Back on the train for 40 hours and up into Siberia where we go to the city of Irkutsk and from there out to Lake Baikal for a home stay with some locals - and another cooking lesson - this time in Russian delicacies.

Then back on the train for the longest part of the journey. We spend 3 days and nights, and cross through 5 timezones before we get off the train again, this time in Suzdal.

From Suzdal we head to Moscow for a couple of days and then on to St Petersburg. Here we leave our train buddies and head off on our own into Europe.

We'll be using our eurail passes to stop in Helsiniki, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Brussels and then London. In Lodon we pick up our little spaceship campervan for 5 weeks of travelling around the UK. Hopefully seeing the Highland games in Scotland and the Edinburgh fringe on the way.

From there......... who knows??? We'll keep you updated!