I just got back last night from Inner Mongolia or Nei Mongol and had a blast. I am also sore all over from the saddle, but it was so worth it. Cait and I left our dorms in Beijing at 4:30 in the morning on the first of October for the beginning of China’s National Day Holiday in order to catch the bus and drive the supposedly 7 hour drive to Hohhot. It was a rainy start as we stood in the one lone store open at that time to avoid the rain and waited for the buses and all the [View Full Entry]

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Hello! I am christening this blog with some photos of the mass chaos that was this weekend. [View Full Entry]

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More Apologies Mongolian internet cafes are similar in nature to Sloths: they are awfully slow but do eventually get the job done, however, they are most likely eaten or stuffed before they get there. Because of that it is virtually impossible for me to post photos right now, and I probably won't be able to until the 7th of October. In the meantime please enjoy some small text and keep faith that when I do find a good cafe there will be in excess of 300 awesome pictures. The Trans-Mongolian Express The Trans-Mongolian Express is one of the worlds most revered [View Full Entry]

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We started the day at a ridiculous 5am. Next on the itinerary was Xiangshawan, "the singing sands gorge", a tourist spot in the Gobi Desert. The place is known for its incredibly huge sand dunes, with the largest being over 90m. Alas, getting to Xiangshawan was a 4.5 hour drive from Huitengxile, which is why we had to get up at a ridiculous 5am. Despite the early start, and the rather tiring day before, the majority of the gang didn't sleep in the van. Instead, we whiled away the time playing childish hand games, including a fun little local game called [View Full Entry]

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Many people don't realize that there are two Mongolias. Good old standard Mongolia is a standalone country north of China, and is best known for its famous conqueror, Genghis. Then there is Inner Mongolia, a province in the far north of China, that was claimed a long long time ago for the Chinese empire. Both places are known primarily for grasslands and horses. Not sure why people find grasslands so fascinating, since I'm sure we've all seen big fields of grass before. But somehow, those tourism brochures make walking through big fields of tall itchy grass seem like an exciting heart- [View Full Entry]

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At the the beginning of our trip Craig and I had planned on visiting every single province in China, excluding those we had already been to during study abroad. Perhaps this wasn't the best goal, considering China is an extremely large country and traveling there can be very tiring (not to mention hard on the lungs). As you shall see, this plan was thrown by the wayside fairly quickly, though hopefully it explains why we ended up in Manzhouli. Craig and I couldn't figure out if we had actually been to Inner Mongolia before. It is not a positive quality for [View Full Entry]

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Ya nos avisaron anoche que a las siete de la manana cerrarian los banos hasta llegar a Erlyan, primera ciudad china despues de la frontera con Mongolia. Asi que toca madrugar, hacer cola en el tren y esperar un rato. Lo de las fronteras es un atraso, eso queda claro cuando estamos parados una hora en Mongolia, rellenando formularios y otros documentos. Tememos morir de aburrimiento cuando entra una chica uniformada y con un rostro de solemne seriedad y nos pide los pasaportes. Intento hacerle una foto sin que se de cuenta y parece que me pilla, por lo que [View Full Entry]

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Me despierto porque una de las hermanas de Golden Globi la ha agarrado fuerte la noche anterior y desfallece en una de las literas de la habitacion. Son las nueve de la manana y al rato me vuelvo a tumbar. Me despierto de forma definitiva a eso de las doce y como es dia de despedida con los companeros de viaje decidimos ir a comer a un restaurante indio que hay en Ulaanbaatar. Ahi Mathieu nos cuenta sus experiencias en la India y comenta que es un viaje duro, por lo parece que hay que estar preparado fisica y emocionalmente [View Full Entry]

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Day 155, 2nd November Erlian - Km 55 marker Had a decent sleep and this morning a hot shower in the piss-stinking toilet block of our first Chinese hotel. We went out to change money and have breakfast, another delicious and massive meal. The people in the small restaurants seem happy to serve us and are keen to wait on us. And the delicious food is so cheap too. Around midday, a taxi driver drove us to an internet club where I spent an hour reading my emails, some lovely ones from Kathryn, but I could only manage to write short [View Full Entry]

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We reisden per dagtrein van Yinchuan naar Baotou, onze hardseat kostte 36Y, voor dat geld zaten we 8 uur in de trein! Taxi’s hebben een instapprijs van 6Y. De luchthaven ligt erg dicht bij het treinstation (2km?), maar het verkeer wordt hier omgeleid, zodat een taxi van de luchthaven naar het Xihu hotel toch 40Y kostte en er 30min over deed. We logeerden in het Xihu Fandian (Westelijk Meer Hotel) - Nanmenwai dajie 10 - Donghe district - 014040 Baotou Tel : 0472 - 4187101 Ligging : op 200 meter ten noorden van het Westelijk Treinstation en van het lange- [View Full Entry]

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