Blogs from Gobi Desert, Mongolia, Asia
November 15th 2011
Today would see our tour end and we would return back to Ulaanbaatar. A relatively straight forward affair you would have thought, however not when your driver gets pulled over by the police and it turns out that he doesn't even have a driver's license. So our driver Jackie was escorted via police car to some town 30 minutes away. Whilst we all sat in the minivan by the roadside and waited it out, completely clueless as to how long this palaver was going to take. But you’re pretty much guaranteed if it's on Asian times then it's not going to be a quick five. A good one hour into the big wait and I was so bored that I couldn't even be bothered to read anymore, to bored to read. Jess was also reading, Karin ... read more
September 29th 2011
La segunda parte de mi andadura por Mongolia fue igual o mejor que la primera. La dinámica es casi siempre la misma. Nos levantamos a las 8:30h. más o menos, nos traen el desayuno, recogemos los bártulos, montamos en la furgo y listos. Al final le pillas el tranquillo a los viajes “revienta-espaldas” en la furgoneta, pero cuesta lo suyo. De hecho, yo este día lo hice de copiloto porque no me apetecía pasar el mal rato de mareo que tuve el día anterior. Ahora estoy recordando cómo fue ese desplazamiento y la verdad es que el aspecto general del grupo daba un poco de lástima. La chica holandesa con una resaca del quince (naúseas, mareos…) a punto “morirsen”, uno de los franceses mareado perdido y un servidor que no le iba a la zaga… en ... read more
September 26th 2011
The only one who would have made it through the Gobi without the others would have been Ed. I was still not experienced enough to fix a puncture in a gippy. I would maybe have made it in some hours, but I will never find out. Guy would however have finished last unless he took a hitch ride in a dodgy desert truck all the way to the border. Guy never tried big trips on a bike before and he is a compulsive smoker. He bought a cheap, used bike in Attila store and tied his bag to the back of his bike with some bungee chords and just went out there in a shirt and some pants. Brave Guy. I was damn patient waiting for Guy, as he was falling off like a pear in ... read more
September 14th 2011
Jean Luca certainly setting no trends this morning over breakfast turning up with his bright blue woolly jumper tucked into his un-pure white shellsuit bottoms. Bottoms so old and soiled in grime that they surely pre-dated Caesar. Fried eggs for breakfast, quite the treat, one a piece, Jean Luca takes the biggest one and then tells everyone that he doesn't really like eggs. I on the other hand fucking love eggs!!! The day had barely even begun and his Italian head was already beginning to grate with me as I sat and eat my slightly smaller egg. After breakfast we travelled some 3 hours or so to some ger in the midde of nowhere for brunch. Here we watched a lady handcraft some noodles from scratch. There was also a small child present with a seriously ... read more
September 13th 2011
This morning we exited Orkhon National Park and made way to Erdene Zuu Khiid monastery near the town of Kharkhorin. The closer we got to our destination the colder it seemed to get. It began to snow, white patches beginning to colour in the surrounding landscape. I backed off upon arrival at our nights ger be in so I had first dibs at the best bed in the house the night previously. Jean Luca was getting himself worked up like a big gay baby at the prospect of having a shit bed two nights running so I let him fight it out with the Canadians whilst I perched on the bed closest to the door and the terribly horrible cruel and ailing wind. The ger wasn't the best, it had no cosy inner carpeted walls, just ... read more
September 12th 2011
Today we left behind the barron landscape of the Gobi and made way to Orkhon National Park. The landscape becoming more lush with an abundance of grass and running waterways coercing through a series of wide spread valleys. The hairy bovine that is the yak would make its first appearence on my trip so far. Did you know that 'Yak' is a Tibetan word? I did. Arriving at our nights ger I took a walk by myself. The area had a sort of upland Britain feel to it that I only identified once it began to piss it down. A golden eagle perched itself upon the dunny close to camp, I tried to get a snap but like all undomesticated wildlife especially birds it was impossible to get a good shot before the bastard flew off. ... read more
September 11th 2011
Felt like a pile of decaying crap today as we traversed some 290km over bumpy arse terrain toward the town of Arvaikheer for our first shower in 5 days. Couldn't wait for Jean Luca to have his shower, not in a gay way but just so he could purify himself of the stench that he was exposing everyone to in the minivan. He smelled like a bag of forgotten game keepers catch. With his stench and my unruly hangover it was a stern task trying not to throw up over the Italian pair sitting opposite me. We arrived at the rather outlandish town at what appeared to be a factory, thick black smoke chugging heavily out of some vents high above the building. When we stopped Jackie said 'Shower'. Looking around at most of my travel ... read more
September 10th 2011
Woke up this morning with an itchy head, I probably had nits. Its difficult to maintain a healthy existence without showers and baths. I don't know how often the Mongolian country folk wash but its certainly not everyday, which leads me to believe that it must be considered somewhat of a chore around these parts. Anyway, I headed to the nearby stream and washed my grisly locks, the water was ice cold and if I lived round these parts myself then I too could quite easily see myself slipping into the washing once a week routine. (And in winter probably never) After washing my hair I took a casual waltz upstream where I came across a mountain of camel turds, so I'd effectively just been rinsing my hair with faecal remnants....SWEET!!! To celebrate this discovery I ... read more
September 9th 2011
First up this morning we paid a visit to the flaming cliffs, named incidently because of the firey twinge that they possess. An area also famous for the discovery of Dinosaur eggs and also Velociraptor specimens. Close by was a ger set up as a museum, or 'useum' as the 'M' had fallen off. Several pictures, bones and artifacts were held inside that had been recovered from within the area. Karin licked the biggest bone in the 'useum', this was different. Up yonder from the 'useum' was a captivating view of the canyon, a view that sort of cropped up unexpectedly out of the blue, but welcome all the same. Ellie colonized the canyon with one of her Canuck flags. I grabbed a beer from the 'usuem' and we hit the dirt road for the town ... read more
September 8th 2011
Paralysis never kicked in, which was a good thing, as being some 10 hours away from Ulaanbaatar I'd have been as good as fucked. The same for a multitude of health afflicting conditions that could affect one out here, undoubtedly. It was a cold start but by late morning a pleasant cool had taken a hold. Today we were making way to Bayanzag, and today I was the mug, travelling in reverse was no way to live, but it was inevitable that I would have to succumb to it at some stage of the game. The vast open green plains of yesterday began to gradually ween away as the landscape began to take on more of an arid juxtaposition. Dusty plains now featured with just sparse amounts of vegetation loosely allocated. Strangely this would not hamper ... read more
