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Published: April 27th 2008
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First sighting of Mongolian Camel
This is the Mongolian country side from the train window, among the cows, Stephen spots the camels!! Greetings from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. We just got off a day and a half of the train, from Beijing to UB, as the expats call it.
The first night was the train wasn't too bad, it was a bit boring, but we had to keep an eye out for Mongolian two humped camels, which made the journey a bit more fun. Which we did see and the photos are cute.
The real fun began around 9pm, when we arrived into the Chinese border, Customs and passport control hit for China, traveled a bit then Mongolian customs and passport control. Once we got our passports back, all stamped and offically allowed into Mongolia, then the rail bogies had to be changed because China and Mongolia have different rail gauges. Five and a half hour later we were on our way.
It took forward to cross the Gobi desert, it went for hours. Lucky for us our cabin buddies had a laptop and heaps of DVDs to watch. Stephen and I did amuse ourselves with the two card games we know.
The cabins, were cosy and slept four of us, the train has attendents who provide you with the sheets and
Up close with a camel
While the others went riding, we watched in laughter. clean the toilet, some better than others. Our meals for the first night and many nights to follow, were noodles, vegemite sandwiches for lunch and snacks like fruit and lollies. This began my dislike to noodles!!
Once we arrived in Mongolia, we taken to the worlds worst hotel. We had no heating in the room, no hot water, a scumming bathroom and a dead animal's fur on the wall. Not to mention that there were two women fighting on the street when we arrived!! In the afternoon we headed to the Mongolian National History Museum, which was actually really good. We learnt about Chinggis Khan, and nomandic people of Mongolia and basic history as well.
From the museum we headed to see a traditional dance and music show. We saw them do traditional dancing in beautiful costumes and throat singing. From there we went to BD, all you can eat Mongolia BBQ restaurant. We eat all we could for 9.90 AUD and half a litre of beer for 2.60 AUD, The food was fantastic, best meal so far. Have a look at the photos.
The next day we were off to the Guru Ger Camp, a traditional
The Trans-Mongolian Railway
Our cabins, we sleep, eat and play all in the small spot. nomadic tent. It was about an hour out of town, the roads were terrible, bits missing and this was their capital. The camp was situtated in a national park, surround hills, and icy rivers, the country side was beautiful. This is were we had our first close encounter with a two humped camel. We also went horse riding, and climbed up Turtle Rock.
The camp was fairly basic, each ger had four beds and a stove with a women would consistenly stoke up throughout the night. It also had a restaurant ger, food was great, and wasn't noodles. And a toilet, long drop.
The next day we were back in town for the next stage of the Vodkatrain experience, four days straight on the train.
Till next time,
Shelle and Steve.
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