mega update #2: Beijing to Mongolia - by Lilly

Asia » Mongolia » Ulaanbaatar
February 18th 2009

Published: February 18th 2009

well done! you made it past part one and onto part two, which in my opinion is much more interesting. The trans-mongolian train from beijing to ulaanbaatar was scheduled to take 30 hours, and our coach was decorated in a very train-y way as alice put it - all orangey carpets and wood panelling. we had 2 carriage attendants who didn't seem overly impressed with us, a coal powered water heater whi... Read Full Entry

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Lilly, James, Miriam and Alice

thefoursome

we are 4 young whippersnappers off on our gap year travels from hong kong to england by train via as many places as we can afford =) Below is our planned route: And here for anyone who's interested, is the approximate itinerary for what is happening. TRANS-SIBERIAN 11th Feb: leave HK on the train for Beijing 12th Feb: arrive Beijing 13th - 14th Feb: in Beijing 15th - 18th Feb: in Mongolia 19th Feb: on board the train 20th - 22nd Feb: at Lake Baikal 23rd Feb: on board the train 24th - 27th Feb: in Ekaterinburg 28th Feb - 2nd March: in Moscow 3rd - 5th March: in S... full info

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lilly and alice

passing the 2 hours locked in the station

mangosteen!

asian yyum fruit that we ate for breakfast on the train

frozen wheels

taken from our carriage which had been winched up into the air

man and dog at station

trying to sell hot drinks and snacks

A CAMEL!!!

ok so what happened was that whilst in northern china alice said that she saw a camel out the window and none of us believed her and took the piss for ages. then in mongolia we looked out the window and saw another camel...and so had to eat our arses and apologise. so here is the proof- there are camels in mongolia!!

deer out the window

also you can see how in the middle of nowhere we were. mongolia is very flat and empty. mr vodden we would appreciate your expert animal knowledge in identifying this type of deer. if you can see them.

telegraph pole

they have to raise the poles off the ground and shore them in with other planks of wood as when the permafrost thaws the ground sags and the poles fall over

our train

our first sighting of ulaanbaatar

its massive - the government in 2003/4 told mongolians that they could all stake 0.7ha of land for free in the city, so there are loads of really small plots. also, people live in yurts even in the city as you can see.

alice and lilly

out in the open as the driver dug us out of the snow

the driver digging us

alice

you can see just how empty it was and how beautiful the mountains are in mongolia

lillyt and james

james being excited by snow

lilly alice mim and james in the yurt

wearing all our cold weather gear before going out for a walk

the bridge over the frozen river

and james. with more snow.

our shadows

with the ger camp in the background

alice lilly and mim

walking over the hills

james mim and alice on the hill

just to let you know, the reason our faces look greasy is because mim has some cream you put on your face to stop it going numb and its very oily :) we arent that greasy promise.

lilly and the friendly dog

alice in the yurt

our yurt

awesome scenery no?!

18th February 2009

Paul
non-member comment

animals
Hi you four. As far as I can tell, which is not from looking at the picture as they are much too far away but from accessing the www, the deer you saw from the train were possibly Mongolian gazelle that are the largest ungulate population in central asia. The bactrian camel is the only wild camel, there are no wild arabian camels only those that have gone feral of which there are quite a number in Australia, believe it or not! The bactrian camel is very rare in the wild so do not expect to see any, I guess the one Alice saw, like the one the rest of you saw, was a domesticated one. Things on the bear front in China are not very pleasant. Bear bile is a much sort after and wholely inaffective Chinese medicine. The bears have a tube surgically inserted in their bile duct and are kept in small cages so the bile can be harvested on a regular basis, very nasty. Mongolia is one of those many countries I have not visited that I would very much like to, I am very jealous! Love Paul (not Mr Vodden, please!!)

21st February 2009

HANNAH
non-member comment

Good LORD I am so jealous it looks like the most amaaaazing place ever. I would now like to convey my reactions to this post in an appropriate form. I have chosen a list. For a start, I would very much like my own yurt. For another start, I BURST out laughing at the horse guide and his fondness for taking photos. HILAR. (Also love the yurts). For the points that come after the start, tbh I'm just so so so jealous of all of you it looks like youre having an incredible time especially in the yurts and lucky lucky Claire, I am going to drag her to Mongolia too because I have decided that it is my favourite place ever (particularly the yurts) and I'm sure my visit there will prove me right. So to summarize I basics would love a yurt, please and thankyou. Hope you're all having an amaze time (aduh) and don't get too cold and James PUT SOME CLOTHES ON. Slut. BASICALLY JUST TAKE ME WITH YOU NEXT TIME OKAYS. And update more; I have nothing better to do but read your blog and cry ever so slightly at my immense jealousy. Love to you all x x x x x x x x x x

23rd February 2009

Mutti
non-member comment

Yurts and Dorts
Those photos are wonderful...can we have a yurt party in France?; you can build a yurt next to the pool and we will try to find camel butter or whatever it is they eat. Now there is real proof that James will take his clothes off at every opportunity! Glad to see that he has lost some of his tubbiness though, or is it all stuffed behind the money belt? I do love the ice mascara, especially on Alice. And Hannah Dearest.....you have nothing better to do??!! I suggest you get on with your IB preparation or your Gap year will cease to be a Gap year and transformatise into the beginning of the rest of your working life.... Lots of love to you all Mutti xxxx

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mega update #2: Beijing to Mongolia - by Lilly

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