mega update #2: Beijing to Mongolia - by Lilly


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Asia » Mongolia » Ulaanbaatar
February 18th 2009
Published: February 18th 2009
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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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the long drop loo!the long drop loo!
the long drop loo!

twas bloody freezing esp if you needed to go in the night...
lilly james mim alice and ginnylilly james mim alice and ginny
lilly james mim alice and ginny

at breakfast, mim and alice hadnt done their hair that morning....
the hearththe hearth
the hearth

in traditional culture the hearth is the spiritual centre of the yurt and you're not meant to stretch your legs towards it or put rubbish in it. it was a lifesaver for us anyway!
ginny and lillyginny and lilly
ginny and lilly

playing with the ankle bones
mim and her birthday champagne on the bridgemim and her birthday champagne on the bridge
mim and her birthday champagne on the bridge

she looks ever so slightly like a drunk homeless person in my opinion...



18th February 2009

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

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

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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