Mongolia

I hadn't organized anything for my stay in Mongolia (as usual...) but ended up in a great 16-day trip accross the country which we organized through the hostel.

The diversity of scenery in Mongolia is stunning, one can drive through an endless steppe, walk on Sahara-style sand dunes, slide through an ice covered valley, fish in a river and climb rocks that look like the Grand Canyon...all of it within less than two days! Absolutely crazy! I had wished that Mongolian cuisine could be as diverse but it was (chewy) mutton for lunch and dinner for 16 days - maybe the wrong season?

Mongolia is also the country where you can see thousands of sheep, goats, cows, yaks, horses (Mongolians are very proud of their horses) before seeing one of the country's 1.6 million humans...very smal!

Our crew was composed of five guys (Randall, Kevin (who works in Antartica - first time I meet someone from there!) , John - all three from the US, Bjorn from Norway and me) and one driver/mechanic called A-Ha. We drove three to six hours a day and also had a couple of days off which we used for some horse and camel riding, hiking, fishing and relaxing. Most of our evenings where spent in our Gers (traditional Mongolian tents) around a couple of beers playing poker and other card and dice games.

Our two-day horse riding trip across the mountains and forest at the Kovsgol lake in Northern Mongolia was great (and a first time riding experience for me)...though I was unable to sit down naturally for two days afterwards - the saddle was a bit too hard for me!

I was also quite unsuccessful during my fishing tentatives but ended up eating my tuna and sardines cans as a consolation prize - a nice change from some more mutton!

After having driven through the green landscapes of Northern Mongolia and relaxed at some of its lakes, we headed towards the Gobi desert - an absolutely splendid place to stay for a couple of days!

After our trip around Mongolia, I took the 30-hour train ride to Beijing where I met, again by incredible chance, Ciara, an ex-colleague from London who is also doing a one-year trip around the world - crazy!

Mongolia was great and I will retain excellent memories of my journey - Mongolia is a destination which I would advise you to visit!

Enjoying a cold beer in Beijing now...

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