Blogs from Mongolia, Asia - page 5

There is a story my dad loves to tell from my childhood. He pulls it out whenever he needs a good laugh or he just wants to remind me that some personality traits have been with us from the very beginning. When I was 6 years-old I traveled with him to Buffalo, OK for a cattle show. He was there to show some of the Shamrock Farms' Angus cattle and I was there to tag along. I am sure he was concerned about me being able to entertain myself and mind the rules while he was working so he resorted to what is probably the oldest and most effective parenting trick ever: bribery. I was promised, if I behaved myself during this time in Buffalo, I could pick out one item at the store. A pretty ... read more

What a difference a train makes. We had previously read books and checked out web sites that indicated the Irkutsk to Ulaan Baatar train was by far the worst. Compartment windows that actually open and attendants that speak reasonable English and know the meaning of ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you’. Oh! And they appreciate that a smile is not a crime punishable by ten years hard labour. We settled in to our compartment, a four-berth standard class (but with windows that open!!). The carriage was similar to the Moscow-Yekaterinburg 1st class carriage. Green velvet upholstery. The only difference is that we did not have our own mains socket. These were situated in the corridor – three sockets between up to thirty-six passengers. Also, there was no restaurant carriage on board, hence ... read more

A Little Bit of History Thanks to other people doing some research I can give you some information. Mongolia has a population of 3 million people of which 1.8 million live in Ulaanbaatar (or Ulan Badar as I was calling it up to now!!). The rest live a nomadic lifestyle. On average there are 1.6 people per square kilometres, I have yet to see what the .6 person looks like. If Anyone Can, Genghis Khan Our day tour took us firstly out to a massive 30 metres high statue of the conqueror Genghis Khan, out here he is bigger than Elvis!!. It's not known how many children he had in total , 4 sons are definitely his, however 12 million people can trace their bloodline back to him, he has to be the patron saint for ... read more

R: We awoke to see a golden sunrise across Mongolia. The landscape was still peppered with yurts but now the buildings were getting more dense as well as we approached Ulaanbataar. We pulled in on time at 6am. We had booked a hotel in the station district to make things easier so this was just a short walk away. The staff at the hotel were great and offered us a free breakfast - the room was also ready already! It was great to have a shower and a refresh - our first night in a hotel with a shower for 6 days. As we had just 2 days off the train in Mongolia, I had pre-arranged a driver for the day. The distances in Ulaanbataar to things you would want to see are quite far and ... read more

We had a great dinner with Patrick in a restaurant that had sections for Japanese, Chinese and Mongolian foods beautifully furnished in the each country's tradition. We sat in a Mongolian ger to eat. Patrick was able to fill in the history and background of Mongolia and how this made them the Nation they are today. It was a helpful history lesson for us for our next two days in Mongolia. Our guide picked us up with car at 10am the next morning for our whirlwind tour of the city. First it was off to Chinnghis square, which is the central square of the city with a large statue of Chinnghis (Genghis in our vocabulary). He is very much the hero of Mongolian history and even now after any special event (marriage, birth, graduation) the whole ... read more