Blogs from Mongolia, Asia - page 72

July21 After pushing through the day before we spend the whole day with a nomadic family being woken up by a pair of baby goats who have snuck into the Ger at night. The day was composed of racing horses with the families adolescents and fishing, not to mention avoiding the torrents of mosquitoes. For supper they killed the fatted sheep and I got to help in the skinning. It was nice to have some fresh meat for once. July 22 Today is the day to go back to Ub though after breakfast I finally defeated the driver twice in a row in mongolian wrestling. Due to some misinterpretations of our tour we were given a discount by our mongolian friend and he also helped us book an old school communist appartment for the next few ... read more

July 16th Even with rain the gobi is still hot, the morning entails another lamentable breakfast and off to the yal valley. After arriving we hike through the mountain passageways untill we arrive at the Ice canyon, due to the rain I left my camera behind, I'll try to post some pictures another time. It was quite amazing and on the return way it had rained enough to make the small caves within the ice passable, saving us the trouble of climbing over them again though the prospect of hundreds of tons of ice crushing us was also exhilarating. The gerbil like creatures living in the valley's are also quite cute observing our every move and occasionally becoming the super for some of the mongolian herders. After squeezing the russain mini bus through the mountain passages ... read more

Waking up in the morning after a freezing night camping in a small valley, the equatorial sleeping bag from mountain equipment did not exactly live up to my expectations for the desert. After a mediocre breaki we hit the road/non-existant road again and soon end up at the equivalent of a cafeteria (more closely resembling a few planks of wood nailed together with a tin roof and pit toilet 30 meters away. After another horrowing ride we come to the flaming cliffs and the dinasour finds of the gobi desert, it will now be about the 30th time I've been approached to buy some camel hair or a sack full of ankle bones, would love to see what canada customs thinks of them. Due to the chance of rain we stay in a ger family, waking ... read more

Well it's now time to play catch up with the travel blog and will be copying most of the following entries directly from my diary...i mean journal. July 13th An uneventfull day in UB with time spent hanging around the nadaan festival, one travel tip is when attempting to find out where to purchase tickets for the end parade they took it that I had lost my tickets and let me in for free, another 3000 toutoks spared. The end of the day consisted of ironing out our plans to travel the gobi and relaxing. July14th The day begins with a frantic chase through the city attempting to find a place for retrieving cash for the trip deposit. An eventual western union proved succes even though once we talked to the main organizer he said he ... read more

Well we made it into Mongolia, even with all the dried food Neen had stockpiled (the customs officials were a lot more interested in checking Mongols returning home than foreigners entering). Our hosts were there to meet us at the airport near midnight on Saturday and after a short drive in the rain in a van with no seatbelts and no headlights either for that matter, we arrived at our guesthouse (if ever you visit Ulaanbaatar, stay at Khongor Guesthouse). Our host Degi more than made up for any character the soviet style building lacks. There are some great restaurants in the city and Neen remains a vegetarian, but that will no doubt shortly change! Ulaanbaatar is a relatively modern city, complete with its share of problems associated with high density living, and in common with ... read more