There's not much to be said about the Eagle Festival except that it was undoubtedly the best festival in the history of the universe and two of the best days of my time in Mongolia. Awesome, awesome, awesome. What follows is a brief outline of it's coolness. We all woke up bright and early in Ulgii in anticipation of the festival. I think I was more keen than the others. Sam and John both seemed prepared to be disappointed but I had faith that nothing involving numerous golden eagles could be crap. We'd stayed the night in a shitty hotel but [View Full Entry]

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Our western adventure into Altai Tavan Bogd national park didn't start quite as we'd planned it. The idea was to ride into the park accompanied by the furgon and all our lovely gear and to spend a week of relatively luxurious camping in the mountains, riding on ahead of the car each day. The pass over the mountains to get into the park was steep but everyone seemed confident that the car would make it. Since it had been snowing, though, the pass was no longer open to vehicles so another way in would have to be found. We weren't able [View Full Entry]

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I've decided to put three seperate experiences into one blog, under one heading even though it's not strictly chronologically correct. But it sums up the wonderful hospitality we received from the Kazakh people nicely. The following events took place over a period of 9 days. When we woke up after our first night in Altai hotel it was to crystal clear blue skies and only a little slush on the ground to show for the sleet the day before. It was still cold but it was that crisp, dry cold that is so much easier to cope with. We met our [View Full Entry]

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The last three weeks have been amazing. So much has happened in such a variety of landscapes that I'm putting them into seperate chapters for your enjoyment, rather than lobbing a huge and potentially mind-numbing blog at you all at once. Our journey begins with an(other) epic road trip. This time we travelled across the northern reaches of Gobi. Gobi simply means 'the desert' and encompasses a surprising variety of landscapes. I never expected to like the desert but I've fallen in love with Gobi. I wish I had more time to go further in. As it was, we barely brushed [View Full Entry]

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Just a quick update before leaving for Altai. I went out to Hustai Nuruu National Park to visit the Przwalski horses and was successful. Also saw some rare red deer a-calling (it's rutting season) and sillhouetted against a rising sun on a mountain ridge. Very intrepid did I feel. Still haven't seen any wolves... probably because it is a years good luck to see one but 7 years good luck if you shoot one. I have seen lots of marmots though. Funny wee things... they look like wombats with long tails. The Przwalski horses were great. It was a buzz to [View Full Entry]

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The first trip is sadly over. It was absolutely fantastic. What follows is a brief description of the last two weeks spent in the Wilds of Outer Mongolia. I'll start with a character summary, so you'll all be able to follow the plot with more ease. Our little group consisted of: John and Sam - a New Zealand couple leading our adventure. They're really lovely and it's been like travelling with old friends. Not like an organised tour at all. Otgo - 65, our head wrangler. Also an accomplished traditional Mongolian singer. Megan - 58, a breeder of Welsh Ponies, living [View Full Entry]

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Well... I was expecting to have exciting stories of wild horses to tell you all by now. But, plans change, and I'll tell you a slightly boring story instead.... My flight to Ulaanbaatar was short and the MIAT food was seriously dodgy so I just watched a kids movie and looked out the window at the Gobi desert for a couple of hours. There were some beautiful salt lakes and rock formations but it's very barren. John met me at the airport so getting to the guesthouse was no problem. To sum up Ulaanbaatar would be to say 2 days is [View Full Entry]

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A Day in the City Day two was a rainy one. I got up bright and early for a trip to a nearby gorge but it was cancelled due to heavy rain. So... I stuffed around at the hostel for a little while before heading out to explore the city. At least it wasn't hot. Before I left I chatted to an American guy who'd just been to Mongolia for three weeks. He gave me 1120 togrog that he had left over and told me to remember that you can't exchange them outside Mongolia. So I've got a bit of Mongolian [View Full Entry]

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Well, here I am in Beijing. This is more or less a test run for both my blog being live and my new memory card reader (thanks Griff) and my nifty photo resizer I downloaded before I left. I though, if it all goes to pot, I'll only lose a days worth of photos and that would be bearable. My first day in Beijing was about as eventful as it could be considering the heat and my jet laggedness. I was feeling a wee bit nervy about navigating the city on my own... it's not like Europe where you can understand [View Full Entry]

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In March I went south to walk the Milford Track, at last, with Brent, Shona, Scott and Kath. It was beautiful, of course, and very enjoyable, also of course. I've been wanting to do it for ages but it just kept getting put off. Luckily Kath is organisational supremo and took care of all our bookings, buses, huts and accommodation in Te Anau. All I had to do was buy a plane ticket. Easy. Fiordland is gorgeous, as most people on this planet already know. The walk is not too difficult; four days, the first one of them very short with [View Full Entry]

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