http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/boristhegreat/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from boristhegreat en-us Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:16:09 +0000 Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:16:09 +0000 Blue bands tied loosely around a lone tree greeted our arrival. The colour of Tengger. God. Each band representing a dream of those who dared to ask. A wish cast upon the wind. There never was a road. Mongolia doesnrsquot have roads. The track there hadnrsquot been much of a track either. More a place where trees werenrsquot growing. We sighted the Shamanrsquos cabin perched alone http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Mongolia/Khovsgol/blog-426069.html lsquoThis winter itrsquos very badrsquo said Ulzii our hired translator for the trek lsquoat worst itrsquos maybe 52C or something many people losed cattle and this spring itrsquos very sad and the cattle is still so weakrsquo she explained as we marvelled at how shersquod managed to learn English so well having lived her entire life in such a barren outpost in addition to ls http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Mongolia/Khovsgol/blog-411432.html Illuminating the heavens in crimson reds bold oranges and vibrant purples as it sank below the hills on the horizon the suns dying rays gloriously graced the sky with a kaleidoscopic spectrum of colours so haphazardly blended into each other it was impossible to determine where one colour began and the other ended such is naturersquos grand design. A late start meant a late finish but crest http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Mongolia/Khovsgol/blog-404759.html Like a moon landing Ulaan Baatar rises from the barren nothingness of the Mongolian steppe a city occupied by more than one million people and almost half the minuscule population of Mongolia the most sparsely populated independent country in the world. Venture some five kilometres from downtown and the city ends abruptly as you fall from the proverbial cliff of civilisation and into the ble http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Mongolia/Ulaanbaatar/blog-400776.html Being Chased by the BaconYoursquore in the middle of nowhere in a foreign country and yoursquove just reached the end of a dead end road a man comes up to you and introduces himself as a traffic Police man. The Police in this country donrsquot follow the rules they make them. You half donrsquot believe hersquos a Police man due to his lack of obvious uniform and dodgy looking ID car http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Central-Highlands/Kontum/blog-388131.html Buon Ma Thout and the Central Highlands 27th 31st March 2009Buon Ma Thout and Kon TumWhen we arranged the bus tickets from Saigon to Buon Ma Thout we had forgotten it was a Friday and hence we quickly realized wersquod left it too late to catch a local bus. They were all full. Even though it would take marginally longer and cost more money we decided to catch a night bus back to Dalat whic http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Buon-Ma-Thuot/blog-388128.html The meaning of hot 23rd 27th March 2009Ben Tre Ho Chi Minh City SaigonPlans formed plans broken new plans made new plans broken more new planshellip ahhhh My head hurts We were never definite deciding where our next destination following Dalat would be. We had considered Mui Ne Saigon Can Tho Phu Quoc Island and Rach Gia to name but a few possibilities however we could never http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Mekong-River-Delta/blog-387263.html Peace quiet forests waterfalls and a happy Lee Caroline Dalat20th 22nd March 2009 This is my kind of place cooler climate endless forests of towering pine trees the beautiful smell of pine sap in the unsullied air twisty roads dirt tracks to explore and minimal effort required to escape the crowds. Itrsquos been so long since Irsquove been anywhere similar Irsquod almost forg http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Central-Highlands/Da-Lat/blog-385257.html It just keeps getting better Quy Nhon 17th 20th March 2009The previous nights 130am walk of 5km carrying our fully weighted rucksacks actually made little impact on the following dayrsquos energy levels despite having only managed 4 hours sleep the reason being as wersquove travelled further south the temperature has gradually increased from quite cold in the north until here in Quy N http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Qui-Nhon/blog-384700.html Why did I go to Hoi An again Hoi An 14th 16th March 2009Whenever someone tells you the bus will take X number of hours in Vietnam take the longest and most conservative estimate add 50 and yoursquoll be somewhere in the ballpark At least thatrsquos what experience has taught us thus far. The bus wersquod arranged to catch from Hue to Hoi An departed at 830 from outside our hotel a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/South-Central-Coast/Hoi-An/blog-384690.html Cat Ba Hanoi Nimh Binh Hue 8th 14th March 2009The last seven days have been quite busy as we havenrsquot really stayed anywhere yet for more than two days at a time yet. The weather has been far from perfect but wersquove enjoyed ourselves none the less and wersquove taken in some great sights.Our second full day on Cat Ba wasnrsquot exactly what Irsquod call enthralling but n http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/North-Central-Coast/Hue/blog-381664.html Why arenrsquot you in China 3rd 7th March 2009Let me just start by saying I didnrsquot imagine making it all the way to Vietnam to find myself sitting here almost shivering with cold on the balcony of our cheap hotel Northern Vietnam is cold right nowDespite us eventually having no choice but to catch a 16 hour train ride which departed at 4am hardly ideal both Caroline and I manag http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Cat-Ba-Island/blog-379776.html Much is said about the lsquoassault on your sensesrsquo that way so many have chosen to describe Asia. Irsquove been here in China for a year now living and working and to say itrsquos an assault is to do it an injustice itrsquos an inescapable barrageMy alarm clock goes off at 730am. Thatrsquos not so bad and after a shower I feel liberated and ready to conquer the world. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Guizhou/Guiyang/blog-374972.html Hey Guys First of all a belated merry Christmas and happy New Year I hope all of you are taking good care of yourselves So guys it's been a while...... what to talk about this time I think I'll start by just saying my patience for living in China is starting to wear thin and hence when my contract finishes at the end of February I'll be happy to leave this country and start travelling http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Guizhou/Guiyang/blog-368287.html