Last day in Beijing and last day of our holiday...! Could have been a miserable last few hours as it was pouring with rain and we couldn't find any breakfast. Things started to look up as we came across a woman cooking Chinese styled crepes in the street. Not quite sure what the main filling was (perhaps some sort of onion paper was our guess) with beans and egg and teriyaki sauce. Antony Bourdain would have enjoyed. Then found a very cool little street NANLUOGUXIAN, full of Anglo-Chinese bars and some funky shops. For just 5 Yuan each (about 90 cents) [View Full Entry]

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Update to come - read what we did in the photo captions! [View Full Entry]

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Update to come - read what we did in the photo captions! [View Full Entry]

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Update to come - read what we did in the photo captions! [View Full Entry]

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Update to come - read what we did in the photo captions! [View Full Entry]

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First stop the Central Post Office to withdraw several hundred thousand Turgrogs - about $50.00. We are ring in Mongolia. Choijin Monastery - but it was closed - so had to be happy with looking at the exterior. Long walk outside of the UB city to the Bogd Khan Palace Museum - the Winter Palace of Mongolia. Hardly any restoration - which made the place seem even more authentic than the usual temples. The odd things were the random taxi-dermed animals in a few of the inside rooms. Penguins in Mongolia!? After noon dinner at an authentic Mongolian BBQ - all [View Full Entry]

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At 5am stopped at Ulan Ude - and our empty cabin is now occupied with two new mates. Petr - a Russian guide for Intrepid - and Alfonzo from Mexico. Tim thinks that it is only 1.30am - so gets off the train ti buy beer and vodka - not realising that it is really 6.30am (local time) and that his early morning drinking scared our new cabin mates. 120km until we get to the Mongolian Border. Arrived at the border town between Russia and Mongolia. Tully is the arse end of the earth. For 3 hours we were able to [View Full Entry]

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Ohhh sooo tired. I am sure if we had the choice - Tim and I would have spent the day in bed. But as always - check out time is in 15 minutes and today is probably the only chance we'll ever have to see the world's largest lake - Lake Baikal. We made it to the drab and dingy bus station, and knowing full well that we had already missed the 8am and 9am bus, we attempted a cab ride, which some out of date blogs told us would only cost $15-$25. Inflation hits this place hard - as the [View Full Entry]

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We arrive in Siberia at 6am, pitch black and cold. After 4 days with our cabin friends we say good bye - wish them luck and wonder if we'll ever see them again. Get picked up from our tour agent and get taken to Hotel Anagara. According to the guide books this hotel is one of the most upmarket and classy in Irkutsk. Inside the reality is more Gulag in style, a truly Soviet building with (I'd like to believe) is a State Radio hanging in the corner of the room - with only 4 stations (none of them working). The [View Full Entry]

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Still in our Siberian Time Warp. I have woken up at 6.50am / 10.50am and it is a beautiful day. My scary Russian friend (with the scar) tells me that the next stop is "BIG CITY" - which I think is KRASNOYARSKY. Feeling very hungry. Have been reading a book about China and I am craving something hot and spicy. The most exciting herb they seem to use in Russia is Dill. Breakfast is Chloe's Coffee Creation, stale bread, cheese and a pastry with potato. Tasted okay with the free tomato sauce the train lady gave us. Lots more villages today, [View Full Entry]

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