http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Mongolia/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Mongolia en-us Sat, 05 Dec 09 08:49:33 +0000 Sat, 05 Dec 09 08:49:33 +0000 Juna saapui aamulla kuuden aikaan Ulaanbaatariin. Oli viel pime ja mielt kutkutti. Himme taksi kyyditsi meidt hotellille lpi karun ja kylmn keskustan. Ennakkoluulot ja aamutuntien nkymt Ulaanbaatarista kuitenkin romuttuivat heti auringon noustua. Keskustassa moderneja rakennuksia ihmiset trendikksti pukeutuneita ja kadut pullollaan katumaastureita. Tosin muutaman korttelin kvelymatk http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Mongolia/Ulaanbaatar/blog-456513.html I wonder about the people that I meet or walk by or attempt to talk to in the course of a day. The edges of their lives just barely touching mine. People that I remember and think about but don t really know. The woman who checks me out at the grocery store the man I pass on the street walking home or the man I see living in the steam pipes across the street. Who are they What is thei http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Mongolia/Ulaanbaatar/blog-451269.html The train rolls into Sainshand Mongolia at 520 am. And our four barely awake bodies tumble down the stairs dragging our bags behind. Onto the wide open platform standing alone in the wide open Gobi Desert under a massive wide open Gobi sky. The train is gone one minute later. The sun is already up. And so is our guide eager to meet us and take us out to our ger yurt in Mongolian camp a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Mongolia/Gobi-Desert/blog-449824.html After taking the 30 hour train ride from Beijing to UB a driver and translator picked us up from the train station and drove us 90 minutes to the Terelj Hotel in the Terelj National Park. We visited in mid September and the Terelj Hotel was at it's quietest. We only stayed for two nights and on the second night I believe we were the only people there. It made for an eerie stay. Walking t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Mongolia/Terelj/blog-448782.html Onze twee weken trip door Mongolie Na een superverblijf op Olkhon Island zijn we begonnen aan een lange reis naar Mongolie. Met trein bus taxi minibusjes.... reden we de grens over richting de Mongoolse hoofdstad Ulaanbaatar onze uitvalsbasis voor een 2weekse trektocht door centraal en zuidMongolie Gobi woestijn. We vertrokken met een Russische 4x4 minivan met chauffeur Erka en gidsv http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Mongolia/blog-448094.html Mongolia Ger to Ger trip Hi Friendsalready in Beijing but now we have time to give you some more details on Mongolia. We spent there 1 week which was way too short... but as there are trains only 3 times a week from UB to Beijing and we have an appointment in Beijing on 23 Oct we had to leave.We spent the one week in the Mongolian countryside in an organised tour where more or less the two http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Mongolia/Ulaanbaatar/blog-446381.html Our trip to UlaanBaatar from Beijing was long to say the least. 30 hours of countless card games reading scattegories root shoot or marryrsquos and endless staring out the window at the unchangeable Gobi desert scenery all while under the influence of one of the many bottles of alcohol we smuggled onto the train. I loved UlaanBaatar instantly despite being told by countless travellers and http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Mongolia/Ulaanbaatar/blog-445488.html A seven kilometer stretch of no man's land separated us from Mongolia. No man's land indeed for only fuel powered engine were allowed through no walking no cycling. We loaded our bikes onto an already packed jeep and scrambled in me in a gentleman's lap Cedric hanging on the door while steadying an inch of his butt on the tiny dashboard. The jeep was filled to capacity with boxes that held el http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Mongolia/Gobi-Desert/blog-445137.html WARNING If you don't like reading then simply click on the first picture and browse through the images they tell more then 1000 words anyway. If you don't mind taking 5 minutes to read well be my guest...MONGOLIA land of the extremesGenghis Khan is omnipresent a big picture of him welcomes you at the Genghis Khan airport and he is on every bill many vodka beer and several other brands. Ex http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Mongolia/blog-441212.html Ab durch die Wste. Zwei Tage und eine Nacht. Gobi ist flach und verdammt sandig. So sandig dass wir im letzten Wagen nur noch mit Tchern vor dem Mund im Abteil sitzen. Doch das dickste kommt noch Leider hatte es meine Mitreisende verpasst seit Moskau ihre Kleider zu waschen. Dies kombiniert mit dem Pech nur kaltes Wasser im Hotel zu haben brachte ihr eine 4er Kabine im eigentlich vollbesetzte http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Mongolia/Gobi-Desert/blog-439834.html Ok Ok ich nehme alles zurck was ich ber Moskaus Strassenverkehr gemeckert habe. Moskau ist heilig alles Fahrschler am ersten Tag gegen UB Die hier haben echt alle nen Hammer gefressen Hier gehtrsquos ums nackte berleben. Fussgnger Streifen sind als Verzierung der Belge gedacht und Ampeln gibtrsquos erst gar nicht. Echt nicht. Am sichersten gehtlsquos mit dem Taxi ber die Strasse http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Mongolia/Gobi-Desert/blog-439346.html I am in a new apartment this year. This is cause for celebration. Actually I moved at the end of last school year. It is much nicer than my old apartment and close enough to the school that I can walk which is great because that means that I donrsquot have to deal with Mongolian traffic five days a week. It takes about ten minutes to walk school even though it looks as if they are right next http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Mongolia/Ulaanbaatar/blog-437594.html Arriving into Mongolia's capital on a chillsome morning we were met at the train by a hostel rep offering us space in 'UB guesthouse'. Seeming like a good deal we accepted and jumped into a taxi. You can tell at once that Ulaan Baator is much more geared up for travellers. Most travellers use Ulaan Baator as a base to undertake tours of other places in Mongolia such as the Gobi or Terelj nat http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Mongolia/Ulaanbaatar/blog-437281.html Hey So we have just about learnt a few words in Russian please thankyou and cheers and we've left the country After a few more nights filled with vodka shots and midnight trips to the banya sauna to wash with crazy russian men whipping themselves with tree branches we left Olkhon Island heading back to Irkutskt for one night before we left. The train ride was 36 hours from Russia into http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Mongolia/Ulaanbaatar/blog-436819.html Leaving Ulaanbaatar early we headed out to a Ger camp a couple of hours drive away in order to get a feel for the real Mongolia and how people have lived for a millenium. Of course this required about an hour stuck in miserable peak hour traffic and by the time we got to the outskirts of town we were all fully awake and sick of blaring horns. I am not quite sure which direction we headed but I http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Mongolia/blog-435802.html My introduction to Mongolia involved a broken leg. Not my leg or anyone on the tour's leg but the leg of an Australian lady who was taking the Trans Siberian railway with the same tour company but in the other direction. She had been putting the sheets on her bed on the top bunk just after leaving Ulaanbataar that will be the only time I type the full name forever henceforth to be known as U http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Mongolia/Ulaanbaatar/blog-435551.html Time for our next trip organised through the UB Guesthouse 426000T each this included food travel accommodation and the wonderful Jack and the added bonus of his 13 year old boy aka Mini Jack.We set off early back up the road we had only just come back on to Karakorum as we were just there the other day we did nothing and waited with anticipation for the next drive to our next stop Tsetserle http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Mongolia/Khovsgale-Lake/blog-429129.html Well i've been working at the Ger village now for the last 2wks i'll miss this place when i leave.The organization i'm working for is the Christina Noble childrens foundation www.cncf.org they do a lot of great things as well as the Ger village. They also work at the childrens prison teaching them skills for when they're released and have a big sponsership project with about 6000 kids on it. My http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Mongolia/Ulaanbaatar/blog-428037.html All well in Mongolia. Having a pitstop in Moron. Have paid homage to statue of head Moron. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Mongolia/blog-427771.html I once heard someone say There are no strangers only friends we have yet to meet. Hey Chris Nowhere has that been made more true than here in Mongolia.Let's see... up until this point I've backpacked through Europe sailed across the South Pacific volunteered on varied farms in Oceania taught English and trekked to EBC in Nepal experienced Thailand's wet and wild new year... what special http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Mongolia/Ulaanbaatar/blog-427589.html