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Published: July 16th 2007
After arriving in Irkutsk we headed out to Lake Baikal the largest freshwater lake in the world it apparently holds 20% of the worlds freshwater supplies and is bigger than all of Americas 5 great lakes put together. Its also very cold at 3 degrees.
We stayed in a traditional wooden house in a village called Listvyanka on the shores of Lake Baikal our landlady was very friendly and an excellent cook after having a guided tour of the area we took it easy and had a traditional "Banya" (sauna) in the evening.
02/07 I headed off for a softies trek whilst Dave went scuba diving in Lake Baikal. My trek was far from soft I have never seen so many flies the minute we stopped walking we were surrounded by 1000's of flies. We walked along paths that didnt exist along cliff edges but the scenery was spectacular. After the walk I jumped in the freezing lake as an alternative to taking a shower.
03/07 Headed back to the city of Irkutsk had a free day and somehow managed to bump into the local mafia had to politely leave them behind and disappear to another bar.
04/07 - 05/07 Now in Ulan-Uday had a guided tour around the city, visited some Buddhist temples and also had a traditional lunch with a local Buryat family. Had an early night as we have to catch an early morning train to Mongolia tomorrow cant believe we are leaving Russia behind.
06/07 All day spent on the train and the horror stories about Russian border crossings came true we spent over 8 hours at the Russian border doing nothing whatsoever whilst waiting for a train to turn up and for our passports to be checked. Entry into Mongolia took 1 hour.
07/07 Arrived in Ulanbaatar capital of Mongolia at 7am after being met by our local guide had a quick tour of the city followed by a trip to a Buddist temple then had a 6 hour drive (approx 3 hours off road) to our host Nomad family somewhere deep in the Gobi Dessert. Stopped for a picnic lunch on the way and as luck would have it met up with the Managing Director of The Russian Exeperince (our highly recommended travel company) great guy, very knowledgeable with lots of interesting travel tales. Arrived at our Nomad family around 6pm.
Before tea we helped the family to round up their herd of goats for milking. Dave and I were staying in the head of the familys ger tent. Selpt like a log that night.
08/07 Had a 2 hour drive to an ancient city that was once the capital of Mongolia and yet another Buddist temple in the afternoon I choose to take it easy whilst the rest of our group went off on a camel ride. Our two days with a genuine nomad family was a real highlight of the trip.
09/07 Spent all day travelling in the Gobi dessert to get to our tourist camp (a more sanitised version of a nomad camp). Took it easy for the next couple of days apart from a 2 hour horse ride trek in the National Park that was amazing.
11/07 Mongolian Independance day (The Naddam Festival) when each year all of Mongoila celebrates gaining indepedance from Russia this year is their 86th year of independance. We watched the opening cermony in the national stadium, followed by some wrestling, archery and anklebones (I will explain that one later). Took it easy in the afternoon.
12/07 Left Mongolia on a 8am train for Beijing arrived 2:30pm Friday.
Now in Beijing but have a really bad stomach so taking it very east at the moment.
I can only apologise for the lack of photos quite often the computers we use dont allow us to upload photos. Rest assured they will be added as soon as I get home. Looking forward to seeing you all again soon.
Bye for now.
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John Mitchell
non-member comment
wow
Kev - Asia sounds fantastic - far removed from what we're used to in the west. Quite envious of your trip in some ways!! enjoy China and give as a call when you're back - I'll get up to Derby for a night out before you pack off on your travels again