Blogs from Gobi Desert, Mongolia, Asia - page 3

Jean Luca certainly setting no trends this morning over breakfast turning up with his bright blue woolly jumper tucked into his un-pure white shellsuit bottoms. Bottoms so old and soiled in grime that they surely pre-dated Caesar. Fried eggs for breakfast, quite the treat, one a piece, Jean Luca takes the biggest one and then tells everyone that he doesn't really like eggs. I on the other hand fucking love eggs!!! The day had barely even begun and his Italian head was already beginning to grate with me as I sat and eat my slightly smaller egg. After breakfast we travelled some 3 hours or so to some ger in the midde of nowhere for brunch. Here we watched a lady handcraft some noodles from scratch. There was also a small child present with a seriously ... read more

Today we left behind the barron landscape of the Gobi and made way to Orkhon National Park. The landscape becoming more lush with an abundance of grass and running waterways coercing through a series of wide spread valleys. The hairy bovine that is the yak would make its first appearence on my trip so far. Did you know that 'Yak' is a Tibetan word? I did. Arriving at our nights ger I took a walk by myself. The area had a sort of upland Britain feel to it that I only identified once it began to piss it down. A golden eagle perched itself upon the dunny close to camp, I tried to get a snap but like all undomesticated wildlife especially birds it was impossible to get a good shot before the bastard flew off. ... read more

Woke up this morning with an itchy head, I probably had nits. Its difficult to maintain a healthy existence without showers and baths. I don't know how often the Mongolian country folk wash but its certainly not everyday, which leads me to believe that it must be considered somewhat of a chore around these parts. Anyway, I headed to the nearby stream and washed my grisly locks, the water was ice cold and if I lived round these parts myself then I too could quite easily see myself slipping into the washing once a week routine. (And in winter probably never) After washing my hair I took a casual waltz upstream where I came across a mountain of camel turds, so I'd effectively just been rinsing my hair with faecal remnants....SWEET!!! To celebrate this discovery I ... read more

Paralysis never kicked in, which was a good thing, as being some 10 hours away from Ulaanbaatar I'd have been as good as fucked. The same for a multitude of health afflicting conditions that could affect one out here, undoubtedly. It was a cold start but by late morning a pleasant cool had taken a hold. Today we were making way to Bayanzag, and today I was the mug, travelling in reverse was no way to live, but it was inevitable that I would have to succumb to it at some stage of the game. The vast open green plains of yesterday began to gradually ween away as the landscape began to take on more of an arid juxtaposition. Dusty plains now featured with just sparse amounts of vegetation loosely allocated. Strangely this would not hamper ... read more

After the dramas of the travel in the Russian van for the Ice Festival, I was relieved to step into a relatively new Hyundai 4WD van for the trip to the Gobi. It was clean, spacious and actually had some suspension! However, never count your apples! Just before starting the return journey to UB, Gans, our tour leader, asked the question, "What is a good Mongolian car?". The answer? "A new one!" Wise words. We did have a few difficulties on the way back. However, our driver was excellent at fixing anything which included making a spare part out of a syringe to keep us moving for a day and a half! On this trip were Gans (Steel Axe - literal translation of his Mongolian name, our leader), Agi (Golden Axe, our driver), Ramona (my German ... read more