Blogs from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Asia - page 12

At 8:30, Dick stands by the road. He has spent four days sleeping on the ground and cooking over a fire and breathing the air: simple pleasures impossible back in Beijing. He has been royally shafted: 30,000 tögrög for a lift from UB; 2,000 for a cold beer; 1,000 for Coca Cola water he despised drinking. He will return on the local bus like a local person. In the queue are two ancient men carrying filthy shoeless children; three dogs (one stupidly friendly and wolf-like, the other two viscously growling and Labrador-like); some gruesome kids who shout 'Konitchiwa!' at him as he approaches; two adult females in black wooly tights and white shoes with authority over some of the unsavoury kids; and four tall girls who might be supermodels. In his pocket he has an apple, ... read more

Finally have had a chance to sit and type an entry – it’s currently Monday afternoon (day 2) and we’re in the air over Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia as we make our way from Korea to Germany. (Although who would know – the world outside is a foggy expanse of mist and late afternoon sunset). Trying to type one-handed on Nat’s iPod while listening to a bit of Black Joe Lewis (who I might add is one of the funkiest dudes around – check it out if you like some old school funk or soul tunes). Currently doing it tough – asked for another Jack Daniels but they’ve run out. Will have to slum it with the other peasants and make do with the 12 year old Chivas the lovely young lass brought instead! (Seriously folks – Korean ... read more

I know I have fallen terribly behind in this blog. I'll blame it not only on the lack of internet on the train, but also on the lack of time and sleep I had once I rolled into Mongolia. I did type out much of the following as I rode on the train, I just haven't had the time to put it all together until now! When I last left off, I was on the platform in Yaraslavsky Station in Moscow... While waiting I met a retired couple from Sweden who were also taking the #4 train to Mongolia. Alan was a farmer who has visited the US previously. He went to visit his son who was then living there. The son is now working in the Swedish government. Alan’s girlfriend J? and he are traveling ... read more

TME: Irkutsk-Ulaan Baatar 's Avonds om 21.50 lokale tijd vertrokken, met de langzame trein. Duidelijk oudere trein dan vanuit Moskou, maar wel nostalgischer. Hout, één wc'tje ipv twee, lawaaïger, leren banken/bedden. Er zijn twee versies, nu begrijp ik waarom de langzame langzaam is, bijna op elk stationnetje stopt die. In coupé met een Zwitsers stelletje, die vanaf Bern/Basel naar Moskou zijn gereisd met de trein, dacht dat ik redelijk stoer was. Alles redelijk georganiseerd, zoals pickup van station naar hostel. En alles gepland. Grensovergang naar Mongolië, zoals al verteld was en wat ik gelezen had, echt bizar. Vanaf Rusland naar Mongolië: Twee en een half uur wachten voor migratiecontrole. Vrije tijd en beetje rondlopen, op een gegeven moment uitgekomen bij het einde van het station en daar was nogal wat legeractiviteit. Had wel al gezien dat ... read more

Woke up early and made our way to Ulaanbaatar station to board the 06:30 train for Beijing. The train was the cleanest and most modern so far. It was formed only of around six carriages. The attendants were Chinese – the language was completely different to Mongolian. After getting comfortable, we spent some time chatting to our cabin mate, a 20 year old Swedish girl called Amanda. She was travelling with friends in the cabin next to us and planned to head south east from Beijing, towards Tibet. We then decided to check out the restaurant cart. Upon walking there, we realised that the majority of passengers were Europeans, generally aged 50 and upwards, a lot of whom were in large tour groups. This really killed the sense of being so far from home. In addition ... read more