Geo: 47.9159, 106.918I have no idea if any of you are finding this blog in the slightest bit interesting (we have noticed the number of hits has risen, any feedback would be appreciated) but I have had a request for more Mongolian photographs so here are a few before we get on the train.Turtle rock looks just as the guide book says. The shrine is just like those in India, they spend a lot of time and effort creating the shrine, people make offerings but along comes a workman and puts a great big fuse box right next to it but no one takes the slightest umbrage.... read more

Geo: 47.9159, 106.918Ulan Batar, or perhaps Ulaanbaatar, depending on which atlas you read, is the capital of Mongolia. The country has a population of 3 million of which one million live in the capital most of whom are currently stuck in a traffic jam. There seems to have been a sudden increase in disposable income and insufficient road capacity to cater for all the cars. They don't have a metro system so chaos reigns. Mongolians nominally drive on the right but half of the cars are imported second hand Japanese cars which are left hand drive. By far the most popular model is the Toyota Prius, the only explanation our guide gave was because petrol "is so expensive in Mongolia", it's about 75p a litre so there must be some other tax break either here or ... read more

Geo: 51.8495, 104.904SleddingToday we had a bit of excitement, we went dog sledding. We each had our own team of dogs plus an instructor and went for a 20km run through the woods which took just over an hour by which time, even with more layers than described below our extremities were frozen. The dogs charge along although my team seemed a bit deaf when it suited them. They ignored my "leftie" and "brown" which seems to be left and right in Russian (perhaps it's my London accent) so the instructor shouted the commands and I just steered the sled. There is no instruction for stop, the dogs would ignore it anyway, you just stand on a pedal at the back which puts a spike in the ground.The only pictures of our trip were taken when ... read more

Geo: 51.8495, 104.904As I warned you in the last two blogs I was preparing to bore you with lots of interesting facts about Lake Baikal where we are staying at the moment. To increase our knowledge and therefore your boredom we spent an enjoyable morning in the local museum finding out all about it.First and foremost it is huge, 400 miles long, 20 - 40 miles wide and 5371 feet deep, unbelievably ( to me at any rate) it contains 20% of the worlds fresh water, enough to supply the entire population of the planet for 40 years!It also contains over 2000 species most of which are special to the lake, including the fattest seals you have ever seen.From December till April it is frozen solid, so solid that there are designated roads across it. We ... read more

Geo: 55.7724, 37.5965There seem to be more Range Rovers in Moscow than in the UK and quite a number of Bentleys. A bit of a change from 20 years ago when I was offered a job here. The company said I could have a top of the range BMW or a Lada with a full time chauffeur, they recommended the second option as the BMW would be scratched or worse and you needed a minder. As it happens I didn't take the job, perhaps if I had I would now speak Russian and understand the Coptic script which had us scratching our heads when trying to find the right metro station.We have managed to fathom out how to use the metro which is the best way to get around the city. The travel agent arranged for ... read more