Lg Guesthouse Ulan Bator

... out to the shopping mall over the road to try to find some books in English for Chris as he's run out, and get some wine as we and Thomas and Marketa had agreed we should have a nice glass of wine that evening to mark the end of our short time in Mongolia. No luck with the books (although he did get to borrow Pride and Prejudice off a girl at the hostel) but better luck with the wine which was much tastier and far cheaper than what we found in Russia.

Ulan Bator, Mongolia ristohannah

... we try that, the providnista (ticket puncher /conductor) denies us entry so we go back to my carriage and start yanking on the door handle until it opens.

I get on and cluster f*** avoided.


MONGOLIA to CHINA TRAIN RIDE

Dom came and found me on the train and said that he and Max were sharing their compartment with a couple of nutcases so they were intending spending most of the day in the bar car, would I ...

... my mind off the excruciating pain in both my knees and my bottom. My horse seemed to have three speeds; a slow walk, a trot and a gallop. Now the slow walk was fine, allowing me to bounce about on my inflatable cushion and three strips of foam that I had attached to the saddle, but it was a lot slower than my guide's horse, so we invariably fell behind. This also wasn't a problem as it gave lots of opportunities to break into a full gallop to catch up. Galloping, whilst hard work ...

... for us food from Ulaanbaatar. Even so, we were mainly eating milked based food and mutton filled dumplings.

The family are dressed traditionally for herds people. Their son tends to the livestock on horseback.

Each night we were surrounded with the noise of goats, sheep, cows, horses and the dogs that guard them.

After breakfast, we set off through the Orkhon Valley (a World Heritage Site) and arrived at Harhorin, about 2 hrs drive on ...

... have two humps. I tried looking for a camel with only one hump and I did not see any.

� There is no need for knives. Everything involved with eating can be done with a fork and a spoon. I rarely saw any knives and not many families even have knives. I mean like butter knives, the ones you use at the dinner table. I have learned to spread butter with a fork.

� There are no dryers in Mongolia, at least none that I have seen. I am ...

... three, Psycho Horse in
fact turned out to be by far the most docile and responsive of our
horses. Chris rode Psycho Horse, Damien rode Jazz, and I rode Shoe
Polish. Along with our horse guide Basan, our translator/guide Jagay
and one pack horse we set off.



Our skills improved
throughout the day and before long we could turn, stop and gallop
with ease. After a full day's ride and several rivers crossed we
stopped for the night in a ...

... It is funny because I am walking around with them and all the kids in my group are asking if he is my brother, and speaking Mongolian to her. They will do fine. as they have each other, and they are used to being in Asia. I found out that they met in Singapore, got married and lived in Japan for 4 years, and moved back to Singapore about a year ago.

Uya and I are about to leave for 4 days on a trip to the Gobi Desert. It will ...

... above you. We stopped the van because there was Bryn-sized bird sitting right in front of us. The night before, we saw a wolf loping along the road. There are herds of horses everywhere, and we often drove, horn blaring, through them as they meandered, unconcerned, across the road. Often, off in the distance, we would see men in traditional dels cantering across the open countryside, long herding stick in hand, chasing their groups of horses ...

... with each other outside the monastery walls as they carried books and buckets, made my heart incredibly glad. When, inside the monastery, the chanting paused and they crashed the gong and cymbals and played the bugle-conch, I couln’t help grinning like the out-of-town tourist that I was. It was amazing. I wanted to drop everything and start chanting ...

... of the streets.



Zaya and her Hostels:@Zaya is the owner, opperator, and queen over her two hostels in UB while you stay under her roof, you are under her thumb as well. She had a very low opinion ( and tolerance for ) Americans before the PacRim group began to occupy the better part of all her rooms..... and we did nothing if not uphold and strengthen her conviction that Americans are selfish, stupid, a-moral ...