Ub Guest House Ulan Bator

... etc! There’s a big monument at Karkorum that shows a map of what was apparently the largest empire ever. The main attraction though is the old monastery that dates back to 1200s but it was about -5C so we couldnt make ourselves particularly interested! We stayed in another ger camp that night and were treated to an amazing performance of Mongolian throat singing which was hilarious! So much so that Sarah couldn’t contain her laughter and had to run out ...

<br>The Route:<br>Arrived Ulan Bator, 7:30am, Thursday, Sept 17th<br>Depart Ulan Bator, 8:05am, Sunday, Sept 20th<br>Arrive Beijing, 2:04pm, Monday, Sept 21st<br><br>FIRST MORNING IN MONGOLIA<br>I had a shocker of hangover as I got off the train after only 3 hours of sleep and way too much vodka the night before.<br><br>The hostel I'd booked picked me up at the train station and drove me to the hostel. The guys in my cabin, Dom, Max ...

... good time and made some new Mongolian friends.<br><br> There was a group of children that came from Korea to join the session through UNICEF, United Nations International Children&#8217;s Educational Fund, that were very good at speaking English and it was by English that the Mongolians, Russians and Koreans all spoke to each other. It was very cool to watch all of them become friends and they were all hugging and crying on the last day ...

... kids also gave me little gifts throughout the day, like candy and stuffed animals from the Nairamdal store, and little cheap rings. It was really sweet and I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend my birthday.<br> The next day on the 6th I had another trip with the Russians. This time though through the country to visit a Monestary. So we drove for what seemed like a very long time on a really bumpy Mongolian roads and arrived at a beautifully valley ...

... wear traditional clothing and most seem to live in gers. I often wonder how many foreigners they see, for one man rode past me as I was walking back to my ger and craning his neck, stared, long after he had actually passed me. As I stared back at him, our eyes met momentarily and he gave me a curious smile. Even this morning, I walked down Peace Avenue in UB and passed men and women in business suits walking side by side the older generation in ...

Well it was the 2nd of may and we were ready to set off on the complete Mongolian adventure... planned ahead was the Gobi desert, ice glaciers and canyons, mountain treks and climbs, camel and horse riding, temples and monasteries, hot springs, lakes, caves and cliffs, dinosaur eggs and an absolute **** load of KM.. On the tour there was myself and Karl, Trevor who is also from Cork, Pete and Will from Australia and Juhani and Heikki from Finland. We had two Uav van's with drivers Byra and ...

... sands to the four winds. Our local guide says that they destroy the mandala to destroy desire, since desire is the root of all suffering. I&#8217;d always thought that the tradition of destroying sand paintings was to show the impermanence of everything in the mortal world. I suppose both interpretations are correct in some way. The temple was full of offerings ...

... with a car could be a taxi in Mongolia. SOmething most of us had an hunch about but didn't really know until too late. In the daytime, you can negotiate the price before you even get in the car and there is usually no problem. I was always just thankful that I didn't have to drive with all the other crazy Mongolians on the road. At night though is a different ball game. Some of us had planned last minute one friday to go out to a ...