Kempinski Hotel Khan Palace Ulan Bator

... What we thought was going to be a relatively fuss free and safe visit was rudely interrupted whilst leaving, as once I walked through the concrete hole, I turned around to find three reasonable sized Mongols bumping Owen around trying to pick his pockets. A raised voice and them realising he wasn’t on his own was enough to get them to move on, but this encounter drove home the fact that some people here don’t have a lot ...

... as we're not residents here. Peter also went to get his hair cut and we picked a really good hair salon that speaks a bit of English and massages your hands. We decided to go back and get my hair dyed. They prepared something especially, but to my horror they brushed my hair and it was a great challenge to the hair dresser. She eventually combed it all through and after waiting for what felt like hours with the hair dye in, it was washed, hair dryed then brushed ...

... chunky ethnic jewellery I love and my only other interest was a pair of traditional boots, but they are all in big-foot male sizes! No result there! Anju flew out yesterday and I reassessed my plans. I had planned on another couple of weeks here to go and visit the mountainous north with its lakes and forests, but I checked my bank balance online and found that it seems to be missing a digit... not a good scenario for someone who is yet ...

... and blowing a small dust storm. We spent time in our Ger with the 74 yr old (horse riding) Grandfather, who had now become our very good friend after we had given him a gift of a bottle of vodka the previous night. Through our guide Emy, he told about his life. <br><br>After eating, we joined the Nomad family the in cooking Ger. More friends and relations turned up, in fact there were 13 including the 18mth old baby of the family. There we showed them our ...

... degree angle tracks with large rocks and sharp smaller ones. we lost the other side of the bumper here. We ended up driving 20km into the valley and had to turn back after we met the dead end and jeeps only territory, and a member of the mongolian olympic association. Random.....<br><br>So we made onl;y 140km that day and camped high in the hills , beautiful sunset and a meal consisting of beans, spagbol in a tin and pasta. tasted amazing.<br ...

... we dutifully<br>complied. Sadly, we had to stay in a tent rather the ger, and more<br>sadly, the tent seemed to have come as a freebie with a magazine and<br>was designed to keep the sun off tourists on the beach, not to<br>shelter trekkers in the wilderness of northern Mongolia. The large<br>numbers of rips and tears in the fabric provided excellent<br>ventilation, but it wasn't long before the tent was full of flies and<br>mosquitoes like a cloud of smoke swirling ...

... arrive Louis Vuitton store is the face of modern Mongolia, the Soviet era architects have been given the boot and buildings other than concrete rectangles are springing up everywhere. There were plenty of entertainers and food hawkers around the square which made for a nice atmosphere. A hitched lift with a family up to the Buddhist Gandan monastery rounded off our day. <br>

... stuff everywhere. The Black Market is like nothing I have ever seen before and I doubt I will ever see anything like it again. It is absolutely huge and you can buy anything there, and I mean anything. We walked by a huge area of couches you could buy, bathroom sinks, then once you get further in you reach huge areas of clothes. Mass amounts of booths with shoes, aisles of jeans that reach about 16ft high, an area for ...

... They were tripping up Chinese people and generally being a pain in the ass, though the one was more pleasant this morning.<br><br>The train ride itself was absolutely spectacular. Leaving Beijing, we made our way past hills and mountains that looked like they were covered in Chia pet material. Later on, the terrain flattened out to steppe, and late in the evening it got very dusty. We arrived in Erlian, China around 9:30 and had a bit of ...

... as getting to my flight the next morning. I get to the airport at the wrong terminal so I am trying to find the shuttle that will take me to the correct one. So i am asking every person I see who works at the airport where is the shuttle and each one is telling me a different direction. So it is now 7:15 am and m7y flight is at 7:45 and I am just getting on the shuttle. I had to sprint to my plane and through security all the while everyone looking at my like I am ...