Narantuul Hotel Ulan Bator

... on is the only way, as stopping attracts unwanted attention and theft/ pick pocketing is rife. <br><br>We visited the local market (Narantuul), which is where you can basically buy anything from household goods to camel hair hats. Entering through a hole blown in a concrete wall (we get the feeling we didn&#8217;t enter the front way) the market opens up before you with the snow capped mountains behind acting as a backdrop to the market ...

... named Fool, but they didn't but we managed to play a couple of games regardless. Soon after it was time to prepare for bed, it had been dark for a while and the battery or the solar power would soon run out that lighted the light bulb. To our surprise we were allowed to sleep on the bed, as most of the family slept on the floor.<br><br>Back in UB again, we've arranged our Vietnam visas, and after two days of trying to find the Thailand Embassy we couldn't get ...

... National Park for a couple of nights, staying in a ger camp, sunbathing out on the grass wrapped in sleeping bag and down jacket against the cutting wind, and walking through part of the valley, appreciating the autumnal, pine-clad hills with their looming rock formations, such a contrast from the dusty desert. Then we had an afternoon shopping with our new friend Nassa, though it was very unproductive for me &#8211; Mongolia doesn't seem to do ...

... off road. This was Genghis Khan territory, here we visitied the Buddist Monastry, Erdene Zuu.<br><br>Before supper we were asked to help with the milking of the mares. We don't think we were much help but it was a great photo opportunity.<br><br>The next day was a free day for us. We took a long walk by ourselves over the sand dunes as we were just on the very edge of the Gobi Dessert. Three hours of walking, we saw no one. <br><br>That afternoor was very ...

... a cheap hotel in the city of Altai, which is about as big as Clontarf. <br><br>The next city was Bayanhongor, which was a desperatly boring race across the desert, save for some cars being abandoned and breaking down due to careless hitting of rocks etc.<br><br>After Bayanhonger we took what we thought to be the main road to the next little town. Oh how wrong we were. I was leading and kept driving down a road which became progressively worse ...

... responsive horse who I named<br>Ginger Rogers, Chris rode Betsy and Damo named his steed Psycho<br>Horse. An apt name, given the total unpredictability of its<br>behaviour.<br><br><br><br>At the ger we met the<br>family that owned the horses and they plied us with milk tea. From<br>the name it doesn't sound too bad, but unfortunately butter is the<br>primary ingredient, not milk. It's an overwhelming taste, but we had<br>been instructed to accept anything we were given ...

... also shot down as all museums were closed for Naadam. Curses. Still it transpired that there's plenty of fun to be had on the top floor of the state department store in the souvenir section where you can get yourself a full set of 13th century Mongol-hordee clobber (Jie said 'no'). <br><br><br>Sukhbaatar square with its MASSIVE Ghengis Ghan statue outside parliament and soon ...

... made us both really happy. Had a quick breakfast and caught the bus to head over to the Black Market to do some shopping. The bus dropped us off at a very poor part of UB. A part of the city were there was no pavement and everyone looked homeless. We walked not long through this part of the city until we arrived at a wall with a hole in it. We walk through the wall and it is like a different world. There are tons of people ...

... policeman in Bristol, so not only did he speak English, but I trusted him with my stuff and he could keep a watch out for me. We became fast friends, and people thought we were family members or something. It seemed like he'd been everywhere, so we hung out in the dining car and talked for hours on end, trying to avoid the supremely annoying, obnoxious drunk Australian guys who tried to hit on anything that moved and almost got naked at one ...

So I have officially been here for I do not even know how long anymore. One thing I really should have brought but did not even think of was a digital watch. My first flight was very long and boring but I arrived in Beijing really tired and ready to sleep. My flight out of Beijing was not until the next morning so I found the nearest hotel that had a shuttle to the airport, that was also overpriced and stayed there for the night. That was very difficult, but not as ...