TravelStream™ news feed for member woolly on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/woolly en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 10 Jul 2007 14:31:33 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woolly/mongolia/1177288680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woolly/mongolia/1177288680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woolly/mongolia/1177288680/tpod.html Tue, 10 Jul 2007 14:31:33 -0400 Gobi to Hovsgul in 06.

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Lake Hovsgul, Mongolia

Lake Hovsgul is a beautiful turquoise lake located just south of the border with Russia. It is often considered the little sister of Lake Baikal just across the border. Both are incredibly clean and each is locally renowned for their therapeutic powers. We stayed at a nice ger camp right on the edge of the lake. After getting settled in, we set out on a tour of the lake in two small motor boats. This ended up being somewhat of a comedic undertaking as neither of the boats was particularly well maintained and we seemed to take turns breaking down. Apparently only one of them was allowed to function properly at any given time. In addition to getting a close-up view of the crazy colored water(so intensely blue) we found the source of a spring where the locals go to procure their healing water and of course had to drink some.The next day would prove to be one of the highlights of the trip for me. We were told that there was no guarantee of being able to meet with the Tsa Tan people. As they are nomadic, this makes sense since you might not be able to find them. Fortune smiled upon us however and the locals new of a camp nearby. We would travel to visit them on horseback. It ended up being about 20 km on horseback that day, so needless to say, my backside was a little sore, but it was well worth it. The Mongolian cowboys determined (possibly erroneously) that I had the best horse sense of anyone from our group so they paired me up with the stallion which liked to terrorize the rest of the horses. It was a constant struggle to keep him in line as he liked to bite and nip the others and would cause them to dance around. Not really what you want on the side of a precipitous mountain pass. Eventually we made it to the camp and had the chance to eat and drink reindeer milk tea with the Sa tan. It was very exciting. Literally like going back in time. Of course I had to pose for my photo on the reindeer too. I think it was straining under my weight, so I didn't want to ride it anywhere, but the family seemed to ride them all over the place.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woolly/mongolia/1177991640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woolly/mongolia/1177991640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woolly/mongolia/1177991640/tpod.html Tue, 05 Jun 2007 19:09:23 -0400 Gobi to Hovsgul in 06.

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Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia

I've decided to upload some photos of the food from the trip as various readers have been asking about it. In general the food was very good. I had resigned myself to having to stomache some strange meals when I was there, but suprisingly was never faced with anything which did not suit my pallet. We typically had a beef dish and potatoes at most meals. Every now and then we would have lamb or rice to mix it up. Also, no matter where we were, there always seemed to be a chocolate bar for desert. I must give credit for all of the photographs of food to Carmine Cubellis who took these on our trip. Keep in mind, that all of these meals were served at the ger camps that I stayed at. I cannot vouch for the food at the guanz. If you are relly craving western food, there is an irish pub which is crawling with westerners called the Carlsburg pub on the intersection of Peace Ave. and Ikh Toiruu street. The other random photos thrown in were from my last day inUB and at the disco in UB that night.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woolly/mongolia/1155954720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woolly/mongolia/1155954720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woolly/mongolia/1155954720/tpod.html Sun, 27 May 2007 17:49:35 -0400 Gobi to Hovsgul in 06.

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Kharhorin, Mongolia

Kharhorin was the ancient capital and has the remains of the walled city and several temples inside built in different styles. There seem to be more tourists here as there is a paved road from UB. That made this stop considerably more crowed than most places in Mongolia and was also the site of the largest ger camp that we stayed in during the entire trip. Desoite being more visited than most places in the country, peace and solitude was just around the corner. We hiked up to the top of the valley next to the camp and were afforded excellent views. There was also a monument depicting the one time expanse of the Mongol empire which was just a short hike away from the camp and worth a visit.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woolly/mongolia/1155868080/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woolly/mongolia/1155868080/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woolly/mongolia/1155868080/tpod.html Sat, 05 May 2007 20:54:29 -0400 Gobi to Hovsgul in 06.

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Tsagaan Ovoo, Mongolia

At Tsagaan Ovoo we camped near the site of an acient monastery. Unfortunately, it had been reduced to rubble by the soviets and not much remained. You could get an idea of the size that it had once been though from looking at what remained of the ruins. Their was a ger functioning as a gift shop at the site which was selling artifacts supposedly from the site. Either they were fakes, or it was a shameful display of giving away Mongolian history. Either way, it left a bad taste. The next day, on our journey we stopped for lunch and the drivers insisted on showing off their wrestling prowess. Being as it is one of the manly arts they were very keen to have a good showing, but I think I surprised them a little bit. That high school wrestling training came in handy.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woolly/mongolia/1155867120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woolly/mongolia/1155867120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woolly/mongolia/1155867120/tpod.html Sat, 05 May 2007 20:46:20 -0400 Gobi to Hovsgul in 06.

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Bayanzag, Mongolia

The next day was spent travelling to the Flaming Cliffs at Bayanzag. This site is famous for the archaeological work done by Roy Chapman Andrews in the 1920s. It produced numerous fossils of dinousaurs and their eggs. It even contained two skeletons who were locked in battle. There is not much to see here now, but the cliffs are striking. For lunch we ate at the nearest camp, which strangely enough had a restaurant in a giant tortoise. It was quite odd to see. They also had a basketball court at the camp and I was impressed to see 'Street ball' written on the back board in grafitti. The mongolians appear to love basketball and indeed it would appear streetball as well. This I found ironic considering the general lack of streets. Even at gers out in the middle of nowhere, I often saw a basketball hoop attached to a makeshift pole.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woolly/south_africa_07/1173511140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woolly/south_africa_07/1173511140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woolly/south_africa_07/1173511140/tpod.html Sat, 05 May 2007 20:33:39 -0400 A tour of the Southernmost countries on the African continent.

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Gansbaai, South Africa

Home of Great white shark diving! We were able to arrange the great white dive trip through our hotel and it worked out pretty well for us as it was fairly last minute. The drive out there took about three hours which is a little longer than they advertise, but you also have to account for picking up everybody at their respective hotel. The scenery on the way out to Hermanus and down to Gansbay was pretty nice, but I was definitely ready to get out of the van by the time we got there. A quick brief and we were off to the boat. There's a small island a few miles off shore where thousands of seals breed and that was where we set about waiting for the sharks. I guess there is a law as to how much they are allowed to chum the water, so the crew did so very juditiously and we waited and waited. The sea was very calm which was nice for those folks suffering a bit from sea sickness, but didn't lend itself to making the chum slick which attracts the sharks. Eventually a few sharks showed up and unfortunately, the sea still managed to get the best of a few people. Funny how it works out. So the crew put the cage in over the side of the boat and the first wave of people to go in got suited up in their wetsuits. That was pretty funny as half of the folks had them on inside out or backwards and were giving the crew fits! It wasn't a dive per say, but rather more of a put your head underwater when the shark swims by. But it was still pretty intense.Supposedly the shark can't differentiate between you and the cage, but I was watching each time as he circled around the cage. Everyone else in the cage was looking forwards the whole time and I don't think that they realized that after he swam out of sight he would appear a few seconds later next to the cage right behind them on each circuit around the cage. I was watching him closely, and he was deffinitely eyballing me back so I'm not sure that I buy into the theory that they just think you are part of the cage. I saw him licking his chops and I didn't even know that sharks had toungues!!! They rotated everyone in and out of the cage so that everyone got a chance to see the sharks up close, then we had the opportunity to get back in if we wanted. I jumped back in even though everyone else was complaining about the cold. I didn't think it was that bad and I wanted to get my money's worth after coming all this way to see them. It was surely one of the highlights of the trip.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woolly/mongolia/1155779040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woolly/mongolia/1155779040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woolly/mongolia/1155779040/tpod.html Fri, 04 May 2007 11:19:08 -0400 Gobi to Hovsgul in 06.

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Singing Dunes, Mongolia

Several more hours in the van, with a brief delay as we waited for the other van to catch up after a flat tire, and we arrived at our camp for the evening. Again we enjoyed good food in relatively austere, but nice conditions. Again we saw the pervasive influences of western culture as Britney Spears music eminated from behind the kitchen door. Again we were able to ignore it thanks to Alta Gobi beer and the incredible sunset over the dunes. Hasaa and Uka, our drivers managed to catch a hedgehog which was rooting about in their ger and presented it to us. According to something I read or heard, no journey to Mongolia is complete until you catch a wild animal, so this was fortuitous. Even though I didn't personally catch it I figured I fell into the we grouping. The next morning we prepared for our visit to the main attraction of this camp, the Singing dunes. They are so named because of the noise produced when the wind travels over them, and the harmony of millions of grains of sand moving in unison. First we met up with a camel herder who lived in his own ger camp several miles away and bartered for some trusty mounts. All set, we set out on a Lawrence of Arabia style trek which lasted several hours. My camel was pretty unruly and I found it difficult to steer using the traditional Mongolian style single reign. But at least he was photogenic! After several hours on the camels and some sore humps, we dissembarqued and set about climbing to the top of the tallest dune which was over 3000 feet tall! Unfortunately, the midday heat had the sand beneath our feet burning, and it was very difficult going. It was soo steep, that for every step I took, I slid two steps back. It was amazing to hear the dunes groaning though, as little avalanches of sand would cascade down the dune everytime someone took a step. You could litterally feel the bass vibration if you sat on the dune!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woolly/south_africa_07/1174711680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woolly/south_africa_07/1174711680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woolly/south_africa_07/1174711680/tpod.html Wed, 02 May 2007 10:53:48 -0400 A tour of the Southernmost countries on the African continent.

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Johannesburg, South Africa

Apart from a few hours in transit, we never really got to see much of Joburg until the last day and a half when we returned before flying out. We took kind of a Sunday drive approach to exploring the city and made our way accross town in no particular hurry checking out some of the different neighborhoods along the way. One of the places we had been looking forwards to going for the whole trip was the Carnivore restaurant on the outskirts of Joburg. It is one of those churrascarias specializing in game meats as well as more traditional grilled fare. Not only were we able to get reservations, but we also were able to find the place; both of which were challenges in their own right. Many large tourist groups frequent the place, but it wasn't the crowd that made it difficult to get reservations. It was getting ahold of someone on the phone. Then we got a little lost(went on a mini adventure) on the way there. The food was pretty good, and I had Giraffe, which I had never had before. I was a little dissapointed in the service though and decided that the whole place was a bit too touristy. I'm still glad that we went there though and checked off that box. The next day we went on a tour of the Soweto township which is one of the tourist things to do which has gained popularity in recent days. I was pretty surprise by the townships, because I was envisioning the whole area to be shanty towns as shown on the tv and SA movies. There were certainly some people living in the shanty towns, but it seemed like most of the houses in Soweto were fairly respectable. You are advised not to go into the townships without a guide, so I image that maybe they are a little rougher at night. We got to see the house of Mandela and Arch Bishop Tutu. Apparently it is the only place in the world where two Nobel prize recipients houses are on the same street. We ate lunch at Wandie's which is a fairly famous eating establishment there in Soweto. We actually heard about in from some locals when we were down in Cape Town, but later saw it in the Lonely Planet guide as well. It seems that anybody who is anybody and been to Soweto has eaten there. The place has the walls completely covered with photos and business cards from their famous patrons from all over the world. The food was pretty good as well. After the tour finished up we only had a few more hours before our flight, but we still had a list of things we were trying to squeeze into our trip. Despite going on another mini adventure, we finally found the Cradle of Humankind, a cave where they found the oldest human skeleton yet. They named it Ms Ples even though they were unable to identify the sex of the skeleton, and apparently it stole the title away from Lucy of Olduvai acclaim. After seeing the Caves and laughing at the other two people on our tour, who apparently had never been in a cave, we were back on the road looking for some last minute shopping. We were impressive as we swooped into the place we were looking for, bought up everything that we could get our hands on that we could hand carry onto the plane, and were back on the road in no time flat. Only one more hurdle before getting on our long flight home...rushhour traffic. No worries though. We made it and even had a minute or two to spare. Who wants to sit in the plane on the ground for half an hour after boarding anyways? We were going to be sitting there for the next 20 hours.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woolly/south_africa_07/1176964200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woolly/south_africa_07/1176964200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woolly/south_africa_07/1176964200/tpod.html Wed, 02 May 2007 09:54:15 -0400 A tour of the Southernmost countries on the African continent.

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Maputo, Mozambique

The prawns alone are worth the trip!Well we were conveniently alligned to make a brief excursion into Mozambique, so we had to do it.  Standard, we didn't have enough time to do everything we wanted, so we had to settle for lunch.  The same toll route that goes from Joburg to Nelspruit continues on to Maputo so the driving conditions were quite good.  The only real hassle was getting through the border.  First you have to purchase supplemental insurance to take your vehicle.  Then the whole visa process takes about 30-45 minutes.  Their are quite a few mozambiquans willing to help you through the red tape for a helper fee.  Probably more of a nuisance than anything else, but possibly worthwile if the border post is very busy as they will take your passports to the front of the line and know the immigration officials.  Once we made into the country, it was smooth sailing.  It took a while to find a restaurant in Maputo as the one we were originally looking for was closed, but we eventually found a pretty nice place.  Some street kids were eager to watch our car for us for change not unlike in other places in Africa.  The city was quite busy and bustling with traffic.  I noted quite a few people taking driving lessons so it will be even more crowded on the roads there soon. 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woolly/south_africa_07/1174452780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woolly/south_africa_07/1174452780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/woolly/south_africa_07/1174452780/tpod.html Wed, 02 May 2007 00:48:01 -0400 A tour of the Southernmost countries on the African continent.

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Kruger park, South Africa

Mike runs the Needle's lodge on the outskirts of Kruger park. He was really hospitable and very helpful in setting us up with some fun activities. We definitely wanted to spend at least one day in Kruger. I figured that we could probably drive ourselves and see the majority of the game ourselves. That had worked pretty well in other parts of Africa. I wasn't sure what Kruger would be like though as far as vegetation and staying on the roads, so we elected to do a game drive with a guide first. We figured we could do it on our own the next day if we went again. It turns out that we probably could have done fine on our own, but the guide Cliff was pretty cool so it was an enjoyable day and I have no regrets. Plus, since we came close to drinking Kruger out of Savannah dry cider and honey meade, it was probably good that we didn't have to drive ourselves. As it was, the Southern part of the park had quite a bit denser vegetation than anywhere else that I had been on safari so it was a little trickier to spot game that wasn't quite near to the road. Plus, you are not allowed to get off the road, and in a lot of places, it wasn't possible anyway. That made it a little more challenging to find the animals, since in other parts of Africa you can see great distances. That means you need only drive to where other vehicles have congregated to see lions, cheetah or other big game. We were pretty lucky to see lion under these circumstances but we did see them, and only about 10 minutes after entering the park. Without a guide who probably had a good idea of where they would be, we probably would have missed them. They do have maps set up at the lodges in the park where you can place pins based on animal sightings, so the self driver does have a fair chance at scoping out the big five. We were pretty lucky to see a good variety of animals, but I have still never seen those darn leopards! Back at Needle's Mike set us up with some guys who ran a microlight operation near the park. He passed on to them that we were both pilots, so they were pretty cool and let us fly. We were supposed to fly in formation, which I was really looking forward to, but alas my microlight wouldn't start, so I ended up about 15 minutes behind. It was a great time with a low level down the crocodile river which forms the southern border of Kruger park. You are not supposed to fly into the park, but we might have strayed just a little bit it. All of the action that we could see was pretty close to the river anyway: crocs, waterbuck, hippos, and cranes. Awesome. I think I almost ended up in the river a few times when my muscle memory was having a tough time adjusting to the reverse controls. Apparently the guy that I flew with was the South African microlight champ, which I'm not sure what that means, but he let me fly the entire flight so he's all right in my book. SPECIAL NOTE: They do sell calamari burgers at the restaurant in Kruger park. How can you not try it? It's squidlicious!
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