Magical Mongolia
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Well I've got my winter wonderland - it is terrific - on the day we arrived in Mongolia there was a coating of snow over everything a few cms thick (had snowed the day before)... the snow was so light and fluffy it was like cotton wool... and as you walked you went crunch crunch through it, of course there were a few slippery bits - particularly thru the city square, where for some bizarre reason they have a criss-cross design in marble tiles which are exceptionally slippry - definitely no ice skates required! Only fallen over once - right smack bang in the middle of the road, luckily one of the side-streets! Now 3 days later the snow has all iced up so it was a bit slow-going as pretty slippery but it is still, as the Frosty's tiger (get it - Frosty! ohh - too funny!) would say, grrrrreat! :) Ohh - and i Have definitely gotten into negative 20s!!!! - how brilliant is that!!!! (may have even gotten to -30, (that was predicted) - doesn't feel that terribly cold tho... altho on the horse I couldn't feel my toes til a few hrs later! Very glad i bought that Canada goose down jacket from Beijing - 5of us in the group bought one but it is very nice and toasty! We spent a night in Mongolia - had traditional mongolian meal - lots of meat, little veg... then went to the Ger camp the next day to the National Park... scenery absolutely gorgeous - mountains and snow everywhere... went for a 2hr horse ride (can feel it today) to a Monestry out there up and down this really steep hill... my little mongolian horse did very well - altho he did like to follow his own path sometimes... The Gers were amazing... fits 4beds - yep didn't sleep on a mattress on the floor, which is what i was expecting, and a little fireplace in the middle - was so toasty all thru the night - best sleep i have had on the trip yet! They cooked us brilliant meals as well - 4 courses - so full! And we tried their famous fermented mare's milk - something I suppose you have to try, but yep not my cup of tea! They have only had traffic lights in Mongolia for about 10years - they are still getting used to them - red doesn't mean much to them... combine that with slippery roads and it makes crossing the road - particularly the main street - a bit of a scary experience! And again Ulaan Baatar is super cheap - $5US definitely get a full meal! Cam back from the Ger camp mid-morning and spent the day roaming Ulaan Baatar, and another Mongolian dinner... hotels that we stay are are pretty good - western toilet (always nice cf to squat loos) and hot showers... At 6pm tonight we are going to board the train for 2 nights... - includes an 11hour border crossing - should be fun!! - On the Mongolian side they have pay-toilets... on the Russian side - where we will be for about 3-4hrs apparently you don't want to go even if they paid you... Went to a Mongolian orphanage yesterday - which was interesting, bit of an eye-opener... most of the kids have been abondoned or abused... - but most of the seemed very happy so that is good... Also went to the Winter palace today and to a Monestary - one of the last remaining in Mongolia - where we saw Monks chanting - very spiffy! The train ride Now back to the leaving of China - our first overnight train trip... we left Beijing around 7am... I shared with Pauline, Justin and Celia - it was really fun - just like the movies (the compartment + meal carriage)... the loos were all stainless and did get a bit smelly but not nearly as bad as i was expecting them to get (altho the Chinese train is meant to be better than the Russia - and this was only one night - we have a 3-nighter coming up in a week or so's time)... Was good to see the country-side - never get tired of looking out the window - particularly the Gobi Desert where everything was snow covered and there were camels and gazelles... There was of course lots of chatting, card playing and nibbling... and you got meal tickets (just for the China section) for lunch (which we ate at 10am and dinner at 5pm - we were the first ones there - meals were pretty good)... You train your bladder to work around the train stops (the train stops for about 10-20mins occassionally but they lock the toilet 15mins before, and don't open it again til about 15mins later - and of course that is always when you need to go) At around 11pm we reached the China-Mongolia border... they had all these official unsmiling people chekcing forms etc... they you go in this little hanger and they lift the train carriages up one at a time about 1m high to change the wheels as they have different tracks in Mongolia and Russia... The train we are about to catch to Irktsk doesn't have a meal carriage and is meant to be pretty basic, so should be interesting... Back to China Sorry - going in reverse order... Should have mentioned I was doing pretty darn good with chopsticks by the end of Beijing...- had to use them on the train for the meals as well... Went to the night markets on my last night in China (despite being super-tired) - they had frogs, snails, starfish, snakes, seahorses, silk worms, centipedes, an assrtment of beetles - all to be eaten - gross! And I have 2 tales... was deciding whether to tell anyone, but figured they'd provide some amusement... On a free arvo in Beijing I was wondering the town... lots of Chinese people say hello, and try out their English on you... and these 2 Chinese girls befirended me and took me on a little city tour pointing out some stuff... one of the girls left and the other took me to a tea house - I said I didn't have much money (it was our last day there), so she checked the price and said the ceremony was expensive but a cup of tea was cheap.. so had some herbal tea in our own little room - wasn't too bad (not normally a tea drinker, but when in Rome...!)... anyway got the bill and it was 200 Yuan (now when a meal for 7people costs less than 100 you know something is up)... anyway I only had 40 (converts to about $8AUS) and gave it to her and said that was all i had... the tea lady was trying to get me to pay credit (I said I didn't have a credit card, only travellers cheques abck at the hotel) and after about 5-10minutes of going backwards and forwards the Chinese girl finally said I could go... moral of the story - always check the price - exactly!!! (I should've learnt that with my Rome table-service, very expensive gelati).. Tale 2 (ohh now this is bad) - I got told never buy a cheap backpack - the straps will break etc etc... But as I am borrowing one from a wonderful friedn and realising how absolutely brilliant they are a keen to get my own... anyway - we went to the silk markets in Beijing - had a wonderful time... haggling etc... and yes i kind of got carried away, you try to bargain on some top just to see how cheap you can get it... anyway on the 4th floor of the markets - there was - you guessed it - backpacks!!! - so I had a go at a 'North face' one (despite the cumbersome lugging around of it back to the UK, my fellow shopper convinced me it could be a good idea!)... :) got it for $20... anyway back to the hotel all was fine (it carried my shopping nicely)... 2 days later, early start about to leave for the train, had my jackets and train food in it, pick it up ready to take down to the lobby to meet everyone - voompa - the back strap breaks! :) = some mistakes you just have to make yourself :) - still glad i got it tho - while everyone is separately carrying their jackets (of which i have 3 remember) and a little bag of food - I have just one big one (I was able to tie the strap but it does come undone - and yes i know i could of gotten one of those trendy red white and blue striped bag for $2 but it just wouldn't have been as good a story!!! Anyway again am running out of time... |