Woke up today to a boiling hot shower! Yippee! This morning we are just ringing home, updating emails, picking up our laundry and food shopping before our epic train journey to Moscow.
This afternoon at 2pm we board the train for Moscow, which will be home for 4 days and 4 nights! This will be interesting. We will make sure we're stocked up with plenty of food, plenty of entertainment and plenty of vodka for my birthday on Monday.
Signing off until next Tuesday/Wednesay.
See ya!
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Mongolia - Thursday 10 May
We left the Ger camp at 6.00am this morning to start the long journey back to Ulaanbaatar. We made sure we didn't get the back seat this time. We arrived back to the city around 12.30 and checked back into the hotel. Everyone jumped straight into their showers after not seeing one in 3 days. It was great to have the use of a 'real' toilet again as well. The drop style hole in the ground ones we'd used in the desert were revolting and got worse as the days went on. So most of us ended up having a cold shower because the hot had run out, but it was a great feeling to be clean all the same. The weather in Mongolia has been pretty cold although indoors is always heated.
Later in the afternoon we went off to have a $12 one hour long massage (cheaper than the $17 I thought it was going to be). I had a tiny little Mongolian woman as my massuese, and I almost asked our tour guide to ask her to give me a hard massage as she looked as though she didn't have the strength to do so. How wrong could I have been!! She almost killed me! For an hour she pinched, punched and pumelled my body, jumped on my back with her whole body, jabbed her knees into my butt and almost made me throw up as she attempted to rip my arms off. I was so sore by the end of it, and so grateful I hadn't asked for a hard massage. But it was a good massage all the same.
We had caught a taxi to the massage parlour, and our tour guide hailed one down to take us home. There are real taxi's in Mongolia, although every car is potentially a taxi (so you are basically hitch hiking). We jumped into the car and were almost back to the hotel when another car rear ended us. It was a pretty harsh collision but we were all ok, and just jumped out, paid the driver 80c (that was including a .30c tip) and walked the rest of the way to the hotel.
Dinner was at a western restaurant called Mongolian Bar B Q and Grill, which was an all you can eat for about $8. You chose your own meat and veges etc then took it all to the cooks that chucked your food on a huge cylindrical hot plate where they cooked it for you. They were show offs and threw all the food in the air, making it land on the plate. Yum Yum!!
Later in the afternoon we went off to have a $12 one hour long massage (cheaper than the $17 I thought it was going to be). I had a tiny little Mongolian woman as my massuese, and I almost asked our tour guide to ask her to give me a hard massage as she looked as though she didn't have the strength to do so. How wrong could I have been!! She almost killed me! For an hour she pinched, punched and pumelled my body, jumped on my back with her whole body, jabbed her knees into my butt and almost made me throw up as she attempted to rip my arms off. I was so sore by the end of it, and so grateful I hadn't asked for a hard massage. But it was a good massage all the same.
We had caught a taxi to the massage parlour, and our tour guide hailed one down to take us home. There are real taxi's in Mongolia, although every car is potentially a taxi (so you are basically hitch hiking). We jumped into the car and were almost back to the hotel when another car rear ended us. It was a pretty harsh collision but we were all ok, and just jumped out, paid the driver 80c (that was including a .30c tip) and walked the rest of the way to the hotel.
Dinner was at a western restaurant called Mongolian Bar B Q and Grill, which was an all you can eat for about $8. You chose your own meat and veges etc then took it all to the cooks that chucked your food on a huge cylindrical hot plate where they cooked it for you. They were show offs and threw all the food in the air, making it land on the plate. Yum Yum!!
Mongolia Gobi Desert - Wednesday 09 May
It was breakfast at 9 which was delicious bread with the most delicious homemade blackberry jam ever! We bought some for the long train journey to Russia. After breakfast we were loaded on the bus again, and drove back to the first Ger camp, stopping at some sand dunes on the way. Today we experience a desert storm which ended up in every orifice possible.
When we returned to the Ger camp, we walked for about 10 minutes to a nomad's ger where we all piled in and drank fermented mares milk from small bowls. Not my cup of tea, but some people enjoyed it. Our hosts also passed around a bowl of fried bread but I declined. This wasn't the right thing to do, so as everyone was munching on their parculiar bread, the nomad husband told the wife to offer me the bread again. I took a tiny peice which she thought was hillarious. Next came a bowl of fermented hard yoghurt peices and this time I thought I had better take a big bit to keep the hosts happy. It was digusting and I ended up dropping it into the bottom of the mare's milk to get rid of it. Then the fried bread dish came around again, I wasn't coping, so took a large chunk and again the wife laughed at me. I managed to put it into my pocket to get rid of later. Unfortunately later on, I was reaching into my pocket for a tissue and out pops the bread - the husband and wife both saw it pop out and I tried to explain with sign language that I was full now but saving it to eat later. They didn't look like they believed me.
We all had to sing a song to our hosts to show our appreciation of their hospitality. The three guys sang Jingle Bells, although only one of them seemed to know the words. Odd! Us girls sang 'Lean on Me' which they really enjoyed. They then sang some songs to us, one of which brought a tear to a couple of eyes it was so beautiful. These people looked around 60 but were probably much younger, the harsh desert weather ages them to the extreme. They had been nomads most of their lives and had 8 children all of which lived in the city, some attending boarding school. The nomads move their location 4 times a year, each season, and hardly ever return to the same location. They took us on a camel ride then we went on a one hour horse ride, all the while being whipped by the sand from the storm.
There are many nomads in the desert, who live their lives as gypsies, living off the land and selling their sheep or cattle for the small amount of money they need to survive. Most families in Mongolia have 8 children, and in 1921 the population was a mere 500,000. The population today is 2.8 million. Lots of tv's on the blink in the last 70 years!!
When we returned to the Ger camp, we walked for about 10 minutes to a nomad's ger where we all piled in and drank fermented mares milk from small bowls. Not my cup of tea, but some people enjoyed it. Our hosts also passed around a bowl of fried bread but I declined. This wasn't the right thing to do, so as everyone was munching on their parculiar bread, the nomad husband told the wife to offer me the bread again. I took a tiny peice which she thought was hillarious. Next came a bowl of fermented hard yoghurt peices and this time I thought I had better take a big bit to keep the hosts happy. It was digusting and I ended up dropping it into the bottom of the mare's milk to get rid of it. Then the fried bread dish came around again, I wasn't coping, so took a large chunk and again the wife laughed at me. I managed to put it into my pocket to get rid of later. Unfortunately later on, I was reaching into my pocket for a tissue and out pops the bread - the husband and wife both saw it pop out and I tried to explain with sign language that I was full now but saving it to eat later. They didn't look like they believed me.
We all had to sing a song to our hosts to show our appreciation of their hospitality. The three guys sang Jingle Bells, although only one of them seemed to know the words. Odd! Us girls sang 'Lean on Me' which they really enjoyed. They then sang some songs to us, one of which brought a tear to a couple of eyes it was so beautiful. These people looked around 60 but were probably much younger, the harsh desert weather ages them to the extreme. They had been nomads most of their lives and had 8 children all of which lived in the city, some attending boarding school. The nomads move their location 4 times a year, each season, and hardly ever return to the same location. They took us on a camel ride then we went on a one hour horse ride, all the while being whipped by the sand from the storm.
There are many nomads in the desert, who live their lives as gypsies, living off the land and selling their sheep or cattle for the small amount of money they need to survive. Most families in Mongolia have 8 children, and in 1921 the population was a mere 500,000. The population today is 2.8 million. Lots of tv's on the blink in the last 70 years!!
Mongolia Gobi Desert - Tuesday 08 May
Breakfast at 9am, bags packed and we were off on the bus for a 100km drive to stay in a different Ger camp for the night. On the way we stopped at a 2m high rock mound which was actually a shrine, and tradition meant if you threw a rock on and walked around the mound once, you would have good luck. There were also gifts left on the shrine for Buddha which included traditional scarves, empty bottles of vodka and a steering wheel??
We then went in search for the Phallic Rock which was a small rock in the exact form of a penis. You can imagine the photos we took! The rock was barred off to the Monks many decades ago as they would go to the rock which would make them amorous and then hit on the local girls. Behind the rock was a huge mountain called the vaginal slope. We actually thought that many of the mountains in the desert looked like vaginal slopes. There were many Mongolians selling their wares, and we all picked up some beautiful jewellery and old things such as spear heads, bowls etc which are apparently from the bronze age. I bought a pendant type peice in the shape of a bull, which is (apparently) from the bronze age and was used as a passport to cross the border.
Next stop was a Buddhist monk monastery which we did a tour of but unfortunately missed the praying and chanting time. It was quite interesting but by this time many of us were so hungry that we lost interest. Finally we left and found our next Ger camp and ate some much needed lunch. The food was aweful but we were so hungry, no-one was complaining. Later in the day we helped build a ger with the Mongolian men who found our help rather amusing. It was hard to tell whether we were a help or a hinderance, but they let us keep helping so we couldn't have been doing that bad a job. We also saw our first Yak!
We then went in search for the Phallic Rock which was a small rock in the exact form of a penis. You can imagine the photos we took! The rock was barred off to the Monks many decades ago as they would go to the rock which would make them amorous and then hit on the local girls. Behind the rock was a huge mountain called the vaginal slope. We actually thought that many of the mountains in the desert looked like vaginal slopes. There were many Mongolians selling their wares, and we all picked up some beautiful jewellery and old things such as spear heads, bowls etc which are apparently from the bronze age. I bought a pendant type peice in the shape of a bull, which is (apparently) from the bronze age and was used as a passport to cross the border.
Next stop was a Buddhist monk monastery which we did a tour of but unfortunately missed the praying and chanting time. It was quite interesting but by this time many of us were so hungry that we lost interest. Finally we left and found our next Ger camp and ate some much needed lunch. The food was aweful but we were so hungry, no-one was complaining. Later in the day we helped build a ger with the Mongolian men who found our help rather amusing. It was hard to tell whether we were a help or a hinderance, but they let us keep helping so we couldn't have been doing that bad a job. We also saw our first Yak!
Mongolia Gobi Desert - Monday 07 May
Today we packed our bags again and left for the Gobi Desert, stopping on the way for breakfast and food shopping. It was 280kms to the desert, although took us around 6.5 hours to get there due to extremely bumpy and windy roads. There was one toilet stop on the way and...you guessed it...another drop toilet. Aaarrrgghh! The girls and I took the back seat of the mini bus, which was the worst decision ever. The seats were situated over the wheels and we felt every bump and pot hole in the road, and ended up with extremely bruised behinds by the end of the trip. We were constantly almost thrown over to the next seat, but it made for some good laughs by all. We never took the back seat again.
We reached our Ger camp, which is a cluster of Mongolian style tents. A ger is a cylindrical house made out of a wooden base structure that is covered with a thick padding made of yaks hair, then covered with a material type cover and another one. They are big enough to stand up inside and walk around, and include a pot belly stove which is stoked throughout the night by a Mongolian, 4 large day beds, a sink (without running water) and dressing table with mirror and a small table with 4 stools. They are extremely sturdy and they are home to many Mongolian nomads.
That night we ate a delicious Mongolian meal with many different delights. Later it was drinking time, and everyone pulled out their stashes of vodka and met in one of the ger's for hours of drinking games. One of the games meant all 14 of us were running around the perimeter of the ger 3 times in the pitch dark, and then we were piggy backing each other around another time. Good times!!
We reached our Ger camp, which is a cluster of Mongolian style tents. A ger is a cylindrical house made out of a wooden base structure that is covered with a thick padding made of yaks hair, then covered with a material type cover and another one. They are big enough to stand up inside and walk around, and include a pot belly stove which is stoked throughout the night by a Mongolian, 4 large day beds, a sink (without running water) and dressing table with mirror and a small table with 4 stools. They are extremely sturdy and they are home to many Mongolian nomads.
That night we ate a delicious Mongolian meal with many different delights. Later it was drinking time, and everyone pulled out their stashes of vodka and met in one of the ger's for hours of drinking games. One of the games meant all 14 of us were running around the perimeter of the ger 3 times in the pitch dark, and then we were piggy backing each other around another time. Good times!!
Mongolia - 10 May
This afternoon we returned to civilisation (well as civilised as Ulaanbaatar can be) after three days in the Gobi Desert, with no showers, hole in the ground drop style toilets and a Desert storm. Despite the inadequacies, we had an absolute ball and being in the desert was truely an amazing experience. We're off for a spa and sauna and a $17, one hour massage now, so i'm hoping to update the last few days adventures before leaving for Russia tomorrow early afternoon.
Hope everyone is well, and thanks for all your well wishes. Thanks Elsie for the thought that I didn't actually eat Yak's digestive system!!
Hope everyone is well, and thanks for all your well wishes. Thanks Elsie for the thought that I didn't actually eat Yak's digestive system!!
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Beijing to Ulaanbaatar - Sat/Sun - 05/06th May
Saturday morning 5.20am wake up call that was literally me picking up the phone to 'Hello Wake Up!!' from an abrupt Chinese woman. What a wake up call! The tour group of 14 were piled into an awaiting minibus at 6.30am Saturday morning, and dropped at the train station to be loaded onto the train. We were greeted by a Gastapo style train attendant who was to be our keeper for the next two days. We found a berth to jam our backpacks and selves in, and the berth was rather appealing. Well it was for those who like hot pink floral with bright gold trimming on bed covers and pillow case, with a lime green number used as a tablecloth. The trains we are riding for this trip are sleeper trains which have four single beds in each berth, two are pull down that sit above the two below, and there's also a small table. Not much room to move but what can one expect.
By 7.40am the train departed the station for what we thought was to be a 13 hour trip. No, no Aussies! 30 hours on the train, not 13!! We found this out about 4 hours into the trip but although it was a set back we weren't surprised. Two days before, we were all under the impression the trip was 30 hours, but the tour guide (which are called 'honchos' and we get a new one in each city) kept saying 13 hours...thirdeen, thirdee...almost the same when said with a Chinese accent..but not! Well the THIRTY hour train ride was probably as we had expected - cramped but comfortable, time taken up with cross stitching, reading, listening to music, eating, sleeping, taking photos out of the train window and busting for the toilet when the loos were closed down for hours. Literally. We had to wait 2 hours for the trains wheels to be changed due to different train track guage sizes between China and Mongolia and in this time the toilets weren't to be used. Once that was over the train then went for another half an hour before we stopped at the Mongolian border where everyone was to submit their Mongolian visas, documents and passports to the officials who took them away to check and stamp. The train was stopped at this point for approximately 6 hours - still no use of the toilet allowed. Aarrrgghhh! The officials who took our passports were two Chinese woman dressed in blue official uniforms but also long knee high boots and bright red lipstick - I was wondering if they had other jobs to perform on the train?? We really wanted to take a photo but obviously it was really inappropriate.
All of the tour group had taken bags of food for the train ride as we were all warned the food available in the restaurant may not be of the best quality/reconisable. So noodles, soup and bread it was. There was hot water available but the entrepenarial train attendants tried to make everyone pay for it. No, no. Because we'd bought only enough food for 13 hours, not 30, at one train stop Dom and I jumped off to buy some fruit and bread from one of the local vendors. No sooner had we jumped off and were paying the vendor, we had everyone hanging out the windows of the train watching the action, within a minute the train attendant was screaming at us to get back on the train as it was leaving. I had visions of us chasing a moving train and running along side it to jump back into the carriage but luckily we made it on just in the nick of time.
Finally we arrived in Ulaanbaatar (Capital of Mongolia) at 2pm today, and met our honcho. As all the tour members got off the train to congregate, a Mongolian gentlement who spoke very good English was pushing us to stay at his hotel. He was very persistant and one of the girls told him we had a hotel arranged. He kept persisting so she said 'we don't need it, bye bye'. He put his face in hers and told her not to be so rude in his country and she was lucky she was a woman because if she was a man, he would kill her. Welcome to Mongolia. Don't worry though, apart from that situation we have found that Mongolia has a much better feel to it than Beijing. Much more inviting even though there is rubbish everywhere and communist style accomodation.
We checked into our hotel which was much cleaner than the second hotel in Beijing, and had much needed showers and food. We all met up again in the lobby at 5 to go to a traditional Mongolian performance. We walked for 25 minutes through wide streets and fresh chilly air to a random building in a parking lot. We climbed some stairs, and entered into a beautiful small opera hall, with velvet booths. We ordered a beer and were presented with a bunch of acts including some Mongolian Folk Dancing, singing, drum beating, orchestral pieces and vocal and instrumental solos. It was all brilliant, though the female singers go a little too high and their voices sounded more like they were strangling a cat.
After the performance we crossed the parking lot to a restaurant for dinner. We ordered another beer and Dom, Rani and myself decided to gorge oursevles on meat. We asked for a meat grill and some rolled lamb balls with bacon. All the others in our tour and our two tour guides received their meals and then our plate of balls arrived, then so did our rice, and our potatoes, and our salad and then out came this massive plate of meats. Everyone had pretty much stopped eating to watch our food be carted out and delivered to the three salivating Aussie girls in the corner of the room. Hilarious. The balls were okay, the meats and meat on a stick were great, and then there was this deep fried red sausage which no one (on the entire table) touched. It looked like a sausage meat octopus. Yuk.
Anyway we're off to the Mongolian country tomorrow morning, to a Ger camp surrounded by mountains. We will be returning to Ulaanbaatar on Thursday at which time I will be on air again.
Some of you have said you have text me, but unfortunately my phone hasn't been working since I left Sydney, and is still not working. Please email me instead and I will let you know when it's working again. Love to everyone.
By 7.40am the train departed the station for what we thought was to be a 13 hour trip. No, no Aussies! 30 hours on the train, not 13!! We found this out about 4 hours into the trip but although it was a set back we weren't surprised. Two days before, we were all under the impression the trip was 30 hours, but the tour guide (which are called 'honchos' and we get a new one in each city) kept saying 13 hours...thirdeen, thirdee...almost the same when said with a Chinese accent..but not! Well the THIRTY hour train ride was probably as we had expected - cramped but comfortable, time taken up with cross stitching, reading, listening to music, eating, sleeping, taking photos out of the train window and busting for the toilet when the loos were closed down for hours. Literally. We had to wait 2 hours for the trains wheels to be changed due to different train track guage sizes between China and Mongolia and in this time the toilets weren't to be used. Once that was over the train then went for another half an hour before we stopped at the Mongolian border where everyone was to submit their Mongolian visas, documents and passports to the officials who took them away to check and stamp. The train was stopped at this point for approximately 6 hours - still no use of the toilet allowed. Aarrrgghhh! The officials who took our passports were two Chinese woman dressed in blue official uniforms but also long knee high boots and bright red lipstick - I was wondering if they had other jobs to perform on the train?? We really wanted to take a photo but obviously it was really inappropriate.
All of the tour group had taken bags of food for the train ride as we were all warned the food available in the restaurant may not be of the best quality/reconisable. So noodles, soup and bread it was. There was hot water available but the entrepenarial train attendants tried to make everyone pay for it. No, no. Because we'd bought only enough food for 13 hours, not 30, at one train stop Dom and I jumped off to buy some fruit and bread from one of the local vendors. No sooner had we jumped off and were paying the vendor, we had everyone hanging out the windows of the train watching the action, within a minute the train attendant was screaming at us to get back on the train as it was leaving. I had visions of us chasing a moving train and running along side it to jump back into the carriage but luckily we made it on just in the nick of time.
Finally we arrived in Ulaanbaatar (Capital of Mongolia) at 2pm today, and met our honcho. As all the tour members got off the train to congregate, a Mongolian gentlement who spoke very good English was pushing us to stay at his hotel. He was very persistant and one of the girls told him we had a hotel arranged. He kept persisting so she said 'we don't need it, bye bye'. He put his face in hers and told her not to be so rude in his country and she was lucky she was a woman because if she was a man, he would kill her. Welcome to Mongolia. Don't worry though, apart from that situation we have found that Mongolia has a much better feel to it than Beijing. Much more inviting even though there is rubbish everywhere and communist style accomodation.
We checked into our hotel which was much cleaner than the second hotel in Beijing, and had much needed showers and food. We all met up again in the lobby at 5 to go to a traditional Mongolian performance. We walked for 25 minutes through wide streets and fresh chilly air to a random building in a parking lot. We climbed some stairs, and entered into a beautiful small opera hall, with velvet booths. We ordered a beer and were presented with a bunch of acts including some Mongolian Folk Dancing, singing, drum beating, orchestral pieces and vocal and instrumental solos. It was all brilliant, though the female singers go a little too high and their voices sounded more like they were strangling a cat.
After the performance we crossed the parking lot to a restaurant for dinner. We ordered another beer and Dom, Rani and myself decided to gorge oursevles on meat. We asked for a meat grill and some rolled lamb balls with bacon. All the others in our tour and our two tour guides received their meals and then our plate of balls arrived, then so did our rice, and our potatoes, and our salad and then out came this massive plate of meats. Everyone had pretty much stopped eating to watch our food be carted out and delivered to the three salivating Aussie girls in the corner of the room. Hilarious. The balls were okay, the meats and meat on a stick were great, and then there was this deep fried red sausage which no one (on the entire table) touched. It looked like a sausage meat octopus. Yuk.
Anyway we're off to the Mongolian country tomorrow morning, to a Ger camp surrounded by mountains. We will be returning to Ulaanbaatar on Thursday at which time I will be on air again.
Some of you have said you have text me, but unfortunately my phone hasn't been working since I left Sydney, and is still not working. Please email me instead and I will let you know when it's working again. Love to everyone.
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