Gone for good

We have been slack on the email front for a little while. There are two incredibly legitimate reasons for this - we are lazy and we wanted to surprise Jen and Stephen by arriving in London early (therefore our trip has been hurried to say the least!). I think the last chapter involved Dirty Colin so that must have been . . .let me think . . .Latvia . . . ok on with the story. . .

Adam left Latvia with a heavy heart - it was hard for him to say goodbye to Dirty Colin, but he soldiered on, bless him. We arrived in Lithuania by bus and it was a really warm day. In fact it was the warmest weather for us since SE Asia. We found the guesthouse and then wandered around the city. Vilnius was very cool - a lot more grungy than Riga and Tallinn, it seemed to be full of real people. And it had a memorial to Frank Zappa . . . .not quite sure where that fitted in . . . .

Frank's Wall

We only spent one night there because we were going to Warsaw on the overnight bus the next day. As it turned out, one night with our Australian room mate was quite enough. At about 5am he stumbled home (that's all cool - no problem) with a lady friend in tow (that is not cool - grande problemo) and . . . do I need to tell the rest of the story? Needless to say, it was an emotionally disturbing experience for me and the dude who was on the top bunk. Adam, of course, slept through the whole ordeal, and then wouldn't let me have a show down with this fella the next day!! How good are Australians?

We arrived in Warsaw after a very unrestful night on the bus - but no phantom shaggers in sight. Instead of staying there, we caught a bus through to Krakow to visit our Polish friends that we met in China. We were completely exhausted but so excited to be seeing some familiar faces. Ela, Darek and Cornelia (their daughter) were fabulous hosts and showed us all of the sights in Krakow. We managed to take a trip to Auschwitz and Birkenau which was profoundly disturbing but very interesting. We ate some traditional Polish food and beer both of which were fantastic and Darek cooked up a Chinese dinner on our last night. It was a beautiful city and we were beautifully looked after by our friends. We are looking forward to catching up with them again soon.

After Krakow we headed to Prague - again to catch up with an old friend. We stayed at Martin's house (a friend from Uni in Bendigo) and he took us around Prague, showed us the cheap places to drink, taught us how to fare evade (unsuccessfully) and took us to some live Czech music. It was a very busy four days and we were exhausted at the end of it - not to mention a little hungover. Martin really looked after us and threw a few free history lessons in there for good measure. We can highly recommend him as a tour guide, it was fantastic!! Prague is a really beautiful city but there were so many tourists it was amazing. We can't wait to get back and explore a little more of the Czech Republic.

The next stop on the mad dash for London was Berlin. Now that is a real city! The first day we arrived, we stumbled on an African / Asian cultural celebration that involved lots of alcohol, great food and live music - and it was about 5 min walk from our hostel. It was super cool and a lovely way to spend our first night in Germany. The next day we just wandered around the city, soaking up the sights - all the usuals - The Berlin Wall, Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, Checkpoint Charlie, truly amazing. Checkpoint Charlie was really amazing, the narrative on the walls around the location is very moving and puts everything into perspective. Really great and probably our highlight in Berlin.

We left Berlin hoping to get through to Groningen (Netherlands) in one day. We had a little wager and needless to say, Adam is glad we didn't wager anything important. I was convinced we would get there in one day which we did quite easily. We were going to Groningen to catch up with Louwrens and Marianne - the Dutch people that we shared our Gobi epic with - and we were so excited. We arrived in Groningen after changing trains 1000 times to be met by Louwrens at the train station. He did state previously that staying at their "castle" included free train station pick up so we shouldn't have expected anything less! Groningen is a student city up North and is small but very cool. We really enjoyed our short time there and can't wait to go back for another visit. It was so great to catch up with Louwrens and Marianne and we definitely enjoyed their Dutch hospitality . . .except for the raw herring episode . . . . . actually it wasn't that bad . . .the photo turned out really well . . .Speaking of culture shocks (we were weren't we?) we did a late night tour of the Red Light District. Lucky, because it prepared us for Amsterdam, sort of. There are actually red lights and the women stand in windows with not much on looking for customers. It pays to advertise right? Anyway, it is a very interesting part of cities in the Netherlands and strolling by is a must do!

After an all too short stay, we headed to Amsterdam, the bike capital of the world. Louwrens delivered us to our campsite (just North of the city centre) which was far too kind of him!! The camp ground was great actually. Much cheaper than hostels and it was about a 5 min bus ride from the centre of town. . .and it was called Vliegenbos which sounds cool, especially with a fake Dutch accent! Amsterdam was a happening place. We cannot wait to get back, we had such a great time. Again, the Red Light District is a must see - you can even take tours through there and find out about the history of prostitution from an ex-worker. Plenty of people in fishing vests and socks and sandals were soaking up that one!! Of course, another Amsterdam (and Dutch) institution is the Coffeeshop. It isn't a Coffeeshop but more of a "Coffeeshop". It specialises in marijuana and hash and can be ordered off an extensive menu. Some "Coffeeshops" even sell coffee, but of course, no food!! And that is Amsterdam in a nutshell. The city is quite beautiful with old buildings and canals everywhere and it is very much alive!!! After two nights of non stop action we headed to Hoek Van Holland to catch our final transport to England. We caught an overnight ferry and it was very comfortable and great value . . . . for Europe. . .god this place is expensive!!!!!

And so here we are in London - waiting for Jen and Stephen to get home from work. We haven't seen them yet and we are very excited. We surprised them by coming early so Jen has already made excuses for the messy house. . .haha. Have seen red double decker buses and dudes from The Bill but no Big Ben or Buckingham Palace. That will be tomorrow's adventure. . .

Stay tuned for chapter one of "Buying the Van" saga. Unmissable . . . .

Love

two people who are very tired of carrying their backpacks everywhere

And so the post match wrap up that was Russia at its best and worst . . .and we had very dirty jeans but they were still good, bless denim....

Can't believe that a month slipped by so quickly and so tediously all at
once. You may find my choice of language a little contradictory but that
was Russia, full of contradictions at every turn. We have drawn conclusions about Russia based on very limited experience, gross generalisations and Hollywood. This is what we think. . . .

- Definitely full of Mafia and organised crime
- Siberian towns were nice for a short stopover but we will NEVER do that
again
- Russia is food hell (more on that later)
- There is Moscow, there is St Petersburg. . . .then there is the rest of Russia

So we left Moscow with hangovers and arrived safe and sound in St
Petersburg. It was very obvious that we were getting closer to Europe. The Burg (as we liked to call it) was less intimidating, more laid back and much more user friendly than Moscow. Of course, we liked Moscow better, it had an edge that The Burg didn't. Difficult to explain but our guidebook (the one we got from a hostel after losing ours whilst out drinking in Moscow) said that The Burg (they didn't call it The Burg) was the soul of Russia and Moscow was the earthy heart. Where Siberia and the rest of the biggest country in the world fitted in, we can only imagine!! But there was certainly some truth to that statement.

Church of the Savior of the Spilled Blood

Feeding Sparrows

On the 9th of May, Russians celebrate Victory Day (When they finally
defeated the Germans in WWII). It is very similiar to ANZAC Day - they have a big parade and the veterans march through the city streets. It was pretty amazing. That day, we were walking down the road and we ran into Ferry and Marcus, two fellas that we caught the train with from Ulaan Baatar to Irkutsk (how long ago was that!!). Very cool cats who have travelled using the couch surfing phenomenon. It has worked out well for them most of the time. Anyway, it was great to catch up and talk about all our adventures in Russia because we hadn't seen each other for a month. Very bizarre. . .

The Burg is home to one of the most expansive and impressive museums in the world. It is called the Hermitage and it is located in the Winter Palace
right on the Neva River. It costs a lot of money to get in but it is free
for students. Marcus suggested that we try our luck with our drivers
licences . . . thanks for the tip, it saved us over $35!! The building and
the art was overwhelming, we lost ourselves for over 5 hours and we still
didn't see everything. I had just read "1812, Napolean's Fatal March on
Moscow" so I regaled Adam with anecdotes about various battles that were
depicted in paintings everywhere . .

"Ah yes, the Battle of Borodino. . that was where Napolean. . .or was it
Kutuzov. . .hang on. . .it might have been a different battle. . . .I can't remember . . . there were a lot of battles that year . . . heaps of dudes were killed . . . . don't know who won . . ."

He loved it!!!

We went to another museum which was super funny - not sure it was meant to
be!! It had bits and pieces from various countries all over the world with
English narrative that was cut and pasted straight out of a primary school
project. And I quote "The Africans didn't know anything about using manure
as fertilser. They didn't even have sour cream." Brilliant and very
insightful I thought. Anyway, the highlight of this museum was a room full
of deformed babies in jars. What is with that????? We always seem to find
ourselves at freak shows...

Anyway, the Hermitage was an absolute highlight - especially after getting in for
free. It felt like vindication for the ridiculous accommodation costs we
were paying. We also tripped out to Peterhof, a Summer Palace for Peter the
Great. It was a beautiful place and the gardens were amazing with fountains
and gold statues everywhere. A ridiculous display of wealth and frivolity -
very different to the severe Soviet architecture in some of the cities we
visited.

Peterhof

Adam being a fountain

Lighthouse at Peterhof

All in all, The Burg was good to us but we were ready to leave. In fact we were very ready to leave the Russian cuisine well behind, never to speak of it again. After the delights of Asia it was hard to pay
ridiculous money for really crappy food. Eating out was an ordeal every time. Needless to say, instant potato in a plastic container became a very close friend of ours. However, one of the truly beautiful things about Russia is the beer culture. As it is not a hard spirit it is not considered alcohol even though you can buy beer with 12% alcohol. Everyone drank on the streets and you can stroll to a bar drink in hand. No more sneaky travellers required. We indulged, we drank in parks, squares, pancake stands, piazzas. . .and it was cheap.

We caught a bus from The Burg to Tallinn is Estonia and we were sweating the border crossing a little. We had registered our visas in Irkutsk but not since then. . .oops . . .we got a little too blasé` . . .all was good and
we sailed through without any problems. Tallinn was lovely but FULL of tourists and tour groups FULL of pensioners wearing fishing vests and socks and sandals. I have to say that it was a bit of a culture shock, beautiful squares everywhere and not a beer in sight. I guess the socked and sandaled patrons would not have approved!!! The food on the other hand was a welcome change - we ate great pasta (with vegetables ) at an overpriced café and we have never been happier.

The red lights of Tallinn

We left Tallinn without seeing the real thing but it was great to wander and do basically bugger all. We fare evaded on the tram all the way to the bus station - unintentionally of course. Backpackers truly are the scum of the earth!! We crossed the border into Latvia without even getting off the bus. Ah yes. . .welcome to the European Union . . .fasten your seatbelts, it is going to be a Contikki Tour paced trip . . .

On our first night here in Riga we met a chap in the kitchen called Colin who is more English than the Queen. He would easily be in his late 60's and was the most annoying individual. He told us a story about his camera and its manual that went for twenty of our precious minutes. Then this morning (oh my god, he is staying in our dorm!!) he gave us the second chapter of the camera and manual saga. Absolutely rivetting . . . .however not as rivetting as his strip club story. I am sure that old dudes go to strip clubs (it was a strip club, mark my words) and that is cool. I JUST DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT!!!! He reminded us of one of the evil dudes from the movie "Hostel" which we think was set somewhere in the Baltic States. We will be sleeping with one eye open tonight. Riga is quite a lovely city but again is full of socked and sandalled pensioners. They were probably all out at the strip club last night with Colin - who henceforth will be referred to as Dirty Colin or (my personal favourite) Adam's mate.

We exchanged a wad load of Estonian currency this morning and only got a few coins in return. After feeling completely ripped off we then realised that we had exchanged the equivalent of $3 ossie. No wonder they looked at us funny. One of the more amusing things we have noticed in both Tallinn and Riga is the amount of Russian restaurants, I mean seriously team, who the hell eats at them? They would be great . . . they would over charge, serve crap and provide a service second to everything. In Riga there is a restaurant listed as "Soviet". We think that you have to queue for 5 hours and then all you get is a potato. The deal is sweetened somewhat by the Latvian 80's rock vinyl display that is apparently on the wall. Brilliant . . . .

And so begins the Contikki Tour. We are doing what we despise and just spending a night or two in the centre of the cities we visit and then moving on. You can get a feel for the place but you cannot work out what makes it tick. It is very superficial and quite tiring but we can't wait to see Jen and Steve. We are also catching up with Martin (my uni mate from Bendigo days) in Prague and trail mates in Poland, Germany and Holland, Contikki Tour style of course!! It is complete madness and our heads are spinning. Hardly a minute goes by without one of us saying "What country are we in again?" It is also hard to meet other travellers in these hostels but given our current room mates that might be good thing. We just did a head count before and we have Dirty Colin, a Drag Queen and two over sized novelty fellas, amongst others. Sweet!!!!

We have found a few good campervans on the net and will look at purchasing when we get to the UK. It is all very exciting, it will be great to exchange the backpack for a set of wheels!!!

Time for a real Russian update - we have been very slack on the blog updates due to laziness, hangovers, tiredness and train travel. Is the excuse good enough? Anyway, onto the story. . . . .

The Trans Siberian Odessy is over. No more train travel for us and we are happy and sad about that. We caught our last train into St Petersburg yesterday. So far our travels in Russia (although short) have revealed a number of things that are alive and well:

- the 80's (love the mullets, keep up the good work team!)
- bad music, may be linked to previous point (heard I Should Be So Lucky on the train the other night - Stephen Winkley requested it)
- huge women
- blokes called Sergei
- unfriendly beauracracy

And we love it!! The accents rock. One point I forgot to mention in our last email is our new found fascination for organised crime - we have watched way too many movies. After our Mission Impossible effort to register our visas we have been very suspicious of. . .well, everything. This was fuelled and encouraged by our Aussie buddy Ben who was also loving it. It got to the point that on returning from dinner with hostel buddies in Irkutsk the three of us lingered in the car park to check out a supicious looking mound - completely convinced it was a body. Too funny, we swore never to speak of the incident again. It wasn't a body by the way.

So our travels through average Siberian cities turned into a finely tuned routine:

- arrive looking like we have gone a few rounds with Kostya Tzyu (spelling??)
- catch a random trolley bus
- get off at a random stop
- check in - sleep
- try and find vegetables to eat
- go to bed
- get up
- look for vegetables (pizza is a vegetable right?)
- catch the train

When we arrived in Novosibirsk we checked into basement hotel with themed rooms. Should have read the warning signs, clearly it was a brothel but we were very happy in our refurbished Egyptian themed room. The spa was pretty fabulous too but of course we couldn't afford it!! We headed into town very hungry and discovered what was soon to be our best friend - Grill Master. Bad Russian fast food chain with really crappy food. We ate very little and then headed off to find sustenance of a liquid variety - this was the beginning of the end! As is the way in the middle of Siberia our location of choice was an Irish Bar with the optional extra of a basement karaoke joint called the Hammer and Sickle. Perfect! The next thing I know I am singing an Elvis song (Bec, you would have been proud!) with my new Russian best friend. It was a slow deterioration but a complete one - we didn't stagger back to the brothel until 1 or 2 am. No disgraceful night is complete without the corresponding hangover - we both had rippers. Travelling reached new lows that morning. We went into a supermarket and bought some bread and coke to save ourselves whilst on our way to Grill Master! We staggered down the street in the pouring icy rain (without rain coats) with cokes and food in hand. It was a pitiful sight. I am surprised that people didn't give us money!!

Main Square - Novosibirsk

Next stop was Yekateringberg - not much to say about this town except that we stayed in a dreadful hotel without showers and shared our floor with the Russian Basketball Team. Really tall dudes . . . that is the best I can do right now!!

Church of the Blood - Yekateringberg

May Day Rally - Yekateringberg

Needless to say we were absolutely stoked to be on the train to Moscow!! We shared our compartment with two Russian fellas who both had moustaches. . .cool. They turned out to be very nice and they shared their fabulous food and vodka with us, bless them. One of them was wearing a leather vest (big fan!) and when he got changed into his tracksuit pants and t-shirt on went the leather vest over the top. We have photos!!!!! Anyway, they were so lovely and they even gave us a large snow globe of Moscow which plays music. We love snow globes . . .

Sasha and Alex on the way to Moscow

Moscow was fantastic, amazing, striking, beautiful, big. We stayed in a pretty good hostel that came with its own kitten!! We met some very cool people there and had a few great nights just sitting around chatting. One of the best things we did while we were there was a tour of the metro stations. They are amazing but we felt like big train watching nerds. However, for $1 AUD each, it is the cheapest fun to be had in Moscow. The stations were like Museums and double as air raid shelters - handy to know. We have put some photos on the blog so you don't think we are absolutely crazy - it really was great.

Scenes of Metro in Moscow

Of course we went to Red Square, the Kremlin and so forth. All were really fantastic, just wandering around the city was great.

St Basils

Adam in Red square

Our second last day in Moscow we tried to get tickets to the Ice Hockey World Champs - too expensive so we went and sulked and watched it in a bar. We met some very cool Russians who started buying us drinks - I think we all know what happened after that. One of them was the Deputy Editor of a big Russian newspaper (The Kommersant) and seemed to have a bit of money to throw around. We ended up going back to his place for more drinks (as if we needed it) and continued the party. Shortly after we got there he pulled out a big black case and with some reverence showed us the contents. A 25 year old, 25th year anniversay, signature Fender electric guitar.

Yes, we all played it... yes it was very cool.

The night ended with Adam and I eating chips and Mars Bars in a gutter somewhere in Moscow. Awesome . . . .

The next day, we had to catch the train to St Petersburg. After the initial panic of having lost our tickets (not permanently - we found them) we also realised that we had lost our Trans Siberian Lonely Planet in the festivities of the night before. We still had passports, cameras etc - lucky. Anyway, we finally arrived in St P. It is really beautiful and we are staying in a cool hostel. More to follow on our adventures here - we have another week to go!

The Bronze Horseman

Adam on The Neva - St Petersburg

Thank you for the emails, they are great. Will send some more emails over the next few days!

Love Meaghan and Adam (The Trans Siberian Veterans - TSVs)

PS - We didn't find a Juke Box - does karaoke count?

Sdrasvuyte Comrades (bloody hell this language is tough!),

Again, it feels like so many things have happened since we emailed last. Our last couple of days in Mongolia were great. We returned from our Gobi trip so excited and on a big high with another seven days to kill. We finally managed to go to Dave's Place which is a popular watering hole for expats, locals and travellers. We caught up with Tim (Stephen's cousin) and had a disgracefully huge night. Dave played host a bit too well and there were plenty of free beers and people to chat to. If you find yourself in the capital, get down to Dave's Place - it is easy to find, introduce yourself to Dave and have a great night in. Thanks Dave, thanks Tim. We met a lot of English teachers which reignited our job hunt a little. . are we too lazy to find jobs? Maybe. . . .

Anyway, we finished at Dave's at about 2am (hostel curfew was 12. . oops). I was not wearing a watch so could not be held responsible under any circumstances. To get back we had to climb a fence and then wake up some poor guy to let us in. Very shameful . . but not as bad as the hangovers!! We were meant to head to Terelj National Park that day but we had to postpone. Anyway, when we finally did get to Terelj it was worth the effort. It is pretty touristy because of its proximity to Ulaan Baatar but very beautiful. We camped (yep, bloody freezing, complete madness, got snowed on, loved it) and went horseriding on very angry Mongolian horses. Great fun and beautiful scenery. Tips for young players - don't camp on frozen ground. It is bad for tent pegs and it is quite chilly.

Terelj Campsite

Visitors at Terelj

Horse Riding

Cold morning

Megs at Terelj

Our feet

We returned to UB spent one more night mentally preparing ourselves for two nights on the train and a ridiculously long border crossing. It all turned out well - the train was not full and we had a cabin to ourselves. Of course this turned into the foreigners party cabin but that was ok. We did get told to stop drinking vodka by one of the scary officials, luckily by that stage we had already polished off the bottle so it was of no consequence.

The border crossing was an epic though. We arrived at the border at about 4 in the morning. Nothing happened. . .at all. . .for six hours. . .we just stayed in bed. At about 10am we did 3 minutes of standard paperwork and left. Then we chugged along for 40 minutes . . .and then stopped for another 5 hours. This is where thousands of women in uniform (scary women in uniform!!) searched all of the train for smuggled goods. Difficult to find though, because those smuggling just redistribute their stores so they don't pay any duty or taxes. Just before the check they were madly rushing around stashing vodka, sandals, fresh produce and everything else you can imagine in other cabins, in the rubbish bin, in the toilets, everywhere. It was hilarious. Adam smuggled some sandals, the evil international man of smuggling mystery. After the search we could get off the train (which was mysteriously only two carriages - we still don't know where the other carriages went!). Our train was joined to two carriages of a prison train - cool. . .we were thinking it might pan out like ConAir or the more popular title "Con Train". Nothing happened.

We arrived in Irkutsk two days later very excited to be in Russia - it was so very different to Mongolia the minute we crossed the border which was great. We felt like we were in Mission Impossible or a James Bond movie . . this is why:

We met our host, Jack, at the train station. He said 'I am Jack, velcome to Siberia. Ve catch the tram'. Then he ignored us on the tram and we thought cool, we are under cover. When we arrived at the poorly signposted pink door of the hostel he said 'You must find Olga. She is at the Angara Hotel. You must see her in the morning. I don't know vat she does. You must pay 200 roubles. Good luck.'

We found Olga, paid her 200 roubles. . .and got our visas registered. Then our message self destructed.

Ok, there are some editorial embellishments in there but that is pretty much how it went. How cool is Russia??

We spent one night in Irkutsk and then headed out to Lake Baikal for two days. It is a beautiful part of the world and it was very exciting to see all of that ice!! As Australians we spent most of our time just looking at the ice, then looking a bit more. After a couple of false starts with the local tourist information agency, we found a winner. We stayed in a really cool little cabin owned by Vasili, who was a cool old Russian bloke who spoke no English. We did some walking and relaxing and took heaps of photos of you guessed it . . .the ice!

Vasili's Place

Lake Baikal

Approaching Storm at Listvyanka - Lake Baikal

Sunshine - same day

Crow on frozen Lake Baikal

Sunset Lake Baikal

We returned to Irkutsk a little tired and maybe a bit hungover (only a little bit) and were thinking that a good sleep would be ideal. But we got talking to a fabulous Aussie fella called Ben who suggested we head out for something to eat. . . .and drink. Next thing we know we are drinking with a couple of locals Vadim and Sergei (Sergei was the dark silent mafia type) and had polished off three quick beers before we knew it. Cured the hangovers that's for sure. Strange place these markets. . .the first time we went there a drunk old bloke stood next to me and after a few suggestive glances and a pat or two on the arm, emptied out his pockets of some serious (but not enough!!) cash hoping to rent or purchase. We moved on pretty quickly.

So ends our Irkutsk adventure. We are heading to Krasnoyarsk, home of Russia's satellite fleet (Adam is a nerd), and a place that Ben informed us is the arse end of the world. Excellent, the time should fly!!!

Sain Bainuu Friends,

It feels like so much has happened in the last ten days and we feel worlds away. We are only two hours behind Australia (same day Annie!!) . . . .

Happy Birthday Mum Evans!!

We pick up the wacky Adam and Meg adventure on our last day in Beijing. We checked out of the hostel very early and headed to the railway station to begin our Trans Siberian / Trans Mongolian adventure. Apart from our flights to Bangkok back in January this was the only part of our journey that was already booked. We were so excited . . .partly because it is one of the world's most famous rail journeys and partly because we had found our way to Beijing, in one piece with our marriage intact. . .haha . . .AND in time for the train!!!

Train #23 - Beijing to Ulaan Baatar

We were ushered into a very flash waiting room fully equipped with chandeliers and comfy chairs and heating. Life was good. We boarded the train and met our room buddies - a British guy and a girl from Hong Kong. Both lovely people, it was fantastic.

Train Buddies - Frans and Craig

The trip went relatively quickly except for the border crossing. Due to the different rail gauge in Mongolia we had to change the bogeys which involved jacking the train carriages up one at a time, sliding out the Chinese ones and replacing them with Mongolian / Russian ones. All on trusty "Made - in - China heavy engineering equipment" It was a very strange experience. Of course this, plus customs and immigration happened at about 2am - very convenient. Adam had a small scare when the Female Customs officer (or dominatrix, we were not sure about the uniform), ordered him to "Look at me" (In a real Russian / Mongolian accent). Close call - thanks to the new improved long hair and beard.

We arrived in Ulaan Baatar with a guesthouse room already booked and they were there to meet us at the station. It was so cold and there was a little bit of snow falling. UB (as we like to call it) is a strange city that feels a little unfinished - perhaps leftover from the old Soviet days. It is not unusual to see a very modern well dressed person next to someone else in traditional garb. Anything goes and everyone is welcome. However organised crime and small time pickpockets are a real threat. . .more on that later . . .

Sukkbataar Square - Ulaan Baatar

The guesthouse is great, warm and cosy and perhaps a little small given the amount of travelling traffic - it is very popular.

We decided to take a seven day trip to the Gobi Desert that was organised through the guesthouse. We were so glad because IT WAS THE GREATEST THING EVER!!!!!! We went with two other couples from Holland and Finland in an old Russian four wheel drive van with a local driver.

You can buy these vans for about AUS $5000 brand new!!

Nearly every night we stayed with families in their gers which are traditional round tenty teepee kinda things with a stove in the middle. A stove that is fuelled with neat little dried bundles of poo (all kinds... we find Camel works the best).

On the first day Adam and I were ready early (we are nerds when it comes to punctuality), the Dutch couple, Marianne and Louwrens, were on time . . .but Finland were late . . .this was to be a common theme throughout the trip. Jonah (appropriately pronounced "Yawner" from Finland) was worried about how his guitar would travel in the back of the van which held up proceedings somewhat. Meaghan's hot tip for young players - if you are that worried, don't take it. We were thinking at this early stage, "Cool, he must be really good on guitar". Team, we were so wrong. Even Megs could play better than him . . .say no more. It did not stop him from entertaining us every night even when we were listening to other music. But when the world revolves around you, that's cool . . .Marianne and Louwrens on the other hand were fantastic company. We had so much fun and plenty of laughs.

On the first night, we stayed with a family who were still in their winter camp amongst some beautiful rock formations. All of the families are nomadic so occasionally the driver, Mischka, had to drive around looking for them. This particular family owned about 125 goats, some sheep and a few cows. It was baby animal heaven for Meaghan!! So much better that the Animal Nursery at the Melbourne Show because we didn't have to share them with any little kids. In the morning, they let the goats out to graze but the little ones have to go back into the pen. Minde (our lovely host) told me to catch them. That is quite a difficult job, all on video of course. Megs caught three or four but we are sure the grandmother bagged more that we all did. . .so who is counting anyway?

The next night was in a very small town and we stayed in the Police Station. The sunset was amazing and the little kids were gorgeous.

Now is probably a good time to mention the local cuisine . . .We ate with the families almost every night which was an experience. The Mongolian diet mainly consists of meat and other animal products. On our trip we consumed camel's milk, goat's milk, sheep's milk, goat, cow, camel and a sheep's head (a local delicacy, not really our thing but very cool, probably won't order it in a restaurant). The food was good . . . . and terrible, but great fun.

The third night (by now pretty sick of mutton... and guitar) was spent in a relatively large town called Dalanzagad (we called it D-Town, much easier to spell) which you should be able to find on a map of Mongolia. We managed to restock our vodka supplies and we had a shower at the public shower block. Jonah wanted to smell like the desert (???) so he declined, and didn't resupply on vodka but drank ours instead. . . .great idea if you are travelling on a budget. . . . brilliant . . . .

The next day was truly amazing. We travelled to a place called Ice Valley which pretty much explains it. It was a really narrow valley with thick ice all the way up as well as a frozen waterfall.

By the way, Australians cannot walk on ice - we can ice skate, snowboard and ski but we cannot walk on ice. We were slippin' and slidin' all over the place and I was honestly surprised that we didn't hurt ourselves. That night we stayed with a family right next to huge sand dunes which was really beautiful. We ate crunchy cow (it gets sand in it when they dry it!) cooked in goat fat with rice . . yummy. Annie, for the record, not all Mogolian food comes out on a sizzling platter! It was baby animal heaven yet again with very friendly goats and dogs all of which tried to get into the ger at one stage or another. If it was up to Megs, she would have let them all in!

The next morning, we woke up early to go for a walk on the sand dunes. One of the dogs came with us which was so lovely.

The dunes were amazing, we couldn't stop taking photos and more photos, bless digital cameras . . .

When we were all packed and ready to leave, we realised that Jonah was off in the dunes playing guitar to the desert (We hope the desert enjoyed it more than us) so we were late . . . again.

That night we stayed with another family and we rode camels. It was very tame (Godverdama (spelling?) - this means godammit in Dutch!) but fun all the same. The next day we did some goat herding for the family and had to catch all of the babies again. One baby sheep was particularly tough but Adam did a flying footy tackle and grabbed it! So Aussie, Megs was very proud . . .

The last night was with another family who had beautiful baby goats, I have to get me one of those!!! The scenery was spectacular and the sky was really amazing. More photos of course. . . . .

Anyway, the next day we returned to Ulaan Baatar very dirty, a little wiser and hungry for something that didn't taste like goat! We went out for pizza with Marianne and Louwrens and talked about the tough old days back in the Gobi - goat herding, path finding, four wheel driving and big sky country.

It was an amazing experience and a great time to go - it is not yet tourist season and we saw no other tourists for the whole week. There was still a bit of snow here and there but the weather was amazing every single day. If you ever come to Mongolia, you HAVE to do this trip.

So here we are, back in UB. We are heading out to Terelj National Park tomorrow for some camping and maybe horse riding. The city is pretty cool but we had a guy go for Adam's wallet today in broad daylight on the main street - travellers beware! We grabbed him before he got anything (it was a tough pocket) and gave him a scare but there is plenty more where that came from. All that aside, we still love Mongolia and will come back one day.

We head to Irkutsk, Russia, on the 16th of April. Of course we are on the local train so it takes 36 hours. That is two nights in a confined space - we are going to go insane! We will be on the train for Peta's birthday.