Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiild horses
The plains.
Between storms
Most of the roads looked like this.
In our first Ger with the man who joined us the drainage pipe.
Some more of our first week or so in Mongolia
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Addendum II
Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiild horses
The plains.
Between storms
Most of the roads looked like this.
In our first Ger with the man who joined us the drainage pipe.
Addendum
This is what the top of hills look like in Mongolia.
Me bathing in Lake Baikal. It was absolutely freezing. Thomas makes a good turn at stalker photography.
The big Lenin head.
First night in Mongolia. Just pull off the road and camp where you like
Darchan. Buddha
Here are some pictures, as promised, to accompany the previous post.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Into Mongolia
I am sat in an internet cafe in Erdnet, Mongolia and am not exactly sure again of the date. I think that it is the 17th of June but I cannot be sure.
The last few days have been very eventful but i will begin from where I left off.
We cycled from Irkutsk to Ulan-Ude and on to the border of Mongolia. From there we headed south to Darchan and then west to Erdnet and here we are.
After leaving the shores of Baikal we were getting a bit desperate to leave Russia and move onto the next leg of the journey. We took a brief stop in Ulan-Ude to look at the giant head of Lenin. It's really big actually and we believe that it is the biggest Lenin head in the known world. Bar none.
After Ulan-Ude the countryside became distinctly arid and flat which was very demoralising and boring. We were regularly gnawed by insects of all kinds.
We had to spend 4 hours at the border as they told us that we had to buy new visas for 110$ as there was a printing mistake on them or something like that. I was absolutely convinced that they were trying to scam us and Thomas will confirm that I was furious with them. In the end we made them call some main office and the fee was reduced to 5 dollars each and we grudgingly paid it and left angry. I know that makes us sound like misers but I genuinely felt ripped off.
Happy to be in Mongolia we didn't let it bother us and we set off only to find that the scenery was much the same as the last part of Russia. It has since then got better and I am no longer moaning.
On our second or third day here we stopped by a river to wash and relax and were approached by some Mongolian students from the capital, they were very friendly and offered us some food and tea which we accepted without any hesitation. Delicious it was and we were happy. They told us then that one of them was a national wrestler. Needless to say Thomas wanted to have a go at taking on a national wrestler and he fancied his chances too. Three bouts ended in three victories for the wrestler. Then i stepped up, also backing myself to take at least one round from him. Three more resounding victories for the wrestler. Tails between legs we said our goodbyes and sat on the banks of the river discussing what we could have done to beat him. Did i forget to mention that the guy was five foot three and 66kg?
Two days later, or yesterday, we were cycling along when we saw a storm brewing ahead. We stopped to put on our rain coats as a precaution both quietly believing there wouldn't be anything more than a short shower followed by more glorious sunshine(the weather has been an almost unbroken run of days in the late 20s, early 30s).
How wrong we were. After continuing for 5 minutes or so i began to think that the rain must be falling really heavily as the drops were causing some slight discomfort to my knuckles. It turned out to be hailstone and the drops got larger and larger until they were striking us on the head and back like rocks. I am not exaggerating when I say that the hailstones were almost as large as golf balls. We had to come off the road and scramble into a tube under the road usually used for draining fields. There we waited for 20minutes for the storm to pass. We were joined in the tube by a local herdsman who was also sheltering from the storm. He then invited us into his ger (check google images for mongolian ger) and gave us tea and something like yoghurt which was offered to us after we had inquired, in Mongolian, if their animals were fattening up nicely. Apparently a standard greeting phrase there which, according to our phrasebook, is normally answered with "Yes, fattening nicely."
We do have some photos of the inside of the ger and the friendly people but the internet connection here is very slow and I am unable to upload and pictures at all.
That was yesterday and pretty much brings us to now.
Hopefully i can add some photos in a cafe in Ulan Bataar but it still remains to be seen.
That is really all for now. We would like to thank everybody for their support and comments. It does mean a lot to be far from home and hearing from everyone.
The last few days have been very eventful but i will begin from where I left off.
We cycled from Irkutsk to Ulan-Ude and on to the border of Mongolia. From there we headed south to Darchan and then west to Erdnet and here we are.
After leaving the shores of Baikal we were getting a bit desperate to leave Russia and move onto the next leg of the journey. We took a brief stop in Ulan-Ude to look at the giant head of Lenin. It's really big actually and we believe that it is the biggest Lenin head in the known world. Bar none.
After Ulan-Ude the countryside became distinctly arid and flat which was very demoralising and boring. We were regularly gnawed by insects of all kinds.
We had to spend 4 hours at the border as they told us that we had to buy new visas for 110$ as there was a printing mistake on them or something like that. I was absolutely convinced that they were trying to scam us and Thomas will confirm that I was furious with them. In the end we made them call some main office and the fee was reduced to 5 dollars each and we grudgingly paid it and left angry. I know that makes us sound like misers but I genuinely felt ripped off.
Happy to be in Mongolia we didn't let it bother us and we set off only to find that the scenery was much the same as the last part of Russia. It has since then got better and I am no longer moaning.
On our second or third day here we stopped by a river to wash and relax and were approached by some Mongolian students from the capital, they were very friendly and offered us some food and tea which we accepted without any hesitation. Delicious it was and we were happy. They told us then that one of them was a national wrestler. Needless to say Thomas wanted to have a go at taking on a national wrestler and he fancied his chances too. Three bouts ended in three victories for the wrestler. Then i stepped up, also backing myself to take at least one round from him. Three more resounding victories for the wrestler. Tails between legs we said our goodbyes and sat on the banks of the river discussing what we could have done to beat him. Did i forget to mention that the guy was five foot three and 66kg?
Two days later, or yesterday, we were cycling along when we saw a storm brewing ahead. We stopped to put on our rain coats as a precaution both quietly believing there wouldn't be anything more than a short shower followed by more glorious sunshine(the weather has been an almost unbroken run of days in the late 20s, early 30s).
How wrong we were. After continuing for 5 minutes or so i began to think that the rain must be falling really heavily as the drops were causing some slight discomfort to my knuckles. It turned out to be hailstone and the drops got larger and larger until they were striking us on the head and back like rocks. I am not exaggerating when I say that the hailstones were almost as large as golf balls. We had to come off the road and scramble into a tube under the road usually used for draining fields. There we waited for 20minutes for the storm to pass. We were joined in the tube by a local herdsman who was also sheltering from the storm. He then invited us into his ger (check google images for mongolian ger) and gave us tea and something like yoghurt which was offered to us after we had inquired, in Mongolian, if their animals were fattening up nicely. Apparently a standard greeting phrase there which, according to our phrasebook, is normally answered with "Yes, fattening nicely."
We do have some photos of the inside of the ger and the friendly people but the internet connection here is very slow and I am unable to upload and pictures at all.
That was yesterday and pretty much brings us to now.
Hopefully i can add some photos in a cafe in Ulan Bataar but it still remains to be seen.
That is really all for now. We would like to thank everybody for their support and comments. It does mean a lot to be far from home and hearing from everyone.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
The Road to Olkhon Island
Ferry to Olkhon
First glimpse of Baikal(with bikes)
First glimpse of Baikal.
Train to Irkutsk
At Love's Long Last
Red Square Moscow. Where one beer costs 9 pounds. We kid you not.
Almost there...ish
The geographical centre of Europe. About 26km north of Vilnius. We were sceptical too.
Lithuanian money.
OK.
I am going to have to do away with the format of dates and so on because, to be honest, we are very quickly losing track of where we were and when it was exactly. In summary we went to Vilnius from Poland and stayed three days waiting for my passport which eventually arrived(thank the lord). From there we headed north to a town in Latvia called Daugavpils. Then into Russia and one long long long long long road from the border to Moscow. 613 kilometres long to be completely exact. We stayed in Moscow for three days where we booked the train to Novosibirsk and then took said train. 50 hours on the train followed and then a three day stay in Novosibirsk, from where we took another train to Irkutsk in order to maximise our visa in Russia. From Irkutsk we cycled north to an island on Lake Baikal named Olkhon. From there we returned to Irkutsk today. And here we are.
I am not really sure what to mention as highlights in this time that we have spent, but what is certain is that the train ride from Mosocow eastward is one that everyone should experience. Completely unlike anything we have ever done really.
Lake Baikal is so amazing that I have afforded it a post of its own.
Basically, to summarise, we are alive and all is well apart from the terrible roads which are becoming more and more of a feature in our lives. If I can think of anything else then it will be added at a later point. Internet is becoming harder and harder to come by so perhaps this is the last time before Beijing...
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