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Hey Guys,
Here's a blog that I wrote while in Mongolia a few days ago but there wasn't sufficent internet to post it, enjoy!
Oh and realised you know nothing of what the train was like so here goes, briefly...
The 5 days that we spent on the train between Moscow and Irkutsk were intersting and a unique experience, we survived on noodles and snacks and had no showers and relatively bad toilets (the attendants did their best) but it was still fun! We did the journey with a tour group so there were 7 of us in it together (2 other British girls, 2 Aussies and a really tall Dutch guy) and that made it easier - we all got on really well, played games together, had a good laugh and looked after each other. On this first train we were in 3rd class 6 berth which meant just bunks with no door or anything (hard to explain - photos will be up at some point) and so little privacy. It was enjoyable because it was a nicely chilled out lifestyle, you had little to do but relax and watch the world go bye. We made friends with some Russians, an Uzbekistani guy who left us some bread (sharing food is a big thing) but also there were some creepy Russian guys who kept pestering us but hey, the attendants looked after us well.
And then on to Mongolia... (Covers Irkutsk and Lake Baikal as well)
'Currently sitting in an UlaanBaatar hotel room after a quite hectic couple of days - we arrived in Irkutsk after 5 days on the train.
The first evening after rubbish food on the train we had a lovely home cooked dinner of chickenyness and rice - real luxury.
The next day after a bit of a lie in (!) we were taken to what we thought was a seal aquarium but what turned out to just be a seal show with them dancing, kissing and even painting! They were very well trained even if it was questionable morally!
That evening we headed into Irkutsk, were shown the sights by Marina our honcho before having some trasitional buriat (the people of the area) dumplings which Briony even liked! Then once again onto the train.
This time we were in 4 berth instead of 6 and this meant the beds were longer and we had a door (B preferred 6.) We had to negotiate the border crossing which meant sitting on the train for 7 hours as it got hotter and hotter, not very pleasent!
We made it to Ulaanbaatar in the early hours and were whisked straight to our ger camp for a much needed breakfast. The countryside was truly beautiful and only an hour from UB, incredible snowy hills and empty expanses. The gers were cool as well, big well furnished tents with stoves to keep you warm (too warm over night it turned out!)
We went to see a traditional camp and ate several dairy-based snacks which were either rock hard or quite sour but it was an experience to eat them anyway! I (Joe) got to go horse riding for the first time on cute, small Mongolian horses which was pretty breathtaking and glad we took the opportunity to do it. We then went for a walk past to a (newish) temple which wasn't that inspiring but the location was cool and it was nice to appreciate the scenery.
After dinner we played traditional Mongolian games with sheep knuckle bones which were quite hard but good fun. This morning after sweating through the night we headed to the city and a Buddhist monastry where we saw the monks prayer chanting which was another good cultural experience!
We then got to have the shower we'd all been craving as well as proper toilets (hole in the ground at the ger) before the two of us headed to the history museum to learn about Genghis Khan - the rest of the group weren't cultural enough.
MG, our Mongolian honcho then took us to a hill just outside the city which was a memorial to Soviet - Mongolian relations and had great views of the whole, sprawling city.
We've just stuffed ourselves on a Mongolian barbeque - basically as much incredible stir fry as you can eat! Feeling very satisfied, not just in our stomachs but with the trip so far, it's worked out really well, bring on China!'
Apologies for the slightly crazy nature of this one but thought I should use what I'd already written - will let you know about China at some point as in Beijing at the moment as you may have realised, hope all is good at home!
- comments
Jim we, your old man, peter & I, discussed your mongolian tent in manner of expert travellers, at the wycombe game. Hmm. "Going down, going down" etc. "So are we, so are..."
Liv Ball Sat at home, trying to revise and reading this! Sounds incredible x
Jonny D My goodness this sounds like a damn good trip! Entertaining and enlightening, what a combo. Hope China lives up to expectations man!
Rob G Good stuffl! I can now smash Irkutsk on Traveller IQ, cheers man! Take care
Sam Mason Good read Joe! Glad to hear you're both having a good time!