Hello from Mongolia!

We have had a fun filled few days here in Mongolia, enjoying both the busy city of Ulaan Baator and the quiet scerenity of the Terelj National Park. We got the train from Irkutsk on monday and endured a 9 hour border crossing to get out of Russia and into Mongolia - I swear that half the time we were sat doing nothing!

We eventually arrived in Ulaan Baator and were picked up from the station by our hostel. We are staying in the centre of Ulaan Baator which is really cool although very hot and very busy. We chilled in our room for the morning and arranged our trip to the natioal park, we then went out to discover what UB had to offer. We went to the museum of mongolian history which was really interesting and taught us loads about Mongolia. We then had some lunch and went to look at the buddhist temple which was realy dirty and not very pretty!

We chilled in the evening and watched Little Miss Sunshine wth some guys at the hostel as we had an early start the next day for our trip. We went for a two night/three day trip to the national park to stay with a mongolian family, do some horse riding and walking and have a chance to see the real mongolia away from the hustle and bustle of Ulaan Baator. It was such a lovely place we are staying in, truely in the middle of nowhere, really peaceful and chilled.

We stayed in traditional mongolian gers which were so pretty and felt very traditional (i wanted to buy one to have at home but it wouldnt fit in my backpack - shame!) and the mongolian family we stayed wth cooked all our meals. It was lovely to enjoy some real mongolian food. We went for a coupe of walks and managd to fit in two horse rides which were really really fun. The forst one we visited Turtle Rock and the secnd ride was at dusk and we even got into a gallop at the end!

We really enjoyed our time in the national park, it was so nice to chill out and enjoy the place. The weather was chilly on the first day but really hot the last two days which was excellent as i even got to work on my tan (which is still very poor by the way but hey this isn't a bach holiday!)We arrived back in Ulaan Baator today (sat) and are catching our last trans mongolian train tomorrow morning, bound for Beijing!

Mongolia is a lovely country and def a place i want to return to to explore more. would love to get out into the Gobi desert and spend more time with the mongolian people who are so swet. Ulaan Baator is your usual capital city and really isnt much to rave about as it so busy, noisy and dirty! China is our next stop which im really really looking forward to! Ill blog again soon to let you know how we are getting on!

lots of love

Sarah x x x x