The Trans-Mongolian Part II - Ulan Baator (Mongolia) to Irkutsk (Russia)

Ok, after going back through my pictures I just remembered this leg of the train journey left in the eveining....not in the morning!

So, at around 8pm (I think!) we jumped on our second train bound for Irkutsk in Siberia, Russia. And it was here on the Monoglian station platform that I saw my first russian moustache.....however...it was on a woman. Her name Gallena, and she was our larger than life, slightly petrifying, Provanitza (carriage attendant). She knew next to no english, but after a few offeres of ciggarettes and chocolate, she was the tour groups best friend.

This train was slightly nicer than the previous. It was a lot cleaner, slightly more comfertable, and the carriage attendants were constantly walking up and down the carriage making sure everything was kept in a neat and tidy way.

This train journey was to take 2 nights, so once we sussed out that the border crossing wasn't until the following morning, we decided to have a few drinks on the train with some french guys we had met. It was here that we also met the drunkest tour leader in the world (thank god not our tour leader!), but an aussie girl leading some older folk on a Sundowner tour, which apprently cost a substantial amount more than our trip. This girl was really unbelivable, first of all she knew nothing about the trip and kept asking the F-RAT about when the train was stopping and for how long, and second, she kept leaving her group and crashing our cabin & drinking our vodka! She got so drunk on the first night we met her that we did our best to avoid her for the rest of the journey. Once we had kicked her out of our cabin as she was falling asleep, us lot continued drinking until around midnight when we all went sleep.

The following morning at about 5 am, we the first of our borders, Mongolia. Here we were stuck for around 2 and a half hours while they checked passports. 1 hour later we arrived at the russian border, where we stayed completely stationary for almost 9 hours. The first check we had was customs, where we filled out forms declaring what we did or did not have. Then our passports were taken and visas checked. We got the passports back around 5 hours later. Then they searched each and every cabin for drugs. Then they bought the sniffer dogs through, which was probably the worse part of the whole ordeal for us.

We were sitting in our cabin, patiantly waiting to leave, when all of the sudden the dogs come through sniffing around the outside of our cabin. Then the dog sat down....directly outside our door! Within 2 seconds our cabin door had been slammed shut, and the 4 of us could only sit there and listen as we heard the unhinging of bolts from the wall oppisite our door. Around 10 minutes later they re-opened our door, and we could see where they had completely dismantaled the wall. Even though nothing was found, the guard still wasn't satisfied, so he brought another dog in with 2 other guards...and this dog did the same thing! This time they didn't shut our door, so watched as they dismantaled the whole section of the wall oppisite our cabin, ripping out the lining and insulation in the wall. After around half an hour and still not finding anything, they gave up and put the wall back together again. Although none of us had a guilty conscience, having the area OUTSIDE your cabin searched at a russian border is definitely not something I would like to go through again!

So at around 3pm, the train set off to its first Russian stop, where we were able to get off the train for around half an hour. This is where we got our first taste of Siberian summer fashion, which on the girls included 5 inch high heel shoes, the tightest whitest and highest pants in the world, with a colorful often sequened top tucked in. On the guys it was black tracksuite pants, pulled up extremely high, and a black tank top. It was most bizarre, it was as if fashion in Siberia was still stuck in the early 80's!

We jumped back on the train and headed off towards Irkutsk, where we arrived the following day at around 9am, jumped on a bus, and headed strait to Lake Baikal.

The village where we stayed was called Listvyanka, a small little town right on the shores of the massive Lake Baikal. Lake Baikal is the biggest and deepest fresh water lake in the world, and during the winter months is completely frozen over creating a roadway between each side of the lake. It had only defrosted around a month prior to us arriving. It really was the most amazing thing to look at. It was as if you were looking out at the ocean, not being able to see where the sky began and the lake ended. And the water was so clear, that when we did a boat trip out on the lake, you found yourself suffereing from vertigo as you could see directly to the bottom in some parts. The water tempreture at that time was around 1 degrees, so we decided going for a swim would not be the best of ideas!

Our group stayed in a bed and breakfast run by the charming Nikolai, who without any knowledge of the english language and us with no knowledge of Russian, continued to innitiate quite indepth converstaions with us all for long periods of time! It was really quite amusing....

We stayed in Listvyanka for one night, and the following day we headed back to Irkutsk, where we spent the day wondering around before catching the next part of our trip across Siberia to Vladimir.

The Trans-Mongolian Part I - Beijing to Ulan Baator

After an emotional and sad goodbye to our friends in Beijing, Sophie, Ben and myself set off on the first leg of our Trans Mongolian journey with Intrepid Travel (http://www.intrepidtravel.com/).

Before we set off, we are all introduced to the group we would be travelling with...all up there was 12 travellers and our group leader, Efrat. When the three of us first saw the group, it was quite amusing. I was the youngest member of the group by about 10 years! In fact, the first thing Ben said to us was "Maybe we should have choosen Vodka Train instead??" (Vodka train being a tour group that appeals to most people our age, but I choose against due to the cost and the fact I did not want to be surrounded by ten 20 somethings who would be durnk 24/7!). However, our impression of the group quickly changed as we got to know everyone....!

We boarded the first train at around 9am on the 4th of June, due to arrive in Ulan Baator at around 1pm the following day. This train was a chinese train, each cabin had four beds (one up one down on either side of the cabin). It was quite comfertable and we were given tickets for 2 meals throughout the journey. In my cabin, there was myself Sophie Ben and Nat, who was from Sydney.

It was amazing to watch the scenary change as we left Beijing. After about 2 hours of travelling through the out skirts of Beijing we eventually ended up in some greener areas, quite similar to those I had seen travelling through Southern China. Lots of forests, lakes and rivers which were a welcome change from the bright smog covered neon lights of Beijing!

As the journey went on, we slowly got to know each of our fellow tour members. There was Phil and Janine from Geelong, Mark and Marie from Brunswick, Angela and Marg from New Zealand, Penny from Melbourne and Phil, who at around 70 years of age had seen almost all of the world and quickly became the hero of the trip (and also an inspiration to me, knowing that even at that age I can keep travelling the world!). Our Tour Leader Efrat, from Israel, was quickly renamed "The F Rat" as none of us could pronounce her name properly...

At around 5pm we cracked open our first bottle of Vodka, thinking that by the time we arrive at the mongolian border we will be sober enough. Unfortunately not the case...because once the three of us plus Nat had finished that, we moved onto beer from the dining cart, and then onto some extremely cheap chinese red wine, which for some reason we mixed with coke as someone in the group thought that would be a good idea to take the taste away.

Lesson one about taking the trans mongolian, or any train crossing the border, don't be drunk when crossing! As the conductor came around with our mongolian immigration cards, Sophie and I proceeded to write our birthdays instead of out entry and exit dates within Mongolia. It was amusing to us, but not so amusing to our beloved F Rat who then had to fill out our third immigration form....!

Prior to arriving at the border, the train stopped for around 3 hours to have the bogies changed. The reason for this is the rail gages between China and Mongolia and Russia are different. Someone at one point told me this was to prevent invation into China...wether there is any truth to this I am unsure.

Basically, the way these are changed is by a machine lifting each individual carriage around 3 meters off the ground. The wheels are then taken off by some big machines, put back on the track and wizzed away. Around 20 minutes later, the new wheels and gages come wizzing under the lifted train, and the same machine lifts them up and places them on the train. Lucky for us, another train pulled up along side ours so we were able to see the whole thing take place. It was quite bizarre to watch.

So after those three hours were up, we moved onto the Mongolian border, where quite possibly the scariest looking and biggest Mongolian lady in the world came into our carriage and checked our passports and visas. Considering we were half asleep when she knocked on the cabin door, it really was quite a fright to see her....! After a furthur two hours of waiting, our passports were handed back and we were on our way.

At around 4am, I woke up needing to use the lovely train toilet. When I came out, I decided to have a look out the window and see where we were....and the strangest sight I had ever seen was before me. We were nowhere. Literally! Although it was still slightly dark, I could see the sun rising over absolutely nothing but desert. When we went into our alcohol induced sleep, we were at the border, and before that in a forest region. Now, there was nothing! Once the sun had risen fully you could see just how far into the Gobi Desert we were. There was absolutely nothing for miles, nothing infront, nothing behind and nothing either side. Just sand, and the odd Mongolian Ger Camp. What was truly strange about going through the desert, is the train kept turning corners. We couldn't really understand why considering there was nothing to dodge...but you would be sitting there eating your noodle soup, and all of the sudden the train would turn quite sharply to the left or right. Very bizarre!

We arrived in Ulan Baator at around 1.30pm, and were greeted by our guides for the three days, Nemo and Mia. We went and changed some money, jumped on the bus and headed to our hotel.

The following morning we headed out to Terlj National Park, around an hour outside of the capital, to stay at Mongolian Ger Camp. A ger camp, for those of who are un aware, are basically big felt tents with loads of layers, perfect for any kind of weather. A good majority of Mongolian people live in the Ger's in the Gobi Desert and in the parks. They really were quite amazing, and quite comfertable aswell! The surroundings of the park were stunning and created a very surreal contrast between UB and the rest of Mongolia.

Myself and Ben headed out horse riding on proper Mongolian horses that after noon, which was really quite amazing. The horse were so small! As we pulled up to one of the stops, we watched as a few mongolian kids were racing there horses at full speed around Turtle Rock. The kids were only about 10. We were informed after we came back that most mongolian children out in the desert and the national parks learn to ride not long after they are able to walk. Pretty amazing stuff.

That night we had dinner with the group at the camp, and finished the evening with Ben, Soph, Nat and myself polishing off 2 bottles of Mongolian Vodka....under the watchful eye of our fearless leader F-RAT of course! We decided to sit up on one of the hills for a while so we didn't keep everyone awake...at around 12 midnight I decided I should probably carry myself off to bed. So I said goodnight, went for a bit of a tumble down the hill and headed into my ger tent. Or so I thought. It turns out that in my vodka filled state I walked strait past my ger tent and right into the one next door....which was housing a whole german family!!! Lucky they were fast asleep so once I realised I had made a rather large mistake, a shut the door and ran into my tent instead!

The following morning we headed back into UB for an afternoon sightseeing tour around the city and some of the monastries. The majority of Mongolian people are buddhists, and all the temples were very traditional. They were very simlar to that I had seen in Laos and Cambodia. After the tour, a few of us headed out to see some tradition mongolian wrestling, a big national sport in Mongolia. The monglians are hoping to win gold this year at the Beijing Olympics. It was quite strange to watch however, as these big giant masculine wrestlers would come out to the ring, wave to the audience, and then do this quite feminine bird like dance around a flag. Very odd, but still amazing to watch.

In the evening we headed out to a traditional monglian folk show, where I got to see the one thing I was dying to see (or hear rather!) in mongolia....THROAT SINGING! This was quite possibly the strangest thing I had ever seen or heard. This guy comes out with a guitar like intrument, starts playing, looking very mundane as he plays. Then all of the sudden he opens his mouth and its like satan is singing from the back of his throat in a foreign language...! Throat singing is only heard of in Mongolia, and if you get a chance to download some from the internet, give it a shot, I personally gurantee it will be the WEIRDEST thing you will ever hear! As well as throat singing there was also traditional Mongolian dancing and opera singing aswell.

The following morning we were up bright and early to get the second leg of our Train into Russia....

(PICTURES TO BE UPLOADED SOON! TO SEE PICTURES FROM THIS PART OF THE TRIP PLEASE CLICK THE LINKS TO THE RIGHT OF YOUR SCREEN)

Apology!

Before I begin writing about the next segment of the trip, I would first like to yell out a HUGE apology for not updating this blog more regurly. The reason for the lack of updates is while I was travelling through China, the website I use (blogger.com) was actually banned by the Chinese government. So therefore, I was unable to read my blog or update it unless I managed to find a dodgy internet cafe somewhere that had found a loop hole around the chinese fire walls. Then, once I left China, I was travelling on the Trans Mongolian train where there really wasnt ANY access to internet in any part of Russia I went to except the odd 5 minutes worth than was costing me over $10 to use!!!

However, I am now in Eastern Europe, where the internet is not wonderful but at least user friendly.

Right at this point in my trip, I am around 1 month behind on my travel tales, so I will do my best to get this thing as close to up to date as I can over the next week or so!

Thanks to those of you who keep reading it, even though it is out of date! Also a big thanks to those of you who continuely keep bombarding me with insults about how much my blog sucks due its out of dateness.....its the kind words you guys send that make me write more!!!

Goodbye Asia......

So, before I move onto the next part of this epic journey, I thought I would write down what my highlights have been through each country. Please keep in mind that there have been so many....this is really just small list I can remember off the top of my head!

VIETNAM:

• Arriving in Saigon. After never traveled to another Asian city, this was quite the introduction! I couldn't get over the amount of people, the amount of motorbikes, the amount of noise, the amount of Traffic Lights that are blatantly ignored and the amount of street hustlers trying to sell you watches/sunglasses/purses/bags/hammocks/bracelets/necklaces etc etc etc! To some people, that may have been really annoying, and to me it was at first. But after a while, you learn to enjoy it as being hassled and nearly run over every day is all part of Saigon experience!
  

• Hoi An. A nice escape from the big cities, and a great 10k bike ride to the beach. And seriously, if wanted anything made, and i mean ANYTHING, this is THE place to go. There are Tailors on every corner just begging for your buisiness.
  

CAMBODIA:

• Angkor Wat. Few people could come away from seeing one of the big wonders of the world and not count it as a highlight. Even though it was a touch over 40 degrees when I went, it really was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. The only down side is every single temple I see from now on is a bit of a let down!

• The boat/pickup truck journey from Siem Reap to Battambang. This is still one of my favorite backpacker stories to tell people, especially now being in Europe. The boat being overcrowded, then getting bogged, us 50 odd passengers being taken off, then being dumped in the back of two pick ups and driven along THE WORST road in the history of roads, all the way to Battambang.

• Sihanoukville. The combination of a nice beach, hanging out with two cool people (Leanne and Mary Liz), and being annoyed by Cambodian children all day certainly made this place a highlight. If you are going to Cambodia, get there now before the rest of the world finds it!

LAOS:

• Lao New Year. Spending Lao New Year (otherwise known as The Water Festival) in Vang Vieng is an experince I know I will never forget. Not being able to walk down the street without having some child/teenager/adult throwing a giant bucket of water on you was just simply bizarre, but a hell of a lot of fun.

• Elephant Mahot Training. This will always be one of the most amazing things I have ever done. Learning how to ride Elephants and then taking them into a river on a 40 degree day to wash then was simply mind blowing.

• Luang Prabang. The books and people don't lie, this really is one of the stunning and laid back places I have ever been too. Just remember not to go to a restaurant when your starving for two reasons: 1) your waiter will probably be asleep and you will have to wake him to serve you & 2) Its Lao time! Its ready when its ready!

CHINA

• Lost In Translation. The many many sign you see that have been translated into English from Chinese. Theres nothing better when you open a restaurant Menu and read "Steam Dumping Soup", or when your walking near a lake and you see a sign that says "Careful When Slipping". One of my favorites was at Beijing's brand new internation Terminal, built especially for the Internation community comming for the Olympics...and on each escalator at both ends it states "Please Mind Oldster and Child". Now if thats not offensive to the over 65's..then what is???

• The Yunnan Province. Seeing "Real China" in all its glory. People working in the fields by hand & ladies in traditional dress. Also the lovely toilets, the constant spitting and the staring. All part of the China Fun!

• Shanghai. For a last minute city added due to the earthquake, and somewhere I was not particularly looking forward to visiting, I actually became quite fond of in the 10 days I was there. It probably helped that I met some awesome people to hang out with, but the city itself has an undeniable charm about it that I just can't quite put my finger on.
  

I must say that by the end of China, I was ready leave Asia behind me. 3 months of travel in Asia does take it out of you (I will be kind of happy never to eat rice EVER again!). However, I really can't wait to get back to this region and see some of the places I missed out on such as Tibet, Burma, Thailand, the South East Asian Islands, North and South Korea and Japan.

So, onwards and upwards towards Europe now!

China - Beijing

After a wonderful 12 hour train journey, Matt and I made it to Beijing, and checked into our hostel "The Leo Hostel" located about 10 minutes from Tiananmen Square in one of the Beijing Hutong's (Beijing Old Town). I'm sure at one time in there lives, the Hutong's were quite a pretty area to walk around...however with Olympic games just around the corner, almost all of the Hutongs were in process of being effectively ripped to shreds and rebuilt. Its a shame really, as they are a good indication of how northern China used to be.

After spending a couple of days chilling out, I went to pick up Ben and Sophie from Beijing's brand new Terminal Three at Capitol Airport. It was amazing seeing the two of them again after almost three months on the road. It brought back a lot of memories from home, which was quite a bizarre feeling really.

Ben and Sophie clicked in really well with Matt and Emma, which was a relief. Theres nothing worse than introducing friends from different circles and them not getting on...however, in this instance that didn't happen, which was brilliant! A couple of days after our little group met Pete (AKA Pirate Pete...don't ask me why.....) and Dom, plus a few others, and all of the sudden we had quite the posse going on! Over the space 1 week, we managed to test out a good majority of the Beijing Nightlife, which was fantastic.

Beijing really was an amazing city though. So many contrasting differences, and an obvious struggle between the way things used to be and the way things will be going. The best way I can probably describe Beijing is a combination of the entire Yunnan Province and Shanghai. It seems like the people (especially the younger generation) are desperate to become up to date with the latest trends that you see blasted through the internet, yet still wanting to hold onto traditional values as well. In Beijing, it is still quite common to see the older ladies walking down the street carrying tons of food over their shoulders, and men delivering things on Bicycles. Where as in Shanghai you really don't see that at all. It was interesting to say the least!

And the pollution.....oh my god the pollution! Even when it was a nice day you couldn't tell due to the giant smog cloud that shadows the entire city. The only time I saw a blue sky was when some of us went to the Summer Palace and we went to the top of one of the temples. It was so bad that within one day of being there my eyes had swollen up and were itchy as hell...giving them a really stunning red glow to them! One thing I have to say is I definitely feel sorry for every athlete, especially the track and field guys and girls, who have got to run in that. Should be interesting to see how everyone goes.

That said, the city has definitely cleaned up. It was a lot cleaner than I was anticipating, and the entire Beijing population is just so excited about the games. Even some of the taxi drivers had started to get a basic understanding of English, which in China is pretty rare.

The Olympic stadium that has been built for the games was truly an amazing sight to see. The whole area around the stadium is till under heavy construction, however I think by the time the games roll around it will look magnificent.

We spent the first week in Beijing just wondering around the city, checking out only a few of the sights, as we knew the main ones were included in our Intrepid Tour, which was starting the following Sunday. We headed out to the Summer Palace and checked out the 798 district (art house Beijing).

As said earlier, we spent most of our evenings checking out the best of Beijings nightlife, which really was an amazing experience. From dancing in an empty club on a tuesday night, to hitting up $1 shots at a bar called Shooters, to checking out on of the classiest techno clubs in Beijing, Tango...we truly saw it all! It was great to see all the young Chinese out and about, dancing away to music that we get at home.

We then departed our hostel on Sunday the 1st of June, and headed to the Harmony Hotel (quite possibly the fanciest hotel I will ever stay in on this trip!) to start our Intrepid Tour.