Mongolia and Beijing

Been in Mongolia for the past week...


Pretty good place in all, although the food was bad. Mostly I ate dumplings with minced horse meat; wasn't terrible, more the idea of it really.

The place I stayed in Ulaan Bataar was well organised for tourists, and as such I ended up on a four day package tour of the surrounding Steppe country with 5 other tourists: Basically 3 days of bouncing around inside a Russian 4wd van, with intermittent overnight stops staying in local Mongolian ghurs (tent like structures of the nomadic tribes). It was all very organised and slightly mundane, but nice to take in some of Mongolia.

Also went horse riding one of the days. Was great to be back in the saddle, so to speak, galloping across the Steppe like a true nomad.

The return journey involved hurtling across the plains in the 4wd, desperately trying to catch a coach from the closest town. It was 2 hours of spine melting mayhem as the driver frantically threw the vehicle over anything in our path. A unique experience, preceeding seven hours on a cramped bus back to Ulaan Bataar.

The next morning, I caught the overnight train to Beijing. Felt nice to be back in a private room inside an almost empty carriage. Met a very nice on Taiwanese leather merchant going by the name of Bill, who had lots of stories to tell.

Now I'm in Beijing, and everything is 100 times faster than anything before. The place is truly exiliarating and the crush of humanity slightly unnerving. One of my favourite cities so far.

More soon...

djb.