Dust and Dirt - The Great Khaan is waking up slowly...Again... Week 10

Week10+ (Mongolia)

2^nd to 8^th of October

……and what a WELCOME she gave us???!!

The feedback on the request if somebody from the hostel could come to pick us up from the station was: tell us in what carriage you are so we can help you with your luggage! Well, that should have prepared us on the welcome Mongolia and her people gave us upon our arrival in the capital of Ulaanbaatar. Together with some other travellers, we were transported to the Golden Gobi (family run) hostel in Central UB. Middle sister and her driving team picked us up at the station, brother Bob welcomed us with a handshake at the door, Mama made us a hot drink and Sister Ogie helped us to plan and organize our cross-country-explore-Mongolia trip. The ‘warmth’ in the hostel itself was the result of the friendliness and welcome we received…and that will always be my impression of the Mongols. The most welcoming and hospitable people I’ve ever came across…and that counts for almost everybody we met!!

Mongolia, the largest land locked country in the world (4 times the size of the UK) hosts only half of the population of Scotland (2.9 million)!! 45% of these people live in UB, with a third of the population living a nomadic lifestyle in the countryside. If you happen to be a Nomadic family, you’ll on average ,have four ‘places’ you rotate your round tent, or ‘ger’ to, in accordance with the change in seasons. The reason for this is the big change in average temperature during the year. With a temperature dropping down to -40°C in winter, the Nomads move close in to the mountain for protection. Here the livestock can be a bit more sheltered form the elements and many of them build a permanent wooden structure for man and animal. Next winter the family will return to this same location. So the summer ‘site’ will be as far up upon a hill as possible, to usher in the summer breeze while temperatures can soar up to 40°C. Then there is also a dedicated autumn and spring site. With a countryside so fast, no precise boarders between the land of different families are put up…everybody just live harmoniously beside one another (or very far from one another) working together with each other, supporting each other and making sure that their animals does not get mixed up!! As our guide Naasa explained, when the animals get mixed up by accident, they call it an ‘animal party’!!!

We’ve booked a 4 night /5 day road trip with Ogie. Our aim was to stay with nomad families to understand their way of life better, but mainly we understand the value of a practical cultural learning experience for the children.

For the next week we are going to live inside our classroom!! Our wheels came in the form of an UAZ-2206Russian 4x4 van (known in Russia as Bukhanka, “loaf” as it has a similar shape). Mr Driver was accompanied by our tour guide and chef Naasa.

She was our talking Wikipedia and Jamie Oliver combo. After receiving a hearty breakfast served by Moma and helpers at the hostel, we were good to depart on our 290km journey. We were venturing into the Semi-Gobi desert, west of UB. For such a big country with so little people it was shocking how gridlocked the streets of UB were…but then with half of the population resident there…no wonder…

Once we were in the country side, we had a bit more time to pepper Naasa with questions. She was telling us about the other ‘relatively big’ cities (populations all under 90 000 people)   in Mongolia which are mainly based around mining activities. She was telling us about ‘proud land’ 

-the acquired land in UB by nomadic families-normally fenced in, but with nothing build on it…so weird to see all this empty ‘camps’.

And about the independence from China on 26 November 1924. 26^th of November is a national Mongolian holiday. This was the day that Mongolia declared itself as an independent country with the adoption of its first constitution. The Mongolian People’s Republic (MPR), a communist state, under the rule of the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP), lasted until 1990. Read more here. 

On this point, in my research a stumbled upon this information: Mongolia's Communist rulers attacked the hereditary aristocracy in 1921, killing tens of thousands of princes and princesses. Four years later, as the revolution intensified, the Communists banned last names. The intention was for people to forget which class they belonged to, forget that the state killed their relatives, forget Mongolia's past.

Mongolia became a land in which most people not only had no personal property but had no last name. Visiting foreigners were told the use of only one name was a tradition; Mongolians themselves forgot that the tradition was new.

"People didn't even know 1921 happened. They didn't even know they had lost their names," said Serjee Zhambaldorjiin, director of the State Central Library and an expert on modern Mongolian history, who like many other Mongolians and Russians uses a second name based on his father's given name. "It was a way to eliminate the influence of the nobles and princes. This was a wiping out of nobility in Mongolia."

In 1995, the Great Hural, or parliament, obliged by passing a law reinstituting last names. 3 reasons: for Mongolians to reclaim their past, to make sure family members does not get married to one another and to illiminate the fact that many people in the city had the same name…(10 000 ladies were called ‘golden flower’ in UB and it got a bit manic listing them in a phonebook, which was still organized by first names!!)

We were still going on a nice stretch of tarmac road, with the occasional gravel by-passes around road works (where I could not see anybody actually at work trying to clear the problem…) Then shortly after our first cooked lunch in a traditional roadside Mongolian café (by the way – weird looking place with no running water to wash hands or restroom…but the food were absolutely delish even Thomas AND Philippa licked their homemade pasta-meat-soup bowls clean!!), we just left the main road on a non-descriptive dirt track path into the country side and beyond! We were now totally reliant on our Mr Driver and guide…and it felt sooo good!! We were in the NOMADIC Mongolia!! After a bit of a bumpy ride we arrived at our first host family, Galaa. We were welcomed by Granny and Granddad, ushered into a ger for the first time and served with milky-white-Mongolian horse-milk tea. Needless to say, Arno and I had to down quite a few cups in polite fashion!! (The following time we kindly refused any on the children’s behalf!!)

Then it was time for our camel-ride!! Wow, I was sooo excited, since I really did not expect it! Then so disappointed that we could not convinced Thomas to join us. He was just not up for it. Nina hopped into the saddle between the two humps with me, Philippa with Arno and Alana on her own. The Bacterian camels were lead by our host – him on his horse. As the sun was setting, we were lead out to some sand dunes, had some dune-time and then headed home…my camel seemed excited to return home, so wee Nina and I had to hang on!! Camels are guided by a piece of wood stuck through it’s two nostrils…looked pretty brutal to me, but it seems to be the ancient way!!

It was starting to get VERY nippy and I pulled out our ski-jackets, neck-scarves, gloves and hats. I was absolutely delighted that we were actually going to use all this paraphernalia!! We got settled into our guest ger, and Naasa came to get our little stove going. On this occasion the fuel came in the form of camel doo-doo. The children were absolutely fascinated by the whole process and paid careful attention…next thing I knew, they were stoking and feeding the fire by themselves…especially Alana. She just got a fancy to light a match, scoop in fuel-poop and poking the fire...

I heard there was some rounding up of animals happening outside, so we went for a wee investigation. It was also then that I witnessed for the first time in my life how a horse was getting milked by hand.

Naasa served us a meat, potato and carrot strew-soup, we made a final dash to the out-house…(everybody got a bit side tracked on our way there and back.. trying to find the ’big dipper’ and gazing up at the bright starry night sky). We taught the kids how to brush teeth without using much water and then tucked everyone into bed, since it was getting seriously cold. Our host came to stoke the fire to full throttle and pilling more blankets onto the kids. He even helped us to tuck them all in!!! He told us (in sign langue!!) to leave the door unlocked so he can come in throughout the night the keep the fire fueled up.

Now this was the first time, since I was in primary school that I felt the heaviness of a heap of thick sleeping bags, duvets and blankets pinning me to a bed (and remember the bed is not particular bouncy with softness… but hey ho, at least we had beds to sleep in…but more about that later!!). It took me back all the way to Bethel, in the Free State, where we went to visit my Mum’s aunty Betty in a small little stone built cottage in the freezing Karoo winter.

Naasa served us egg-sandwiches and cakes for breakfast and the traditional hot flask was left for us to brew our own black tea. Too soon the ‘loaf’ was packed and we were lining up for a pic with our first host family!

After a short play in the sand pit we headed over to the Khogao Mountains for a climb about on the big boulders, then over to our second family - arriving before lunch time. The Terbish family again welcomed us into the family ger and served tea and dough balls (really closely related to ‘koeksisters’ without the syrup).

This family had a 9 year old daughter and a baby. The kids started playing together and that was them for the rest of the day..and the next morning. Our guest ger was a bit more traditionally Mongolian this time, with the wooden framed boxed beds, decorated in colorful painted patterns. These beds were even harder and bumpy’er than the first. We had a relaxing afternoon filled with walking and some horse riding. The little girlies were soooo excited. They got kitted out with ski-style helmets (provided by Naasa) and the ponies were hand lead around the field a few time. Delighted to report…also Thomas joined in!!

YAY!! Then Arno, Alana and I went on a 40min ride with our host, known as the Horse Master.

Another crisp bright starry night lead us to day 3. We were up early and Naasa did not disappoint with the lovely French toast and breakfast cakes. We had a long drive over terrain that would’ve put a grin on the face of any 4x4 enthusiast! (Herlu and Oupa Hagar we were thinking of you!!) Over grass lands, dusty paths, through river beds and a little stretch on the only tarmac road in Mongolia…soon to embrace the real Mongolian roads again on our pursuit of the Hustai National Park. This is the Mongolian proud land for reintroducing the Przewalskii horse- Thaki. This breed of horse is the only still living ancestor of the domestic horse. Here I realized for the first time, how beautiful, lush and green this country can become when the last of the ice has melted and the wild flowers lifts their heads in the spring. We’ve just seen the hills in shades of brown, with a few autumn colored trees…but a DVD showed us Naasa and Mr Driver’s Mongolia in it’s summer greens and I WANT TO COME BACK then!!!! Naasa lead us up a hill to get a bit up close and personal with some noisy deer. By this time is was late afternoon. Unfortunately we did not see too much wildlife, but was fortunate to lay eyes on the Thaki’s. 12 out of the 320 in the park, trotted over a hillock and we were stunned by their beauty!!

Naasa knew in which direction to go in order to find the family she was planning as our overnight stop. Now, you’ll understand sometimes there might be confusion with the Mongolian names… so after a good hour or so bouncing aboot over the Mongolian prairie land, we encountered a lone horseman, who broke it to us - we were heading in the wrong direction… What’s a man to do?? Well, the ‘loaf’ was turned around and we headed back towards the mountains. At this stage it was early dusk and I notice that we might be in a bit of a stressful situation…since nowhere were any ger/lights to be seen. I am also referring to our own vehicle here….the headlights were not in working condition anymore…ooops! Even the faint guidance of the the bumpy dirt track was cast aside and we went into the ‘infinity and beyond’… The little ‘loaf’s off track radar system was now put to the full test as we were hopping about over grassland, rocks and ‘donga’s’(ditches). It was too dark now to go with out light, so Mr Driver resorted to his only alternative: finding his way by light of the hazards. Close to the mountain we bypassed an empty winter house, but with no family there it was not really an overnight option. About 20min later, we stumbled upon a ger without signs of life. A few shouts and honks did not change the situation. It was quite dark now. Fear not, in a distance we noticed a moving light, and it was coming in our direction!!!

A mini-bus pulled up beside the ger and from the excited voices, we concluded that accommodation was sorted out for the night.

Father of the Dorj family turned the light on inside the ger, Mum and baby followed and we were invited in and to share in the flask of warm tea and Mongol rusks(‘vet koek’). At this stage and particularly after Naasa has explained to us that they just arrived home after a trip to the town (60km away), together with the fact that she has NEVER before brought any travelers to their ger and that this was the first time that she’s met this family, made us understand the depth and the sincerity of Mongolian hospitality. Not only this. There was only one ger. Previously all the families had at least 2 or 3 ger’s and we had the luxuary of staying in privacy in our own ‘guest ger’. The kids were treated to a comic channel on their satellite TV monitor, which, together with the lights and the mobile phone chargers, are run of car batteries. The ger’s power supply is turned on and off by connecting and disconnecting the positive and negative terminal clamps!! So basic, but so effective too. This battery contraption is propelling the Nomadic family into the 20^th century!! The question might have formed in you mind already, but I was starting to evaluate the situation… One ger…they did not expect us…sleeping arrangements?? Well, besides welcoming us into their one roomed house, they even provided us with a space to put our sleeping bags down. The floor was covered with two more rugs and that was going to be our lovely mattresses for the night!!! So the Mr and Mrs and their 2year old son, shared a double’ish looking bed, the 6 of us stretched out on the floor and Naasa and Mr Driver tried to make themselves comfortable (not) in the ‘loaf’.

 I’ll just say we were all glad when morning came, happy to have been warm and dry and for the amazing hospitality of this family!! Mrs Dorj runs her own dairy, milking cows, then cooking all the milk to sterilize it, make butter, yogurt, fermented milk, curd, and yogurt-cakes (she dries these little cakes made out of sour yogurt – apparently it is a staple in the winter. They just re-hydrate it by adding a bit of water, or eating it like it is in a dry-cake form.) While she is buzzy with the animals baby Dorj is basically left to mind himself, toddling about! That for sure is a wee glimpse into the hard and lonely life of the nomadic family.

Theoretically we were still inside the Hustai National Park. After saying our final goodbye’s we headed over to an Neolithic site, the Ongot grave site. About 1200-1400 years ago people of Turkic origin carved the manlike grave stones. The king lined up the standing stone’ people’ to come to pay homage to his grave site; he had a lion made out of stone, for protection and a ram/sheep to provide him with food in the afterlife.

A long and dusty drive took us on the off-road-southern-ring-track (can’t call it a road, because everybody just drove where ever they saw fit…) round UB. We were heading now to the east. A fantastic stop at the Chinggis Khaan Monument gave us time to catch up with the ancient history of the country and her people.

Just a few facts I dotted down while in the museum: During the 13^th century the Mongolian Empire was spanning most of Eurasia – this created a world free-trade zone. The Mongol Khans encourage travel over the silk road with the ‘Ortog system’ – in setting up posts every 30km to provide safe shelters for merchants. They also set world standards for receiving and welcoming diplomatic entourages. The question arises: How could such a vast area have been controlled by such a small number of people? The explanation lies in the fact that they recognized their intellectual potential, combined  with strict discipline, law and governance and their excellent rational management of human resources! We can all consider this philosophy for a moment …mmmmm!!!

Nasaa was very proud of bringing us to this monument. Over the last 20 years, the once great Mongol giant has slowly starting to wake up again. Most of the national pride, monuments, culture have been wiped out under the oppressive regime of the ‘Red Army”. Even the meaning of Ulaanbaartar reflects the previous regime – ‘Red Hero”. So this 40 meter tall statue of Chinggis Khaan on his war horse epitomizes the free Monglia and freedom of each Mongol – claiming back his/her name which the enemy has taken from them. The project is not complete yet, but tourist ger-camps with landscpaped gardens will eventually make a statement of restoration in Mongolian pride!! We had fun taking the lift to the horse’s neck for a birds-eye view of the whole site.

Arno and Thomas were drawn, like magnets, to the on-site Golden Eagle handler and had some big dreams came true, by actually holding a massive birdy for themselves!! Alana could not stand on the sideline watching, so she demanded her shot too!!!

We were so happy to realize that our accommodation for our last night with the Nomads was not too far from here. This time we were treated with the Kaszak hospitality of the Orlbej family. The spread that was put out in the ger to welcome us one final time, took my breath away… oil-cakes, home made butter on bread with a thin layer of sugar spread over the top, curd, home made cheese, Mongolian tea, a ‘cookie-dough’ mix (??) look-a-like…we really did not know what to eat and what to leave. And remember, this was only a welcome snack!!!

Naasa informed us of a personal emergency resulting in her imminent departure. The kids were really sad about her leaving, especially Nina!! We soooo hope that we will meet her again one day…

Granny Orlbej cooked us a beautiful home-made pasta and meat stew after she attended and milked more than 10 cows!! Philippa was completely fascinated by the whole milking procedure. We stayed with Granny for most of the time…even after everybody else went inside to hide form the cold evening air!!

During dinner Naasa was replaced by Ictor, our new guide. Our last night was spent with Granny (Grandpa hitched a lift to town to pick up a motorbike…but we did not see him return…) and Ictor, sleeping in the Kaszak ger. The family was preparing to move to their winter-house in a few days, so most of the belongings and the other 2 gers, which are normally used to accommodate the tourists, were moved already. Granny said the most people she had sharing her ger with her at one time, were 20!! Hee-hee…at least there were only 7 of us this time (Mr Driver slept in the van again.) Mr Dirver loves his van. Whenever we stopped for sight seeing, or an overnighter, we saw him cleaning and polishing the ‘loaf’. Such a shame that this van, only 7years old, has some nasty damage to it’s body work already. The roads in Mongolia……

So Granny piled blankets on top of us and stoked the stove and the sweat were running down our legs…although we had padded sleeping mats rolled out for us, it was the most uncomfortable night of our whole trip around the world so far!!

Ictor could never reach Naasa’s cooking standards, but he came very good second!!! After breakfast we were bundled into the ‘loaf’ and headed over to the Gorkhi TereljNational Park. A deep valley with high mountains very close to UB, provide a great weekend destination for the locals. We stopped at the Turtle rock and a relatively ‘new’ Buddhist Temple (10 year old) with a awesome view of the valley. This temple just underlined a simple observation of the nation to us… although a lot of new buildings are rising up in the oppression-free Mongolia, the people still has a long way to go before their self-pride will be completely restored. Why do I say this… beside Mr Driver, we did not notice much care being taken over buildings, in particular this temple,  and possessions in general. Everything gets build and then forgotten. The paintwork will start peeling and general weathering will take over. Before this nation is not going to start taking responsibility for it’s ‘new’ infrastructure and buildings, not much of lasting importance will be left standing for the next generation to come. Ictor was not to positive in his appreciation of how the government is directing and applying the funds for generating a new economy. UB is a booming and expanding city, but it is dirty and dusty and messy, traffic is horrendous and motorways non-existing.  This brings me back to the importance of identity…of who you are…of what your name is…and where your heritage is coming from. What can your future paths be aimed at, if you are uncertain of where you are originating from? With such a natural gift to connect, with such a legacy as a welcoming hospitable community, we are praying that commercialism and greed do not immobilize the “Great Khaan” permanently…

As we walked through the door of our hostel dorm, I heard Alana breathing in a sigh of delight: “Wow, soft beds, with real matrasses!!”

 THIS is what this RTW trip is all about….thankfulness!!  A realization that we are so blessed to have been born into a culture of order and a family of love…something that we had NO control over…

…that we can sleep on soft beds and have running water and ‘potty’ toilets with doors….

Let’s never forget…..

Ps Besides the joy of hole-in-the-ground-toilets (if we were lucky...),  did I mentioned that we were wearing the same clothes for 5 days and went without a shower....When in Mongolia ....

Trains and some more.... Week10

Week 10- China (Beijing, Trans Siberian Railway)

29^th of September to 8^th of October

Monday morning arrived, us packed and ready to negotiate the underground in Xi’an before breakfast. Aim: reaching the main train station with A LOT of time to spare!! Thanks to the lovely girlies in the Han Tang Youth Hostel, we were booked onto the 10:02am bullet train to Beijing.  After our first McD’s breakfast on this RTW trip, the kids were playing with their mini-bullet trains and collecting some fans and friends!!

We played a game of animal snap too and a little Chinese boy (about 1 year old) joined in the action.

I still find it a bit funny to see these small babies with out any nappies!! Their clothing is designed in such a fashion that there is a big opening between the legs, and I think they just “go” where ever and whenever. But what I’ve heard is, that these babies an also be potty trained before they are one year old. Different culture, different ways…

After our previous travel fiasco in SuZhou, we were so relieved to be seated on that train without any stress in the running up to it!! The bullet train between Xi’an and Beijing travelled at top speed of 303km/h. We covered a distance of 1200km in just under 5 hours. To put this into perspective, if there was a bullet train between Glasgow and London, it will take you just over 2 hours to travel there!! Again, this culture of extremes, displaying itself!! Hole-in-the-ground-toilets to bullet trains. It makes me smile!!

Everybody happy!!

We are getting very good and confident on these Chinese underground trains. With our big back packs and 4 children we can push a lot of people out of the way in the process of getting onto a train. Not even rush hour scare us!!!(I’ve seen a fantastic you-tube clip, about how people get squashed onto a rush hour train. Will try and find it for you!! Luckily our expeditions so far has not gone to that level yet…)

Squashed onto a subway....

I’ve booked us into an apartment hotel, west of the city center, near Embassy-of-the-World quarters. After our first week in China, we just used this time to catch up on admin, picking up our Trans-Siberian train tickets from the local agency I’ve used and to relax. We went in search of Ritan (Temple of the Sun) Park. A few bus journeys later and some help from locals with their goolge street map app, we enjoyed the lovely open space. Praise God, on our walk to the park, we also managed to find new walking shoes for the little girls…Merrells (at 150Yuan=£15 per pair…we were smiling!!) The previous two pairs of Carrimore children’s walking shoes needs mentioning. We bought them 6 years ago. They’ve served us as a family so well…Thomas had the ‘noses’ scuffed to the fabric, practicing his scooter skills down the hill in Kilmarnock, Arno has mended it a few times with STRONG glue…Philippa and then Nina has worn them over the years until they could not be mended anymore. We had so say good bye to them here in Beijing!! Hopefully their replacements will still be in good shape to be pass down to cousins over the next few years!!!

Besides Chinese New Year, we have (unbeknown to us) decided to travel on the buzziest day of the year… 1^st of October(Wednesday) was the fist day of the Chinese  Moon Festival, with the day also declared as the ‘National Day” in China. It was holiday for the whole country for the next 7 days. Luckily, after negotiate the Subway system again, we were leaving China on the 11:22am train across Siberia.

Boarding our sleeper to Mongolia

Our ticket was taking us as far as Ulaanbaatar (Ulan Bator) in Mongolia. We were all very excited, because this would have been our first overnighter on a train. The time of arrival in UB was, Thursday afternoon at 14:20. For financial reasons…we were booked into Second Class, hard sleeper. The locals and many tourists travel in this class. The soft sleepers just have 2 beds(berths) in each compartment, vs second class with 4 bunks. Nina did not pay and the other 3 were charged half price because they were under 140cm in height (hee hee…yes, that’s how they do it here in China!!) So there we were getting settled in our compartment on the 5^th carriage from the front, trying to find places for all our luggage. Arno’s bunk was in the next compartment and Nina and Philippa had to share a bed. We spend the rest of the day watching the Chinese country side go by, play Uno (even inviting a Chinese traveler-who shared the compartment with Arno, to join in…he brought the chocolates!!).

By dinner time we made our way down the train to the dining cart. A bit of confusion led to the discovery that we were issues with free lunch (obviously missed that!!) and dinner tickets at the time our carriage attendant handed the linen out. Luckily I had the tickets still in my pocket and we were loving the chicken and rice dish. (Arno and I were a bit desperate at this stage, because we found it very difficult to motivate the children and particularly Thomas, to eat anything Chinese!!!!) (And NO, China does not do Sweet-and-sour Chicken or fried rice…can you believe that??!!)

It was a bit of a palava settling everybody down for the night (the toilets were getting a bit smelly too…I was feeling for the people who were planning to be on the train for the full 6-day journey..) We arrived at the Chinese boarder round 10pm, where a peloton of soldiers guarded the carriages, while the passport officer got onto the train and collected our leaving cards and passports. While we were waiting for the admin to be done, our train was puffed (yes diesel engines) into the mechanic yard. At this stage all the carriages were separated and pushed into an individual dock (and yes, we were still inside the train!!). Now the mechanics set to work: we were manually pushed into the specific place, carriage-lift placed into position and then we were hoisted into the air. Yes, I kid not, the whole carriage with everybody inside was airborne!!

The reason for this is the following: the width of the train tracks between China and Mongolia is different. At this stage I had enough and it was after midnight, so I decided to go for a nap. Arno thought he is not gona bother, because the officials still had to return our passports on the China side, then we had to puff-puff over to Mongolia and go thought the whole process there again (minus the engineering…) Although I had to be woken up at the Mongolian side ( to present my sleep face to the boarder patrol officer) my decisions to take forty winks paid off…it was after 3am before we were finally on our way again! Poor Arno was a bit tired the following day!

We were welcomed by the Mongolian sun. After the polluted cloudiness we’ve experienced in China up to this stage, we were rejoicing! The rest of the morning was spend reading, while the kids were playing games with the compartment filled with Chinese girls. These children are people magnets wherever they go!!!

At lunch time we were heading towards the dining cart again…just this time, the Chinese one was left behind at the boarder and replaced with a beautifully decorated Mongolian ‘restaurant’. The Chinese girls warned us about the food, so we were pleasantly surprised to order from an English menu and find tasty-tasty food!!! Excitement was growing. Our introduction to the Mongolian culture was a very nice surprise. Even the waitress greeted us with: “Welcome to Mongolia!” when she found out that our final stop will be Ulaanbaatar.(‘Ulan Bator’ is the Russian spelling, and not too pleasantly received by the Mongols. More about that history in my next blog.)

As we approached UB form the east , the vast see-untill-your-eyes-can-not-see-any-further landscape changed into undulating tree-clad hills. Fall seemed to have taken over from the green summer lushness – warm shades of brown, light green and yellows were the tell tale. We were hanging out of the carriage windows drinking it all in.

WE WERE IN MONGOLIA!!!!!!! The final stretch into UB city centera surprised me with the colorful array of buildings, mix-match of houses, ger’s (that’s a traditional nomadic round tent – and do not forget the brand new Land Cruiser parked beside it) tall sky-scrapers, building work EVERYWHERE and loadsa junk clogging up open spaces. A feast for the eye. So much to see, so much to take in…

We arrived on schedule 2:20pm at the station and was welcomed at the door of our carriage no 5 by our driver, sent by the Golden Gobi Hostel. Now that’s giving hospitality a new meaning in my books!!! And so it continued…

Post script: Nina’s special word: ‘Youth Hospital’