Sorry!!

Sorry for the slow reply to anyone who's actually reading this. China so far has been an absolute whirlwind trip, much like the country itself. 

Hong Kong was absolutely fantastic.

 It felt like we were in New York, not China, it was that modern and easy to navigate. We were spoiled with English menus and (relatively) easy to navigate metro systems. We felt mighty sure that we had China figured out when we moved on to Shanghai.

Shanghai was our first experience with "real" China. (Hong kong being a half British, half Chinese country of its own; much more western than anywhere else we'll be heading) Suddenly the food was much more "adventurous" and there were no kindly older Chinese fellows with perfect English to help us when we get lost on the metros. For all of its architectural innovation and technology advancements, Shanghai was still very much "real China". 2 days there and we still managed to get on the wrong train to the airport. But a quick correction and seats on a train headed the other direction and we were on our way again. 

Another thing to note is China is strictly anti-Facebook. Of course, smarter minds than I have figured out ways around this, so we're not completely cut off, just more limited than we normally would. Sorry if its taking a while for me to respond to anyone. 

So that brings us up to today. One early morning flight from Shanghai to Beijing and we're in rather cool hostel recommended by a pair of British guys we met in the last hostel. (Thanks to Rusty!) We're a 10 minute walk from the forbidden city and Tiananmen Square, which we'll tackle the day after tomorrow. Tomorrow is reserved for a trek out to the Great Wall. And today is made for wandering the local area, finding food and making new friends! 

Hope all is well back home! 

Mongolia Surprises

Mongolia is just full of surprises!

I was met at my hostel at 5am by my tour guide for the week. We did the half hour ride back to the airport in relative quiet, our silence matching the world outside. 

The Ulaanbaatar airport faintly reminds me of a soviet-era bus station. In fact, most things in Mongolia are faintly Russian-era. The buildings, the language, the food. They share a border with Russia and you can definitely see the influence all around you. 

A quick hour and a half flight south in a tiny propeller plane brought us to Dalanzadgad, (see? Tell me that doesn't sound Russian) the biggest urban area in Gobi province. And I use that term very loosely. The one story squat building had exactly 3 large rooms...pre security, departures area, and a hallway where arrivals came in. Luggage was in a second building consisting of a hole cut in the wall, 3 foot ramp and a flat platform to catch your gear after it was brought from the plane by hand cart. The best thing about it was a dilapidated ping pong table sitting in the luggage room. I seriously thing every airport needs to look into installing one, it made tome spent waiting for luggage a breeze!

When finally our bags came through, we met our driver and we were off!

Now, looking at a map of Mongolia you see the usual...long lines of highway snaking from one town to the next, towns and villages dotted along the way. The road system here couldn't be further than that if it tried! I should have been tipped off when there wasn't even enough money to pave the highway that runs from it's only international airport to the country capital. The "highways" in Mongolia consist of single lane dirt track, rutted and bumpy as hell, cut through the scrubby semi-desert. No gravel, no organized lanes of travel, and definitely no signposts telling you where to turn. I finally asked how the driver knew where he was going when everything looks exactly the same. The only answer I got was "he's Mongolian, he knows". 

Thank god he did know, because we arrived at our first camp after 2 hours of bumping around on the "road". A ger is a traditional Mongolian house, akin to a teepee back home. Only over 50% of Mongolians still lead a nomadic herder lifestyle, so the ger is still very much in regular use.

Approximately 20 feet wide, with a sloping roof and 3 foot tall door, a ger is sturdier than a regular camping tent, and slightly warmer. Regular wooden beds sit inside the circular dome, the roof a series of wooden poles that look like a collapsing wagon wheel, with 2 larger beams at the centre holding everything upright.  Everything wooden is painted very decoratively in a show of great pride.

I hate to cut this short, but it's time for dinner! More later!

 

Day 4

Day 3

Day 2

Day 1

Lessons learned today...

- apparently "domestic departures" in China also includes Mongolia. Knowing that would have saved much confusion. 

- it's probably a bad idea to try jumping in the air for a photo op. while perched on a hoodoo. With a bad ankle. Ouch!

- spending almost an hour slowly spinning in circles staring at the unbelievable explosion of stars in the desert sky completely takes your breath away, in all the right ways. 

Awesome travel moment:

- playing an actual game of pingpong while waiting for my luggage to arrive.