There is little spectacular to see in Mongolia except the magnificent countryside of Mongolia itself - and it was this that we came to see.  Along with the six backpackers from the train (two Americans, two Swiss, one British, and one Zimbabwean) we soon found a local tour operator through which we hired two local drivers, a jeep and van for a nine day trip to the Gobi Desert staying with nomadic families in their traditional habitat. 

Day One

Day of departure.  Having stocked up on canned fruit and vegetables, pasta, spreads, fruits, snacks and over eighty bottles of water; our jeep and van convoy departed the city on a rainy Tuesday morning.  We shared our jeep with an American couple from Washington DC - Sheila and Jake.  Our fellow travelers - Jason, Ashleigh, Carole and Roland - were sharing the van. 

 
Team Jeep.

Twenty minutes into the trip and barely outside the city limits, we lost the van!! We then spent an hour at the roadside trying to locate them before finally giving up and driving the first leg of our trip solo.... which increasingly seemed to be a bad idea given the amount of tinkering our driver did to the jeep within a couple of hours of our trip.

Trying to find the van...	Checking the engine..
Pumping up the tyres...	Checking for stowaways???

The paved roads lasted no more than one hundred kilometers, before turning into the dirt trails that criss-cross the rest of Mongolia.  Little did we know at the time that that would be our last glimpse of a paved road for the next nine days.

Mongolian highways.

Spectacular views from the 'highway'.

Our first day brought our first encounter with traditional Mongolian cuisine - buuz (mutton dumplings), accompanied with Mongolian tea (an extremely milky drink made from yak milk with a strangely salty after-taste). 

Nikki "enjoying" Mongolian tea.

That night we stayed in our first 'ger' (pronounced: grrr), the traditional circular Mongolian tents made of felt and used by nomads throughout the country.

Our gers.

Our dinner was mutton soup, and our evenings’ entertainment was delivered by a highly-skilled local musician who gave us a great demonstrations of traditional instruments and a burst of the famous Mongolian 'throat singing'. 

The horse-headed fiddle.

Day Two

After a brief stop to admire the local monastery, we headed off to our first highlight of the trip - the waterfall near Tsetserleg. 

Relaxing in the midday sun.	Rivers are minor highway obstacles.
A ger with a great backyard.	Herding the cattle to water.

Unfortunately the waterfall was no more than a mere trickle due to a relative lack of rain; however, the setting was still amazing and a fast flowing river nearby provided a welcome swim after the days drive.

The waterfall pool.	Swimming in the river.

The day was capped off with a sunset horse ride over the rolling hills.

Eric and Jake saddle up.	Riding off into the sunset.

Day Three

We woke up early and crept out of our ger to see the sunrise.

	The sun rises over our gers
Nikki befriends the local ger guard dog.

After packing up our stuff there was time to watch our ger host milk the yaks for the days' supply of fresh milk.

Curious baby yaks .	Collecting the day's yak milk.

Pit stops are definitely encouraged!!

Our day's destination was the small market town of Arvaikheer.  Along the way our driver stopped off at a ger where we enjoyed the family’s hospitality of more Mongolian tea.

Enjoying a round of tea...	...with the family.

Light from the setting sun captured on a cloud over Arvaikheer.

Day Four - Five

A six hour and extremely bumpy ride brought us to our major destination - the Gobi sand dunes.  Along the way we passed the Gobi's main residents: camels!!

Camel caravan across the desert.

We spent two days enjoying the area, walking and taking a camel ride along the dunes.  Climbing the dunes took far more effort than initially expected, but forty minutes of trekking were rewarded with spectacular views across the desert.

Our first views of the spectacular dunes (also the view from the doorless outhouse).

 
The magnificent view from the top.

The dunes stretch out for miles.

Eric's guide to getting on a camel:

1. Sit securely in the saddle	2. Hold on tightly!!
3. Grab reins firmly	4. Smile for the camera!

Sitting on top of the Gobi - definitely a reason to smile.

Day Six

After two days of enjoying the sand, we reluctantly left; our convoy driving on to the next destination: the ice valley.  The drive provided superb views and involved negotiating narrow gorges carved out by glaciers in bygone areas. 

Our jeep travelling through the gorge.

The ice valley was great for hiking.

Leaving the ice valley, we made our way to Dalanzadgad, the principal town in the Gobi region. 

Luckily for us, our jeep ran out of petrol just as the sun was setting allowing us to take some great photos.

Day Seven

After stocking up in the town, we had a short ride to the 'flaming cliffs'.  These cliffs were first excavated in 1922, and are renowned world-wide for the number of dinosaur bones and eggs found in the area.

The flaming cliffs...	...accompanied by a beautiful sky.

Our ger that evening was conveniently located near a 'tourist ger' (ger tents set-up purely for tourists; unlike ours which are used by our host families in their daily lives), which provided the surreal opportunity to get a refreshing shower in the middle of the Gobi Desert!!

Eric shares his photos with a local girl.

Day Eight

Our long journey back to Ulaan Baatar was split into two stages; the first leg ending with a welcome stop at a "sometimes camel-herding community in the middle of nowhere". 

On the way our lunchtime stop provided us with what may well be our most unforgettable and unique experience in Mongolia.  Our arrival at a ger coincided with the completion of the slaughtering of a sheep.  The head of the household had just finished boiling the intestines, liver, heart and lungs, and was quick to invite us to join her and her family in what is considered to be an honored meal.  Unfortunately our western stomachs could cope with little more than nibbling on a piece of freshly cooked liver whilst trying not to stare as the woman continued to hack at and prepare the sheep's backbone. 

Our driver tucks into the feast...	...but the rest of the sheep destroys our appetite

Day Nine

A long and painfully bumpy journey brought us back to Ulaan Baatar. 

We arrive safely back at our guesthouse and take a moment to pose with our driver.

We both had an unbelievable time in our first 10 days in Mongolia; tomorrow we embark on a 12 day tour to the northern region and it's beautiful lakes....we can't wait.

 

 

With a 35-hour train ride ahead of us and having had such an eventful arrival into Russia, we both braced ourselves for our first international border crossing via train.  We had both read many horror stories in our guide books and have heard less than encouraging reports from fellow travelers, so we certainly did not expect our final ride in Russia to go smoothly.

There were huge crowds waiting at Irkutsk railway station, and piles upon piles of bags, boxes, cases, and hastily wrapped parcels all of which seemed to be waiting for our train.  Once the platform was announced there was a huge rush to the carriages, everyone was anxious to secure the precious space for their luggage, it was certainly a case of 'everyone for themselves'. 

Amongst the locals and traveling vendors were a handful of tourists also trying to board the train.  All of us tourists seemed to head for the same two carriages of the twenty-carriage train, at first we thought this was purely an effort to group the foreigners to together for the border-crossing; it was only later when the arrived at the final stop in Russia that we realized that it was only our two 'foreigner carriages' making the rest of the journey into Mongolia. 

The border crossing on the Russian side took six hours, 5 and a half hours of which involved us sitting on the platform staring at our now very short train, waiting for the immigration officers to show up and stamp our passports.  Luckily, we shared the platform with a small shop, a handful of trees, and some fellow backpackers and we were able to spend our last rubles purchasing cold drinks. 

An hour after the train departed its final stop in Russia, we arrived at the Mongolian border.  Our stop here was four hours, three and a half hours of which was spent eating our dinner (noodles of course) on the steps of the railway station waiting for more carriages to be fitted to the train.  The contrast between these neighboring countries was immediately apparent.  The Mongolian side was alive with the hustle and bustle of street traders and local travelers.  Young children and stray dogs ran in and out of the crowds both begging for food - a sight the police in Russia would not have tolerated. 

We arrived in Ulaan Baatar (capital of Mongolia) at six o'clock in the morning with no local currency and no place to stay.  We briefly said goodbye to the backpackers we had befriended on the train having agreed to rendez-vous with them later in the evening at a a well-known travelers cafe.  After a brief pause to orientate ourselves to the new country that surrounded us with its new sights, smells and sounds; we soon secured a room for the next few nights and took a much-needed shower!!

NB: Unfortunately our photos of the border-crossing and the train were corrupted in an internet cafe when we tried to upload them :-(