Big Cities, Bright Lights

26/6/11 - 6/7/11

Just one more week in China before we left for country number 3. We spent our last days exploring Beijing and Shanghai, as much as my dodgy leg would let us!

We had teed up a Couch Surfing host in Beijing, not far from the host's place we stayed at last time we were in the city. Unfortunately, due to a plane delay, our mobile being pickpocketed, my leg slowing us down and a very confused taxi driver we didn't arrive at their apartment til after midnight and weren't able to ring and warn them. We tentatively knocked on their apartment door and after some clunking sounds the door opened to two very bleary eyed and half asleep people - whoops! We felt really bad but Adam and Laura were very hospitable and welcomed us in.  

Cuandixia

Beijing was steaming hot, and our shared single bed in the lounge room was a bit like sleeping in an oven. Still, it was a good place to relax for a couple of days, without the expense of a private room or the lack of privacy of a dorm, and give my leg a chance to heal. We got to catch up with Manon and Arnaud, the French couple that we got along well with in Mongolia, in Beijing, and take them to "Mr Shi's Dumplings", a great little joint in one of the hutongs.  Adam and Laura also included us in their regular Couch Surfer all-you-can-eat pizza and movie night, different to have a totally western style evening.

We did a day trip out of Beijing, about 90km west to a little town called Cuandixia. Getting there was a bit of a challenge, the train was easy but finding out where the bus left from while trying to stay dry in an absolute downpour was more difficult. It was worth it though, a lovely village on a sloping hill set against a backdrop of mountains with stone houses set around quaint courtyards, all about 400 years old. As with most places in China, local tourists are a given and the village caters for it, but there were less crowds than many places and we had our lunch undisturbed in a quiet courtyard served by a sweet Chinese lady who spoke no English but made a real effort to understand our charades. We even got fresh picked zucchini from her garden. 

CRH - Beijing to Shanghai

My leg wasn't really behaving in Beijing after the Op, maybe because of the humidity, so we took it pretty easy to avoid it swelling up too much (and potential explosion??), which meant missing out on going to the Great Wall - very disappointing. We checked out the Police History Museum instead, more interesting than it sounds though we would have liked to have been given ALL the translations in English instead of the ones that the powers-that-be thought we should have. We did some wandering around the hutongs as well and tried some fried bananas from tourist food stall - yum!

The next day we left for Shanghai. We tried to get cheap train tickets but only the more exxy ones for the new China Rail Highspeed (CRH) were available for the date we needed them. Travelling on the new bullet train was pretty cool and only took 6 hrs to travel over 1000km, going at speeds up to 300kmh! The digital display even told us how exactly how fast we were going at each moment.

We arrived at our next couch host's place at a much more reasonable time. This time we'd organised to stay with a local professional couple and their two kids in a gated community about 40mins outside Shanghai central, by train and foot. We were asked not to tell anyone in the community that we were couch surfers because apparently the locals were worried about any strangers in the area and we were very obvious being the only white people around. The kids, Mickey 6 years old and Renee 11 years, were both completely fluent in English and fun to hang out with. Renee taught us how to use a Chinese abacus to do equations and Mickey showed off his mental arithmetic skills - smart kids!

Strangely doctored looking pic of Pudong, its not!

Shanghai was even more humid and ridiculously hot than Beijing, around 36c during the day but the worst thing was that it didn't cool below 30+ at night, yuck! Lucky we had air con in the room we stayed in plus a bamboo bed cover (surprisingly comfortable), kindly lent to us by Mickey.

The first touristy thing we did in Shanghai was a Big Bus tour of the Bund and Pudong areas. It was a good introduction to Shanghai and we were amazed at how different it was from everywhere else we'd been in China - clean, ordered, tidy but definitely not as much character! We also checked out the Shanghai Art Gallery.  

Tongli

The next morning we were up early and caught the Metro and a bus to Tongli, a town/tourist attraction about 125km from town. It was the hottest day yet and my leg was quite swollen so we took it pretty easy but we did manage to check out some gorgeous old palaces and the Sex Culture Museum which was housed in a gorgeous garden surrounded by lovely old stone buildings. We had some yummy Korean food for dinner, thanks to the english speaking waitress who kindly translated the menu for us.  

Sightseeing tunnel, talk about odd!

We left Suzie's place the next morning to spend our last night in China in a dorm room at Ming Town Hiker Hostel which was closer to the city. We spent our last full day wandering around the tourist bazaar in Fuyuan and then walked along the Bund. The smog had got worse so we only got hazy views of Pudong across the river. We then took the Tourist Sightseeing Tunnel under the river in a small unmanned electric rail car, a strangely surreal experience of psychedelic lights, random voice overs and inflatable dolls. Even though a storm was brewing we decided to head up to the flashy Cloud 9 Bar in the Jinmao tower on the 87th (top) floor. We weren't exactly dressed for the location but we paid their exorbitant drinks prices so they didn't mind. It was crazy to be up that high, like the view from an airplane rather than a building! The storm looked pretty impressive from up there, we took our time with our cocktails and got an even better view when the rain stopped. 

The next morning we headed to the airport, picking up some delicious rambutans on the way, and said goodbye to China!

View down into Cuandixia

Thresher in Cuandixia

Shanghai shopping!

View from The Bund

Shanghai World Financial Centre

[Hospital] Room With A View

25/6/11 - 26/6/11
Tours over, flight back to China impending, with a couple of last days in Mongolia to relax and buy souvenirs. Tim and I decided we really should use some of the time to get my still swollen leg checked out.

Since the horse incident my leg had been swelling up whenever i did anything active or even if I just sat for long periods without my foot elevated. Visually there didn't seem much wrong with it, just a couple of small wounds that seemed to heal ok, although one not completely. It didn't even hurt much. But we decided a month was long enough for it to heal and that i should probably get it checked and maybe get on some more antibiotics before China. 

After waiting for an hour in the waiting room of a Korean owned hospital in UB, unsure whether we were waiting in the right place or not but not able to find anyone who spoke English, we were getting a bit restless. The conversation went something like this: 

CB: This is getting ridiculous, its probably nothing anyway, it doesn't hurt so nothing serious can be wrong surely??

Tim: Yeah. The Dr will probably just say give it some more time... I'm sure nothing is really wrong. 

CB: Yeah. So lets go. 

Tim: Yeah... but we've waited so long.

CB: Yeah. 

Tim: Probably should wait

CB: Yeah.

Tim: Yeah.

After a few more minutes we couldn't wait any longer and we busted into the door that most people seemed to be going through and, surprise surprise, were actually pointed into a seat to talk to a lady who spoke a smattering of English. Not sure WHO she was but she sent me to another room to actually see a doctor. He looked at my leg, poked it (ouch!) and said (in English, phew!) "Lots of fluid, probably need an operation now... First, bloods, xray, ultrasound." 

View from my hospital room

So off i went for my tests (where i very nearly had a chest xray instead of a leg xray, not sure what was going on there) and then back to the Doc - "Yes, need an operation. We will cut leg open, take out fluid and put in drain. Very important, could get abscess very soon if no operation. Bad infection possible, must do it now." ACK! You can imagine my reaction, an operation, in a foreign country, with a flight booked for the next afternoon and 7 more weeks of backpacking in China and Borneo to come - I really didn't want to have to have an operation. But the doc was very convincing and pulled all sorts of strings to have the operation happen that day even though the hospital had technically closed for the weekend, so my first ever hospital experience was to be in Mongolia. He also promised i could make my flight the next day. He gave me one choice, local anaesthetic or a needle into the spine (epidural-ish) - local please, don't you touch my spine!


Before i knew it i was hospital-gowned up and lying on the operating table waiting to be cut open. The Doc was pretty good, he seemed to understand that i was shit scared and made some attempts at making me more comfortable. Although the technique, which seemed to be hospital wide i realised when the nurse later did the same thing, for warning me of an impending needle was "Needle, pain, pain, sorrysorrysorrysorrysorry". Still, at least he tried. The operation itself went to his satisfaction, because i just had a local I could feel pulling and cutting the whole time but only pain once, when the Doc touched my bone with the scalpel (ouch!). He showed me the fluid that came out of my leg, about 500ml of yellow gunk that i really didn't need to see!

Post Op

So all finished and drain inserted i got wheeled back into a room - a totally surreal experience staring up at the ceiling having no idea where you're headed. Turns out it was quite a view from the window, right down into the heart of UB and into the hills behind. I had to stay the night but Tim kept me company for as long as he could, this turned out to be a bad choice because as he was heading back to our guesthouse for the night at around 9.30pm he got pickpocketed and it was bye-bye mobile phone. Guess it could have been worse, at least there was no violence!

After a night and morning of drips and needles (painkillers and IV antibiotics), a little bit of discomfort but nothing too horrendously painful and lots of Discovery channel it was time to clear out so we could get our flight to China. Apart from being swollen and looking disgusting with a drain hanging out of it my leg was ok, a bit sore but with it all covered up I could walk and that was the main thing!  

Ewwwww

Holiday in Mongolia: Part 3

13/6/11 - 26/6/11

It was hard to decide where else to travel in Mongolia, so much country and so little time! We ended up deciding on Eastern Mongolia because it sounded different from the Central tour we'd already done and because of the lack of tourists who go that way. The style of tour was also quite different and this time it was just Tim and I (plus driver and guide).

So after a day off in UB to get our clothes washed and give our selves a chance to recuperate, we met up with our tour guide from Tseren Tours, Baskaa, and our driver and his little blue Russian jeep. And it was time to leave UB again, this time heading East. Not far out of UB we stopped at an Ovoo and a conveniently placed tourist-trap of Eagle-on-pole and Reindeer-under-awning. It costs, of course, to take pictures so i was happy just to say hello to the Reindeer and get a hand lick in return. Apparently Reindeer become unhappy and actually get sick being away from their natural habitat in the higher, colder areas of Mongolia but the locals continue to exploit them for the tourist dollars... i wonder, if tourists were better informed would it still go on?

Turtle Rock,
Gorkhi Terelj NP

After our last tour spending meals sitting on the dirt or rocks and eating off our laps we were pleasantly surprised to find that we had folding chairs and even a table supplied. Also the guide did all the cooking and cleaning, there was an esky to keep things cool and  the meals were very westernised  - we felt like we were cheating but yay to no more boiled goat!

Local kids in the horseman's Ger

We stopped at some odd rock formations at Gorkhi Terelj NP and climbed up for a view. More beautiful Mongolian scenery. Our driver also helped out some young locals who'd run out of fuel by siphoning some out of our tank, and off they went, 7 people in a little 3 door hatch! Next we drove thru some pretty deep river crossings (good driver!) to get to the Ger settlement of our horse guide. Of course once we arrived we got the usual salty milk tea to welcome us - though this stuff was actually a lot less salty and quite tasty.


We set up camp for our first night on a stream bank close by to the Gers and amongst the livestock. Locals joined us pretty quickly and the obligatory bottle of vodka was handed around the group until it, and its friend, were finished. We had some good chats with our driver who it turned out spoke better english than Baskaa - who we learnt later had been warned by Tseren that her english had better improve pretty quickly or she'd lose her job, warning warranted i think, lovely girl but really needed to work on her English skills.

Tangent, Munchie and me!

The next morning was the start of our 3 day horse riding trip into the Khenti Mountains so we sorted our gear and the packhorse was loaded up, such a funny little horse, making whining, grunting and groaning sounds which had us a bit worried that she was over-loaded. But apparently she makes these sounds even when not loaded up, the oddest sound i've ever heard from a horse! We also got given some cardboard leg protectors, not exactly fancy but they were leg savers.

Our sweet, strong, groany little pack horse



Pretty pony

The next three days we spent riding in a big loop, over the hills and thru the valleys, camping and lunching next to streams - no roads but plenty of livestock, some yaks and a few Gers. One night the horseman  got us some local cow milk vodka to share (tastes like watery, alcoholic yoghurt - drinkable and not very strong) and then promised, if we came back to visit, he would gift our firstborn one of his best foals! Lovely guy and very generous. especially with vodka under his belt. It was a great experience being off the roads and riding thru the countryside though three full days of riding on russian saddles was quite hard physically! The most fun riding was through the rivers to meet up with our jeep at the end of the trip - too deep for him to come thru to meet us so we went to him. 

Tim being useful

Back in a new jeep with a new driver (a male Oogii) and reunited with our folding chairs (ah, comfort) we hit the road again.  Over the next couple of days we did a lot of driving and a few stops, to look at a big coal mine (Mongolia's natural resources are only just getting tapped into), some local towns (which reminded us of wild west outposts), a Temple in a pretty valley and lovely lunch stops and campsites. Apart from one flat tyre which was quickly patched by Oogii with some help from Tim, all went pretty smoothly (we did have two more before the trip was finished though). 


After this Oogii wasn't so sure of the roads to take - to his defense the roads out this far are basically dirt tracks and there are often half a dozen that seem to be heading in the same direction, no signposts at all. On our way through one of the "hard to navigate" valleys we stopped to look at some deer stones, which are monoliths inscribed with deer motifs dating back to the Bronze age. Amazingly they are still sitting in the Mongolian countryside where they were put thousands of years ago! We also saw lots of Demoiselle Cranes, pretty black and white birds that hang out in pairs on the steppes, eagles, hawks and gophers and marmots running for cover. 

Deer stone

After driving pretty steadily East we reached Dadal, a town close to the Russian border with lots of Russian influences including the wooden cabins that people live in and yummy Russian bread and cheese. We stayed near a river here and Tim and I took the opportunity to have another "bath" - pretty much no showers or laundries to be found outside UB! The next day we headed off with our packs loaded for a one night camp out without the vehicle. Baskaa came with us and it was the first time she'd ever done an overnight trek on foot. It wasn't the best day for it as it was our hottest day yet in Mongolia but we took it easy and followed the river which meant we could cool off with a dip in the evening. Tim and i spotted some wild ducklings and their over protective mother but despite our searching, no bears or wolves. We did have an extended visit from an inquisitive local horseman though, and while Baskaa advised us to hide the vodka and make sure our gear was safe "just in case", he kindly gave us one of the two fish he'd caught in the river that evening (i think he took a shine to Baskaa, probably doesn't see many new ladies around very often).


On our way back the next day to meet up with Oogii and the jeep we saw a Shaman ceremony, basically a whole heap of people running around some bushes after a Shaman - the drumming and chanting was nice but didn't really understand the rest of it. Baskaa and Oogii then took us up to the top of a hill to see Chinggis (Ghengis) Khan's birthplace. It was just a big Ovoo and a platform to look out over the countryside, pretty simple considering how much he is revered, he is like a God to the Mongolian people.

Demoiselle Cranes

We continued to head even further East from here , in search of the herds of Gazelle that hang out on the Eastern steppes. We got lost (AGAIN) and after stopping a few times for directions and a chat Baskaa informed us that Gazelle hadn't been seen in the area this season because it had been very dry and there was no food for them, but that we would keep looking anyway. And what do you know, after a couple more hours of driving, when we were all ready to give up, herds of Gazelle on the horizon!! Woohooo! Man they can run fast. We quietly and stealthily stalked them for a half hour on foot, walking single file so as not to scare them off, and didn't get closer than a couple of hundred metres. Then we abandoned this attempt and trusted in Oogii's skillful jeep driving , chasing them across the steppe off road - we got much closer, totally awesome to see them outrun us although not sure on their intelligence as they would often run parallel to us or across in front of the vehicle!

Yay, we saw Gazelle!

Another camping site,
another sunset!

When it got time to set up camp for the night Oogii informed us he had no idea where the road was, so we just stopped somewhere flat and set up camp on the steppe for the night. Crazy place, no people or buildings in sight, just yellow grass and the rolling steppe - quite surreal. We had our fresh fish from the horseman for dinner, i can't imagine what the lucky carnivore that got the left over fish bits thought, getting fish miles from any water!


The next morning, after drying off some baby moles i found wet and cold in the grass and putting them back in a burrow (who knows if it was the right one!), we found the dirt road and started heading back towards UB. We had our first serious daytime rain and the dirt road soon turned into a muddy swamp, Oogii got us through with no problems though, it wasn't until our tyres got stuck in a deep hole and he jumped out of the Jeep to put the hubs in that we realised we weren't even in 4WD most of the way!

Giant Chinggis

Two more beautiful camping spots and a visit to the massive 40m tall "Chinggis Khan on horse" statue/museum, which we climbed up, and we had all but finished our Eastern Tour. Just one leg to go... kayaking back into UB! We said goodbye to Oogii and Baskaa and met our 2 Kayak guides and took off down the Tuul river. It was a fantastic end to the tour, we saw lots of waterbirds and birds of prey and lots of different countryside on the way down the river. They even had a gourmet picnic lunch packed for us and we stopped on a little island in the river to eat it. Due to the recent rains we didn't have to work very hard going downriver and going through the little rapids was lots of fun - "paddle paddle paddle, change sides, paddle paddle paddle!" - and we were back into UB before we knew it. Again, urgent priorities were showers and washing clothes!

Kayaking down the Tuul

Washing our duds in the river!

Stylin' cardboard leg protectors

Heading off on our overnight trek

Holiday in Mongolia: Part 2

1/6/11 - 12/6/11

Following my run in with the naughty Mongolian horse we had 24 hours to chill out at Catherine's house in UB and to decide if i was fit to travel! In addition to the massive graze on my back which wanted to stick to everything it came in contact with I also had bruises on my knees and thigh, bruises and cuts on my left leg where the horse stood on me and small grazes all over. I couldn't walk properly and could only sit leaning forward or lie on my stomach which made the thought of travelling in a bouncy van not a very nice one. But with the help of some pretty serious pain killers and the thought of sitting around UB for a couple of weeks hanging over me (no thanks) I decided i'd man up (woman up??) and go on the tour anyway.

The first day of the tour, also my birthday though i didn't really feel like celebrating (thanks for the Ferrero Rochers Tim x), we met the rest of the group - 9 other backpackers, 5 French, 1 German, 1 Norwegian, 1 Bulgarian, 1 Malay and 1 other Aussie, 2 Mongolian drivers and 8 Mongolian Geography students plus Kishig the teacher and his wife Oogii. Oogii was a late but welcome addition as her English was the best of all the Mongolians and she would also be our cook. After the usual dithering around we were on the road and heading west. The first night we stayed at one of the student's families Ger camp 100km or so out of UB and they cooked us a "Mongolian BBQ". This included a demonstration of killing and preparing the goat for the BBQ which was a lot quicker and probably much more humane than how Western abattoirs work! Burning off the goat hair was not a pretty smell though!

Mongolian BBQ is a bit different from an Aussie one, basically they stuff pretty much every part of the goat, except its legs, stomach and head, into a big pot of water with some hot rocks and put it over the fire until it is all boiled up. Probably one of the worst things i've had to eat... Boiled goat skin is NOT nice. On the up side we also had some Mongolian yoghurt, which is usually made inside a sheep's stomach, served with sugar. It tastes like Greek Yoghurt, yum. 

First night on tour

After a beautiful sunset and watching the students and drivers do some traditional wrestling we camped out for the first time on our whole trip. It wasn't particularly comfortable trying to lie down on my stomach on my thermarest with my wounds but i survived! We were also treated to the sounds of some of the students vomiting outside our tent - Vodka is popular and often a vice for Mongolians. Lucky the camping got better! Then we were back in our two vans and on the road again. Oh and it was dirt roads from here on....  

We checked out Khar Buh, the ruins of an old buddhist temple and Oogii tested out her translating skills for the first time. On the way from here to lunch we spotted a big group of wild camels, babies included. They are the bactarian kind with two humps and are much prettier than our one humped camels, with thick coats to keep them warm in winter. We stopped for lunch at a lake, which was a pretty bad choice as there were soooo many little flies around, they didn't bite but they got in our hair, up our noses, into the vans and were a general pest. The students taught us how to make dung fires to keep them away - we wondered what was worse, breathing in cow poo or flies??

We camped at a small river this night and had a big campfire with singing by the Mongolians - the blokes tend to be very keen singers and have quite beautiful deep voices, though all the songs seem to be about horses! We also tried out some of the Mongolian Vodka, not bad though mixers are very frowned upon and you are not supposed to sip it, just down it in one go. Not surprisingly there were a few headaches the next day.

Another perfect campsite with a gorgeous sunset

Day 3 was lots of driving again (ouch, my poor back) with a stop for lunch at Choidog canyon where we saw some falcons. The last stretch of driving for the day was over some very bumpy rocky dirt tracks where we had to get out and walk at some places, but it was worth it to reach our camping spot at the confluence of two rivers running down canyons, gorgeous. We had a relaxing morning here with a chance to have a bath and wash some clothes in the river, it was good to be clean but brrrrr!

Big tough Mongolian
guard dog - ha!

We drove through the afternoon, with a quick stop to stock up on snacks and beers, to Kishig's uncle's village where we set up camp outside his house, among the discarded goats legs (eww!). He had a gorgeous big dog, typical of a lot of the Mongolian dogs we met - meant to be a guard dog but really a big softy who loved tummy rubs. We got to have a quick horse ride this evening, i was a bit nervous after the accident but i'd told Kishig and he kindly matched me with a reliable horse. We also had Russian saddles this time which were much more comfortable than the Mongolian ones. I was surprised to find that it was actually more comfortable for my back to ride a horse than be in the van! That night the locals put on a disco for us - it was pretty funny, a school hall with music from a mobile phone and flashing headtorches for lights... Not exactly rocking out!

The next morning we took turns riding horses and riding in the van, most of the group was happy with just one horse ride so i got two turns of about 1.5hrs each time. I was on the same horse who gave me a nice ride, not too much encouragement to get him going which i appreciated as my leg was giving me troubles. We had lunch at a Ger along the way and then headed to Khorgo Volcano checking out the evidence of the lava flow along the way, Tim was disappointed to find out that it was long extinct but he did get to climb down into the crater.

One of many many Gers!

As a break from tents and vans we stayed at the White Lake for two nights in a Ger - a Ger in high-vis orange no less - in real beds with a fireplace too. Some of the nights had been pretty cool so it was great to have somewhere cosy for a change. We climbed the nearby hill for views of the lake, had a bit more horse riding, bathed in the lake (frreeezzzing), looked for wolves in the forest and had a brief go in a row boat. Another break from routine was fish for dinner, cooked by the french guys on a hot stone with wild chives picked on the hill - it tasted awesome after having goat and rice and noodles and goat and carrots and goat and potatos and goat and goat for 5 days. From here on in the French guys, with some help from the rest of us, got involved in the cooking quite a bit and the Western touch definitely improved things!

We started the next day by exploring 3 caves around the lake - Yellow Dog's Hell (which came with a legend about a dog), Ice Cave (which really did have ice in it) and Youth Cave (which was a small hole in the ground that Tim and some of the others went inside to find a much bigger cave below). We also stopped to check out some vultures (seriously massive birds) just off the side of the road. 

Some of the backpacker crew!

It was time to start heading back towards UB and this meant driving over some mountains, complete with fields of wildflowers in purple, yellow and white. It also meant that the older of the two vans couldn't quite make it up the hill so a bit of walking was called for - as the injured one i was allowed to stay inside, hehe. We stayed on the side of a hill this night, not the best camping spot but i did see a gopher and some rabbits, and we sat and chatted and had beers while watching another beautiful Mongolian sunset. 

Mongolian foal, minutes old!

We walked a few kms up a hill to a temple the next morning through pine forest, as my leg had continued to be sore and had been swelling up it was hard going but I made it by taking it slow. It was worth it, the temple was very pretty and the views were awesome. It was Tim and my turn to travel in the student van this day - we had tried mixing in the vans but the students taste in music and their propensity to jump around all over the place and sing very loudly or to sleep on top of people meant that the backpacker crew preferred to travel together - which was not so bad as we sat up the front with the driver. As we were driving through a valley we suddenly pulled up near a herd of horses, someone had seen that a foal was being born! It was a cool experience, something that most people hadn't seen before, including Kishig who had been riding and looking after horses all his life. All the Mongolians kept telling us what a lucky experience it was and that we would now all have good luck. 

Pretty camel

On the last night of our trip we had a camel ride on the (mini) sand dunes at Elsen Tasarhai. Unfortunately we were late (again!) and it was only a 15min experience. Tim swears that not only are the camels prettier than one humped camels (well, my camel didn't really fit this mould as he had alopecia and floppy humps!) but they also were much more comfortable. We had a lovely last evening camping nearby, chatting around the fire and sharing beers that Kishig had bought for everyone. It was a great trip all in all, not the most professional outfit but Kishig and Oogii were kind and genuine, we saw beautiful places, had plenty of new experiences and a chance to spend some time with Mongolian people. 

After some hiccups getting back into UB involving a broken van, towing the broken van, trying to fit 16 people into a 12 seater and a man made dust storm we made it back into UB for our first shower in 10 days! The backpacker crew were a great bunch who we got on well with (only one didn't really fit in) and we were sad to have to say goodbye to them after some final drinks back in UB - it was really nice to hang out with some different people after just travelling as a couple for so long! 

Holiday in Mongolia: Part 1

After years of thinking about it and months of planning we finally arrive in Mongolia! Adventure here we come!

Flying into Ulaanbaatar we got a taster view of the steppes, rivers and mountains that were waiting for us. At the airport we succeeded in haggling the pushy (unofficial) taxi drivers down to a reasonable price, jumped in the back of a local's car and headed into UB to meet our next Couch Surfing host. Catherine's apartment, in a Russian style block, seemed enormous compared to the places we'd stayed in China, and she kindly even let us have the double room and gave us a rundown on what to look out for in UB. We also met Chinggis Khan, her rescued cat, who is very playful and has bucket loads of character - and some sharp claws to go with it!

We then headed out into UB to get our bearings and find some food. Wow, definite culture shock after China! The Mongolian people didn't stare at us openly like the Chinese but we felt like we were being "cased" instead, we'd been warned about the prevalance of pickpocketing in UB so we kept a tight hold of everything. In summer the UB people make the most of the warmer weather (it gets down to -40c in winter) and do all the outdoor fixing up so there was building, renovating and holes everywhere. We wussed out on trying Mongolian food our first day and decided to get some French food, there are heaps of international options in UB and it seems the locals like the international fare as well.

We spent our first few days in UB doing some research on tours and things to do for our next month. I'd seen a very well priced 10 day tour out to Central Mongolia (west of UB) advertised on the Couch Surfing website with a local guy and his class of Mongolian Geography students. It seemed a great opportunity to save some money, get to know some locals and have an experienced guide so we met the guide, Kishig, and his wife Oogii and decided to go ahead with it. We also checked out the local history museum which was surprisingly professional and interesting with lots of info on the different minority groups, stone and bronze age artifacts plus info on more recent history such as the purging (murdering) of Buddhist monks.

Takhi boys

Our first booked tour was a two day trip out to the Khustai NP to see the wild Takhi (Przewalski) horse. Just an overnight trip to fill in the time before our bigger trip to Central Mongolia and also to get out of UB into the countryside! Our driver didn't speak much English so substituted with some German and Russian as well - he pointed out the UB abbatoirs on our way out of town, "Sheep, kaput!", hilarious. We saw our first herds of horses, sheep and goats and lots of Ger. We even saw a family on the move with everything packed onto their wagon, and all the livestock in tow, definitely nomadic. When we reached the NP we picked up an english speaking guide and headed to where the Takhi were, we spotted lots of fat marmot on the way - they are so comical when they run, surprisingly fast but totally ridiculous looking. We saw a couple of Takhi in the distance and then stopped for pictures of a group of three young males. They have been reintroduced into the wild as they actually became extinct in Mongolia, luckily there were still zoo Takhi left and the reintroduction is going well with new foals every year. They are definitely different from domestic horses - the Takhi is the predecessor to the horses we know now.

Although we would have liked to see more Takhi it was time to head to a local nomadic family's ger for our homestay. We jumped back into the little Festiva and bumped along the dirt roads to their place, a lovely spot on top of a hill, with livestock milling around the ger. We had some of the local salty milk tea (urrrgh) and met the family (no English, but friendly enough). We were surprised to see that the head of the house only had one leg - he still rode both horse and motorbike with no problems though, adaptation and making do is pretty big in Mongolia! It was cool to see the guys bring in their herd of about 15 horses, they soon beckoned us over to go for a ride. Check out the Mongolian saddle that we had to ride on, not comfortable thats for sure!

Yak, running away from our cross country car!

All was going beautifully on our ride, another gorgeous Mongolian evening, marmots running into their holes, local livestock in the distance and gers spotting the hills - pretty much my dreams of Mongolia come true! All until my horse decided to lie down on the job, with me still on board... long story short the situation ended with me dragged down the hill by the stirrup, bruised, cut, scraped and lucky to be alive! After steeling my nerves and getting back on a horse to be led back to the Ger by the horseman, Tim and I decided that the best course of action was to head back to UB for some hospital attention. Our driver seemed reluctant to go, which seemed odd at the time but when we hit the traffic going into UB we realised why - public holiday on the next day meant a huge influx of people, not a good time for driving. Drawn out bouncing and jouncing not so good with injuries!

The BAD horse, with
Mongolian saddle

Eventually we made it to the local emergency hospital, and a doctor (nice guy, spoke ok english) checked me out, decided i wasn't terminal, and nurses cleaned and sterilised the massive graze on my back, which was full of dirt and tiny stones - an experience I never want to have to go thru again, talk about pain. I'm so glad Tim was there or i think i would have run out and not come back. When they finished i turned around to find about 10 Mongolian nurses standing behind me, i think they all came in to see what the wussy white lady was groaning about! The driver dropped us back to Catherine's who Tim had called to explain the situation - it was midnight so lucky we had somewhere safe and comfortable to head to.

So our start to adventuring in Mongolia didn't end too well! But as i am writing this from Borneo, post Mongolia, i can tell you that things do get better... sort of. (see what i did there, suspense! Tune in next installment... )

Raining Pandas

So time to say goodbye to southern China and hello to the bigger, busier, smoggier cities of Chengdu, Xian and Beijing. 



Our flight to Chengdu went without a hitch but we were in for a bit more, hmmm, "adventure" with the taxi driver from the airport to the guesthouse we'd booked the night before. Most drivers in China are pretty reckless and the road rules don't really mean much but this guy really took it to the next level! 120km an hour in very heavy traffic, using his horn AND flashing his lights, swerving across lanes, shaking his fist out the window at vehicles that didn't get out of his way quick enough... What a nutter! But he did deliver us in one piece to Sims Cozy Guesthouse, a huge place with much more going on than any of our other accom, a pretty slick operation. They had a great cafe with excellent Chinese food and some Japanese options as well. 





Mummy Panda



The next morning it was time to go see the main highlight for me in Chengdu, PANDAS! We made our own way out to the Breeding and Rehab center so we could be there by 8am in time for feeding and the most active time for the Pandas. It was well worth it, we saw three 1 year old Pandas playing with each other and climbing trees under the watchful eye of an older female, a couple of adult Giant Panda's eating their morning bamboo and a whole lot of Red Pandas playing and eating. The complex is not too bad as far as zoos go, my only complaint would be that some of the Red Pandas looked pretty stressed out and a few had missing ears, which is a result of stress. We watched the "educational" video which outlines the reasons Panda's are so endangered in the wild - basically they are just not that into sex (hard to reproduce without this important step) and their very specific bamboo diets mean that they don't adapt at all to changes in environment... pretty silly animals really, lucky they are sooooo cute. 

Happy Red Panda

We took a bus from the Panda Center back into Chengdu city and had a look around some of the tourist areas, Jilin "Old Town" was pretty ridiculous, basically a Disneyfied version of ye olde China, absolutely packed with Chinese tourists. We wondered why they didn't just head out into the countryside to see the REAL old China. We also made our first purchases - new trekking pants for Tim and a quick-dry top for me - it was amazing how many proper travel shops there were in Chengdu, and with real products not rip offs!

The next day we headed to Emei Shan, a mountain a 2hr bus trip South of Chengdu. Mum had really raved about her experience on Emei and everyone else we met who'd been echoed her opinion. The plan was to spend three days climbing down the mountain covering about 25km and staying in Monastery's on our way but it didn't quite work out like that because of the weather. It seems the rains are following us! It was rainy and cold when we arrived in Emei town but we decided to head to the top of the mountain by bus (another 2hr trip) anyway in the hope that it would be fine in the morning and we could get an early start. Of course there wasn't much of a view on the way up because of the cloud but we did see that it would have been quite spectacular if we could have seen it! We stayed in Jilian Hall, a monastery near the top of the mountain. We were allocated a drafty room in the attic by a Chinese lady with no English but some great miming skills, no power and very simple but quite atmospheric. We thought food was included in the (quite expensive) price so ate with the monks - pretty terrible food actually, some weird brown rubbery shoelace things, sugary tomatoes and a tasteless soup. It wouldn't have been so bad but they actually expected us to pay EXTRA for it, thanks for the advanced notice. Wasn't much to do in the monastery in the dark so we went and hung out with an American Peace Corps English teacher in the rather grim hotel restaurant nearby.

It seems we are destined not to see a good sunrise - it was cloudy and raining when we woke the next morning but we decided we may as well rainsuit up and head to the peak anyway. Talk about lots of steps! We saw a very cute chipmunk who was twitching and jigging about so much it looked like he had ADHD. After about 1.5hr of constant upwards walking we reached the peak - freeezzzzzing - could only take my gloves off for long enough to snap a few pics and then fingers were so numb it was hard to put them back on again! It was a little spooky up the top with lots of cloud cover and swirling mists but no views... looks like we'll have to add Emei Shan to our come back list! After having a warm up hot chocolate (with jelly lumps, hmmm) and watching the Chinese tourist numbers grow and grow we made an executive decision not to hang around in the rain and cold and to catch the cable car and then walk to the bus stop and take the bus back down again - a shame but spending 2 more days walking in the rain and freezing cold with no views didn't really appeal.  

Cliff path to the Big Buddha

We went back to Chengdu via Le Shan which gave us an opportunity to see the biggest Buddha in the world, carved out of the cliffs next to Le Shan river. There was also a very large line of people waiting to do the walk down the cliffs, weekends definitely attract local tourists to Leshan. We braved the pushing and shoving elderly ladies and did the walk down and back up again - yep that is one big Buddha!

We headed back to Sims for another couple of nights, it was Tim's turn to have a cold so we didn't do too much, just did some planning for the next sections of our trip, did some washing and sleeping and DVD watching. A good place to chill out and as it was raining we didn't feel too slothful :) 

Another flight, this time to Xian - because of a very tantalizing offer from a couch host in Beijing to take us hiking and camping on lesser known parts of the great wall we only had one night and one day to squeeze in Xian. When we arrived we headed to the Muslim quarter and wandered around the markets, ("hey lady, you looky!") with the usual cheap tourist items plus some yummy looking nuts, fruit and Muslim style food, and had dinner in a Muslim restaurant. We were on the second storey and the massive window right next to our table opened straight out into the street - a good birds eye view of all the goings on even if it would never pass Australian safety standards!

The next morning we headed out to the Terracotta warriors on a frustratingly slow bus. The warriors were pretty amazing, we enjoyed seeing the ones that were still being unearthed and hadn't been "fixed up" the most. Definitely a must see, a little strange to think of the HUGE efforts some go to to ensure a good afterlife! We also tried the Chinese version of a hot pocket from a street stall which wasn't too bad and we are still alive so all is good. Unfortunately we didn't get time to do too much else because of the slooooowwww bus. We had a flight to Beijing that afternoon - we would have preferred to catch the sleeper train but apparently it books out about a week in advance - a bit different to the experience we had in the South of being able to pick up a ticket the same day we wanted to leave, who knew!

We arrived in Beijing late but made it to our couch host Bryan's (American English teacher for a private company) place at the university just after midnight, thanks to him giving instructions in Mandarin to our taxi driver. Its a bit frustrating that the buses and trains from airports in China finish a lot earlier than the flights! We sampled some Chinese tea with Bryan, tea aficionado, and his mates Daniel and Julie and got our stuff organised for the next days adventure to the Great Wall and rolled out our sleep mats for a few hours sleep before we headed off. 

Unfortunately Bryan checked the internet the next morning and after months of dry weather the Great Wall and Beijing were due a big storm - no Wall hiking/camping for us! A bit of a disappointment but Bryan is still keen to take us out to the wall when we head back to Beijing after Mongolia - fingers crossed our bad weather luck doesn't keep following us. After trying out the local Banzoi (yummy breakfast buns filled with veges and meat) with Bryan and Daniel we used our unexpected spare day in Beijing to check out the Summer Palace and wander around the Hutongs - old style alleyways. We even worked out the metro system and how to use the transport cards. Found a great little local restaurant where we tried the Szechuan friend eggplant with a sugary sauce and tongue-numbing Szechuan peppers - i think it is my favourite food so far in China, just gotta watch those peppers!

The next day we wandered around Tienanmen Square (that's a lot of concrete) and checked out the museum in the huge East Gate. We had our first hot pot for lunch - it was something different but i think we could find a better example! We also went into the "Tourist Hutongs" and surrendered to the call of Starbucks (or to the call of a clean, western toilet??).  Unfortunately we caught the wrong train on the way home and ended up doing a massive loop back to Bryans but we did eventually make it and joined him and his mates for local dumplings (yum!), some more sweet red sauce eggplant and had a few beers at the local expat dive. 

Early the next morning - flight to MONGOLIA!!! Country 2 here we come....