Neil's Round The World Trip

Hey,

The Chinese firewall (country firewall) has blocked my blog so until I figure something out, it's going to have to be email updates for now. Pictures to follow soon.

Apologies for taking so long to produce my next update, I've been so busy in Mongolia I haven't had chance to get a decent amount of time on the net. But here it is, update four, Mongolia, so grab a coffee, sit back, and enjoy (I hope you will).

Well I finally made it through Russia without any problems; I didn't get scammed at the border which was quite a relief, it was actually pretty easy. The only problem about the border crossing was the wait, almost 10 hours! The Russians are so inefficient in processing the passports, surely it cant be that difficult!! Anyways, I made it through, a straight forward affair, and quite a cool journey. I was in a compartment with a Swiss lady and her two daughters, no Russians on this train! It was weird to see how quickly the scenery changes, from lush forests in Siberia, then grassy rolling hills in Mongolia.

I didn't have a Lonely Planet guide for Mongolia, or any guide book at all. My plan was to just turn up in Ulaan Baator (UB) and figure things out from there. I booked a hostel in UB from Irkutsk because this time of year the place is quite busy. They picked me up from the station which was pretty cool, and the place itself was very nice, definitely the best hostel I've stayed in so far. So I dumped my bags and headed out in search for an ATM (not only did I not have a guide book, I didn't have any money either). This proved quite difficult as they were few and far between (not many Mongolian people don't have debit cards), and when I did stumble upon one, it didn't work! I eventually found one in the Post Office that worked, so all was good. I knew that I could do some kind of trek/tour in Mongolia, so I headed over to a hostel that was recommended to me for doing treks, UB guesthouse. As soon as I rolled in, I met an Aussie (Laurence), an American (Jim) and a German (Julian), along with a Korean girl, who were all interested in doing a trek down to the Gobi. We sorted all the details that night, bought some essentials (water, noodles, vodka, noodles, vodka, bread, vodka) and then sampled some of the local beers (good stuff).

It was a 6 night/7 day trek, taking in some of the best sights in the Gobi. The cost of the trek covers the driver of a van and fuel ($119/each), but we also hired a translator ($3/per day per person) to help us out along the way and to tell us about the different places we were going to. It was the most amazing 7 days although we spent so much time driving, and the driving in Mongolia is not easy, we're talking pretty much no tarmac at all outside towns and cities, so it was dirt tracks all the way! You couldn't read because it was too bumpy, you couldn't write because it was too bumpy, so it was a case of sitting there, bouncing around, dancing to the crazy Mongolian music that our driver was playing. It was all good craic!

I wont tell you about everywhere we went as I'd be on the Internet for hours typing, but we did visit two very surreal places. The first one was a place called Vulture Canyon; very steep cliffs climb out of the valley floor, and eventually, after a couple of KM or so you come to ice! Yeah, ice in the middle of the Gobi desert, not just a little bit either. It was quite strange seeing this huge amount of ice sitting there just slowly melting away. I've got loads of cool pictures which I will try and post somewhere so you can see them all. The second place was these huge sand dunes that climb hundreds of feet out of the green grass next to a river. Quite bizarre to see, but even more difficult to climb! We decided to climb to the top to watch the sunset, and it was quite possibly the most exhausting exercise I have ever done. Trying to climb 45 degree sand dunes is not easy, especially when we were racing to the top to catch the sunset. It took about 45 minutes to reach the top but the view was breathtaking, well were the effort!
A lot of the trek was spent in the back the van, driving from place to place, stopping in ger camps each night, normally with a nomadic family. It was super cheap too, less than 2 quid per night including dinner and breakfast. The food wasn't too bad either some nights, often noodles of some sort or rice, but we always had mutton! Mutton comes with everything in Mongolia, even the vegetable soup gets a few lumps of the stuff.

After arriving back in UB and scrubbing away the build up of dirt on my skin (7 days in the desert without a shower and you sure know about it), me and Laurence sorted out another trek for the following day, heading West and North for 9 days to check out the lakes and forests, with a German couple (Ivo and Rika). That evening we took our driver, his wife (who we picked up on day 3), and Urnaa, our translator out for a meal to say thanks for an amazing trip. Not only is it what you see on a trip like that makes it amazing, but it's also the people who you are with. All the lads were cool and we had a great time together, generally playing cards, drinking vodka or listen to Loz make imitation fart noises.

Mongolia is just super cheap, 2 quid for a top notch meal, and 1 quid for a stein of Mongolia's finest beer (now that's splashing out, it's normally way cheaper!).

So the second trek begins, we wanted the same driver again (Bymbaa) but he said he was heading back down to the Gobi (he is the chief of a town down there, and a camel breeder), so we landed a new driver, called Mooch, older and had a shed of a van. We later found out that Bymbaa and his wife (Goo, but pronounced Gor) were coming along with us, taking 4 other girls (2 from HK, a Chinese-American [Cat] and a French-Canadian [Kettie]), so it turned into a 2 van trek.

What a trek, we seen some stunning scenery, that actually reminded me of back home; green hills, forests, but no fields or hedges...
We had a mad first night! We had learned from the first trek that vodka quickly runs out so me and Laurence came well prepared, 2 bottles each, at insane cost of 1.30 each! Happy days. That night we played cards and nailed a load of vodka, about a bottle each for me and Laurence, and suffice to say we were seriously hungover the next day. Now a hangover is bad enough when you're lying flat on your bed, cool, not moving and in silence, but try sitting awkwardly, bouncing around the back of a van with the roar of the engine (which is actually positioned inside the cab!) It wasn't a pleasant experience! But I guess you just got to roll with the punches and deal with the consequences. Without going into too much detail, some of the highlights of the trip were:
1) The Volcano at White Lake. It is no longer active but it still looks impressive and is surrounded by a huge lava field.
2)Khovsgol Lake. This is absolutely huge, not quite the scale of Lake Baikal, but it's little sister. The lake is super clean, very cold and surrounded by mountains covered in pine trees. We had a great time here, even with no alcohol, we still managed to dance away to "Cotton Eye Joe" blaring out of the van while Bymbaa flicked the headlights on and off. Even the Mongolian kids staying in the next ger joined in. Bymbaa and Mooch were showing us some Mongolian wrestling moves, then we pulled a rope out and played limbo. I'm sure you can guess who was out first every time, me!
We hired some horses on the second day at the lake, and I'm not sure I would have done it if I had have known about the after effects......every muscle ached, even places that I didn't know could ache, ached, but I guess it was fun and I even managed a gallop!
3) People. Again, the other people on the trek made it an experience I'll never forget. Me, Loz, Cat and Kettie all had a good laugh together, along with the Germans. Watching Kettie and Cat drink Eirac was a sight not to be missed, I've got the photos to prove it, their faces say it all.
4)Loz making the bench vibrate. We were all lying out under the stars, Loz was lying next to Kettie and just let one rip. The reaction from Kettie was so funny I was crying with laughter! Nice one mate! hehe

Again, after returning to UB, scrubbing away the dirt, we took Urnaa, Bymbaa and Goo out for a meal to say thanks. They're such nice people, with hearts of gold. We have been invited to stay with them in their town in the Gobi whenever we want! If we give them one months notice they will even pick us up from the station! How cool would that be, going to stay with the chief of a village in the middle of the Gobi on their camel breeding farm.

Mongolia is the most amazing country I have been to so far; the people are so friendly, always smiling. It really made me appreciate how well we live back in the UK. They don't have running water, the toilet is a hole in the ground, they don't live a life, but merely survive. Everything the nomadic people do is to survive. They milk their goats to sell the milk just so they can buy food to eat. It is another world, but a world to which I will return one day. I didn't want to leave, but I know China will be just as amazing.

I hope you enjoyed reading this entry, it only touched the tip of the iceberg in terms of what I have done, otherwise I'd be here all day typing.

Hope all is well, drop me a message some time and I'll try and reply asap. I really enjoy hearing about what's going down back home.

Take care

Neil

So I made it to Irkutsk, the third and last stop in Russia, and what an adventure it was getting here! The train was one of the most amazing things I've ever done! I had this idea of being in a compartment with Westeners/Russians drinking vodka all day, eating, playing games, but it didn't end up like that. When I got to the platform for the train I was surprised not to see any foreigners, it was just Russians there, so I ended up in a compartment full of Russians, which turned out to be a fantastic experience. There was a couple of about 50, and a lady of 35, who spoke a little English. They straight away made me some tea and gave me some food, and for the next two days, they continued to 'mother' me. They made me breakfast, lunch and dinner and made me tea all time. I guess they hadn't really spoken to a westerner before. The Russian phrase book I had came into constant use and by the end of the journey (4days 4 nights) it had been well thumbed by most of the whole carriage! As the couple left, new people arrived, and everyone on the carriage wanted to speak to me, especially the kids; they would constantly walk past, and if I wasn't busy talking to someone else, they'd be straight in asking questions or wanting to play cards. I was staring out of the window at one point admiring the scenery when one family invited me in for some tea (everyone here drinks tea, especially chai!). They made me some chai, gave me some food that their babushka (Grandmother) had made. Luckily one of their daughters could speak a fair bit of English which made things so much easier!
One guy who was a communication engineer in the military taught me how to play draughts (well I used to know but I had forgotten), and he let me wear is hat (I've got a cool picture of it, just like the hat Charlie Boorman had on in the 'Long way round'). The kids taught me how to count in Russian and how to play Russian cards, but even after hours of playing I still couldn't figure it out!
Everyone on the train was so friendly and generous. The couple that were initally in my compartment bought me a pendant to wear round my neck of St Nicklaus? to help keep me safe while I travel. Everyone who I told I was travelling the world on my own thought I was crazy, maybe I am, but the experience is priceless.

When the train eventually arrived in Irkutsk, everyone got off the train to say goodbye, take pictures with me, even the carriage attendants wanted pictures with me. I was like I was a celebrity! It felt great!

So I made it to my hostel, lovely homestay place complete with resident cat! Met some more cool people there, an English girl who is travelling back from living in Hongkong, some French and Dutch. I spent the next day hunting for my train ticket again! And again it was frustrating; poor directions sent me 2.5 miles in the wrong direction until the road ended! Eventually I made it the place but I had wasted the day looking for them. Next time I'm just gonna get them delivered! Irkutsk is just next to the the deepest lake in the world so I had to make a trip there. I got a minibus with some Swedes I met at the bus station (we couldn't get a normal bus as the tickets ran out before we were told we had to buy one beforehand! Typically Russia!) I got dropped off in the middle of a little village on the lake-side and went in search of a place to stay. After asking in two shops I was taken to a little homestay in the village. It was quite nice, clean and tidy. I dumped my stuff and headed out to see some stuff. I checked out the Ecological Museum where they had tanks of the fish you can find in the lake- Omul can only be found in the lake! I then headed up the mountain to the viewpoint to get a good look at the lake. I took some wicked pictures however I cant put any up on my blog yet. When I got back that evening I just chilled out in my room for a bit, but when I came out later on, some Russians who were also staying in the same place were eating and drinking vodka, and they invited me to join them! Again, Russian hospitality. They spoke a little English so we got by, and drank a fair bit of vodka, good stuff too!

The next day I headed down the other part of the lake-side, ate some warm smoked omul and just chilled out. On the way down I bumped into the Swedish people I got the bus with and they invited me for a sauna at their hotel with a dive into the lake (at a freezing 7C). Oh my word, that lake was so cold and after 10 seconds I couldn't feel my feet or hands, but we still did it three times as the feeling was good when you got out. We just chilled out most of the evening, drank and ate, and met the French couple who were also staying at my hostel in Irkutsk. By the time I got back to my place the Russians were at it again; vodka, fish, loads of food, and again I joined them.

Today I headed back to Irkutsk to see a few sights before I board my train to Mongolia.

Russia has been an amazing experience though difficult to communicate as no one speaks English, but I'm now ready to see some countryside out in Mongolia.

Hope all is well

Neil

Hey all,

I arrived in Moscow a few days ago. This place is HUGE! I have tried to get to a few of the famous sites. ON the first day I checked out some crazy market where all the locals go which was kind of cool. It had loads of old soviet army stuff there and I tried some tasty pastries from the street sellers.
I spent most of the second day very frustrated; I have to pick my trans-Siberian ticket up from an agency here, so I headed over to the address I was given. After about 2 hours of walking round in circles and being rudely ignored by several people who I asked for help, I finally found the place. The difficulty is that all the road signs are in Cyrillic and my map has the English equivalent making it very difficult to find places. Anyway, I went to this agency and they didn't have my ticket- PROBLEM! After a few phone calls by the agent I found out that the agency with whom I booked my ticket told me to go to another place to pick the tickets up-fantastic! After getting directions (The second building on the right when you come out of the metro), I headed off on another headless chicken challenge. The metro station I got off at has about 8 exits so I spent about 2 hours walking round in circles again! arrgggg! I ended up calling the agent on the phone and asking for directions. What a pain in the ass! I eventually got them, but it was now gone 4 so I went in search of a lonely planet guide for China. I checked out 6 bookshops all miles apart but I eventually found one! All in all, a day of constantly walking and aching legs. Nothing a few cheap strong (16%) Russian beers wont cure!

Day 3: I headed down to see the tomb of Lenin. The queue for this was pretty long but luckily the Swedish guy who I met in St Petersburg was already half was down so I jumped in. After a 45 minute wait we got in and quickly ushered around the tomb. I think it's a complete conspiracy; he looks like all the models in Madame Tusauds! Completely waxy and not real whatsoever! By the time I got out the queue for the Kremlim was a few hundred metres long so I didn't bother going in, tomorrow instead. I don't know why the Russian police make it so difficult for people to get in that place; they have about 6 metal detectors but only use two. It's not as if they are short of police to man them in this place, its swarming with them.

Day 4: Got up early and headed to Kremlin, not that I particulary wanted to go there, but because 'I should'. I guess it would be stupid to leave Moscow without checking out Kremlin. I got student discount in (150ruples) but then everywhere else inside you have to pay extra. It was pretty boring to be honest and not somewhere I'd go again in a hurry. I spent about 1 hour walking around; there are only so many Cathedrals I can see in one week, so I left. I'm off to some war muesum later on today where they have tanks, planes and hellicopters- no that's my kind of museum!

Train tonight at 00:34, Irkutsk here I come!

Hope you're all well.

Sorry no pix this time

Neil

Well after many months planning, what was first just a pipe dream is now reality, I've started my trip!
It was a bit daunting getting off the plane, not being able to speak to the language or read the alphabet, but these are just some of the small challenges that face me. I feel I've almost overcome the problem by using the well established 'point and grunt' technique, whereby I point at the map and grunt something, they then point where to go, sorted. A similar technique works for food too, just point at the food, followed by how many using my fingers. I now know I wont starve or get too far lost! ;-) When I first came out of the airport I was going to get a taxi to the hostel I was staying at (the guidebook said ~$30-40) but the taxi driver was after $50+, so I got the bus instead. It took me to the nearest metro (tube) station and then the fun began; station names in Cyrillic, no English really, no free maps, no idea! I managed to get on the right train after comparing the guidebook to the Cyrillic writing but I didn't know where to get off and change, so I tested the point and grunt technique on the lad sitting next to me. He spoke a little English and actually took me to the right station, got on my connecting train with me and told me where to turn when I came out of the metro! Just shows how friendly some Russians are really. When I was sitting having a beer that night a Russian guy asked to sit on the same table as me as there were no other tables available. He also spoke some English, and was telling me about his life in the special forces, his wife, his kid, his job, it was cool. We had a few drinks in some other bars too. A good start to my trip I would say.

The city itself is pretty fantastic; its full of history and beautiful architecture, along with hundreds of bridges which cross the labyrinth of canals and rivers. Things are comparable to normal city prices I guess, well alcohol is quite cheap, food isn't too bad but tastes very good! BY far the best value for money is the metro; only 12 r (about 25p) to go anywhere! Compare that to London!!!

I've seen some pretty cool places, like the Winter Palace and Hermitage museum, Peter and Paul Fortress, several different gardens, and now I'm pretty much all done with sight-seeing here! I've walked for hours on end every day, but it was worth it!.

I met a Swedish guy the day after I arrived who was staying in my dorm, so we walked around together for a few days. He was pretty chilled out and was also doing the same route as me to China. However he had all his stuff in a rucksack smaller than my day bag! He had everything in a 22 litre rucksack, now that is travelling super light!!!

Last night me and Magnus (the Swede) went on a pub crawl walking tour of the city to the places where the book Crime and Punishment was set. It was just the two of us and the guide so it was like having a private tour. It was a fantastic experience, seeing where Dostoevsky lived and where the story was set (Not that I've ever read the book but I intend to now!). We had some good cheap beer and the most amazing vodka! Seriously, it didn't taste harsh or burn my throat, it just slipped down like water; I'm going to buy few bottles of the stuff from the shop, about 2 quid a litre!

All in all, a great few days. I've got an overnight train to Moscow tonight so I'll send another update when I leave there.

Ciao for now.

Neil