Mongolia is a big vast country of only 3 million people, 1 million of which live in sprawling Ulaan Baatar and our last day was a city tour. UB is the coldest capital city in the world…care to guess who is number 2? Hint – I was born there. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulaanbaatar UB is a weird mix of old and traditional ( the ger district which is quite poor) and new and up ‘n coming. The traffic can suck as some roads are big boulevards 4lanes wide and others are single track. One can see nuclear …
Author: Doug
Devil Stix Diplomacy
Back in the early 2000s, I travelled for 3 years – Africa, North America and Asia. I knew I would have a lot of time on my hands so I decided to learn to juggle the Devil Stix. Since then, a set of Stix have joined me on most of our holidays and the kids are getting better and better too. Nothing like building concentration and hand-eye coordination while having fun. This adventure I have a set of Stix but also have a Diablo…look them up! We were in Laos mailing postcards when our three girls started melting down…as …
Flaming Cliffs
It is amazing how Unuruu knows where to go. The ‘road’ is just two tire trails in the desert scrub. Occasionally he stops, looks around and realises he took a wrong turn and we cut across until we find tracks again… After a long day of this driving we ended up at the beautiful Flaming Cliffs. This area was where so many dinosaur fossils were found. We got to the UB Dinosaur Museum on our last day which was cool. Turns out Mongolia has their own, slightly smaller version of T. rex but here the T stands for …
Camel Riding Part Deux
While with our camel herding South Gobi family we tried camel riding. After mounting up, the older two decided pretty quickly it was not for them so M.C, Willow and I went off for a few hours. That was plenty – I walked like John Wayne for a day and sitting on our plastic camp stools was less than excellent. After young Willow regaled her sisters about the joys of camel riding They were determined to give it a go. So a few days later, they joined our new U.K friends, Bryan and Emily for a tour to the dunes and …
Dunes, dunes, dunes
Personally I love dunes and deserts. This trip will hit some major deserts, the Atacama, the Namib and the Gobi. While in the Mongolian Gobi, the kids plus our guide Pujee and driver Unuruu, climbed the largest dunes…. Our super driver Unuruu
Mongolian skies are beyond belief
Those are gers in the sunset And more to come….
Out Of the Gobi!
We have survived the nutty Gobi! After about 10 hours of transit on mostly dirt roads, we have returned to Ulaan Baataar and gorged on a Burger King dinner. For Willow, it is her first full meal in over 10 days. We sheared off a bolt in the steering linkage and our amazing driver/ jack of all trades, Unuruu jury rigged it with chain and other assorted sundries until we got to a small desert town and he welded it for the last push back to the capital. Connection here is difficult to say the least so more to …
Desert Naadaam
Mongolian vodka 1, Doug 0
Our last night in the lovely valley was fun….until the morning! We got back from horseback riding to find another 2 trucks each with 4 Aussie couples from Eternal Landscapes as well as the co-owner, Jess. This was for the annual first milking of the mares. The morning had an hour or so ceremony which involved a lot of beer and vodka. Neighbours came from around the valley, and all seemed to like my beard. The 2 younger girls were in a traditional foot race and were first and second! The evening was filled with fresh mutton (mmmm mutton), …
Naadaam in Zuunmod
For many years I have had Mongolia’s Naadaam festival on my bucket list. Now I can check it off. After the lovely days in the valley we got into some wet weather. And unfortunately we camped overnight and woke in a crazy rainstorm. Tents, sleeping bags, clothes, shoes and all were soaked through….but it was off to enjoy the festival. From Wikipedia – 2006 Naadam ceremony in Ulaanbaatar Naadam (Mongolian: Наадам, classical Mongolian: Naɣadum, [ˈnaːdəm], literally “games”) is a traditional festival in Mongolia. The festival is also locally termed “eriin gurvan naadam” (эрийн гурван наадам) “the three games of …