Well I’m back. On August 31, I crossed the border from Mongolia back into China. And…Mongolia worked like a charm. Its big sky, pure nature and hospitality cured me of the China Blues.
This time around, China isn’t trying to rip me off. It’s not 100 degrees and oppressively humid. The people are helpful and [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Mongolia’
Back to China
Posted in China, Planning, tagged China, Gobi Desert, Haranga, Hohhot, Kashgar, Khongoryn Els, Mongolia, Terracotta Warriers, Tibetan monastery, Tulufan, Turpan, Ulaan Baatar, Urumqi, Xiaha, Xian on September 2, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Gobi or bust
Posted in Mongolia, tagged China, Gobi Desert, Kashgar, Mongolia, Sichuan, Urumqi on August 23, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Hello friends!
In a few hours I am at long last leaving for the Gobi. Karly, the Aussie I met in Russia, and I have hired a van and driver to take us to the Flaming Cliffs (where archaeologists keep finding dinosaur bones, eggs, etc) and the great sand dunes. Then he’ll take us to the [...]
Bagged my first peak
Posted in Mongolia, tagged Bayan-Olgii, hiking, Mongolia, Olgii, Tavan Bogd, trek, trekking on August 23, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I never would have imagined myself going to a place called “base camp” by my own choice and on my own dime. Base camp means cold, and I like warm. Base camp means mountain, and I like sea. Base camp means uphill, and I’m more of a coaster.
But there I was, trudging along the [...]
Back from western Mongolia
Posted in China, Mongolia, tagged China, Mongolia on August 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I just got back to UB after a two-week trekking and camping trip to western Mongolia. I’ll write all about it by tomorrow, but I wanted to drop a quick post to answer the “where the hell are you” emails that have clogged my Inbox during my absence.
It was a last-minute decision to join a [...]
The nomadic sloths
Posted in Mongolia, Uncategorized, tagged Ger to Ger, horseback riding, Mongolia, nomad, ox cart, Terelj, Ulaan Baatar on August 6, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Last night I returned from my Ger-to-Ger (G2G) trip smelling of sheep, horses and sour milk.
As the bus rolled west towards Ulaan Baatar from the hills of Terelj National Park, a dramatic thunderstorm rolled east, dropping gallons of water that turned the streets of UB into muddy streams.
I was joined on my 6-day/5-night holiday [...]
Change of plan
Posted in Mongolia, tagged Amazing Race, Ger to Ger, Mongolia, Terelj on July 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I got voted off the Gobi.
Yesterday around noon one of the people on the Gobi trip called to say that, “Sorry!” there wasn’t enough room for me on the Gobi trip. The max number for a tour is 6, and the guide wanted to treat the kid as a person (fair enough). So the rest [...]
I’m already in a better mood…
Posted in Mongolia, tagged China, Gobi Desert, Great Wall, Mongolia, Ulaan Baatar on July 28, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Greetings from Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia. HooRAY. Arrived early yesterday afternoon from Beijing, and I already feel the difference. China and I were just not on the same wavelength. We’ll see what happens when I go back in a month or so.
One piece of exciting news is that I’ve published another story – this one about [...]
The shortest longest eclipse
Posted in China, tagged Al Drew, Al Roker, China, eclipse, eclipse-chaser, eclipse-chasing, Great Firewall, Jay Anderson, Mongolia, Moscow, Rick Brown, SEML, Shanghai, Star City, total solar eclipse on July 25, 2009 | 1 Comment »
I haven’t really posted much about China. Yeah, I know. Between the Great Firewall, slooooowwww connection in Shanghai, and a lack of a computer, it’s been painful even to check email.
There’s much to say, but I shant say it now. Because I know what you’re wondering: How was the eclipse? So I’ll postpone more [...]
Sleepless in Irkutsk
Posted in Planning, Russia, tagged Russia, China, Irkutsk, Baikal, Ulan Ude, Mongolia, Severobaikalsk on June 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Providing a neat book-end to my time in western Baikal, I am again awake at 6:30 am, sitting at the kitchen table of Baikaler hostel. In two hours I’ll be on a train to Ulan-Ude, the capital of Buryatia and the biggest city on the east side of Lake Baikal.
This time, instead of my sinuses [...]
