|
Rosie & Jim
|
Three Nations
|
Mongolia,
Töv
Our first full day in Mongolia took us to visit a nomadic family to spend the day helping with, and participating, in their normal daily life. This meant leaving site at 0700 so we wouldn’t miss too much. Our “Aravt” (group) were dropped off with a young family in the middle of nowhere. We were introduced and offered milk tea. Obviously not something Rosie was too taken with, but I really enjoyed it. In the morning a few of us spent a couple of hours helping to herd the animals on horseback, and the girls helped to make curd, cookies and cream from the mornings milkings. During the course of the day, we all had a go at collecting cow pats and laying them out...
|
Rosie & Jim
|
Three Nations
|
Mongolia,
Töv
We left for Mongolia at 03:30 on day 5 (19 July) as the Chinese informed us that we needed to check in 3 hours before departure. Turns out the check-in staff hadn’t been given the same information, so we checked in about 1 hour 45 mins before departure, had to wolf down some breakfast from the only place open in the departure lounge and run to our departure gate. It’s all good fun. On arrival in Ulaanbaatar only 1 bag was missing and our busses were there ready to take us to site. After trying to determine the location of the missing bag, we headed south to a piece of land just outside the National Park near a town called Zuunmod were we were greeted...
|
Rosie & Jim
|
Three Nations
|
China,
Beijing
Our first day of sun today :) and our last day in Beijing for 12 days :(. Plans did not change today so we headed off just after breakfast for a very brief visit to the Olympic village to see the Birds Nest and the Water Cube. Those are some seriously impressive buildings! We were then rapidly herded back onto the buses for transport to the Summer Palace, the summer home of the Emperors of China. The palace is located within 300 hectares of land including a huge great lake, endless palace buildings and pagoda’s, and the world’s longest painted corridor. So a fairly ridiculous amount for one person and his entourage. Lunch was again a set menu at a traditional Beijing restaurant, but this...
|
Rosie & Jim
|
Three Nations
|
China,
Beijing
We got up nice and early for breakfast so we were ready for today’s programme, only to find that the heavy rain had meant the programme was amended slightly and we had the morning off. We therefore decided to take a walk around the Forbidden Palace to see the lake. By the time we got there, most people’s waterproofs had failed and we looked a little like a group of happy drowned rats, so we headed back to the hotel to dry off. We chose to have lunch in a Western Style restaurant, where Rosie and Mark ate burgers, chips and sandwiches and I had Kuangpau Chicken, but for some reason I was given a fork and a spoon. After a little confusion over the...
|
Rosie & Jim
|
Three Nations
|
China,
Beijing
Dinner was also very nice, we had steamed chicken, black mushrooms and Jasmin rice with an awesome cheesecake for dessert. After watching a bit of , we retired to our fully flat beds! :) Breakfast was served at some ungodly hour that didn’t quite work somehow. We both had the fresh fruit salad, and Rosie finished that off with a full English. As we were preparing to land, the stewardess in Club World told us the Chinese officials have recently been boarding every international flight in Hazmat suits to check everyones temperature and quarantine those who have flu like symptoms. However, due to the number of people on our flight, the Chinese adopted a slightly simpler system. All passengers were filtered through a screening area...
|
Rosie & Jim
|
Three Nations
Having arrived at Rachel’s house last night, we got up this morning to a little last minute packing/adjustments. After a trip to Asda with Diesel (Rach’s new dog) and Richad, we headed off to the airport, where Rachel got a little over excited at the intelligent parking system in place at terminal 5. When it came to us checking in, we found we were not going to be sitting with the rest of the group because we (including Mark) had been upgraded to World Traveller Plus seats. After a spot of lunch, it was off to the departure gates where we found we had again been upgraded, now to Club World seats! So now we’re sat here tucking into our potted crab and salad starter...
|
Rosie & Jim
|
Three Nations
We have now set up a Google Map showing the extents of our trip, where we will be going, when we
will be going, and how we will be travelling. We will endeavour to keep our current position updated,
but due to the remoteness of our stay in Mongolia, this may not always be possible.
View Our China Trip 2009 in a larger map
|
Rosie & Jim
|
Three Nations
So we’re finally packed, with just a few everyday essentials left out. We now only have two days left in
work before heading out for two months of travelling. We’re both getting very excited now, just a shame I
haven’t had time to get my head around Mandarin yet.
Hopefully the committe have sorted out the Visa’s and don’t forget to bring our passports to the airport
.
Our first full day in Mongolia took us to visit a nomadic family to spend the day helping with, and participating, in their normal daily life. This meant leaving site at 0700 so we wouldn’t miss too much. Our “Aravt” (group) were dropped off with a young family in the middle of nowhere. We were introduced and offered milk tea. Obviously not something Rosie was too taken with, but I really enjoyed it. In the morning a few of us spent a couple of hours helping to herd the animals on horseback, and the girls helped to make curd, cookies and cream from the mornings milkings. During the course of the day, we all had a go at collecting cow pats and laying them out...
We left for Mongolia at 03:30 on day 5 (19 July) as the Chinese informed us that we needed to check in 3 hours before departure. Turns out the check-in staff hadn’t been given the same information, so we checked in about 1 hour 45 mins before departure, had to wolf down some breakfast from the only place open in the departure lounge and run to our departure gate. It’s all good fun. On arrival in Ulaanbaatar only 1 bag was missing and our busses were there ready to take us to site. After trying to determine the location of the missing bag, we headed south to a piece of land just outside the National Park near a town called Zuunmod were we were greeted...
Dinner was also very nice, we had steamed chicken, black mushrooms and Jasmin rice with an awesome cheesecake for dessert. After watching a bit of , we retired to our fully flat beds! :) Breakfast was served at some ungodly hour that didn’t quite work somehow. We both had the fresh fruit salad, and Rosie finished that off with a full English. As we were preparing to land, the stewardess in Club World told us the Chinese officials have recently been boarding every international flight in Hazmat suits to check everyones temperature and quarantine those who have flu like symptoms. However, due to the number of people on our flight, the Chinese adopted a slightly simpler system. All passengers were filtered through a screening area...
Having arrived at Rachel’s house last night, we got up this morning to a little last minute packing/adjustments. After a trip to Asda with Diesel (Rach’s new dog) and Richad, we headed off to the airport, where Rachel got a little over excited at the intelligent parking system in place at terminal 5. When it came to us checking in, we found we were not going to be sitting with the rest of the group because we (including Mark) had been upgraded to World Traveller Plus seats. After a spot of lunch, it was off to the departure gates where we found we had again been upgraded, now to Club World seats! So now we’re sat here tucking into our potted crab and salad starter...
.