There and Back Again

Perito Merino Glacier - El Calafate

We were happy to have a few days to relax in Ushuaia and some time off driving.  Ushuaia is characterised by bad weather and cloudy skies - however it would typically only rain for a couple of hours a day and the rain was never heavy.  So while we were there we went on a 4x4 adventure - which involved impressive 4x4 off-roading, a nature tour identifying beaver dams (beavers are a real pest in Tierra del Fuego), a boat trip across the lake and an Argentinian BBQ for lunch.  

Journey to the end of the world

From the Argentine border with Bolivia, the country spans a massive 5,171km to its Southern-most point, the world’s southern most city, Ushuaia.  Our goal was to traverse this distance through a combination of bus and rental car, to travel to within only 1,000km of Antarctica.

White marks on the bus and road from where the fire extinguisher was employed

The journey didn’t exactly start well.  It was a 7 hour bus ride from the border to Salta, a tourist town in northern Argentina.  We had been looking forward to getting back onto the Argentinian buses and once again enjoy the superior levels of safety, service and comfort that they offered.  However, about 4 or 5 hours into the trip the bus caught on fire.  Panic inside the bus ensued and people were clambering over one another to exit the bus.  Even I moved quickly!  With the fire extinguished we re-boarded the bus (I’m sure this was entirely safe) and made our way slowly to the next town, where, fortunately a replacement bus was made available.  

Bolivia - Magnificent Desolation

The city of La Paz, in a bowl framed by mountains in all directions

Bolivia is stunning.  Its natural beauty, absolutely vast assortment of varied landscapes and desolation makes it perhaps the most picturesque country we have visited to date.  Lamented as South America's poorest country, Bolivia is painted in an unjust light when we consider the true beauty of its countryside.

Southern Peru's Secret Treasures

Moray agricultural incan ruins

We’re writing this on the bus to Potosi, Bolivia and Jen is typing as Matthew had a little incident on death road... but more on that later (M - don’t worry Mum, just a sprained wrist).  

After Machu Picchu we caught the train to Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley.  There we found great quiet hostel to spend two nights in this little town.  Ollantaytambo’s chief attraction is an inca fortress built into the hillside and at the edge of the town, about 10 minutes walk from where we were staying.  We explored these ruins early the following day after arriving in town.  Still sore from our Machu Picchu trek we were happy to call it a day after a couple of hours looking around.  

The town was gearing up for its anniversary celebrations, which really kicked off the day that we left.  However, the town looked great with banners and streamers hung between buildings and through the streets and all the beautification projects taking place.  We decided to commission a taxi driver to take us back to Cusco via some more inca ruins at Moray and the Salt Pans of Salinesa.  The Moray ruins consist of 3 large circles of terraces each about 8 terraces high and about 50m across at their widest point.  Standing on the rim of the circles it was cold, yet because each terrace is said to be a microclimate it was noticeably warmer as we descended down into the terraces.  The terraces are said to have been used for agriculture with different varieties of maize grown on each level.

The Salt Pans are really quite spectacular.  From a distance it looked like snow or ice but as we came closer you could see the almost 5000 individual pans.  Water from a salty stream is directed via a series of rivulets that have been cut into the rock face into the pans (each of which might be around 2x2m).  The water is then left to evaporate and salt is scraped into piles, bagged and sold.

We arrived in Cusco late in the afternoon and left early the following morning en route to Puno.  We took a tourist bus that stopped off at a number of attractions between the two locations including a magnificent old church full of gold and huge murals, inca ruins including a temple and storage huts, the highest point at 4,300+ metres above sea level, a buffet lunch, and a museum displaying ceramic findings from the pre inca civilisations from the area.  The scenery was spectacular from high Andean passes to vast antiplatos.  It reminded us both of the Tongariro National Park and Central Otago.

At about 3800 metres above sea level, we figure Puno is actually higher than Mt Cook.  The air is incredibly thin and we often find ourselves having to stop to catch our breath.  We booked ourselves onto a 2 day tour of Lake Titicaca and some of her islands.  The first stop was at the Uros Islands, or the Floating Islands as they are sometimes known.  These manmade islands, made out of reeds, have to be seen to be believed.  We stayed here for about an hour while the President of the Island showed us how the island is made.  The reeds are layered about 2m thick and have to be maintained monthly.  Next we visited the island of Amantani where we spent the night with a local lady at her house, which was converted into a tourist-friendly 2 bedroom hostel.  We climbed to the second highest point on the island for a spectacular sunset view, from 4200m above sea level!  The next day we said goodbye to our host (who had also cooked us lunch, dinner and breakfast) and headed to the Island of Taquile.  There we walked around the island, visiting artisanal markets and the main square before enjoying a lunch with an amazing view across the lake.  After this it was time to head back to Puno for our final night in Peru.

We both had a great time in Peru.  The people are very proud of their country and deservedly so.  From harsh flat dry deserts, to dense jungles, from fantastic inca and pre-inca ruins to spectacular geography.  The people are friendly, inter-country journeys are easy, and accommodation and food is generally of both a comfortable standard whilst being highly affordable.  

Ollaytaytambo valley

Salinesas salt pans

Highest point en route to Puno

Uros floating island

Sunset at 4200m 

Lunch view on Taquile Island

Ollaytaytambo and ruins at the rear

An Inca Trail - of a sorts...

At 3,300 metres above sea level, the hardest thing about Cusco was adjusting to the altitude.  We were also both pretty tired having not got too much sleep on the bus from Nazca.  The windy roads and smelly toilet that we were sitting next too (now we know why the seats we purchased were cheaper than the rest!) made sleep a little hard to come by.  So we were both pretty happy to settle for finding a place to stay and to book the train ride to Machu Picchu before turning in for the night.

We got up at 3.30am to watch the All Blacks play France.  We were both quite on edge and very nervous given the closeness of the scores, but obviously very proud kiwis when the 80 minutes were up.  A short nap was required before setting out to explore the city.

Peru - the first 1,500km

Picture of the Sun God (Huaca de la Luna)

 We crossed the border into Peru as the sun set.  The border crossing was straightforward and uneventful and about 3-4 hours later we found ourselves in the city of Piura.  After 13 hours of bus rides that day, we were keen to rest up before pressing on and found ourselves a rather basic place to stay across the road from most of the bus terminals.  

Peru has a much more lively feeling to it than Ecuador.  There is a real hustle and bustle to the cities with many more cars prevalent (albeit largely very small cars like Daihatsu Charade’s).  Everyone is busy honking their horns, either at you (to ask you if you want a ride) or as they approach an intersection to warn other vehicles of their presence.  

Ecuador

Aside from our time in the Galapagos, we have spent a little over a week exploring Ecuador - a very pretty, friendly and inexpensive (Galapagos excluded) country to visit.  Most of our travel was originated from Ecuador’s capital, Quito.  Nestled in the valley between the mountains and volcanoes of the Andes, Quito is more than 2,800m above sea level.  At this altitude it does take a little while to fully acclimatise to the altitude.  Most of the time it is a shortness of breath after a very small climb up a flight of steps which takes you by surprise.  

At 4,100m above sea level!

In the footsteps of Darwin... well... sort of...

At 5.40pm on Thursday, 20 minutes before the travel agent closed for the night, we booked an 8 day cruise through the Galapagos Islands which was to start first thing the next morning.  We’d like to think that, with respect to the fact that neither of us have worked since March, we chose an appropriately budgeted tour.  Actually, and probably surprising to most of you that know us well, we failed.  1 week on a luxury Galapagos yacht, thank you very much.  Enter La Pinta, a luxury yacht run by Metropolitan Tours.  What can we say, but what a week!! we were wined, dined and entertained to the max.  

Baby Frigate Bird

Hockin' it in Heeo

We’ve spent a week so far in Rio de Janeiro (pronounced Heeo by the locals) and have both really enjoyed our time here.  The helpful tourist information desk at the intercity bus terminal put us in touch with Maria, who manages apartments in Copacabana Beach - so for about the same price (or even a little less) than a double room at a hostel we have been enjoying a spacious 1 bedroom apartment about one block back from Copacabana beach. 

Hola from South America

About a week ago now we flew into Buenos Aires to begin a 3 month trip around South America.  Our approach has been very laissez faire, with a false sense of confidence having survived ~4 months in Africa, we figured we would make it up as we went along and enjoy the freedom of a fully flexible itinerary.  To date, this approach has treated us fairly well - although does lead to spirited discussion about what to do and where to go next and, perhaps inevitable for independent travel, requires a lot of time spent planning while we are in each location.

To be continued...

Pyramids in the background

So here we are, sitting in Cairo airport waiting for our flight back to London.  We’ll have about 2 and a half days in London before heading back to NZ, where we have a little under 2 weeks before we head to Buenos Aires.  

It’s a little surreal to end the trip, after 4 months and over 17,900km through Africa, it is hard to believe that this chapter of our lives has ended.  We said goodbye to a number of friends and our great tour guides Andi and Grant.  Hopefully we will get to catch up with a lot of our friends when we make it back to the UK next year in Feb/Mar.  

Temples in the sun and sailing on the nile

Abu Simbel

Arriving in Egypt feels like arriving in any other developed country in the world.  The roads are busy, the infrastructure is positively modern in comparison to the places we have been, everyone wants to offer you a ride in their 'taxi', and they have McDonalds!!

Sudan - it's getting hot in here!!

Bush camping outside the Meroe Pyramids

From the start what struck us about Sudan was how flat the country was.  Coming from the rolling hills and mountains of Ethiopia it was odd to once again find ourselves in a country where the landscape was almost entirely flat in every direction.  Sudan also felt considerably more affluent, especially in its capital Khartoum, and orderly - the villages at the side of the road, although still constructed from mud, were separated by fences and the village layout felt much more organised than many of the other countries we have visited so far.

Ethiopia - 100% Unique

Lalibela priest

Ethiopia has been nothing like what we thought.  All of our preconceptions about Ethiopia and the images we are shown through the media have only served to confuse what the country is actually like.  In addition to Ethiopia been completely unlike our media-influenced expectations, the country is quite unlike anywhere we have ever travelled and anywhere else in Africa!  

The Long Dusty Road to Addis Ababa

Road Dust

Almost three weeks ago we left Lake Navaisha in Kenya for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  The total trip was a journey of a little of 1,500km, to be completed over about 7 days.  The trip involved some of the most barren, dusty and martian like landscapes either of us had ever seen.  Both spectacular and incredibly trying it is a journey we will never forget. 

Flamingoes and Rafting the Nile

After a day at the cricket in Kampala, where home team Uganda began the day by thrashing a much less impressive Ghana (less impressive than the day before that was), and ended the day with a loss to the #1 ranked team from Namibia, those of us who let the truck travel ahead of us (7 of us) caught up to the truck through a 2 hour minivan ride to nearby Jinja.  

Jinja is located right next to the Nile, and is very much an adventure-seekers paradise, with activities such as white water rafting, kayaking and now even jet boat riding available to the ever-increasing number of tourists (whilst we were in Jinja the campgrounds we observed were packed with a combination of other overland trucks and general tourists to the area).  

Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Mountain Gorillas

We’ve spent the last 10 days or so in Central East Africa, crossing over the equator 3 times and traversing through Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.  As I write this we are currently in Kampala, capital city of Uganda, and will tomorrow head to Jinja before heading back once again to Kenya.  

We had three nights in Nairobi.  We had been warned about Nairobi, so found the city to be better than we were expecting, although we did spend the majority of our time in an outer suburb which is regarded as slightly more affluent.  A recently built Galleria Shopping Mall possibly signifies a movement towards enhanced economic prosperity (the mall was very nice, but still only about 2/3rds occupied)?  

Zanzibar and the Serengeti

Lions hunting in the morning

We had 5 relaxing nights on tropical Zanzibar.  A fast ferry shuttled us across in about 2 hours where we arrived at about 5.30pm and were met by a guide who showed us to our hotel for that night and later an outdoor foodmarket where you could buy and haggle for a smorgasbord of food which would be cooked on a BBQ in front of you.  The food was delicious and very affordable.  Up early the next day we went from Stone Town (the main town of Zanzibar) which is on the western side of the island to the eastern side of the island and the Sun and Seaview Bungalows.  Situated right on the beach front we spent 4 nights relaxing, reading and swimming in the tropical climate of Zanzibar.  

Mozambique, Malawi and Tanzania

Since leaving Harare, the weather has become noticeably warmer.  Leaving the heights of Zimbabwe and moving further north to the equator the temperatures have become much more tropical.  This has made travelling on the truck (where the sides of the truck are rolled up and away) much more comfortable, as the ‘wind chill’ factor has instead become a ‘comforting breeze’.

Warning: Contents May Offend

We’ve been in Zimbabwe for about 2 weeks now.  Our stay in Zim was extended as we found out that due to a change in the regulations in Ethiopia, it is no longer possible to get entry visas from Harare as per the norm.  Instead, they must be obtained from our home countries.  This meant that all of our passports needed to be couriered back home and re-couriered to Harare.  A leap of faith, but since so many of us were facing the same predicament were passports to be lost, we decided to take the chance.  We found out this morning that all passports have safely made their way back (complete with Ethiopian visas). Whew.

Walking with Lions

We've spent the last 5 nights in Antelope Park, a resort / game park which has embarked on a mission to improve the large decline in the wild lion population that has been occurring throughout Africa.  Antelope Park has almost 100 lions which are semi-tame (i.e. since birth have been subjected to human contact).  Eventually the park wants those lions to breed completely wild cubs and lion prides that can be reintroduced to the wild in 'lion friendly areas'.

Photos will follow at another occasion, but Jen and I got to walk with two female lions (aged ~18 months), pat them and watch them stalk a Zebra, watch male lions compete for food in a massive meal frenzy and go on a night encounter where we followed 3 lions go hunting at night.  3 highly unique experiences, coupled with a very comfortable and picturesque setting.

Off to the Zimbabwe ruins today and then onto Harare I think (where we can add some photos)

Victoria Falls

Victoria Falls is a small tourist town on the Zimbabwe and Zambian borders right next to Victoria Falls.  It is currently the high water season, millions of litres of water are pouring down the falls every second creating a spray cloud rising some 200 metres above the bottom of the falls (or about 100 metres above the top of the falls).  This made for an entertaining and very wet viewing session where we were absolutely drenched from top to toe.  

Hawkers on the street aggressively push all types of souvenirs from wood carvings to the now redundant Zimbabwean currency.  I couldn’t help myself from purchasing a 100 trillion dollar note - just for the novelty - setting me back a total of US$5 for a set of notes with incredibly long strings of zeros.  

I popped over the border for a microlight flight over the falls (think a bicycle with wings travelling at about 50 kmph) an absolute highlight and the best way to view the falls.  From the air you could really see the wind picking up the fall spray and blowing it over the land.  I also went along for an ‘adrenaline day’ of abseiling, flying foxes and gorge swings.  The end of each adrenaline activity required an excruciating climb back out of the gorge.  In about 30 degree (or more) heat and with a very steep final ascent I was spent on return and slept fitfully for over 12 hours.  Jen, who was less sold on the microlight idea, decided to spend her time viewing the falls from both sides of the border (she claimed she got even more wet on the Zambian side) and enjoying high tea at the Victoria Falls hotel (a very fancy colonial style hotel which overlooks the river on the low side of the falls and the bridge connecting Zimbabwe and Zambia).

We are now in Bulawayo and head to Antelope Park for 5 nights where we expect to go walking with the lions and possibly some game drives.  Don’t expect much internet for a little while, but will post when we next can. 

Africa night sky (30 sec exposure)

Rhinos at Etosha National Park

Sleeping lion at Etosha National Park

Zebra Crossing (Etosha National Park)

Mokoro Polers (Okavango Delta)

Moonrise (Okavango Delta)

Microflight over Vic Falls (notice the spray which covers the viewing area)

from one end of the falls looking towards the main falls in the background

The Trip So Far...

We’ve now been travelling for a little over 3 weeks and are writing to you from Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.  As we have a couple of days here it is an ideal opportunity to update you on our travels so far.

The truck has 24 passengers (which is its capacity).  There is oodles of personal space readily permitting all of our worldly possessions plus a few bottles of wine which we got on the first day and a small chilli bin for drinks and occasionally some food.

The gender mix is even, and our travellers range from age 19 to about 50 or so (there are some 3 or 4 people who are about 50, each of them travelling alone).  This provides for a great mix and variety in personalities.  Everyone is easy to get along with and so far the group dynamics have been just fine.  

Botswana and the Okavango Delta

We've just come back from a couple of nights in the Okavango Delta - so writing to you from the same internet cafe that the last blog post was made.  Once again adding photos may be difficult - I will see what can be done time permitting. 

Hello from Botswana

Hello all and sorry for the delay in our updates.  Internet is scarce along the routes we are travelling - but hopefully in a week or two we will have a few days with wifi where we can properly update you all.

We are currently Maun, Botswana, in an internet cafe that doesn't support wifi, so pre-prepared posts and pictures will have to wait.

Much has happened, but highlights include:

• Speeding down sand-dunes at over 70kmph in namibia
• Quadbiking across the same sanddunes
• A pork rib challenge where we were forced to consume as much as we could of 2kg of pork ribs
• Game drives in Etosha National Park where we saw zebras crossing the road (zebra crossing?), giraffes grazing next to the truck, oryx, springbok, a sleeping lioness literally 5 metres from our vehicle (who was most unimpressed that we were disturbing our slumber and proceeded to head into the bush), rhinos drinking from a floodlight watering hole at night and elephants in the distance
• perfect weather (almost cloudless skies, hot days and cold nights)
• Red clay mountains and ancient rock paintings
• Spectacular sunsets

must rush as we are heading to our campsight imminently and then to the Okavango Delta

Thunderstorms, Snakes and Scorpions

Our trusty vehicle

It hasn’t stopped raining.  Which is a little odd - especially given that we are going through the desert.  So far, we have heard that “it rains about once every 5 years like this”, “this is the most rain we have had in 30 years” and today “this is the most rain we have had in 118 years”.  There is no doubt however that as we are being rained on whilst walking across desert sand dunes all of us are thinking that this is something quite unique.  And quite annoying.  

No doubt about it, moving from the comforts of a hotel room that is cleaned daily with our linen and towels replaced to a tent that is either being rained on or collecting significant amounts of dew, is hard.  

But more about the weather later.  On our first morning we set off on the truck at 8 am for a  town about 1 hours drive North where we went wine tasting across 4 vineyards for the day.  The pours were generous and by the end of the second vineyard people were feeling pretty happy.  We stocked up with some 11 bottles acquired across the vineyards, ranging from Whites to Pinotage (a Pinot Noir and Hermitage blend) to even a Sweet Red (which is something like Port).  

Cape Town

From the top of Table Mountain

It rained in Cape Town - for most of the 4 or so days that we were there.  Rain in Cape Town in late April is unseasonable, the weather was also a lot colder than what is usual - although it was still warmer than our travels on the trans mongolian.  As such, our down jackets have continued to be employed on most days.

Cape Town is geographically stunning - nestled between mountains and the ocean, the city centre has a cosy feeling to it.  Highlights for any trip to Cape Town include a cable car up to the top of Table Mountain (about 1000m above sea level), a ferry trip to Robben Island (where political prisoners, including Nelson Mandela have been locked up), and cage diving with sharks.  Unfortunately, all of these events are weather dependent and we were only managed to squeeze in the first (cable car up Table Mountain).

Stockholm

Stockholm was significantly warmer than Helsinki, surprising as it would appear to be the same distance from the North Pole... Temperatures were a very comfortable 12-15 degrees, and with the sun out it felt like the beginning of summer.

 Finding my way to the Central Station, I managed to secure accommodation in a quaint hostel in Gamla-Stan (the Old Town).  The hostel felt like a maze, with rooms and corridors haphazardly added obviously over many years.

Matthew's Road Trip - the Final Leg

Driving only got easier as I continued to head south.  One last mountain pass in Norway was once again great to behold, driving alongside sheer cliffs on either side with snow covering most of the ground and people ice fishing or snowmobiling on frozen mountain lakes.

The crossing into Finland was also just as unspectacular as the border crossing the day before into Norway.  I didn't even need to stop the car, just to slow down temporarily as I pass a small roadside building.  Despite their proximity, Norway and Finland are vastly different from a geographical perspective.  I felt like I had re-entered spring from the depths of a Finnish winter.  As I continued south, progressively less and less snow could be seen.  In the week I had been driving, significant amounts of snow melt had taken place.

My Route through Finland and Norway with circles for each night

Matthew's Finnish Roadtrip of Madness - Part 3

The most efficient route from North Cape back to Helsinki was a route 1,519km long.  The first 33km scared me senseless.  The following 200km weren't much better either.  

The convoy once again left North Cape for Honningsvag.  The first 12km of the journey were led by the snowplow, and turned out to be relatively straightforward.  There was only one lane, but I didn't need to worry about traffic coming the other way - the road was closed.  Accompanied by buses in front and cars behind, I felt relatively safe and comfortable following the crash course in snow driving I had had on the way to North Cape.

Matthew's Crazy Finnish Road Trip - Part 2

Heading inland from the coast towards Lapland proper, the scenery changed subtly.  This part of the world was more remote, evidenced by less agriculture, less signs of human habitation and a subtle change in the roadside scenery - the trees were shorter, the forests less dense.  Mossy rocks were added to the ground cover and rolling hills appeared in the background.

Day 3 was a 350km journey to a town on the Finnish / Norwegian border - well more of a small village - called Karigasniemi.  On the way there I passed through the Sami Museum in Inari.  The calibre of the museum well surpassed what I would have expected in a town of about 1000 people - it outlined the culture of the Sami, the polar culture that lives in Scandinavian Lapland and also how the harsh environment affects the plant and wildlife of the area.  A great way to lose myself for 2 hours or so.

Matt's great Finnish Road Trip - Part 1

Although Jen's plane wasn't until mid-afternoon on Wednesday 13 April, it was hard to do too much beforehand as there was a lot of repacking and reorganisation required.  I picked up the car at about 1pm with the idea of driving Jen to the airport and then working it out from there.

To make life more interesting, I've decided to go the manual gearbox route (actually, trying to get an automatic wasn't that easy).  As such, my every instinct for driving is now totally invalid or wrong.  I'm driving on the wrong side of the road, obeying give way rules which are the opposite of back home, in a manual, with the gearstick on the wrong side of the car and the indicator where the window wipers should be!!  So it goes without saying that I've stalled the car multiple times, seldom indicate (but clean my windows a lot) and have no idea of whether or not I'm supposed to give way...

Helsinki

We arrived in Helsinki at a little after 9am courtesy of the new high speed rail link between St Petersburg and Helsinki.  The train was certainly a lot more modern than the russian trains we had been travelling on.  The customs and immigration process has also been streamlined for the train.  Rather than hours of waiting around and drawn out customs / immigration processes, it is all done while the train is moving between the first few stops.  Both the Russian and Finnish officials spoke good English making it an almost pleasant experience!

Courtesy of Jen's organisation and research, we jumped on the No.4 tram, waited 7 stops and got off for our hostel.  Easy.

St Petersburg (Санкт-Петербург)

We would regard St Petersburg as essential for any Russian travel itinerary.  The city is almost venetian with its canals, bridges and cathedrals, but differentiates itself with spectacularly colourful architecture.

Church of Savior on the Blood

Москва́

Moscow is vibrant, colourful and positively European in look and feel (well, except for the distinctive Russian churches).  The Moscowites dress very smartly and frequently speak English (once again, especially with younger people who are required to pass English exams for entrance to University).  Although many Northern Hemisphere cities can feel drab at this time of year, Moscow's gold-tipped churches and pastel coloured buildings make it colourful throughout the year.

Inside the Kremlin

The city feels very wealthy, in contrast to the villages and cities passed along the train line.  The streets are adorned with luxury European cars (more so than any other city we can recall) and luxury branded shops.

4,500 kilometres to Moscow

We boarded the No.81 train from Irkutsk to Moscow at about 10pm in the evening of the 2nd for a 4,500 kilometre journey across Siberia spanning 4 nights and 3 days.

The journey was great.  Travelling 2nd class was cosy, but meant that we had an opportunity to meet ordinary Russians commuting between cities.  The Russians are all train veterans who travel extremely light (putting us quite to shame) and come fully prepared with train clothes and shoes.  Despite icicles forming on the train outside, the cabins are often overheated, and we were comfortable walking around in shorts, t-shirts and jandals.

To Russia with Love

We left Ulaanbaatar at 9.10pm on Wednesday night and arrived in Irkutsk (Russia) at 7.40am on Friday morning.  The train ride to Irkutsk in Russia was largely unspectacular.  Unfortunately, due to the timing of our train, most of the train’s movement was done during the evening.  The one full day we had (Thursday) was largely spent at border crossings and general hanging around (we aren’t too sure why - but this hanging around is planned as the train arrived on schedule). 

What was distinctly noticeable was the greenery of Russia compared to the harsh desert-like landscape of Mongolia.  Russia felt positively green, and rather than the odd smattering of trees, there were entire forests.  

Mongolia - home of Chinngis (Genghis) Khan

Mongolia presents a striking contrast between the current movement towards urban life in Ulaanbaatar and its traditional nomadic roots.  

The landscape is harsh, and not much grows - the large proportion of the Mongolian landscape that we saw (with the exception of our time at the ger camp) had almost no trees and very little vegetation.  It gets incredibly cold in winter (a week before we got to Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar (UB) was recording as little as -24 degrees centigrade overnight, and highs that didn’t breach freezing point (note that our time in Mongolia was much more comfortable than that, with quite pleasant temperatures in the 5-10 degree range)), and very hot in summer (+30 degrees or hotter).  Traditionally, farmers had to continually move their herds, as frequently as once a month (which involved taking down all of the gers and moving via cart to another temporary location).  During very cold winters, many animals would die leaving the families they supported in desperation.  Our guide told us that the cold winter in 2009/2010 forced a number of people to the city.

On the train to Mongolia

The alarm goes off at 5am and we’re up, showering, packing etc and heading to the train station.  After a hearty breakfast of KFC chinese porridge (it’s actually really good and authentic chinese fare!) we boarded the train from Beijing to Ulanbaatar.

The train had a great feeling about it - looking just like the archetypical passenger train from the movies on the outside with a distinctively modern feeling on the inside.  The train had a total of some 12 or so carriages plus the engine and a dining car, each carriage has 9 compartments (for a maximum of 36 passengers) and compartments for the carriage attendants plus hot water and a toilet at each end.  Each carriage seemed to have 2 carriage attendants who took turns fulfilling the duties of maintaining the cleanliness of the common areas of the carriage.

The Typical 4-Berth Cabin (this one was empty)