An Early Start The fire in the wood stove goes out overnight, so they come to your room at 6 a.m. and light a new fire so that when you wake up, it’s warm enough to get dressed. There was a large stack of firewood in the room, so I made sure to add a few extra before bed, and then slept so well. It’s so quiet here. The animal print blankets they left me with were awesome, very warm. So I had no problem staying warm. I woke up at 5, with my nose quite chilly. There were still plenty of embers in the fireplace, so I tossed in…
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Arriving at the Ger Camp
Getting there I had lunch, same pelmeni soup as breakfast, with my train buddies before packing my bags to disembark in Ulan Bator, Mongolia. My driver arrived at the train station and off we went to the Ger/Yurt camp in the mountains outside of town. Along the way he told me many things about the history and culture of Mongolia, and particularly Ulan Bator. We drove about an hour and a half through rush hour traffic, stopping to get gas and then taking a fun side trip to a grocery store. We walked around looking at all the cool things, most of which are imported from Russia. We walked through…
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Train Musings
Reflections on Beijing When I was planning this trip, Beijing was actually the place I was least interested in. Not that I specifically didn’t like it, it just hadn’t cracked my top 10 list of cities I would want to travel to. But Beijing was the starting point for this tour if I wanted to go through Mongolia, which also wasn’t ever on my top 10 list, but seemed more interesting and exotic because who has ever been to Mongolia? So I was really surprised at how much I liked Beijing. I really loved the city. It’s huge, unfathomably huge and populous. And yet things run pretty smoothly, at least…
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History
Tiananmen Square Today, my last day in Beijing, will be a trip from south to north, visiting many historical sites. My new tour guide and I started in the morning, caught a bus, and went to Tiananmen Square. She explained about the history and purpose of the square, a place where a million people can gather to listen to the words of the government leader. In the square, there is the tomb of Mao Zedong, where his body is preserved and you can actually see it. It was fascinating, encased in a glass tomb, with a red hammer and sickle laid over him and a red light shining on his…
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Hutong District and Cooking Class
Facing the day Today was my second full day in Beijing, and I had such awesome adventures! My tour guide, Mr. Slackerson, said yesterday that today it would be too cold for the rickshaw drivers in the morning, so we should go to them in the afternoon. The itinerary was to have lunch at 11:30, go do a rickshaw tour of the Hutong alleys, then a tea ceremony, then visiting Shichahai Lake. After yesterday, I had little faith in his ability to actually arrange the tea ceremony that I had requested, so I got up this morning and hoofed it over to a fancy tea parlor. Let me back that…
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Great Wall – Great Food!
Starting the day After a late night, I was now scheduled to meet the tour guide at 8:30, so I meandered down at 7:40 to check out the hotel breakfast buffet. It was an amalgam of cultural breakfast foods, from Western bacon, toast, and sausages to Chinese breakfast items like dim sum and congee, but also Chinese dinner items like black pepper beef…even baked beans in case an Irish person shows up. I tried to stick with things I’ve never had before, but I’m pretty particular about breakfast food and I don’t consider things that are dinner foods good as breakfast foods. I even saw 2 Italian guys, so I…
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The Big Day – Flying to Beijing
Ok, travel days are never fun, but wow, this was a long one. My flight from San Jose was delayed, so I spent a few hours fretting at work about what time to leave for the airport. I have zero chill. Finally, it was time to leave for the airport. Now, I had to pack 3 weeks worth of winter clothes into a carry-on size bag, so I *thought* it would be a great idea to wear the bulkier items so they didn’t take up so much space, as my suitcase is jam-packed as-is. Well, it isn’t so cold in San Jose, so spending a few extra hours in my…
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What to Wear
Planning Excursions In the Tour Planning a 4-week multi-country trip is no easy feat. Arranging visas to Russia and China, as well as buying tickets to trains in foreign languages, was daunting. So, for the first time ever, I signed up for a tour group. Hotels, train tickets, even visas are included. It is a tour for ‘independent’ travelers, so all of the day-time excursions end by 4 p.m., leaving ample evening time to explore solo. There is one small ‘problem’: no one else signed up for this group tour. So it looks like it’ll be just me and the tour guide. Extra excursions Since evenings after 4 p.m. are…
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Where and Why
Itinerary I will have almost 4 weeks to explore the world, beginning with a flight from San Jose to Beijing. During my 3-day stay there, I will visit landmarks such as Tiananmen Square, the Great Wall, and numerous palaces and delectable dinners. From there, I will board a train and make the 26-hour journey to Ulan Bator, Mongolia, sleeping for 1 night on the train. In Mongolia, I will stay in a national park, in a Ger camp, and enjoy some Mongolian cuisine, culture, and history, before returning to Ulan Bator for 1 night in a hotel. Then it’s back on the train and off to Russia! After another 24-hour…
