Arrived at London Heathrow on Monday the 4th, flew on my first ever long - haul flight (and first time outside of Europe) to Beijing airport and spent a day exploring the city until our flight later on that evening.
We arrived in Mongolia and stayed at a hostel for 3 days and had a chance to explore UlanBataar. We then went on to travel 3 days, stopping off at different places to camp, sleep and experience the Naadam Festival, then arrived at our destination: Khishig Khishigs trekking camp. The treck lasted 10 days - 5 on horseback, 5 on foot - until we arrived back at the camp. Did a whole circle around a national park! I think we were doing 10k of walking a day, probably more on horseback.
After we took the route home, lasting another 2 - 3 days and making quick stops at sand dunes we arrived back in the capital and spent a day there before heading to an orphanage to help out for 5 days. After our stint at the orphanage we returned to Ulanbaatar in the same hostel for another couple of days.
It was sad to return to the Chinggis Khaan airport but knowing that we were going to spend a further 2 and a half days in Beijing lifted our spirits a little! We got to see some of the temples built for the bodies of the Ming dynasty, a cotton factory (like the blanket trip in Gran Canaria, we got a free visit to the tombs), the Great Wall, a yummy buffet place, the Forbidden city/Tiananmen square, the Birds Nest and got the time to browse around some of the (very) scary markets! One of us were threatened by a woman trying to sell us jeans, apparently she was gonna get the Chinese Mafia down.....ha
It was amazing, would give my right arm to do it again! My pictures from my first ever camera that got ruined by sand, I challenge you to find somewhere more beautiful:
Their currency is Tughrik and when I was there 2000 T equated to about 50p, rich rich rich.
The wranglers! They taught us Mongolian games and we taught them how to play spoons. They called me Barbie because I was blonde lol!
Cats cradle! even Mongolians know it so if you don't then shame on you.
Teaching the wranglers gangster poses.
Eeee the descent from the evil mountain, it HURT a lot.
We woke up to this three days in a row :) :) :) :) happiest place.
This was Duree! She told me to come over to the sand box and spelt her name in the sand and asked me to do the same, she was so cute! we did eachothers hair and everything - I still have the hairband with hearts on that she gave me, shooo cute.
me and al
never too far from home
worked in a shoe shop at the time, found this so weird!
hiya
CHINA
A very modest tomb
The Great Wall, of course...
Might be Chinese and therefore have god knows what in it but it beats English beer anyday.
Chinese people were very eager to get a picture with us white people
Sooo pretty, wish I was studying Chinese art!
Doesn't matter where in the world you are, you HAVE to take a bathroom photo at some point, at the Birds Nest no less
Who even knows what this was
If you have an opportunity to visit Mongolia then in all seriousness you MUST, where's your favourite place in the world?
xxxx
