Wow - where on earth did the last 3 weeks go!? It's funny how time seems to drag when you're actually doing something, but once it's over - you wonder where it went!
Spent the last couple of days in China exploring the hutongs a bit more - trying all sorts of yummy weird stuff - some sweet pasty type thing, a steamed bun with "meat of unknown origin" in - was goooooood! And some lovely grated potato fritters we accidentally ordered - a fantastic mistake! Also checked out some Beijing nightclubs - great fun! "80s Mod" is alive and well here :+)
I've uploaded some photos online here, so when you're feeling bored, have a wee look!
Thanks HEAPS again to everyone who supported me with the fundraising & preparing for this trip - it was worth every last muffin baked ;+)
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Back in UB!!!
Well, what a whirlwind the last week or so has been!!!
Am now back in Ulaan Baatar - having spent most of today at the Nadaam festival - Mongolia's national holiday - a sort of celebration of the 1921 revolution, with lots of Mongolian wrestling, archery and horse racing!
The mountain biking went well!! Amazing scenery - starting near the Gobi desert (goddamn is sand difficult to pedal through!), riding through dusty dirt valleys - slowly climbing over three mountain passes, the highest at 2750m!! I now have legs of steel ;+) As we started descending again, the grasslands got greener and we finally started to see trees! We met lots of nomadic Mongolians - who were quite taken aback at times to see a bunch of lycra-clad westerners on mountain bikes heading past their gers! We only had one dog incident but the owner called them back seconds before they latched on to some bike wheels. We had one fractured pelvis from a fall onto rocks (there were A LOT of rocks!) and another suspected fractured elbow that turned out to just be a bad sprain... I managed to stay on my bike the whole time - even being the first up the hills most occasions! (Who'd have thought!?) It was a nice change being the experienced biker for a change - the others were either roadies or not regular cyclists at all!
I got to try the usual Mongolian fare when passing by the gers - yak's milk, yak's cheese (tasted kinda like parmesan...) and biscuits with cream made from yak's milk on them! All quite yum! Also tried airag - the fermented mare's milk - now that just tasted like liquid feta cheese - not quite so nice...
We camped by rivers almost every night - good for getting washed as there certainly weren't any showers about - plumbed or the camp variety! We managed to bring enough beer and pringles so that each night was spent talking either around headlamps or in a couple of cases, yak-dung fires!! (Keeps the flies away!)
We arrived in Kharkhorin on Monday - where Chinggis Khan ruled his empire back in the 1200s - there was an old monastery that we visited there, Erdene Zu, one of the very few that still exist after the Chinese and then the Russians went through destroying them all. It was pretty fascinating, but after 350km in 35+ deg heat, we were too pretty knackered to really take it in I think. We spent our last night camping hanging out drinking with our Mongolian crew - they are such a lovely bunch. They had nicknamed me the strong, good humoured pretty one!!! That cracked me up - and when they found out I was a kiwi, they asked if it was true that we eat other people there.... I said to them that's why I was so strong ;+)
An 8hr drive back to UB yesterday with a madman driver - we literally drove blindly into dust on the wrong side of the road at times, overtaking with NO room to spare - the oncoming traffic had to pull off to the side!! It was an adventure to say the least....
Off back to Beijing tomorrow - a free day, so most of us are planning on getting massages and going shopping! Then we fly out home on Friday afternoon - I think I get in to Welly Saturday afternoon!
As for postcards, I haven't actually found a post office to buy stamps yet, so they may have to be posted in Beijing - so of course they will arrive in NZ well after I will!!!
Off back to the hotel for a shower (man, showers are such a luxury!!) and then out for dinner and drinks for our last night in Mongolia. It's been such an amazing trip - the people are fantastic - such a bright and proud people - I'm definitely going to be sad to leave. It's one of those experiences that I think has definitely changed me.
Ok - will see/talk to/email you when I get back!
Am now back in Ulaan Baatar - having spent most of today at the Nadaam festival - Mongolia's national holiday - a sort of celebration of the 1921 revolution, with lots of Mongolian wrestling, archery and horse racing!
The mountain biking went well!! Amazing scenery - starting near the Gobi desert (goddamn is sand difficult to pedal through!), riding through dusty dirt valleys - slowly climbing over three mountain passes, the highest at 2750m!! I now have legs of steel ;+) As we started descending again, the grasslands got greener and we finally started to see trees! We met lots of nomadic Mongolians - who were quite taken aback at times to see a bunch of lycra-clad westerners on mountain bikes heading past their gers! We only had one dog incident but the owner called them back seconds before they latched on to some bike wheels. We had one fractured pelvis from a fall onto rocks (there were A LOT of rocks!) and another suspected fractured elbow that turned out to just be a bad sprain... I managed to stay on my bike the whole time - even being the first up the hills most occasions! (Who'd have thought!?) It was a nice change being the experienced biker for a change - the others were either roadies or not regular cyclists at all!
I got to try the usual Mongolian fare when passing by the gers - yak's milk, yak's cheese (tasted kinda like parmesan...) and biscuits with cream made from yak's milk on them! All quite yum! Also tried airag - the fermented mare's milk - now that just tasted like liquid feta cheese - not quite so nice...
We camped by rivers almost every night - good for getting washed as there certainly weren't any showers about - plumbed or the camp variety! We managed to bring enough beer and pringles so that each night was spent talking either around headlamps or in a couple of cases, yak-dung fires!! (Keeps the flies away!)
We arrived in Kharkhorin on Monday - where Chinggis Khan ruled his empire back in the 1200s - there was an old monastery that we visited there, Erdene Zu, one of the very few that still exist after the Chinese and then the Russians went through destroying them all. It was pretty fascinating, but after 350km in 35+ deg heat, we were too pretty knackered to really take it in I think. We spent our last night camping hanging out drinking with our Mongolian crew - they are such a lovely bunch. They had nicknamed me the strong, good humoured pretty one!!! That cracked me up - and when they found out I was a kiwi, they asked if it was true that we eat other people there.... I said to them that's why I was so strong ;+)
An 8hr drive back to UB yesterday with a madman driver - we literally drove blindly into dust on the wrong side of the road at times, overtaking with NO room to spare - the oncoming traffic had to pull off to the side!! It was an adventure to say the least....
Off back to Beijing tomorrow - a free day, so most of us are planning on getting massages and going shopping! Then we fly out home on Friday afternoon - I think I get in to Welly Saturday afternoon!
As for postcards, I haven't actually found a post office to buy stamps yet, so they may have to be posted in Beijing - so of course they will arrive in NZ well after I will!!!
Off back to the hotel for a shower (man, showers are such a luxury!!) and then out for dinner and drinks for our last night in Mongolia. It's been such an amazing trip - the people are fantastic - such a bright and proud people - I'm definitely going to be sad to leave. It's one of those experiences that I think has definitely changed me.
Ok - will see/talk to/email you when I get back!
Saturday, June 30, 2007
The Last of Beijing & Mongolia at Long Last!
The second day in Beijing & we headed 2&1/2 hrs out of Beijing to hike a un-reconstructed part of the Great Wall! The trip out there was MAD!! People regularly overtake into oncoming traffic - which in turn just moves out of the way! We saw some carnage - one poor man with a cracked skull who was lying in a pool of blood by his motorbike (no helmets of course!) - but thankfully he got up as we went past. Also a tour bus with it's windscreen smashed and a large truck that'd hit something big in the front.... Thankfully we remained unscathed!!
The Great Wall is breathtaking - both figuratively and literally!! We hiked about 12km along it I think - with very steep sections that you had to scrabble up on hands & feet! No way were those Mongolians getting past all those centuries ago! Then at the end of our hike we got to ride a flying fox back over a large lake - wicked fun :+)
Then that night we went to a "Kung Fu" show - amazing martial arts by buddhist monks - one guy lay across 3 swords, had a double sided board of nails on his stomach, another guy on top of that and THEN another large slab of concrete that a third monk smashed with a mallet! No blood that I could see from my seat!
The next day we were up at 5am to catch an early flight to Mongolia.... But (apparently in true Beijing - Ulan Bataar style!) it was 6 hours delayed! But it was probably good in someways to have some down time just mucking about at the airport given how full on the last few days had been. We finally arrived about 6pm into Ulan Bataar - what a BEAUTIFUL country - reminded me of south Canterbury/Central Otago in the wide open grassy hills & plains but on a much larger scale. The city itself is full of giant Russian style box buildings, with colourful cheap housing around and then on the outskirts a "ger ghetto". Chinggis Kahn (Mongolians call who we know as Genghis by the name Chinggis) is everywhere!! In brand names, in advertising - even an outline on a surrounding hill!
After finding out hotel we headed out to a modern Mongolian restaurant.... I had horse steak.... I hummed and haa-ed about whether I could put out of my mind the past horses I used to ride, but then when I was told that Mongolians eat their horses as a sign of respect - taking a wonderful horse into themselves - I thought bugger it, why not. And it tasted really good! It was like beef steak but with a more liver type texture.... Weird but yum! Then off to drink lots of Mongolian beer (Chinggis beer!!) and even some whiskey (woo!).
Today we spent a good part of the day at an orphanage - unfortunately had a wee cry (along with others) when hearing some of the stories of the children, but man - what resilient wee kids. Really bright & happy - you would never guess what they'd been through. We also got to give a ger to a family living in a really rundown little shack, so that was neat- and we gave them furniture - they didn't know they were getting that too - it was like an Oprah show!!
Heading off tomorrow for a two day drive down south to Bayanhongor where we FINALLY jump on the bikes! We've got specialized hardrocks to ride - so shouldn't be too disimilar to my rockhopper I hope! (Brought my own seat & pedals, so that should make life easier!)
No more internet contact for about 10 days now so will have heaps to blog about then!!
The Great Wall is breathtaking - both figuratively and literally!! We hiked about 12km along it I think - with very steep sections that you had to scrabble up on hands & feet! No way were those Mongolians getting past all those centuries ago! Then at the end of our hike we got to ride a flying fox back over a large lake - wicked fun :+)
Then that night we went to a "Kung Fu" show - amazing martial arts by buddhist monks - one guy lay across 3 swords, had a double sided board of nails on his stomach, another guy on top of that and THEN another large slab of concrete that a third monk smashed with a mallet! No blood that I could see from my seat!
The next day we were up at 5am to catch an early flight to Mongolia.... But (apparently in true Beijing - Ulan Bataar style!) it was 6 hours delayed! But it was probably good in someways to have some down time just mucking about at the airport given how full on the last few days had been. We finally arrived about 6pm into Ulan Bataar - what a BEAUTIFUL country - reminded me of south Canterbury/Central Otago in the wide open grassy hills & plains but on a much larger scale. The city itself is full of giant Russian style box buildings, with colourful cheap housing around and then on the outskirts a "ger ghetto". Chinggis Kahn (Mongolians call who we know as Genghis by the name Chinggis) is everywhere!! In brand names, in advertising - even an outline on a surrounding hill!
After finding out hotel we headed out to a modern Mongolian restaurant.... I had horse steak.... I hummed and haa-ed about whether I could put out of my mind the past horses I used to ride, but then when I was told that Mongolians eat their horses as a sign of respect - taking a wonderful horse into themselves - I thought bugger it, why not. And it tasted really good! It was like beef steak but with a more liver type texture.... Weird but yum! Then off to drink lots of Mongolian beer (Chinggis beer!!) and even some whiskey (woo!).
Today we spent a good part of the day at an orphanage - unfortunately had a wee cry (along with others) when hearing some of the stories of the children, but man - what resilient wee kids. Really bright & happy - you would never guess what they'd been through. We also got to give a ger to a family living in a really rundown little shack, so that was neat- and we gave them furniture - they didn't know they were getting that too - it was like an Oprah show!!
Heading off tomorrow for a two day drive down south to Bayanhongor where we FINALLY jump on the bikes! We've got specialized hardrocks to ride - so shouldn't be too disimilar to my rockhopper I hope! (Brought my own seat & pedals, so that should make life easier!)
No more internet contact for about 10 days now so will have heaps to blog about then!!
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Arrival!!
Well - into Beijing at least!! I think (and this is a guess...) it's been about 40hrs since I got up at 4am to catch my flight to Sydney - after that it was a blur of airports and security checks... Changi in Singapore is a lovely place to waste time, if you HAVE to be in an airport - man, you could probably spend millions there - there was a Tiffany's!!
Arrived into Beijing this morning - and straight into it!! We dropped our bags off at the hotel and headed to the "Drum Tower" - built in the late 1200s as a way of time keeping - different drum beats represented different times of day. Giant, steep stone steps lead up to the top of the tower where we had a wicked view of..... Smog. Lots of smog.
Then we went for a walk along some "hutongs" - old paved narrow walkways that are part of the "old Beijing" before the influx of apartments. We visited a family who live in a traditional old courtyard style home and had chinese tea :+) Then jumped in rickshaws for a tiki-tour round, before back into the bus to visit something that sounded like the "way-ling" project. It's a non-government-funded project that gives adults with mental disability a chance to become involved in a community (otherwise they tend to get shut away in family homes). The "trainees" - as they're called - were really neat!! First we had lunch - yummy egg & vege frittery looking things, then some fantastic boiled dumplings - have no idea what was in them, and don't want to know!!!
Then the trainees put on 5 skits for us - including one "bull & matador" one, a "shearing sheep" one - and best of all "Beijing rap!" - was classic and really cool :+) After that they taught us calligraphy - one of the girls in our group wasn't too good at it, so the fella kept taking her paper off her and giving her a new one :+) (I got asked if I'd done chinese calligraphy before!!! I think he was just being nice..)
Then we got stuck in a MASSIVE lightning storm - was really funny actually - tearing along the hutongs, not actually sure where we were headed, getting soaked to the skin! Nice & warm rain and some good bright lightning strikes!! So back to the hotel after that, a LOVELY shower (hadn't had one in nearly two days!) and a wander down to an internet cafe before we all meet up for a dinner of Peking duck - yum!! Then an after-dinner visit to Tianamen Square! Tomorrow is a big hike of the Great Wall!!
Have taken a few photos but unfortunately they won't be turning up online until I get home...
Oh and these blog postings may not be too regular - especially when we hit Mongolia!! So don't worry - most likely caught up seeing lots of sights - rather than having fallen off my bike yet again and incapacitated myself...
(There - if I say it, then it can't come true.... ;+))
Hope everyone is well :+)
Arrived into Beijing this morning - and straight into it!! We dropped our bags off at the hotel and headed to the "Drum Tower" - built in the late 1200s as a way of time keeping - different drum beats represented different times of day. Giant, steep stone steps lead up to the top of the tower where we had a wicked view of..... Smog. Lots of smog.
Then we went for a walk along some "hutongs" - old paved narrow walkways that are part of the "old Beijing" before the influx of apartments. We visited a family who live in a traditional old courtyard style home and had chinese tea :+) Then jumped in rickshaws for a tiki-tour round, before back into the bus to visit something that sounded like the "way-ling" project. It's a non-government-funded project that gives adults with mental disability a chance to become involved in a community (otherwise they tend to get shut away in family homes). The "trainees" - as they're called - were really neat!! First we had lunch - yummy egg & vege frittery looking things, then some fantastic boiled dumplings - have no idea what was in them, and don't want to know!!!
Then the trainees put on 5 skits for us - including one "bull & matador" one, a "shearing sheep" one - and best of all "Beijing rap!" - was classic and really cool :+) After that they taught us calligraphy - one of the girls in our group wasn't too good at it, so the fella kept taking her paper off her and giving her a new one :+) (I got asked if I'd done chinese calligraphy before!!! I think he was just being nice..)
Then we got stuck in a MASSIVE lightning storm - was really funny actually - tearing along the hutongs, not actually sure where we were headed, getting soaked to the skin! Nice & warm rain and some good bright lightning strikes!! So back to the hotel after that, a LOVELY shower (hadn't had one in nearly two days!) and a wander down to an internet cafe before we all meet up for a dinner of Peking duck - yum!! Then an after-dinner visit to Tianamen Square! Tomorrow is a big hike of the Great Wall!!
Have taken a few photos but unfortunately they won't be turning up online until I get home...
Oh and these blog postings may not be too regular - especially when we hit Mongolia!! So don't worry - most likely caught up seeing lots of sights - rather than having fallen off my bike yet again and incapacitated myself...
(There - if I say it, then it can't come true.... ;+))
Hope everyone is well :+)
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Not Long Now!!!
Only 3 sleeps to go - and no more baking!!! Woohoo :+) Fundraising is over, training is done (well - done as it's gonna be!) and just need to pack!!
The e-tickets arrived the other day so am good to go! Am also finally getting excited about the trip (it's taken a looooong while to kick in & actually seem like reality - not some big story I've been telling everyone!)
Have organised to meet some of the other participants at Sydney airport for lunch on Tuesday, so that'll be a nice start to the adventure!
Hmmmm... Nah, I take it back - still doesn't feel real yet!!!!! (It'll hit me when I get on the plane!)
The e-tickets arrived the other day so am good to go! Am also finally getting excited about the trip (it's taken a looooong while to kick in & actually seem like reality - not some big story I've been telling everyone!)
Have organised to meet some of the other participants at Sydney airport for lunch on Tuesday, so that'll be a nice start to the adventure!
Hmmmm... Nah, I take it back - still doesn't feel real yet!!!!! (It'll hit me when I get on the plane!)
Monday, June 18, 2007
One Week To Go...
Time surely flies doesn't it!!??
Well, not a lot going on recently in the way of training unfortunately but at this late stage it probably wouldn't have made much difference anyway! Decided over the weekend that to go out for a big ride during heavy showers & cold southerlies would be a pretty silly thing to do!! (Would rather not arrive in Beijing with the flu!)
I've amassed wee piles of things to take with me around my bedroom - I think I have everything I need.... From that heavy duty lip balm to little gifts to take with me to the orphanage we're visiting in Ulaan Baatar. Now if I just had some plane tickets, I'd be sweet! (They will apparently be emailed to us...)
Only two more baking days to go.... :+)
Well, not a lot going on recently in the way of training unfortunately but at this late stage it probably wouldn't have made much difference anyway! Decided over the weekend that to go out for a big ride during heavy showers & cold southerlies would be a pretty silly thing to do!! (Would rather not arrive in Beijing with the flu!)
I've amassed wee piles of things to take with me around my bedroom - I think I have everything I need.... From that heavy duty lip balm to little gifts to take with me to the orphanage we're visiting in Ulaan Baatar. Now if I just had some plane tickets, I'd be sweet! (They will apparently be emailed to us...)
Only two more baking days to go.... :+)
Friday, June 8, 2007
Nice & Hot...
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