Thursday, May 17, 2007

Less Than 6 Weeks To Go...

Ok - peer pressure has won out and I've decide to give this blog thing a go....

Only 40 sleeps to go til I fly out for a trip that will be 15 months in the making... Literally thousands of muffins baked, 3 movie nights, one bbq, many donations... Somewhere near $9000 raised to date... And then I'll be off to Mongolia for what will literally be the ride of my life :+)

Here's what's in store.....

Day 1 flight to Beijing

Flight to Sydney, then on to Beijing.

Day 2 Beijing

Arrive Beijing and afternoon tour through Beijing's old hutongs and visit to a local project, Beijing Huiling.

Day 3 Great Wall Hike

It's an early start to head out to Jinshanling, the section of the Great Wall where we start our hike.

Day 4 Morning flight to Ulaan Batuur

Flight to Ulaan Baatar

Day 5 Visit to orphanage

Visit to the Christina Noble Foundation orphanage

Day 6 Drive to Bayanhongor

Start of our two day 4WD jeep adventure through the Mongolian countryside.

Day 7 Drive to Bayanhongor

We continue this fascinating journey into the heart of the grasslands.

Day 8 Sharguljut Valley

Today is the start of our exciting 370 km Mongolia cycling challenge which will take us across some beautiful parts of this wild and rugged land.

Day 9 Tuy River Valley

We cycle up the Tuy River Valley, tackling its rocky-river beds and camping beside its waters at night.

Day 10 Tuy River valley

Day 10 will see us start with another big climb and a great downhill. With a very rocky section ahead of us we continue along the Tuy River valley untill we reach one of our favourite campsites and the chance for a swim and a few cold beers!

Day 11 Tuy River Valley

Day 11 is a shorter ride, to freshen up the legs, with opportunities to do some walks around the area for the energetic and perhaps a visit a local family. We have a big hill, the steepest of the trip in fact, before a fast ride into a beautiful valley and camp.

Day 12 Tsetserleg

An action packed day today will take us over two hills and through the wild west town of Bulgan

Days 13 & 14 Kharkhorin

Our final days of cycling become much flatter as we head toward our goal at Kharkorin. Cycling by nomads and herds of semi-wild horses we will arrive in Gengis Khan's former capital in the early afternoon on day 14.

Day 15 Ulaan Bataar

A day's drive across the rolling grasslands takes us back to Ulaan Baatar via Mongol Els sand dunes for lunch and is our last chance to soak up the amazing Mongolian countryside.

Day 16 Nadaam festival

Today is the start of Mongolia's National Games, the Nadaam Festival. We will be at the Preliminary Ceremony in Suktabhar Square before heading to the main stadium to watch the opening ceremony.

Day 17 Flight to Beijing

Midday flight back to Beijing. After checking into the hotel we head out to explore the city.

Day 18 Flight home

After a free morning we head to the airport for our afternoon flight to Australia and arrive home the following day.

Day 19 Arrive back home

Arrive back in Australia, then back home to Welly - hopefully a tired but very happy woman!

1 comment:

Renee said...

Yay!! Good on you. Trip sounds so exciting. I can't believe that you've been planning it for 15 months - doesn't seem that long :) Looking forward to more posts!