Urlaub zu Dritt (plus Söt) – MAINTENANCE

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  • [lang_en]Hagupit and arriving in Nepal[/lang_en][lang_de]Um den Taifun herum nach Nepal[/lang_de]

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    Die Entspannung begann bereits an unserem letzten Tag in Hongkong.
     
    Ohne Plan haben wir uns erneut durch Central treiben lassen und genossen den Blick auf den herannahenden Taifun vom 43. Stock des Bank of China-Hochhauses aus. Am nachmittag wurde dann wegen des Taifuns Hagupit Warnstufe 8 herausgegeben. Konsequenterweise verliessen viele Angestellte vorzeitig Ihre Arbeit und verstopften sofort die oeffentlichen Verkehrsmittel. Auf dem Heimweg ins Gasthaus gab es dann eine unglaubliche Anzahl an Schirmleichen zu bestaunen …
     
    … die auch am fruehen morgen noch die Strassen saeumten. Unser fuer 8 Uhr angesetzter Flug nach Bangkok, von wo aus wir am gleichen Tag noch nach Kathamandu weiterfliegen wollten, wurde annuliert und wir daher auf eine weitere Maschine spaeter am Tag umgebucht. Dies verhinderte selbstverstaendlich das Erreichen des Anschlussflugs, so dass wir eine ungeplante Nacht in Bangkok verbringen mussten. Es gibt schlimmeres.
     
    Es gibt uebrigens auch schlimmeres als Thai Airways, fuer die ich hier etwas Schleichwerbung platzieren moechte. Mit Thai ist es moeglich, sich binnen eines 2,5-stuendigen Fluges ordentlich einen hinter die Binde zu giessen. Theoretisch waeren zwei Dosen Bier, drei bis fuenf Glaeser Wein und ein Congac (V.S.O.P.) drin gewesen. Aber lassen wir das.
     
    Vom Flughafen in Hongkong aus hatten wir bereits eine Unterkunft in Bangkok per Internet organisiert. Da wir die von Thai gesponsorten Essensgutscheine fuer Sandwiches ausgegeben haben und der Flughafentransfer im Hotelpreis enthalten war, kostete uns die Verspaetung nur 23 Euro und zwei Feierabendbier. Am naechsten Morgen stellte sich heraus, das die Verspaetung etwas Gutes hatte: am Flughafen in Bangkok lernten wir Carol und Don kennen, zwei Backpacker im Alter von 63 und 67, die in ihrem 11. Jahr um die Welt reisen. Wir schlossen sofort Freundschaft und blieben in Kathmandu unzertrennlich – nicht zuletzt, weil sie im gleichen Hotel wie wir absteigen sollten.
     
    Kathmandu nunmehr ist zumindest im Bezirk Thamel ein echtes Touristenghetto. Stehen bleiben wird nicht empfohlen, sofort umzingeln einen die Rikschafahrer, Haschisch- und Tigerbalsamverkaeufer. Die Altstadt rund um den Durbar Square kann nur durch ein Gewirr von einspurigen Gassen erreicht werden, in die sich ueblicherweise zwei Spuren Autos (in der Regel Taxis, Privatautos sind eher unueblich), Rikschafahrer und reichlich Fussgaenger zwaengen (Buergersteige gibt es ebenfalls kaum). Nichtdestotrotz ist die Stadt gut zum entspannen, da alles vorhanden ist und auch noch endlos billig – man darf nur nicht auf die Strasse gehen.
     
    Zum Ende der Woche treten wir dann unsere Trekkingtour im Annapurnagebiet an. Fuer drei Wochen wird an dieser Stelle nichts neues zu lesen sein.
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    To anticipate the answer to the question you might have in mind: no we did not arrive in Kathmandu on time, but one day late. Which is okay as we have a week here.
     
    On our second last day in Hong Kong we heard that the typhoon Hagupit was heading towards Hong Kong. In the morning after breakfast we wanted to check in our luggage at the in-town check-in at the central station. But Thai did not accept check-ins for the flight as it was not sure weather the flight would happen or not. So we locked the big backpacks at the left luggage and went to have a stormy day out (and in). We went up to the 43nd floor of the Bank of China tower and watched the bad bad weather around the city. We had a coffee down in the attached coffee shop and watched the people fight with their umbrellas and get pushed around by the wind. At that time the storm signal was still as 3 which is “strong winds”. Which was right. We walked to a near mall (some of the way outside, but most of it on roofed walkways that go over the streets) and saw lots of people queueing for buses to get home asap and running to catch one of the last star ferries to get to Kowloon before the ferry service stopped. After early dinner we went back to our guesthouse using the double decker tram (the best and cheapest mode of transport there) and watching the people fight with their umbrellas again. Thats a really strange thing. They have typhoons regularly in or very close by Hong Kong. And still they try to stay dry using umbrellas. They don’t seem to learn what happens when umbrellas, and mostly they use the cheap ones, meet with stormy winds. We call the result umbrella-bodies (sounds better in german “Schirmleiche”)… When we arrived in the guesthouse the typhoon warning signal was already set to 8, which means the typhoon is just there. The typhoon didn’t hit the city fully though. It passed by a 120km away and hit mainland China the next day. But we had heavy rains and storm all night long which woke me up several times.
    So the next day we got a cab to the central station at half past 5 in the morning only to learn there that our flight to Bangkok was cancelled. Great. So as soon as the Thai Airways counter opened we asked what the plan was. The girl called Thai Airways and some 15min later told us that she might book us onto the 12:45 flight, which we accepted. So we checked our luggage and got to the airport. We grabbed our food vouchers from Thai and rebooked our flight from Bangkok to Kathmandu for the next day. We were put on the stand-by list as the flight was fully booked – it’s climbing season. And the guys told us that we needed to pay for our accomodation in Bangkok ourselves as it was act of nature beyond control. At least Bangkok is quite cheap and we got a nice hotel there.
    After spending the morning at the airport and trying to get as much out of the food vouchers as possible we got onto our Thai plane and started the flight (storm signal 3 was still on). That was one of the worst ascending phases I ever had. But after that the flight was great. Nice food and the alcohol was flowing. I can just advise you to fly Thai. That’s value for money!. The came around with the drinks trolley and we ordered a beer. Then the food came and they walked around the plane with wine bottles asking if one would like to have red or white with the food. We couldn’t finish our glass before they came again with the drinks trolly. I  only ordered a water (I could have ordered another beer though) and she topped up my wine without asking me. Pfewww… After the meal a guy went through the plane with a bottle cognac and glasses. We didn’t take one. And again one guy walked the plane with the wine bottles. If we would have taken everything offered (without even asking) we would have had small 3 glasses of wine, two beer and one cognac. And that was only a 3 hour flight. Just imagine a Frankfurt-Bangkok flight.
    Leaving the plane in Bangkok (not fully sober) I saw my name on a sign. The guy told us that our flight to Kathmandu the next day was confirmed. Cool. So we immigrated to Thailand (wohoo, another stamp in my passport, after not having one of Macau as the ferries were to expensive) happy that we get a 30 day visa on arrival. We grabbed our luggage, changed some dollars into Bhat and wanted to look for a taxi to take us to the hotel. Tom said I should look for my name again – maybe it worked again. He was more joking than anything else. And then we saw my name on a sign. The guy was picking us up to get to the hotel we just booked some hours earlier. A 5min drive later we were at the hotel, checked in and had a relaxed afternoon with tv, aircon, a nice room and the sandwiches we had left over from the Hong Kong food vouchers.
    Next day we had the flight to Kathmandu. Still on the airport we got to know a nice couple. The are americans with dutch roots, are 63 and 67 of age and are travelling the world for more than 10 years now. Man, they have stories to tell! Funnily enough they were heading for the same hotel in Kathmandu. So after another wine and beer Thai flight we got picked up and checked in at the hotel Ganesh Himal. Since then we have dinner and breakfast together. They are fun.
     
    We had our first day out in Kathmandu yesterday. And I would love to leave this city yet. It’s crowded, it only has very small streets with too many cars, motorbikes and bikes on it and you have the feeling that they want to kill you all the time. Then there are lots of people trying to sell you things like little statues, silver things, necklaces, pouches and stuff. Every second guy wants you to take his taxi or rikshaw, in the Thamel area (pretty similar to Khao San Road in Bangkok) they want to sell you clothes and pashmina and want to be your guide. And every second thing you hear is “Excuse me, Mam.”. The other parts are “good price”, “you need a guide?”, “where you want to go?”. It’s really annoying. I think we will be spending quite a lot of time in cafes and in front of internet-computers just to get off the road.
    But to hang out a bit after all this sight seeing in the east asian cities will be a nice thing before hitting the Anapurna Circuit and losing some kilos.

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  • [lang_en]City hopping[/lang_en] [lang_de]Gegenentwurf[/lang_de]

    [lang_en]Mongolia was followed by a 3 days visit to Seoul. We arrived at the airport at 4:40am and tried to find a room to stay in via internet after retrieving my jacket from lost and found. I had left it in the plane. Did I mention that the flight arrived at 4:40am? We did find a room in a motel (in the middle of the city – in Insadong) which was clean and airconed. And looked a bit like a brothel. So what?! It was cheap and had a great location. And there were more westeners in the hotel. We spent 3 days in Seoul exploring the city, trying to get a new camera for me (nope) and having great food and a cool evening in a dvd bang. That is a dvd room that you book. So it’s private cinema with a rather big screen. The people are very polite and always bow, which is kind of scary. Well, not scary – but it feels uncomfortable.

    After the full three days we hopped to Taipei, had booked a cheap hostel room (ants included) and had some more 3 days there. Other city, pretty alike people. And YES! A camera!! I am back in business. With a brand new Canon EOS 450D and a Sigma 18-200 lens with stabilizer. A polarizing filter was included in the set as well as a 4GB SD card. All for about 800euro. Not too bad.
    So I was able to take some pictures of the tallest building in the world (if one doesn’t count the burj dubai which is under construction, but even now higher than Taipei 101) which we also visited the observatory of.

    Three days later we flew over to Hong Kong (the flight was just long enough to squeeze in an episode of “Grey’s Anatomy”), where we still are. We had a great view from Victoria Peak, decided against a trip to Macau (the boat ride is unbelievably expensive) and walk around from mall to cafe to subway station to flee from the heat. We hope that the weather is better tomorrow with a clearer view so we can go to the visitor deck of the Bank of China Tower.

    Stay tuned and read if we and our luggage (or at least we) arrive in Kathmandu on time. Our connection time in Bangkok is only 50mins…

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    [lang_de]
    Nachdem wir in der Mongolei “Outdoor ohne Ende” hatten, sollte das Stadtgehopse in Ostasien zum krassen Gegenentwurf werden. Nach dem Muster “kurzer Flug – drei Tage Aufenthalt – kurzer Flug…” erkundeten wir Seoul, Taipeh und derzeit Hongkong. Die Staedte garantieren Sehenswuerdigkeiten (Museen, Theater, Palaeste, Aussichts- und Einkaufsmoeglichkeiten) und Menschen (zusammen ueber 20 Mio.) ohne Ende.

    In Seoul kamen wir gegen 4:30 Uhr frueh an – was erklaert, warum Ju ihre Jacke im Flieger hat liegen lassen, die ihr kurz nach bemerken postwendend von der Fundstelle ausgehaendigt wurde. Auf die Stadt waren wir ungewohnt schlecht vorbereitet, doch Dank der eMail eines Ex-Kollegen mit Tipps zur Stadt (Cheers, Bodo) waren wir rechtzeitig schlauer. Untergekommen waren wir uebrigens in einem Motel in Insadong, welches seinen Gaesten eine bemerkenswert eindeutige Filmsammlung auf dem Flur offeriert – und Gratis-Kondome auf den Zimmern gleich passend dazu. Wir haben uns entschieden, tageweise zu bezahlen (und unsere reichlich vorhandene Schmutzwaesche fuer 20.000 Won / 12 Euro erledigen lassen). Hoehepunkt: Chongdong Theater.

    In Taipeh war (fast) alles ein Nummer kleiner als in Seoul (Flughafen, U-Bahn-Netz, unser Zimmer). Ebenfalls kleiner war der Preis fuer eine “Ersatzkamera”, die Ju inklusive Objektiv nach ausgiebiger Suche in reichlich Shoppingzentren (auch in Seoul) hier ausmachen konnte. Von unserem Gasthaus in der Naehe des Hauptbahnhofs machten wir uns alltaeglich zur Stadterkundung auf. Allabendlich staerkten wir uns in einem der exzellenten chinesich-vegetarischen Restaurants in Zhongzheng, Shilin und Daan (um 300 Taiwan Dollar / 6,60 Euro fuer zwei Personen), die ich bereits in Hongkong zu vermissen beginne. Erwaehnenswert sind auch die sogenannten MTVs, eine Mischung aus Videothek, Kino und privatem Wohnzimmer (man sucht sich einen Film auf DVD aus und schaut diesen auf einer Riesenleinwand – das Publikum bringt man selbst mit). Hoehepunkt: Taipei 101.

    Hongkong nunmehr toppt alles. Das Zimmer im Gasthaus in Causeway Bay ist ein 6 qm grosser Kuehlschrank (ohne Fenster) mit angeschlossenem Bad (mit Fenster) – die Stadt ist derart voller Menschen, dass die Ausmasse des Zimmers erklaert und hiermit entschuldigt sind. Hongkong bietet mit seinen Stadtteilen Kowloon, den neuen Territorien und der Insel selbst mehr, als man in drei Tagen unterbringen koennte. Also haben wir gestern einfach alles auf einmal gemacht und waren mit der Stadtseilbahn auf dem Victoria Peak, auf einer Tiefseeausstellung im Hongkong Science Museum, Abendessen in Kowloon und haben fuer den Heimweg sowohl die Faehre (beruehmt: Star Ferry) als auch die Doppeldecker-Tram (selten: gibts nur hier, in Aegypten und England) benutzt. Den fuer heute geplanten Kurztripp nach Macau haben wir aus Preisgruenden abgeblasen (hin und her mit der Faehre: 552 Hongkong Dollar / 49,89 Euro fuer zwei Personen) – stattdessen haben wir uns treiben lassen… Und gehen jetzt gleich in die Happy hour. Hoehepunkt (vorweg, da unschlagbar): Der naechtliche Blick von Kowloon auf die Insel.

    Morgen ist unser letzter Tag in Hongkong, danach geht es via Bangkok nach Kathmandu. Hoffentlich Zeit fuer ein bisschen Entspannung…
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  • [lang_en]Living milk free – happily[/lang_en]

    [lang_en]Following the actual melamin-in-milk scandal in/around China (and the whole world as far as I got it right), this is the first time that I’m happy to be lactose intolerant. Since this issue was revealed soy milk seems to become more and more popular even here in Hong Kong. Believe it or not, if you ask for soy milk in a Starbucks or Coffee bean and tea leave in Asia, the guys look at you as if you came frome Mars – in Germany it’s quite common to have a choice of normal milk and soy milk or lactose free cow milk. Funnily enough we found two coffee shops here now that do all their drinks with soy milk if ordered. And one even is a local coffee shop chain.
    Is that a coincidence?[/lang_en]

  • [lang_en]Miscellaneous thoughts on the time in Mongolia[/lang_en]

    [lang_en]Traffic in Ulaan-Baatar:
    The worst I’ve ever seen. The lonely Planet for Amman said that crossing streets in Amman is a perilous adventure. Compared to Ulaan-Baatar Amman is a kindergarden playground. Luckily we survived it, but this is definitely a city in which I did not want to drive a car. Lets see if it gets worse.

    People on the trip:
    John had the great idea of starting this trips in an untouristy part of Mongolia and seems like he slowly morphes into a Mongol himself. Maybe he simply needs a helping hand on his trips.
    Telery and Laura – two of the nicest and coolest american girls I’ve ever met. So non-american to me 🙂
    The hippies – a bit hippiesque but nice.
    The british brit – don’t need to say much more. Nice and helpful while riding the horses.
    Little princess – pfew… yep, exactly what it sounds like. Whenever work appeared on the horizon little princess magically disappeared. She was first on the cooking pots when dinner was ready – of course. She had more vodka than everybody else on the trip. “We should do…” was her preferred sentence – not including herself. This is a kind of a person that totally disrupts the group dynamic. I did less and less for the group as I did not want to do anything for her. And I only waited for the moment that she would ask me to pass something to her. I would love to have refused to. But it never happened.

    Food:
    Curry, curry, curry. We had a lot different curries while camping. We had indian curries with meat, without meat, a thai curry designed by Tom and me (well, it got best it could et with the spices and ingredients we had), some indian fusion cross kitchen. There was fresh milk, yoghurt and berries from local families. I could avoid the milk quite well as Tom could the meat. The two drivers sometimes cooked their favourite (and only?) dish: mutton soup. A great and very tasty soup made of mutton meat, carrots and potatoes (cooked to near death) and some noodles thrown in. A bit of salt added – ready for serving. I wouldn’t have had it all the time, but a bowl after a curry was always welcome. And it also was a nice change for breakfast from the ever present porridge (John loves sultanas – yuck). We had lots of rice with the curries. And John even baked bread in the wok. Delicious!
    Oh – and not to forget the endless supply of chocolate and cookies. Around 2000 cookies and 5 big packs of chocolate (each including about 20 or 25 bars of chocolate). That is about 10kg! We had one pack each of plain milk chocolate, hazelnut and dark chocolate. And 2 packs of nuts and fruits chocolate. Obviously Johns favourite 🙂 Besides that we also had some kilos of peanuts.[/lang_en]

  • [lang_de]Outdoor ohne Ende[/lang_de][lang_en]Feeling filthy – but great![/lang_en]

    [lang_de]Gesagt, getan.

    Am Tag nach dem Umzug haben wir uns in unserer Gruppe zusammengefunden und sind die Tour angetreten. Neben dem Veranstalter Jon, einem Neuseelaender, waren zwei Kanadierinnen, zwei Amerikanerinnen und zwei Englaenderinnen mit von der Partie. Es sollte heiter werden.

    Die ersten drei Tage unseres zweiwoechigen Trips benoetigten wir, um in Stahlroessern ueber Kharkhorin und Tsetserleg nach Tosontsengel zu gelangen. Die geteerte Strasse verliess uns bereits am ersten Tag noch vor Kharkhorin, aber die beiden Fahrer Ganbad und Torro fuehrten uns in den mit Campingausruestung und Lebensmittel bepackten Furgons (Kleinbusse russischen Fabrikats) sicher zum Ziel. Die ersten beiden Naechte haben wir in fuer Touristen hergerichteten Ger-Camps verbracht und so zumindest einen ersten, wenngleich winzigen Eindruck vom Leben in den Zelten erlangt, die die Weite der Mongolei sprenkeln. Bereits unterwegs beeindruckte die endlose Weite mit riesigen Schaf- und Ziegenherden, reichlich Yaks und auch einigen Trampeltieren. Greifvoegel pausieren uebrigens waehrend ihrer Jagd in Ermangelung an Baeumen auf dem Erdboden.

    An dritten Tag, nach gut 800 gefahrenen Kilometern schlugen wir dann unser Zelt auf und traten den Pferden entgegen, mit denen wir die naechsten acht Tage zunaechst in Richtung des, danach durch den Tarvagatai Uul National Park schritten, trabten und dann auch galoppierten. Zunaechst wurden die Tiere den Reitern zugeordnet. Fuer uns Anfaenger waren schnell Pferde gefunden und Edgar und Bernd getauft. Beide waren nicht eben die schnellsten, zumindest zu Beginn der Tour war dies jedoch kein echtes Handicap. Wir wurden entgegen dem urspruenglichen Plan von Torro und Ganbad in den Autos verfolgt, so das wir die ganze Ausruestung mittags und abends im Zugriff hatten. Das urspruengliche Reiten mit Packpferden wurde auf insgesamt drei Tage zusammengedampft – der ohnehin arg eingeschraenkte Komfort wurde so auf einem angenehmen Level gehalten. Higlight im Sinne von Komfort waren die beiden Naechte an der heissen Quelle, die Anfang und Ende des Packpferdabenteuers markierten – waschen am Fluss war OK, beim baden in der heissen Quelle jedoch fuehlte man sich wie im Wellnessurlaub.

    Die Naechte waren kalt, am mit Autos nicht zugaengigem “fluesternden See” zeigte das Thermometer minus 6 Grad Celsius. Mehrere Schichten Klamotten und warme Gedanken halfen uns jedoch auch hierueber weg. Da wir uns in einer extrem entlegenen Gegend aufhielten, waren die Sterne des naechtens die wahre Pracht. Kein Bodenlicht stoerte das sternzeichensuchen, selbst der Mond war unser Freund und tarnte sich als Neumond. Die Verpflegung war an sich abwechslungsreich, auf die Vegetarier wurde Ruecksicht genommen, es gab das eine oder andere (russische und mongolische) Bierchen, reichlich suesses fuer Zwischendurch und auch ein wenig Wodka waren mit von der Partie. Gekocht wurde immer abends auf einem Lagerfeuer, zumeist Curry an Reis, aber auch totgekochte Nudeln und Hammelfleischsuppe mit Einlage. Ach ja, der Hammel wurde im mongolischen Stil getoetet und anschliessend geschlachtet. Dazu wird der Bauch gerade so weit geoeffnet, das eine Hand hineinpasst. Mit dieser wird die Hauptschlagader durchtrennt, das ganze geht voellig lautlos vor sich.

    Am letzten Tag zu Pferd ritten wir in hohem Tempo von der heissen Quelle gen Osten. In vollem Galopp verlor der Sattel des Pferds von Shay den Halt und rutschte in Zeitlupe nach links ab. Da sie das Tier in vollem Gruppengalopp nicht stoppen konnte, kam es zu einem unschoenen Abgang. Das Pferd brannte mit halb befestigtem Sattel durch und verteilte den Inhalt der Satteltaschen in der Steppe. Der vierte Sturz von Shay war insgesamt der neunte und letzte, selbst unser Anfuehrer Jon blieb nicht verschont und fing in einem Hagelsturm sogar einen Tritt ins Gesicht. Wir Anfaenger blieben verschont. Scheinbar alles richtig gemacht 😉

    Am Tag nachdem wir die Pferde verabschiedet haben, haben wir in einem feinen Schneegestoeber die Zelte abgebaut und die Forgons gepackt. Mit kalten Fuessen fuhren wir durch den Spaetsommer, der im Westen der Mongolei schon ordentlich Schnee mit sich bringen kann. Auf einem Pass halfen wir in Austausch gegen gutes Karma einen stecken gebliebenen Hyundai aus der Patsche. Am Ende des Tages trafen wir in einem astreinen Schneesturm in einem weiteren Ger-Camp ein. Gluecklicherweise konnten unsere Zelte im Auto bleiben. Nach einer kurzen wodkageschwaengerten Nacht erwartete uns ein herrlich sommerlicher Morgen und eine weitere sechsstuendige Fahrt.

    Das eigentliche Ende der Reise war Khar Nuur, ein See im Westen von Zavkhan. Am See gibt es herrliche Sandduenen, die ihn zumindest in diesem Teil der Mongolei einzigartig machen. Und eingeschraenkt stabil zeltbar. Die Szenerie war voellig irre – in der Ferne schneebedeckte Berge, zur linken eine Sandduene und rechts baumloses Bergland. Da wir zwei Naechte am See verbrachten, hatten wir einen echten Abschlusstag unserer Tour mit einer kleinen Wanderung und reichlich Resteessen. Vorgestern haben wir unser Zelt also das letzte mal abgebaut, sind gut 100 Kilometer in vier Stunden gefahren, haben 29 Murmeltiere gezaehlt und sind von einem kleinen Flughafen in der Naehe von Uliastai aus zurueck nach Ulan Bator geflogen.

    Dort gab es eine kalte Dusche, indisches Abendessen, eine Verabschiedung und einen Flughafentransfer. Nach dreistuendigem Flug sind wir nun seit gestern morgen, fuenf Uhr Ortszeit, in Seoul, Suedkorea – Outdoor Ende.

    (Ein Eindruck unserer Tour kann man sich von Jons vergangenen Trips holen, hier Bilder aus 2006 und 2007.)
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    [lang_en]
    Mongolia showed us two sides of it’s face.
    On our last full day in Ulaan-Baatar my camera was stolen by 3 local girls. The cafe in which it happened had three surveillance cameras and so could see the suspects. Also the whole staff was very helpful, especially while coping with the police. We spend the whole day waiting for the police guys, walking to the station and trying to get a report of the theft, finally we got one so my insurance will cover it. But that also means that I didn’t take pictures of the wonderful landscape Mongolia surprised us with. But (better than nothing) I took some pictures with a camera of one of the girls of our riding group while I spend a day off the horseback.
    Our companion Soet meanwhile decided to lengthen his stay not only in Ulaan-Bataar, but even in Mongolia. He hid between the sheets while we changed the hotel and was not seen ever since. He is said to be in the guesthouse locked up somewhere. And luckily 2 women of the riding group stay some more days in the Guesthouse and will try to find him and take him with them to Canada and send him back home to Germany. We really really miss him. But if he was found and had a nice trip to Canada, we would be more than happy to welcome him back home.

    Now let me come to the other face of Mongolia. The half that facinated us, impressed us and froze us. The beautiful countryside of the aimag Zavkhan.
    After having met all other 6 people that would be on the trip with us, we left Ulaan-Baatar in one of the two great Furugons that would be our daytime home for the next three days. And I swear i never had that many anti sickness gums than in these three days. And this was only partly the driver’s fault (his name is Torro), but mostly the unbelievable Mongolian street’s fault. I’ve never seen such bad roads. The paved ones were anything but even, but the sand roads were even worse. Cambodia was kindergarden compared to that. I was in the speed and fun car with two great american girls (Laura and Telery) and a Brit as Brit can be (Susannah). Also John, the owner of the Company shared our car. He soon wished he didn’t, as the talks got girlier and girlier…

    We set off for Karakorum the first day. We arrived there still in a nice afternoon light and wandered around the Erdene Zuu Monastery, where we also had a look at the Karakorum Turtle that sits there and guards the old capitals grounds. We stayed in a ger camp – in double gers that have small ovens in their middle, two single beds – one each side of the oven, and are similiar to the real ones that families live in. The next day went by getting a good shake in the cars again while driving to the next ger camp close to a wonderful crater lake. Passing through Tsetserleg the next day to get to Tosontsengel brought us closer to the riding spots. In Tosontsengel some loading of food was done, some last buys and off we went to our first camping spot where we met the horses.

    The next day everybody had chosen a horse – I named mine Edgar. He just looked like an Edgar. A fat Edgar. And off we went on horseback. The first 2 days were nice and slow. A lot of walk and trott. Nice camping spots close to a river, a warm fire in the evening, a nice curry and bloody cold nights in tents and sleeping bags. But hey, we didn’t catch a cold, even if we had cold feet some nights. I skipped the third riding day as the inevitable mild montezumas revenge cought me. I had a nice lazy day in the car and watched the others ride fast and brave John spectacularly fall off his horse. Hope his rib is healing well! This evening was also spend slaughtering a sheep we bought from a local family. Bye bye Flossy – you were yummie! After a hot bath in a tub filled by a natural hot spring (God, that felt clean. For 5 minutes.) the evening passed by with a beer and chocolate. John bought a LOT – chocolate! The next day we started packhorsing leaving the cars behind. With a very limited amount of things we could bring we mounted the horses and went to places that cannot be reached by car. As Edgar had started to change character I switched horses with Tom. Now I was on Bernd (as fat as Edgar) and felt better. I walked a lot as downhill riding would not work well with my back. I had completely wet boots and feet by the time we reached the camp spot at the whispering lake. But Bernd was very calm. Even in the hale storm we passed through he was okay. But I decided to get off before he would decide to get me off 🙂 Brave John got a painful kick in the head from his stallion. The evening at the lake was cold and bare feet.

    The next day some of the group went for a day ride, some (incl. Tom) went for a ride and hike up a mountain. I had a lazy day at the lake painting the scenery (still no camera), making some firewood, chopping all veggies for dinner and having some Flossy-ribs for lunch with John. The evening went by with a curry and some cold air. We left the lake and returned to the place with the hot springs the next day. We again camped inside one of the wooden huts and so had a nice wind free tent zone. After a wonderful hot bath I realized that my riding time was over and I had not fallen off a horse. Wohoo! While Tom spent the next day on Edgar and galloped a lot, I had a nice photo day in the car (thanks for the camera Telery). We camped again at the nice spot at the river. It rained all night and when we broke down our tent it started to snow… We mounted the cars and after endless streches of snowed “roads” and mountain peaks next to us we made it to a ger camp having a grown up blizzard around us. We shared the ger with the americanos and had a nice evening (and earlier car ride 😀 ) with beer (thanks to the donor) and vodka.

    The next day we finally reached the wonderful large Khar nuur (black lake) where we would camp 2 nights. The lake is surrounded by sand dunes which don’t fit into the scenery at all. You sit between birch trees, look around and see water, sand dunes and snowy mountain peaks. As we had a full day to spend at the lake we decided to do a hike together with Telery and Laura the next day. Head wind and dune sand is a bad bad combination. It’s strenous to walk in and once in a while you get a free face peeling on top. We hiked to a kind of pass. I stopped some 20 meters below the actual pass to sit there and draw a quick sketch into my painting book. I had icy cold hands when Tom and I started the descent, but at least the way back was far easier to walk. The rest of the day went by chilling, sleeping and enjoying the sun. In the evening we shared the last bottle of vodka and sat together in the large communal tent.

    The next and last day we drove to the airport of Uliastai, saw 29 marmots on the way and tried to soak in the last bits of the countryside. After a nice and smooth 1:45h flight to Ulaan-Baatar the city life and chaos had us back. A quick cold shower was followed by a quick indian meal, a quick goodbye and a not so quick drive back to the airport. After check-in and security we had a beer (thanks Susannah) and a strange flight to Seoul. After take off we received some peanuts (no drinks) and it took a good hour until the dinner was served (it was around 1:30am then). Another hour later the descend started and we arrived in Seoul at 4:40 am.

    Bye bye Mongolia and Bayarkhalaa!
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