Your Hatters Hostel

Days 18 – 28

Righty ho… let’s roll onwards to the end of what has been a great experience. We considered going on horseback after trying them out for a few hours but then we saw the camels!! Alberto decided two heads were better than one but decided against it after the local ladies preferred the new head! We met some great characters that have their own story including a guy that was driving his way through the world and had to abandon his car in Omsk when it broke down and there was no where that could fix it. The train ride home was where two worlds met with locals pondering who the Borat impersonator was supposed to be. From a world where pet pigs wear ribbons in their hair and people get drunk on horse milk,  I say thank you very much for the experience and the courtesy that you showed us. The rest of you… get off your bums and go meet these people!

Day 13-17 The internet connections were not available for the last week or so which to be honest was great as it meant soaking up this great country without interruptions from the western civilizations. We drove from Ulaanbaatar to Karakorum (Khalkha in Mongolian) which took about 7 hours on the mighty dusty highway. Once there we visited Erdene Zuu monastery which is where Genghis Khan rallied his crew before setting off into history. The hostel we stayed in was also very unique….. see the pic! It consisted of many yurts with 3 beds and a stove in the centre. It was a great place to clear your head and to appreciate your surroundings, removed from everything that you would normally think to be important. The following night we spent with local families in their own Yurts where we were treated to some local alcoholic broth called Kumis made with mares milk. This was a great experience out in the middle of isolation where power came via a solar panel and TV came via a massive satellite dish watched on a 10 inch black and white portable for a max 30 minutes a day ..which is plenty! Peace out people.

Day 12

After 36 hours on the train and on the ‘Batter’ (slang for beer according to an Irish guy) we arrive in Ulaanbattar. It was a little overcast but the colourful city made up for it. We checked into our hostel which was a couple of apartments joined together on a 3rd floor and were eager to walk around after so long sitting down. We tried to blend in with the locals, and we watched some large pigeons assert their dominance over little people in the local temple.(?!?) We hung around the city centre where the people were very polite and friendly. Even the thieves that robbed some of our wallets gave back the wallets but without the money-They were hoping for a reward! To liven things up in the evening we tried playing the local instruments called ‘Morin Khuur‘  aka ‘horse head fiddle’ and of course the more we drank,  the better we got. Tomorrow we hit the road again.

Days 10 and 11

After a refreshing couple of days stretching our legs and wandering around the island it’s time to board the train and advance closer to Mongolia. All the kids are hiding as word has spread of the previous ‘kids wrestling’ TransSiberian tournament. Even the local animals are hiding in case we turn our attention to Doggie wrestling due to a shortage of kids. We take our seats and as is the nature of this trip, we prepare to sample as much of the local lifestyle as is possible within a 6 x 6 ft cabin. (By lifestyle I mean the collection of home made local brew that were given to one of us by a very friendly local lady named P–æ–≥–æ–≤–æ–π.) It was not until many hours and kilometers later that upon checking up random words in a companion’s dictionary that I realized that that may not have been her name after all..as the literal translation is horny!!  A unique opportunity perhaps lost in translation but the train keeps moving onwards. Roll on Mongolia… with dictionary in hand!