Mongolian Tour: Gobi and Sub-Gobi Desert PART 2

Both the desert and ice canyon in one day!

I still cannot quite wrap by mind around the fact we saw an ice canyon surround by the Gobi desert.  I understand the process that created it, but it just doesn’t fit with what you expect to find in the middle of a desert! We had a lovely walk around the area and had a competition to see whose icy hands would fall off first...naturally. The area in which we stayed was often a highlight of our days for me, especially when goats on barrels were involved!

Camels and singing sand dunes

Sometimes it is easy to forget just how long we spent on the road. Some days it was as much as 8 hours but it probably averaged around 6 hours. To get to the wonders of Mongolia a long time in a vehicle and a very bumpy road is not only necessary, but part of the experience. I loved the way we stopped off to talk to passing parties. 

One of our many roadside chats

After a morning driving we reached a family that herded camels. The children were again gorgeous and the camels were willing to take us on their backs! Due to the season you really only had to lightly touch the camel and its hair came off in your hand. 

Our ride on the two-humped camels through the desert was enjoyable but I am glad it was not longer than a half hour. Our destination was the GREAT 2015 CLIMBING THE SAND DUNES CHALLENGE. It was really hard going. We kept thinking we were close only to go a bit further and realise there was a lot more hill left to climb, and it was only getting steeper. I think our camel guide left us at the hardest bit as a joke! Eventually Sarah had enough and started to walk back to the ger. The rest of us, perhaps stupidly, persevered ten steps at a time. Not only did the sand in our shoes and clothes weigh us down but it really felt like 3 steps forwards 2 steps sinking back. We were well and truly rewarded at the top.

The "singing" sand dunes were known for the tremendous noise that occurred when you ran down the dunes, displacing sand as you went:

~ TO BE CONTINUED~

Part I - The Planning - Entering Mongolia (Travel Dream!)

The key is flexibility!

I've heard too many horror stories, and experienced a few too, so we really wanted to make the Chinese to Mongolia border crossing an enjoyable but painless one.  If I were to rate the desired experience on a scale, I'd put it "somewhere on the scale of nothing like Thailand to Vietnam" and "more adventurous than Vietnam to Cambodia" (which it seems we never wrote about).

Originally, we were to traverse the great Eurasian continent by train, from Beijing to Ulaanbataar to Irkutsk to Moscow and Saint Petersburg.  Timetables and our own deadlines dictated that we would have only spent 5 days in Ulaanbataaar, something with which we were always a little uncomfortable.  In a strange set of circumstances, what with the Russian visa development, [maybe] meeting Oliver in Helsinki, Christine in Dublin and having already purchased tickets to connect the two; AND the Great Chinese Firewall standing between us and a functioning PayPal account* (needed to buy Beijing-UB train tickets from CITS), we made the decision to spend the period of time between our Chinese visas expiring (late May) and our flight from Helsinki to Dublin (early July), in Mongolia.  The Russians [sort of] didn't want us, so this plan really was the only semi-logical one that had the bonus of allowing as much longer in Mongolia than originally planned.

While making our plans to get to Ulaanbataar, we realised that the "Trans-Mongolian" itself was a rather loose term that we could redefine to meet our own needs.  As it was a travel dream, we decided that as long as we actually saw some of Mongolia by train, we could still say we did the Trans-Mongolian, even if not from Beijing and even if not literally to cross the China/Mongolia border. 

Thanks to the amazing help of this wikitravel article and TripAdvisor contributors, we managed to get ourselves to Ulaanbataar from Beijing through a combination of public bus, metro, long-distance sleeper bus, dodgy hotel, jeep, train and a right-hand drive car (Mongolians have both left and right-hand drive, depending on whether they are Japanese or Russian cars!).

As far as booking trains through China, Mongolia and Russia goes, there is a lot of fear and a lot of misinformation (some of it intentional and some of it not).  The process is so different and so confusing that Lonely Planet even have a book dedicated to the Trans-Siberian Railway and how you navigate the fear and confusion.  We wanted to avoid some of the high prices charged by the likes of Real Russia and Vodka Train - although I am sure they do a great job of making it easier for you.  Besides the high prices, we never had a fixed address to have anything mailed to, which seemed a pre-requisite for these services. PLUS who doesn't love trying it the "independent" way?

Trains from Beijing to Ulaanbataar only leave once a week, on a Wednesday.  However, from Zamin-Uud, a tiny border town in Mongolia, they leave for Ulaanbataar daily, all we needed to do was get to the Mongolian border via long-distance bus. For inexplicable reasons, I don't think you can book the bus online or over the phone but with the help of TripAdvisor and the ever helpful "King Kong" and "Sharon" from 365 Inn (our Beijing hostel) we hatched a plan.  

The Plan

1. 27 May - Muxiyuan Long Distance Bus Station, Beijing, China

2. 27 May - overnight bus to Zamin-Uud, "Outer Mongolia" as the Chinese refer to the Mongolian People's Republic.  We were very desperate to ensure that we took a bus to Zamin-Uud and not to Erlian, the Chinese border town; our understanding was that border processing would be a lot easier if we could just stay on the bus (you cannot cross the Chinese/Mongolian border on foot).

3. 28 May - overnight train to Ulaanbataar train station.

4. 29 May - pickup from Sunpath Mongolia (one of THE GREATEST organisations we have come across on this trip).

For "The Execution" you will need to read Part II of this entry!  Stay tuned!

*In a horror story that is still not resolved, PayPal suspended access to both of our accounts due to "unusual activity", a situation we were not able to resolve even with 2 weeks in Japan (outside the Great Firewall) and meant that we were unable to pay for our train tickets from Beijing to Ulaanbataar online.  I highly recommend anyone planning to go on a trip like this, that you setup multiple PayPal accounts, just in case they arbitrarily decide to freeze your account.  Here is a link to a discussion about where this has had nasty consequences.

ACCEPTING CHALLENGES TO RAISE MONEY FOR NEPALI YOUTH

For a while Rob and I have been thinking we would like to raise money for those less fortunate in the countries we have visited. It would be great to be able to assist somehow in increasing the educational and vocational opportunities for youth, like those I worked with at the orphanage in Ho Chi Minh. 

Right now we would love to raise some money to aid Nepali youth both for the immediate need now and for their future needs beyond emergency assistance. The devastation that the two recent large earthquakes have caused is incomprehensible. We want to assist in any small way we can. 

We have decided to support UNICEF and will be taking bids and challenges from people for some of our future destinations in exchange for a pledge to give to UNICEF's "Nepal Earthquake Children's Appeal".

"UNICEF is working tirelessly to do whatever it takes to ensure the health and safety of Nepal's children.

The most pressing needs include:

* Shelter for people struggling to protect themselves from the sun and rain,

* Clean water,

* Health – more than 80 per cent of health facilities in the five most severely affected districts have been severely damaged, with treatment taking place outside,

* Support for children who have experienced extreme stress,

* Learning centres and safe spaces to help children get back to a normal routine as quickly as possible."

If you want to support this cause, and see us juggling on the streets of Kyoto, eating squid sashimi, or interviewing strangers in Ulaanbaatar…. Then visit our Facebook page. You can donate directly, or we will accept funds by Paypal or bank transfer and donate to UNICEF's appeal on your behalf. 

Here's a list of our upcoming destinations where you can set us location specific challenges!

• Kyoto
• Ulaanbataar
• Helsinki
• Dublin and around Ireland & Edinburgh

So far we will be 

*Singing the Jamaican bobsled team song on a busy street.

*Spending a day dressed in green and only eating green things.

A big thanks to Christie, DJ and Tim for the donations and challenges!

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More to come!

Hiking in Nepal in February