Impressions from Mongolia

Here are some first impressions of our 4 day tour to the monglian country side and the place we stayed the first night (Khögnö Khan):

Route

Our accompished route so far:

Through mountains and deserts to Mongolia

Leaving Beijing monday morning at 08.05 and arriving to Ulan Bator, Mongolia the next day at 13.50 right on time. The train journey was relaxing and the landscapes amazing. First we went literally through the mountains in China and in the morning through Gobi desert. On the border of China and Mongolia we stayed in the train to see how they change the bougies of the train (telit suomeksi). Quite a show! They lifted up the whole train to change the "tires"! We were in side as the train was lifted. This took two hours. During the show we could have stayed at the dead station, but we decided to go back to train after some shopping and still made it back before the train was moved to this show room.

Mongolia seems to be as exotic as we thought; The nature, the people and the atmosphere. And the cold shower that Maija enjoyed was refreshing as a dip into the lake in winter in Finland (just without the sauna afterwards) ;). It was raining as we arrived and it is quite cold (some 15°C), but we decided the outdoor days will be sunny!

The  current plan is to look around Ulan Bator tomorrow and get tickets to Russian side for the 1.7. The three days after tomorrow we are hopefully touring in the natural parks in Mongolia.

Mongolialaisten supermarketissa oli Valion Oltermannia ja Violaa ;). eh.

Bye bye Beijing

We saw a lot in Beijing and would be happy to come back again to meet Maijas biggest fans ;). It´s time to leave for Mongolia and say Ciao to the funny chinese people. The best thing we learned today was how to make a "do it yourself" -cleenex-box underneath your work desk. This was kindly adviced as a video in the local bus. Yesterdays highlight of the rainy day was to drink Beijing yogurt and watch Finding Nemo in the Water Cube from 2008 Olympics. The happy chinese people were watching the movie in the pool! The two lego pictures are for Ella and Eelis from the water cube lego exhibition ;).

Steamed tourists

A little hike up to the Great Wall and back in 38°C was todays first sweat contest. Maija might have won. Elina knows about the famous Kreuzberg hike in the nineties ;); this was even better! Some blond girls are not designed for hot hikes after three days in smog ;). In the evening we had dinner in a Sichuan region chili restaurant. It was Christians turn to win the sweat contest. Some beardy guys are not designed for pure chili dishes ;).

We booked one night from a hostel in Ulan Bator, Mongolia where we should arrive on the 25th.

Happy midsummer!! Hyvää juhannusta!