Mongolia was cold and Ulaanbaator the poorest and most underdeveloped city we've ever seen. It seems that nearly half the city consists of the Mongolian equivalent of a trailer park, substituting a trailer for the original mobile home, the semi-permanent felt yurt, known as the ger. Ulaanbaator was originally known as the city of felt, traditionally being a ger encampment that grew over time to become the largest city in Mongolia. During the communist era, however the Soviet Union pumped money into Mongolia, subsidizing the building of numerous
housing blocks and nearly eliminating the ger from the city. But, with the fall of the Soviet Union, that funding ended and the population was forced to revert to the traditional housing, if they could afford even that. The dirt streets of the city are now littered with homeless children and hypodermic needles, and as the friendly host at our guest house said, "there are some good things and some bad things," about the end of communism and the acceptance of capitalism in Mongolia.
But Mongolia was in a celebratory mood when we were there. It seemed the whole country was high on the olympcs. Mongolia won 4 medals, including 2 gold, making 31st place overall. The night we returned from our outing to the national park was the night of the homecoming of the Olympic medalists. Each gold medalist recieved the equivalent of $1,125,000 in a combination of private donations and government rewards. As our guest house host also told us, hopefully this will symbolize a new beggining for Mongolia and the end of the hardships brought on by the transition from communism.
We left Mongolia wishing that we'd had more time to spend there. It seemed like we were some of the only people who weren't planning on staying for a few weeks or a month. The country is so vast and the land so undeveloped that it takes a long time to get any distance. Thus, though we would have liked to see the unbelievably vast plains of the steppe or the camels wandering the Gobi desert, the furthest we were able to make it away from the city was about 70 kilometers to Terelj national park.Terelj is situated in a mountaious river valley and filled with gers for tourists to stay in. It's supposedly the birthplace of Ghengis Khan, Mongolia's national hero. We stayed for two nights and three days, more than is necessary to appreciate the park. The highlight of our stay was the six hours we spent on stubborn Mongolian horses trying hopelessly to get them to go anywhere faster than we could have gone at a slow walking pace. Or trying not to have them stop and lay down unannounced.
At the moment, we're sitting on a bus to lake Baikal. We left Irkutsk early this morning to go to Olkohn island which is situated approximately half way up the eastern side of the lake.Lake Bailal is the planet's largest fresh water lake, containing 20% of all the fresh water on earth. If all other sources of fresh water were to dissapear tomorrow, the water in lake Bailal would sustain the worlds needs for 40 years. It's nearly a mile deep and it's said that taking a sip from the lake's drinkably clean water adds 5 years
to your life.
And finally, my first impression of Russia: cheap cologne does not adequately conceal the odour caused by never washing one's clothes.
--Richy
31.8.08
21.8.08
On the train from Beijing to Ulaan Baatar
We just finished our 5 days in China feeling like we're going to have to go back for more someday. There's just so much history, so much culture, and so much to see. I'm glad that we weren't able to get ferry tickets to Tianjin, because our one day in Qingdao was really worth it. There, I feel like we really got to see some of the "real" China before heading to Beijing which had been thoroughly sanitized and mall-ified for the Olympics.
In Qingdao, we stayed at a quaint and well-organized hostel established in an old church on hill and it was surrounded by old crumbling buildings and hutong alleyways. A little further up the hill we found another hostel in an old observatory with an amazing rooftop lounge. The night view of the city was spectacular and we chilled out there for a few hours, enjoying the cool breeze, some (local) Tsingtao beers, and the US vs. China women's volleyball game projected on one of the old observatory domes. The next day we wandered around the city a bit before catching the evening train to Beijing. We got to visit a famous temple and ring the official Olympic mascot bell, as well as take a tour of the Tsingtao brewery.
Upon arriving in Beijing, we were wowed by the strange immaculate cleanliness of the city compared to Seoul and Qingdao. Then it took us a while to find our hostel in the middle of the night because it didn't have a sign. Other than that, Chinese Box hostel was a pretty nice chilled out hostel in the middle of a charming (and relatively sanitized) old hutong neighborhood. We met some interesting folks there and ended up having one long night of alcohol-fueled political conversation (bordering at times on outright argument) between the three of us Greeners, a conservative American libertarian from Detroit and a German college dropout (who claimed to be set to inherit his father's 18 million euros). We all ended on friendly "let's agree to disagree" terms though.
The first day in Beijing, we explored the maze-like grounds of the Forbidden City (which was gigantic and thoroughly overwhelming) and then wandered around for photo ops around Tienanmen square. At one point, I was asked to pose for some photos by a Chinese mother and quickly had my arms filled with an adorable, chubby little Chinese baby. I felt like a politician, but in a cool way. We ended the day with a delicious dinner of Peking duck and pork dumplings.
On the second day, we spend the morning hoofing around for tickets to Ulaan Baatar without much luck (they just told us to come back the next day), so we decided at the last minute to catch a bus out to Mutianu to see the Great Wall. Because we started relatively late, we ended up getting grabbed off the bus by a faux cab driver who offered to take us to the top and back for 50 yuan each (less than $10). It was about the same as the minibus price, so we went for it. We took the cable car up and spent a little over an hour drinking in the view, taking photos and running around. It's pretty much how you expect: really big and awesome. Basically all the old stuff in China totally dwarfs all the old stuff in Korea. Kinda sad that Korea was so poor for so long and then got reduced to rubble only 50 years ago. On the way back down our "cab driver" offered to trade us Bevin for his 10 sisters, but we politely declined (only because we don't have enough money to buy train tickets for his sisters). k-k-k-k-k.
On our final day in Beijing, we did a lot of running around: buying train tickets, seeing Mao Zedong's plasticized dead body (which required running back and forth across the street to check our bags), visiting the snack market alley and nearby mall, hoofing it up to Olympic park to try to score some cheap scalped Olympics tickets (none in groups of three though, so only Bevin ended up attending an event - 800 yuan to see Brazil v. Argentina in the soccer semi-fina), and finally Richy and I went to the night market, took a bike rickshaw ride and photographed Tienanmen square at night. There was definitely enough to do and see to last us a few more days in Beijing, but we have a lot more traveling to do, so we have to keep moving. I am however, relieved to leave behind all the pain in the ass heightened security, which required us to wait in lines everywhere we went and get our bags x-rayed dozens of times during our short stay.
We look forward to arriving in Ulaan Baatar tomorrow afternoon and staying at Oyuna Guesthouse. We're hoping to find a way out into the countryside to do some camping and get back to nature after our long sojourn in urban environments.
by Katie
In Qingdao, we stayed at a quaint and well-organized hostel established in an old church on hill and it was surrounded by old crumbling buildings and hutong alleyways. A little further up the hill we found another hostel in an old observatory with an amazing rooftop lounge. The night view of the city was spectacular and we chilled out there for a few hours, enjoying the cool breeze, some (local) Tsingtao beers, and the US vs. China women's volleyball game projected on one of the old observatory domes. The next day we wandered around the city a bit before catching the evening train to Beijing. We got to visit a famous temple and ring the official Olympic mascot bell, as well as take a tour of the Tsingtao brewery.
Upon arriving in Beijing, we were wowed by the strange immaculate cleanliness of the city compared to Seoul and Qingdao. Then it took us a while to find our hostel in the middle of the night because it didn't have a sign. Other than that, Chinese Box hostel was a pretty nice chilled out hostel in the middle of a charming (and relatively sanitized) old hutong neighborhood. We met some interesting folks there and ended up having one long night of alcohol-fueled political conversation (bordering at times on outright argument) between the three of us Greeners, a conservative American libertarian from Detroit and a German college dropout (who claimed to be set to inherit his father's 18 million euros). We all ended on friendly "let's agree to disagree" terms though.
The first day in Beijing, we explored the maze-like grounds of the Forbidden City (which was gigantic and thoroughly overwhelming) and then wandered around for photo ops around Tienanmen square. At one point, I was asked to pose for some photos by a Chinese mother and quickly had my arms filled with an adorable, chubby little Chinese baby. I felt like a politician, but in a cool way. We ended the day with a delicious dinner of Peking duck and pork dumplings.
On the second day, we spend the morning hoofing around for tickets to Ulaan Baatar without much luck (they just told us to come back the next day), so we decided at the last minute to catch a bus out to Mutianu to see the Great Wall. Because we started relatively late, we ended up getting grabbed off the bus by a faux cab driver who offered to take us to the top and back for 50 yuan each (less than $10). It was about the same as the minibus price, so we went for it. We took the cable car up and spent a little over an hour drinking in the view, taking photos and running around. It's pretty much how you expect: really big and awesome. Basically all the old stuff in China totally dwarfs all the old stuff in Korea. Kinda sad that Korea was so poor for so long and then got reduced to rubble only 50 years ago. On the way back down our "cab driver" offered to trade us Bevin for his 10 sisters, but we politely declined (only because we don't have enough money to buy train tickets for his sisters). k-k-k-k-k.
On our final day in Beijing, we did a lot of running around: buying train tickets, seeing Mao Zedong's plasticized dead body (which required running back and forth across the street to check our bags), visiting the snack market alley and nearby mall, hoofing it up to Olympic park to try to score some cheap scalped Olympics tickets (none in groups of three though, so only Bevin ended up attending an event - 800 yuan to see Brazil v. Argentina in the soccer semi-fina), and finally Richy and I went to the night market, took a bike rickshaw ride and photographed Tienanmen square at night. There was definitely enough to do and see to last us a few more days in Beijing, but we have a lot more traveling to do, so we have to keep moving. I am however, relieved to leave behind all the pain in the ass heightened security, which required us to wait in lines everywhere we went and get our bags x-rayed dozens of times during our short stay.
We look forward to arriving in Ulaan Baatar tomorrow afternoon and staying at Oyuna Guesthouse. We're hoping to find a way out into the countryside to do some camping and get back to nature after our long sojourn in urban environments.
by Katie
15.8.08
On the Slow Boat to China...
Today was a strange day. There are so many mixed emotions about leaving Korea: trepidation about going to a new place, excitement for moving on to new adventures, sadness for leaving behind good friends, happiness to see an old friend again (Bevin), and finally, relief to leave behind all the responsibilities and annoyances that life in Korea entailed for us.
We cleaned out our apartment (with some help from some lovely folks at Banghak Middle School), updated our facebook statuses, christened our journey with some 11am Scuttlebutt microbrews (that Bevin imported for us) and set off for what I hope will be the adventure of our lives. I tried to instill some team mentality for the three of us by buying some matching Buddhist rosary bracelets at the temple in Insadong, but I'll be happy as long as they retain enough sandalwood smell to take the edge off our acrid traveller's BO.
The ferry to China is, as Bevin put it, "like a really ghetto cruise ship." In other words, way above our expectations. I guess as long as we keep our expectations low, our journey will be full of pleasant surprises.
The task for Richy and I now is to stop trying to speak Korean to anyone we interact with who doesn't speak English, and to stop comparing all we see and do to our experiences in Korea. I really hope we don't bore Bevin to death with our constant anecdotes and ruminations on comparative Korean culture and philosophy.
By Katie
10.8.08
Official Katie and Richy Itinerary!
Here's the plan for our grand adventure. Dates marked with * are estimates only, all travel is by train unless otherwise noted:
8/14/08 Katie, Richy and Bevin Protas will depart on the Weidong ferry from Incheon, Korea to Qingdao, China at 5pm http://www.weidong.co.kr/
8/15/08 arrive in Qingdao at 9:00 am. Wander around. Take a night train to Beijing.
8/16/08 arrive in Beijing and check in to Chinese Box International Hostel for 4 nights http://www.asiarooms.com/china/beijing/chinese_box_hostel.html
8/20/08 depart Beijing for Ulaan Batar, Mongolia
8/21/08 arrive in Ulaan Batar, accommodations TBA
8/24 or 8/25/08 depart Ulaan Batar for Irkutsk, Russia
*8/25 arrive in Irkutsk, Russia and visit sites around Lake Baikal - emergency contact in Irkutsk:
Via Marina Shunina (our Russian friend who teaches in Seoul) "if u need any help or info while u r in Irkutsk, heres the cell phone number of a friend of mine..she speaks english well n ready to help u if u call her while u r in Irkutsk- ************ her names Yulya (Julia in english variant i think^^)"
*8/30 depart Irkutsk for Moscow (3 days on the train)
*9/2 arrive in Moscow
*9/3 or 9/4 depart Moscow for St. Petersburg (around this point we will part with our dear friend Bevin and she will travel on by plane to the Czech Republic and Ireland respectively).
*9/4 arrive in St. Petersburg
*9/6 depart St. Petersberg by ferry for Helsinki, Finland.
*9/6 arrive in Helsinki, Finland
*9/8 depart Helsinki, Finland for Stockholm, Sweden by ferry.
*9/9 arrive in Stockholm
*9/10 depart Stockholm for Copenhagen, Denmark by train.
*9/11 arrive in Copenhagen, Denmark.
*9/12 depart Copenhagen, Denmark for Amsterdam, Netherlands
*9/12 or 9/13 arrive in Amsterdam, possibly meet up with Kimmie, J, Doug, Sara and/or Noor Naaijkens (our friend from the Netherlands)
* 9/14 depart Amsterdam for Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands (Noor's hometown) we plan to spend a few days with Noor and her family while Kimmie and company move on to Belgium and destinations in northwestern France.
*9/18 to 9/28 travel with Noor (probably by her father's car, Richy driving) to meet Kimmie and company somewhere around Paris. At this point, Kimmie will depart from her company (Doug, Sara and J will return to Frankfurt, Germany) and join Noor, Richy, and I for some lovely car touring around western Europe. At some point we'll need to end up back in the Netherlands to take Noor back to Hilvarenbeek and rent a car to continue our travels.
*9/28 arrive in Munich, Germany for Octoberfest. Accommodations are booked, but Kimmie has the info on that.
*10/1 depart Munich for other fun and interesting European destinations.
*10/8 depart Dusseldorf, Germany for Vancouver, BC, Canada at 1:00 pm by plane:
LTU International Airways # 1582
Dusseldorf International (DUS) to Vancouver Intl (YVR)
Departure (DUS): October 8, 1:00 PM CEST (afternoon)
Arrival (YVR): October 8, 2:05 PM PDT (afternoon) What!? It only takes an hour? k-k-k- :P
*10/8 (the longest day of our lives, literally) arrive in Vancouver at 2:05 pm, and depart Vancouver by Greyhound bus or car (if someone wants to pick us up *wink*wink*) for Yelm, Washington USA!!! Our 14 month journey all the way around the Northern hemisphere complete!
8/14/08 Katie, Richy and Bevin Protas will depart on the Weidong ferry from Incheon, Korea to Qingdao, China at 5pm http://www.weidong.co.kr/
8/15/08 arrive in Qingdao at 9:00 am. Wander around. Take a night train to Beijing.
8/16/08 arrive in Beijing and check in to Chinese Box International Hostel for 4 nights http://www.asiarooms.com/china/beijing/chinese_box_hostel.html
8/20/08 depart Beijing for Ulaan Batar, Mongolia
8/21/08 arrive in Ulaan Batar, accommodations TBA
8/24 or 8/25/08 depart Ulaan Batar for Irkutsk, Russia
*8/25 arrive in Irkutsk, Russia and visit sites around Lake Baikal - emergency contact in Irkutsk:
Via Marina Shunina (our Russian friend who teaches in Seoul) "if u need any help or info while u r in Irkutsk, heres the cell phone number of a friend of mine..she speaks english well n ready to help u if u call her while u r in Irkutsk- ************ her names Yulya (Julia in english variant i think^^)"
*8/30 depart Irkutsk for Moscow (3 days on the train)
*9/2 arrive in Moscow
*9/3 or 9/4 depart Moscow for St. Petersburg (around this point we will part with our dear friend Bevin and she will travel on by plane to the Czech Republic and Ireland respectively).
*9/4 arrive in St. Petersburg
*9/6 depart St. Petersberg by ferry for Helsinki, Finland.
*9/6 arrive in Helsinki, Finland
*9/8 depart Helsinki, Finland for Stockholm, Sweden by ferry.
*9/9 arrive in Stockholm
*9/10 depart Stockholm for Copenhagen, Denmark by train.
*9/11 arrive in Copenhagen, Denmark.
*9/12 depart Copenhagen, Denmark for Amsterdam, Netherlands
*9/12 or 9/13 arrive in Amsterdam, possibly meet up with Kimmie, J, Doug, Sara and/or Noor Naaijkens (our friend from the Netherlands)
* 9/14 depart Amsterdam for Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands (Noor's hometown) we plan to spend a few days with Noor and her family while Kimmie and company move on to Belgium and destinations in northwestern France.
*9/18 to 9/28 travel with Noor (probably by her father's car, Richy driving) to meet Kimmie and company somewhere around Paris. At this point, Kimmie will depart from her company (Doug, Sara and J will return to Frankfurt, Germany) and join Noor, Richy, and I for some lovely car touring around western Europe. At some point we'll need to end up back in the Netherlands to take Noor back to Hilvarenbeek and rent a car to continue our travels.
*9/28 arrive in Munich, Germany for Octoberfest. Accommodations are booked, but Kimmie has the info on that.
*10/1 depart Munich for other fun and interesting European destinations.
*10/8 depart Dusseldorf, Germany for Vancouver, BC, Canada at 1:00 pm by plane:
LTU International Airways # 1582
Dusseldorf International (DUS) to Vancouver Intl (YVR)
Departure (DUS): October 8, 1:00 PM CEST (afternoon)
Arrival (YVR): October 8, 2:05 PM PDT (afternoon) What!? It only takes an hour? k-k-k- :P
*10/8 (the longest day of our lives, literally) arrive in Vancouver at 2:05 pm, and depart Vancouver by Greyhound bus or car (if someone wants to pick us up *wink*wink*) for Yelm, Washington USA!!! Our 14 month journey all the way around the Northern hemisphere complete!
5.8.08
9 days
Went to the pension office today to cash in our retirement. Luckily, we'll be getting back twice as much as we thought we would. The South Korean gov't matches your contributions, so we get around 2,000 instead of the 1,000 we thought we'd get.
We still have to start really packing our things, though we've started sorting things, slightly.
It doesn't seem like we're leaving in practically a week. But we are.
We still have to start really packing our things, though we've started sorting things, slightly.
It doesn't seem like we're leaving in practically a week. But we are.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)