Day 1: had a kip cos I was knackered from the overnight flight. Got up at about 1 and decided to explore the city. It did take me a while to master their Metro system as the map I was given had the English stop names but the trains and stations themselves only used the cyrillic spellings. By the end of the next day I was actually enjoying the Metro puzzle as it reminded me of the codes I had to break in puzzle books from when I was younger. When I did emerge from the Metro I had by pure chance stumbled across one of the many entrances to the Kremlin. Although Kremlin sounds slightly ominous because it is spelt simiarly to those weird green goblins it actually means Fortress (or Castle) and is exactly that. A massive red fortress right in the middle of Moscow which is where their parliament, national treasures and most famous churches are. To be honest makes Big Ben seem a bit shit. One part of the Kremlin is called the Armoury this is were they store their most valuable treasures and this is were I visited first. Highlights included Faberge eggs, Royal carriages and the most extravagant incense burner I have ever seen.
Day 2: started much earlier with a guided tour, I could list all the facts and figures I learnt but you'll just have visit Moscow yourself but I will mention a tradition that I thought was quite romantic. When couples get married they go together to a shop to buy the toughest pad lock they can, they then write their names on it, they then go to a bridge and lock their lock on to the railing (or some bridges have specially designed metal trees) and together throw the key into the river, this symbolizes their eternal love...ahhh!
Day 3: included visiting the rest of the Kremlin (it is massive) and a couple of art galleries which although boring to read about I did enjoy.
Moscow summary
Russians (like asians apparently) are not that bothered about queueing whether on foot or in a car yet at the same time are actually very polite (they are especially quick to offer up seats in the Metro).Some of Moscows highlights are underground...the Metro stations are surprisingly beautiful, they also have a massive underground shopping mall and the subways which are essential for crossing the street safely are a curious combination of lingerie shop, weapons shop (including samurai swords (these 2 shops are actually right next to each other)), Gregg the bakers and occassionally a live music venue.
Chapter 2 will include the Primark train and ger camps. Stay tuned.
As I am sure you can imagine 5 days on a train is not the most exhilarating of stories but I will proceed to describe the highlights and lowlights. The cabin was cramped as every four berth cabin I have ever been in has been. Luckily my cabin mates were very nice: Simon a middle class man who although originally from Liverpool but didn't have much of an accent, Jennifer a Scottish women who has Parkinsons syndrome and a Mongolian student who we did not communicate with much because we didn't speak the same language but mostly because she was never in the cabin preferring to spend her free time with the other students on the train.
My days were spent reading, talking, sleeping or photographing the passing scenery. Some of the views were very beautiful but due to my inexperience with a camera, the moving train I was on and the sheer vastness of the views I did not really manage to do them justice with my photo's. As my the journey progressed I slowly met more and more Westerners on the train either those who were merely in other carriages or those who boarded at later stations. These included Michelle another Brit, a Swedish couple, a French couple with a tandem bicycle (for cycling around Mongolia!), a tour group guided by the very helpful Natalia, two very liberal Finns and 80 year old merchant navy veteran.
The tour company I had booked through had very helpfully provided me with a guide book telling me interesting facts and informing me of essential information. Less helpfully this information was very inaccurate and therefore I now question the authenticity of the interesting facts. For example it told me that I would have access to a shower (false), that it would be unwise to bring Pot Noodles as they would offend the nostrils of the other train users (false all the Mongolians ate was a Russian version of Pot Noodle), that I would be able to charge electrical gadgets (false none of our adapters were compatible to the Mongolian plug sockets) and finally that the restaurant car would be a heaving hub of social activity (false, run by a Russian family most of the activity came from the nine year old child who would muck about when not watching Tom and Jerry). Another strange thing about the restaurant car was whatever you ordered one day would either look completely different the next day or would not be available the next day. Fortunately I didn't eat much because I wasn't using much energy.
Although the lack of amenities made the journey slightly unpleasant physically, the scenic views and the interesting and entertaining conversation of my fellow travellers made it an enjoyable journey overall.
The two days I spent at the Ger camp were really enjoyable and I highly recommend it. Mongolia averages 256 days of blue skies a year. These blue skies combined with the green rolling planes and the silence of the great open created very relaxing atmosphere. While there I spent most of my time relaxing and enjoying the tranquillity but this was also interrupted by various activities. We tried out Mongolian bow and arrow, went horse riding, visited a more traditional ger tent were we tried the delicious delicacy fermented mares milk. I also found time to scale the peak of the highest nearest hill were I thrice circled the pile of rocks at top to ward away evil spirits and spied in the distance in the middle of nowhere a massive gleaming statue of Genghis Khan on his horse apparently built to ward away any further attempts to invade Mongolia.
The last thing worth mentioning about the ger camp is how goats are very integral part of the traditional Mongolian way of life. They spend their days herding them. They use their dung as fuel for their fires keeping them warm and cooking their food. Every meal features goat and goats milk in various forms. Furthermore we were introduced to traditional in door games which used the spine bones of the goat as pieces.
We then returned to Ulaanbatar for one more night in a hotel before catching the train to Beijing. In the evening our guide took us to a show. I'm struggling to find an accurate title for it. It was essentially a fashion show which showcased modernised versions of traditional Mongolian clothes but this was interspersed with various performance including a mime, contortionists, dancers, solo and group musical performances featuring throat singing and the horse head lyre. Wonderful. The last day was mostly spent blogging and booking my hostel in Beijing but I did find time to visit the Mongolian history museum where I was given some beautiful Mongolian calligraphy.
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