Mongolia is proving rather difficult to get around due to a lack of public transport and the condition of the roads (if you can call them that!). Plus the fact, we don't know what most of them are saying.
We managed to get an extension to 46 days and applied for our chinese visas. Fingers crossed everything is in order this time but we don't find out until we finish our loop and end up back in Ulanbaator. The chinese visa experience was a bit scary, the security guard was a bit militant to say the least and kept ordering people round with his baton which doubled up as a taser. At one point Jo thought I was going to get a few volts through me and end up on the floor!!
Lots of people we spoke to have been making trips out of the capital only to return before making other trips out telling us they can't get any further. We are refusing to believe them! The alternative is going on an organised tour which is very expensive and the thought of being dicated to is not sitting well with the both of us, not that we are stubborn or anything.
After Ulanbaator we arrived in a town called Kharkorin, which is accesible by public bus, where we stayed at a very basic guesthouse in our first ger. For those who don't know, a ger is basically a glorified tent with a few beds, a light and a fire. It's refreshing living so basic, we even left our big backpacks in Ulanbaator to maximise the potential of fitting into any transport we find!
Whilst in Kharkorin, we tested out the hiking boots and scaled a mountain overlooking the town, you can see from the photo. Apart from visiting Mongolia's first Buddhist monastry, there was not much else to do so we found out there was a public bus to Tsetserleg which was the next port of call.
We were also offered a ride in a private car which left earlier in the day and would get us there quicker (we thought!). Little did we know at the time it was joining a mongolian family which included the husband, wife, grandad & 2 kids. This, at the time, we thought was a pretty cool way to get around but due to a breakdown in communication and a lack of mongolian, we ended up in a place called Tsenkher, 30km short of where we wanted!! At least we are making progress we weren't sure we were going to make.
Whilst walking round the town trying to find places on the map, we quickly realised we were in the wrong place! To add to this, we were banking on withdrawing money in Tsetserleg as we were down to our last £1.50 after paying accomodation. After a quick panic and a chat to some foreigners, we were able to exchange 15 of the queens to help us on the way.
An early start, and thumbs up along the roadside we hitched a ride off a mongolian couple on their way back to Tsetserleg for small fee.
Overall, the mongolian people are so friendly and helpful and the scenery incredible. We aim to spend a few days enyoying the mountains before attempting to hitch to one of the national parks.
The netbook is coming in very handy as we are writing this basking in the sun, on the side of a mountain overlooking the city.
Love Alex & Jo
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