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Mon 15^th September 2008

Yay! We made it to Mongolia! I'm looking forward to sleeping in the Ger tonight (the term Mongolians use for yurt), it'll be the first time in five nights that I'll get to sleep on something which isn't moving. I'm glad to be on solid ground..well on a solid roof! The trans-Siberian was definitely a memorable experience but probably for the wrong reasons. We all experienced a stomach bug while traveling on the train which wasn't much fun. What made it worse was the carriage attendant's habit of locking the toilets, it was a mission to find an open one. We learnt to use the Mens as it seemed the attendants (all women) were keeping the Womens toilets locked for their personal use! Despite illness and frustration dominating my Trans-Siberian experience, we had lovely neighbours in our carraige, a nine year old boy became our Mongolian teacher, pointing at various things and making us repeat what he said. I can now say horse, socks, water and thankyou in Mongolian!

Arriving in Ulaan Bataar this morning I haven't seen much yet but after my first day here I feel very welcomed and surprisingly at home. We were met at Ulaan Bataar's train station by a driver from a guesthouse we had emailed before leaving Moscow. As we hadn't been able to get a definite confirmation before we set off I was not expecting to find anyone waiting for us...therefore it was a lovely surprise to get off the train and have someone take us directly to the guesthouse.

Upon arrival at the guesthouse we were shown our Ger. The Ger is situated on the rooftop of the guesthouse and from there I can see the buzzing city streets and the beautiful mountains in the distance. From my glimpse of Ulaan Bataar today it seems the tradition and modern blend together quite nicely. Wooden houses stand next to Gers and Buddist monks in their red fabric robes walk down the streets beside the jean and hoody generation. I look forward to getting to know U B better in the next few days. On Friday we will set off on a horse trek staying with different Mongolian nomadic famillies in the Terelj area. Each family will lead us on horse-back to the next Ger for a total of eight days. It should be an unforgettable experience.

name Alex Jones

Hope you enjoyed your night in a Ger. Well done on getting to Mongolia - very impressive. Ethan has a Mongolian blue spot on his bum so that probably means either Katie or I are descendants of Gengis.

name Mum & Laura

Hello Lavinia, finally got chance to send you a message with Laura's help! But I have been keeping up wit your progress with Anthony's help, who has been reading your blog for me over the phone word for word. Mongolia sound amazing but I didn't like the sound of the train journey. I have the weekend of the 27th/28th off so if you get chance to ring I will be in. Laura is telling me to hurry up cos my typing is very slow! Hope to hear from you soon. Love from me & dad, xx

name Edna

sorry you were not well. Interested to hear of your memorable journey on the TS railway. Hope you slept well in the yurt. Good luck with the riding trek. much love to you all. Edna x

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