Hustai National Park

To day a rest day....
We had at nine our breakfast. We planned to do not so much today. So, we were leaving the camp for a short walk in the wilderness.
The temperature was high, but a little wind makes it nice. We walked about 9 km in the morning, close to the camp.
We had lunchat 01h30. The temperature was in the meantime 38 degrees. We cancelled our plan to walk to the top of the mountain behind the camp. So, we had a afternoon very calm. Reading, playing games and drinking beer was the main activity.
Bandi was playing cards with his friends. He had also a nice time.
We had our dinner together and after dinner we were going to our Gers, Bandi was searching his friend again for an revanche......

Hustai National Park

Wednesday the 22th of July
What an region.... silence..... only birds.... That's the nature in Hustai. After the breakfast were we leaving for a tour through the park. Bandi took not the regular roads, no, only the small ones. After a few kilometres were we going to the left, direct with the car in dry river, we know the roads with a slope from 6 or 7%, but here are the roads till about 40%, after this start came there many of this places. Our driver, (Bandi) and car were working maximal.
We were enjoying the landscape. Mountains, plain fields, everything was passing.
Bandi showed us several graves from about 2000 BC..... It was an impressing morning.

We stopped by a family who were shaving there cheeps by hand with a pair of scissors. Ten minutes later were we by a farmers family, Bandi called them before and asked them or we could have lunch by them. So, they received us with a cup of milk, traditional with a blue scarf. Only tasting and than inside the Gers.
We had again a wonderful table full of milk products. Goat- milk tea, goat-milk creme, bread, an assortment meat from the cow, the goat and the cheep. It was good food.
On the end of the lunch was the mother asking or we were interested in vodka, you know us..... Two minutes later were we in an other Gers an there was she making vodka. In a simple kettle was she heating some yogurt (goat-milk) in the kettle was hanging in the middle a pan. On the top a big pan, like a wok. In the wok they put cold water, so the yogurt is damping against the wok, en the drops are falling down in the small pan. Easy to do by your self.
The taste was not bad, but with a taste of cheese.

After the lunch were we driving to an other grave. Bandi explained the whole history. Very interesting, see the photo's. It was now time to go back to the camp, but what were we lucky. Bandi stopped and showed us some animals, who were crossing the mountains, more then two hundred Anti lopes, we were amazed....
Ten minutes later was a herd dears crossing our road.... Fantastic. We stopped .... And there was also a big Eagle, five meters from us.... We lucky guys, we saw a lot of animals today.
And you believe it or not, but on our way back to the camp we passed a car with inside our friends who we meet on the train, the Family Lapidaire Groenen. It was a nice (short) meeting.
We were back at six.

Our diner was servedat seven o'clock.What a wonderful day!

Hustai National Park

Ulaan Baatar

Monday the 20th of July.

Sunday the 19the

Sunday the 19th July.
We waked up early because there wasat02h30Mt* (7h30Rt*) a stop in Irkoetsk. A beautiful station. There were a lot of people waiting for our train. All the wagons were full except ours, what was very nice, we kept our "privacy" for the wagon and special for 'our' toilet.
We were leaving Irkoetsk at7h53Rt* Direction lake Baikal.

Lake Baikal is almost a sea, with a length of 260 km and a depth of 1600 m is it the biggest reservoir sweet water on the world, 2% of all the sweet water on the world.
It was a fantastic drive on the site of the lake. The weather was fantastic, a lot of Russians were camping on the small and stony beaches. Nobody was in the water, its to cold. In the winter is there a ice deck possible from three meters, the lake is only from June till begin October open. We were driving five hours till Ulan-Ude on the side of the lake. It was a wonderful part of our trip.

Ulan-Ude is the place were we going to the South. The name of the line is from here "The Mongolian Express".
Here is the end for the electricity, so we changed from locomotive. It took a 20 minutes, very efficient but also with a lot official rules. The Russian locomotive was leaving and the Mongolian arrived. First were the Russian technicians controlling the connector and when the new locomotive arrived, came the machinist out and controlled the same things again, everything was okay, so in one minute was de connection there.

The landscape is beautiful, but here around the city is it one big mash. The houses outside the centre are al small wooden houses. The roads are sand roads. Only in the centre and the important roads are with bitumen.
The ground get more and more sand. A sign that the ground is less god as the ground around the Lake Baikal.

At14h45(Mt*) we arrived on the boarder. We stopped a long time for the grand control de Russians. Luggage, cabin and papers, everything by other specialists. We drove from Moscow till the boarder of Mongolian 5907 km.At22h50Rt** were we leaving to the Mongolian boarder-post.

The boarder was also again a time zone, we were driving againat midnight.

* Mt Moscow time
**Rt Real time, local time

Saturday

We waked up early. We were in the next times zone. Its really a bit complicated with the Rt and the Mt. We stopped at12h40Rt** in Krasnoyarsk, on my watch, with the Mt*, was is08h40.
Today iss the landscape more friendly, slowly are there the hills. Big fields with flowers, its really Summer here.
When we passing a village, then we see the people outside and in shorts.
Krasnoyarsk is a big city with a lot of beautiful modern buildings. The houses are also richer and more beautiful. They all have a garden with vegetables.
After the stop we took our lunch with as desert a Apple, what we bought on the station.

In the afternoon we had a beautiful tour through a friendly landscape. The sun was our best friend, after the rain and grey weather in Saint Petersbourg and Moscow was he all the time campaigning us in the train, with the result that we had nice views.

The dinner used we in the restaurant from the train. It was a discovering that there was a clean kitchen with one person who was responsible for everything. He was the chef, the personal, the barman and the cook.
The dish we ordered was a grilled steak with French Fries. The presentation...... see the photo. The taste was okay, it was correct, but not to much. Anyway it was a nice evening in the restaurant were we also meet two people from Switzerland.
At about23h30were we preparing our bed.

* Moscow time
**Real time, local time

Friday the 17th of July

We were sleeping perfect this night. Choune was awake during the stop in Ekaterinburg at02h00Mt*. He said there was a lot of fog and is was raining light.
Anyway, after a few nights "training" is the noise and the moving not disturbing our sleep. We are already real Nomads.
After our breakfast, some cookies, bread and tea, came the sun and at ten o'clockRt** was it beautiful weather.
Some very big field with Koolseed were passing as also some small villages. For the rest only wilderness. Woods and Toendras.

Leaving Moscow...

Thursday 16th July

The first night in the train was a new experience. The old train -nothing was changed since 1999- rolling with a lot of noise with the result that we were several times waking up. No problem, because thee was in the morning nobody waiting for us.
Our first class wagon was almost empty, from the ten compartments were there three occupied. One through a Mongolian women, the second through a Dutch family from four people and we.
So, in fact very comfortable. Not so many people for the toilet etc.

The first stop was in The night in Vladimir.At12h18was there a stop in Kirov for 15 minutes. The next was Hoptopov for 12 minutes andat19h48arrived we in Perm. There we had the change to visit the station, the stop was exact 29 minutes.

The landscape is this first day about the same, many many trees and small poor villages with old wooden houses and with one nice road, the rest is mud.
The last stop was Perm, never heart about that city, but it's a modern big city, beautiful situated agains the firts hills of the Oeral.
Tonight are we passing the Oeral, pity, it's already dark outside, we see nothing. The coming night are we arriving in Ekaterinburg, just on the east of the Oeral. (Mosow time01h30)

Also we had our first lunch. Our apéro was a glass of Cola with some peanuts. Soup as entree and nudles as main dish. Not luxury but very nice. (We don't know or we like it still in 5 days... ha, ha) But.... Our digestive
We repeat this menu againat 20h40.
In fact was it already22h40, because we drove through two time zones today. But, the train is rolling on Moscow time? So, we have still two zones to go, before we are in Irkoetsk.
We keep our life in the real time, two hours later. For now: Good night!

* Mt = Moscow time
**Rt = Real time