Travelblag

Author: Pablo

  • Last day in UB

    Last day in UB

    Had a cool day venturing into the Steppe today and the weather God was kind to us.

    Our driver for the day “El Capitano’

    Our new travel buddy Aurelie joined us all the way from France….

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    Nat gets to know the Eagles trained by the Kazaks by the roadside.

    Entrance to the temple on the hill walk

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    Great vistas during the drive into the national park

    Just one of the Buddhist shrines on the long, winding climb to the summit

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    And of course, the big man

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    And he is strategically positioned directly at China. Must have just been luck the way it lined up…..

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  • 1st Day in UB

    Looks like a bit of rain tomorrow, so we elected to spend the day looking at the local sites, with a view to heading into the Gobi day after next. Mongolia seems hell bent on thrusting themselves into the western way as soon as possible. For one of the poorest countries in the world judged by GDP, there is a hell of alot going on here, with plenty of great resteraunts/pubs, still at dirt cheap prices. First impressions…… fantastic.

    Gandantegchenling Monastary

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    With a 29 meter high Buda inside (no photos allowed of course)  making it the biggest monastery in Mongolia.

  • UB D11

    What Ollie said…..
    Just a few shots of various stations on our recent leg from Irkutz to UB. As Ollie said, 6 hour wait at Russian border, then 3 hour on Mogol side. Zero idea why….

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    Random shot from 2 days ago. Thru it in cause the colours are awesome. ” Insert advert for Samsung S3 here” 🙂

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  • Final beers at Nikitas

    Final beers at Nikitas

    Beautiful sunset for our final night having  beers with Pierre.

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    Some awesome colours in the sky today.

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    The view from our apartment. We all said the same this morning. Not ready to leave. Back to Irkutz this morning and train to Mongolia tonight.

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  • Lake Baikal

    Today at the lake. Beautiful. 637KM long, making it the largest and deepest freshwater lake on zee planet.

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  • Day 3 – 7

    Day 3 – 7

    Well, a few days of Internet block out due partly to travel and partly to ‘Sputnik’. As Ivan told us with his extremely broken English each time mobile dropped out, pointed up and said ” Sputnik, bing, bing bing”

    Yekaterinburg at the war memorial
    An SA2 surface to air missile

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    Me riding said missile, Dr Strangelove style. Please note, no beer was consumed before the ride began.

    As Ollie said in post…. You don’t mess with the Telman. This guy spoke almost no English, insisted we change numbers and said ” When you call me? I can’t wait talk you”. This will be an amazing  phone call, I’ll be sure to update as soon as it happens….. or. Not.

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    Super sized litre beers, available at every train stop for the bargain price of a dollar. Russia, I love you.

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    Partying in our cabin with Misha and Pavel, call me Pacha. We didn’t have a night that finished before 3am. Very difficult to sleep on trains with exceptional company.

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    Your papers…… Are NOT in order.

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    Nakitas Homestead, home for next 3 days….

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    And inside our apartment.

  • Hotel lobby elevator

    Ollie wins the caption contest with the comment from the cockpit….

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    ”Train, train, whoop whoop, pull up”

  • Night out…..

    Met Ivan for a few beers. He’s an officer in the Russian Army, so nyat photos…….

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  • Day 1 on the train

    And it begins….
    Moscow Kremlin

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    Horse anyone?

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    And on to the train…..

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    For the 1st Leg – Moscow to Yekaterinburg

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    Our cabin buddy, Ivan

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    And then comes the Vodka…..

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  • In front of the red square

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