In Beijing

Good morning from Beijing!

Safely arrived in Chinas capital. I'm staying with here the MC of China, who are so kind to host me for a few days. After a rest yesterday, mainly sleeping and clearing my inbox, we are now off to see the city: Tinanmen square. I'm rather excited! :-)

Happy day!

Trekking in Mongolia

I have just passed some of the most memorable days I've ever had. I don't even know where to start, I'm so full of thoughts, images, experiences,which I don't know how to put into words.

Being back in Ulan Bator is like waking up from a nice dream: reality hits you, you have come back from a different world, a world you thought only existed in your imagination, a world so alien but still so facinating. Being back in Ulan Bator for only 6 hours, it feels as if this trip has never happened.

Let me start with some of the hard facts: Last Friday afternoon our group consisting of 5 participants, 1 guide, 1herdsmen, 1 helper, 1 cook, 2 yaks, 1 horse and a dog started our trip through the Mongolian wilderness.The days started usually around 8am with breakfast under the sky. It was one of my favourite parts of the day: sitting there in the early morning sun, enjoying the delicious Mongolian yoghurt and updating each other on the nightly happenings of which there were usually a few: thunderstorms, nightly riders passing our tents, howling wolves (!), barking dogs, escaped horses , the incredible clarityof the mongolian sky at night, the freezing temperatures etc.

After that we packed all our backpacks, tents, food, sleeping bags on the carts,which were then pulled along by the yaks from one camping site to the next. We set off by foot just carrying our daypacks. The average walking time didn't exceed 5-7 hours, plus the walking itself wasn't too exhausting, however it was the heat and the sun that really got to me!
On day 3 I realized that I probably had a light sun stroke: headache, upset stomach, sun allergy and just not feeling well at all. After eating a whole lot of pills and walking around with a towel wrapped around my head all day (it must have looked ridiculous, just as well that I didn't see a mirror for 5 days) plus a lot of care of my friends on the trek I finally started to feel better. I was not the only one suffering though, also Julia and Ossa our guide had similar symptoms to mine. I completely underestimated the strength of the sunlight here, so that's why also my nose looks more like a tomato in colour than anything else and it started to peel now. As I'm talking about my physical condition I of course need to mention my dearest friends: the mosquitos! The first as well as the very last action of the day was putting mosquito spray on, plus at least 2 times during the day. But no matter how much we sprayed these little bastards got me anyways. They were just everywhere! I have stopped counting the number of bites but around 40 sounds about right! Now I'm feeling much better, but still my stomach is not a 100% yet.

But all these minor pains were compensated for a hundred times with all the things we experienced! First of all the landscape: we walked through deserted green hills, swampy grassland, dry steppe, we saw birds, weasels, marmotts, but hardly any humans apart from us. If it wasn't us talking then it was just quiet. Then it was just you and your thoughts. It felt so good just to walk and think or sometimes just to walk with a blank mind. I don't know when I did that last. And then you start to feel how your body lets go of all the strain and all the worries and you can just be.

The evenings were usually filled with conversations. I was incredibly lucky with the group we had, all so interesting and educated people thus we were never short of an interesting topic to talk about and we all got along so well. First of all there was Julia, another Swiss girl, who became a very good friend throughout this trip and with whom I spent many hours talking and laughing . Then Mary and Norman, a couple from Oxford, England. She is a university professor and he is a retired engineer for medical gadgets. They are a real inspiration: despite being sixty-four / seventy-five they are travelling the world and are as fit as any 40 year old. And last but not least there was David, orginally English, but living already for 30 years in Japan and working also as a university professor. The topics ranged from economic development of Mongolia, to sustainability in business, to physics of cattle, to educuation, to favourite books and pieces of music...etc

Now in 3 hours I'm off to Beijing, that's why I will have to continue writing about my adventures next time. With love from lovely Mongolia.

In Mongolia

Trying to have this blog of mine on an up to date state has proven to be impossible up until now. Sorry for those of you who have been checking regularly.
Everytime I managed to find an internet cafe, I spent the entire time trying to deal with travel agencies, visa services, hotels, besides handling my responsibilities I have still as WENA coordinator.

To make it short since it is 1.20am: I'm ALL GOOD, I LOVE the trip so far, and I ENJOY myself very much!! Such a different life from what I had for the last 2 years...

In the meanwhile I have arrived in Mongolia, Ulan Bator to be precise. Tomorrow I will be off to a 6 day yak trek up in the Mongolian steppe! Should be exciting!
People here in Mongolia are SO friendly, somehow a bit of a contrast to the rudeness of some of the Russians I have encountered. To my Russian adventures next week then.

guys, I'm off to bed. Talk to you soon.