10th April 2005

Mongolia was fantastic..will need to go back one day and see more of it Was in Ulaan Baatar after two nights sharing a ger tent with Rona and Anna from Scotland and Matt from the Midlands. Its off season so we had the camp to ourselves. There were more staff at one point than us.

The camp can accommodate 150 in the height of the summer. Basically it was a round tent with a wood burning stove in the middle which made the tent even hotter than the russian trains! The toilet was a hole in the ground covered by a tin hut, and hadn't showered for a few days..but as its so cold not smelling too much yet!!

Days spent predominately on horseback so we all had sore bums and backs! Scenery fantastic, company good...galloping across the hills to visit random ger tents and drink disgusting milk tea in Ger's with new born lambs in the corner and burnt sheep heads on the stove... cant wait to download the photos for you all to see as words cannot really describe. The weather has also been quite extreme from farily warm in the morning to sandstorms at lunch time and snow storms in the evening! Fabulous country and 3 days are not enough .

Got to Beijing on Friday afternoon with Anna and Rona and went out to eat in a chinese restaurant just around the corner from the hostel with no english menu or english speaking staff or customers (except us!)...managed to order via guide and a picture book I have..when I pointed to a duck I didn't expect to get a whole one!!!

The chef cut the meat off (it was crispy duck with pancakes) and took the carcass away..twenty minutes later a soup arrived with a ducks head floating in it..hilarious! needless to say I didn't eat any of the soup, however have converted a vegetarian Rona to a duck eater!!!

So far been to Tienanmen square, Forbidden City and just got back from the night market where you can buy food from stalls... rona ate scorpions .. I managed fruit and corn on the cob and then a MacDonald's!!! and a starbucks caffe Latte ... feeling a bit dodgy as started Malaria tablets today (larum - possible side affects include dizziness Hallucinations, Vertigo, diarrhoea, depression and in extreme circumstances suicidal tendency) Anna (junior doctor) and Rona are on the look out for strange behaviour over the next few days.. nothing new there then!!!

Not going to the wall for my birthday as need to get Vietnam visa and they weren't open at the weekend so going on Tuesday instead, so after a trip to the embassy we are going for retail therapy at the cheap markets .. North face jacket and fleece for 10 pounds apparently!!!! Probably a more appropriate place for me on my birthday anyway (retail therapy) and as I don't know how long it will take and you have to leave your passport there its necessary if I want to leave Beijing in the near future!

Will download photos soon

Sarah