A Blast of Wind in your Ear

As i am heading to Mongolia tomorrow (-18 there today) I will be off the air for the next couple of weeks..things are going well since we left Moscow..We first hit Novosibirsk following a 46 hour train ride…not a lot to see there but the nightlife was phenomenal…we had to leave after only one day due to the cost.. it’s interesting over here..the Irish bar is seen as being the cool place to go..when they hear that we are Irish they want to know if the bar looks authentic and if the Guinness tastes the same as at home…they are distraught if you tell them that the bar looks a bit daft and that the Guinness tastes like slop so in the interests of international relations we have to tell little white lies  

After Novosibirsk we got a train to Irkutsk..only 32 hours this time. Unfortunately this time there was no food being served on the train unlike the last.., and like idiots we didn’t have any..and had little money…so we could only afford one meal…..luckily some Russians stepped up when the hunger hit with a fair few shots of vodka…that knocked on the head the idea of consuming any food :). The people are very nice…they would give you the shirt off their backs..and want to  share everything…so completely removed from people at home..at the same time though, they can be very rough, shoving you out of the way in queues and trying to walk over you everywhere else.. In Irkutsk we took a trip to Olkhon Island in the middle of Lake Baikal..apparently the biggest freshwater lake in the world. ..finally some part of Russian is picturesque. It was magic..freezing cold but magic.. on the way to the island the bus was short on diesel so the guy stopped beside some roadwork’s, spoke to the guy driving a roller, took out a hose and then siphoned diesel out of the roller into the bus.. he then paid the roller driver…….

We have met 3 German lads… they are journeyman carpenters… they leave home once they have finished their apprenticeships to learn how carpentry works in other countries. They cannot return within 50KM of home for at least 3 years and 1 day. They dress like cowboys…see attached picture..

they are a great set of lads and the 5 of us are going to stick together for the next 2-3 weeks..should be fun.. they carry all their belongings in little bags..and that’s all they carry..it weights 8 kilos and that includes some of their tools…unreal…

We are planning now a 7 day tour around Mongolia with a company…we will be staying with natives and going hopefully to the Gobi desert..

I’ll give ye an update once we reach Beijing in about 2-3 weeks…till then