Naadam

After dinner and a rain shower is pelting the tent roof. Just had to zip up the rain fly to keep dry. It was sunny and mild until an hour ago. There is a huge rock near our campsite - volcanic plug of some sort, with a small shrine  on top, and a few minutes ago there was a beautiful rainbow framed behind it, with a cluster of gers completing the scene. I think this is the first rain of the trip, but it doesn't look to last too long. We have been following Naadam celebrations from town to town, completely by accident.



Today was in Kharakoran, after we visited a sprawling monastery, and tomorrow we will be on horses and visiting the celebration in a small village nearby our camp. Have not met our horses yet but we will in the morning.Wonderful day today.

Cold

Standing by the side of the road on the outskirts of Ulaan Baatar, in the cold rain, watching our driver inspect the damaged left front wheel assembly. I was prepared for the inevitable breakdown, but not before leaving U B and I tell myself that the day can only get better. Thankfully it does - this is going to be a six hour drive. This is how it goes: Timor works a miricle with a repair of the wheel, we stop along the road to watch a horse race as part of the Naadam festival, Lisa rides a camel, and the sun comes out.

Now in our tent at a Ger camp, with a fire in the small stove driving off the evening chill. It is a lot colder than I expected - low 40's at night with 50 something high temp. Tomorrow we visit Kharkorin, site of the ancient Capitol of the Mongol empire. 

Train to U B

On the train leaving China, I can now say I'm glad to be gone from Beijing. There were some wonderful moments but the overall impression was of crowds, noise and traffic. Sometimes you could only laugh. The restaurant hostess, slim and fashionable, yelling out reservation numbers on a megaphone. Another restaurant, and the staff is communicating by yelling into walke-talkies, volume set to 'screach'. What can they possibly have to say?  Cab driver on his cell phone, again full volume - volume seems an important quality for communication here.
July is the time for Chinese visitors to come to Beijing and all around town there are huge Chinese tour groups with color coded baseball caps following leaders with flags. Traffic is clogged with convoys of tour buses. The traffic chaos  seems certain to result in accidents, but somehow it never happens. Near where we are staying, dodging bicycles and scooters zipping down the narrow hutong alleyways is critical to survival. 

 

Now it's Wednesday morning and the heat and haze of Beijing is far behind. We travel through the Gobi Desert and there is a bright sunrise and the air is crisp. In about eight hours we will be in Ulaan Baatar. The border crossing last night was a complicated affair involving two sets of passport agents, military border guards saluting the passing train, and jacking up the entire train to change out the undercarrage with new wheels for the Mongolian track which is wider (narrower?) than the Chinese.  

Great Wall

I just can't get my head around the size of this thing. The popular factoid says it is 6,000 miles long. I take that with a grain of salt, but if it was SIX miles long, it would still be amazing. We walk maybe a half mile along the wall - up and down steep pitches, meeting ladies in heels, a wedding photo shoot, a donkey, and a vendor selling water who looks like the last survivor of The Long March. Another hot day and many visitors take shelter in the cool of the watchtowers. The area is rugged and hilly and I just can't imagine any invading army even getting to the wall, let alone getting past it.