... finally, I've written about Mongolia:))

Hey All:) So I've been exploring this city, looking at the waterfall (bloody lovely... the water was so cool and refreshing... it was a weird powdered blue, like sherbet suspended in the clear water... it was almost too blue... it was so hot walking to the top of waterfall that jumping into the cold water was perfect:), watching the monks walk through the city in the morning collecting peoples gifts of food to help them live and eat while they live their monk life (a bit of a touristy-underwhelming event in reality but I'm glad I went:)... and that's all in the pictures I've put up... My plan for the rest of this Laos trip is a day bus to Luang Namtha in the far north to trek in the real wilderness and visit tribal people... then down to the den of alcoholic gluttony in VienVieng to see people tubing and getting stupidly drunk but leave before my own soul begins to dissolve through mere proximity!), then off to the capital, Vientien, before a 30 hour bus journey to Hanoi (the capital of Vietnam)... that's the plan... tonight I'm gonna watch a replay of the clasico (barca v Madrid) because it was meant to be liquid football so I can't miss it! (I've watched quite a bit of football here but it'll be off limits in the far north so I'll enjoy it while it's here:)

... Mongolia... Mongolia... Mongolia... It's time to briefly discuss the amazing time I had in Mongolia before it slips out of my ear like so many "good" ideas... it was great, just 4 days but certainly the highlight of the Transiberian express... we had a young girl (Odka) as our guide for the 4 days and she was the best guide we had in all of that trip... she even took us to a night club in Ullanbattar and missed a family celebration in the process (although it was a bit of a weird one, to celebrate her nephews first haircut... apparently a big deal!)... the night club was cool ('Strings') with a live band from the Philippines who were really good but seemed desperate to sing the Black Eyed Peas' collective hits! and also the guitarist went a bit over the top when he started enacting suicide during a rendition of 'Killing me Softly'! ... everything felt a bit kind of, isolated in Mongolia, even in the city... so I didn't want to get lost in the city and in the night club... it was a bit crazy... I saw a drunk Mongolian business man get pulled out of the crowed for being a bit lairy and dragged by about 6 bouncers into one room... wait 10 minutes... then he was dragged (slightly less animated) out the front door (Mongolian bouncers take no shit)... Then we spent two nights in the desert like national park near Ullanbattar where we lived in Ger-tents with people coming in to stoke our fire (not a euphemism) during the cold cold night, rode horses, and generally feel peaceful... they educated us about nomadic life and Gengis Kahn through movies (one of which had been taped from bbc northwest back at the last (2005 or 6) election)... we visited a Nomadic family... spoke with a nomadic woman in her tent as she served us traditional tea (milky with salt... weird but nice) and some not so delicious snacks (like rotten dry cheese... I has to focus to swallow that)... we asked her questions through Odka but we didn't have much to say to each other and the difference in our worlds was highlighted when the Nomadic woman asked, 'What kind of livestock do you have in England?' ... I had to resist the temptation to ask the specific definition of 'livestock' and just said, 'like cows and that' (not as Karl Pilkington-esque as that sounds!)... we learnt a game called 'ankel bones' which is cool and traditional and nomadic and I bought a set to play at home and bore you all with later (I can literally hear the groans of 'Not another bloody game' float over the horizon and I can imagine Dad frantically trying to look busy or asleep to avoid playing it next christmas;)... (almost done)... I really enjoyed horse riding after initially being reticent... I was actually the only person in my group to break into anything close to a canter (when the horse guide (he didn't have a bad throat... boom boom) came to whip my horse on the ass I initially panicked... but it was actually cool to fly through the desert like a lost hobbit on his horse (an Ozzie girl, Masina, said my accent sounds like that of a hobbit!)

... so ok, I'll finish now... off to the night market for some pre-football food... after my slightly arsey last post I thought I should assure you that I've now made some new friends and am not longer the grumpy loner I was on my first day here;) ... there's Julie and Jason the Americans and Venisha the Londoner (she's coming with me to Luang namtha... so I have a hiking buddy:)

... so keep well everyone... I'm good and have finally updated about Mongolia:)... keep well all... I'll update you all post trekking:)