From Terkhiin Tsagaan Lake to Ulziit Camp
Monday, May 26, 2014 This marked one year of adventure travel for us, and what an adventure the day was. More on that later in the post. We had a great night’s sleep in our Ger. When we woke up,…
Terkhiin Tsagaan Lake (Тэрхийн Цагаан нуур)
Sunday, May 25, 2014 Today was a day of leisure. We got up latish and had a wonderful breakfast prepared by the Fairfield Guesthouse. Caroline had a lattee, surprise surprise. Over breakfast we broke out the map and had yet…
Tsetserleg (Цэцэрлэг)
Saturday, May 24, 2014 We had a very pleasant drive from Ogii Nuur to Karkhorin (Хархорин). It started off on firm dirt tracks and after about 25kms abruptly transitioned to a sealed road (at N47.64613 E102.85266). It is a little…
Ogii Nuur (өгийн нуур)
Friday, May 23, 2014 We ended up spending 6 days in Ulaanbaatar, which was just about the right length of time for us. But it was time to leave and continue our journey. In fact our journey which has been…
Mongolia: Border Crossing and Documentation
This post is about the government documentation we needed and obtained to bring our car and ourselves into Mongolia. Mongolia in General Basically there was no documentation needed for us to enter Mongolia. Firstly, as US citizens, we did not…
China: Border Crossing and Documentation
This post is about the government documentation we needed and obtained to bring our car and ourselves into China. China in General There apparently is no such thing as independent vehicle travel through China for western tourists like us. This…
Ulaanbaatar (Улаанбаатар)
Friday, May 16, 2014 There wasn’t much to Sainshand, so after breakfast we didn’t hang around and headed north to Ulaanbaatar. The road was good and fast for most of the way and we arrived at the ‘Oasis Cafe and Guesthouse’ just…
Sainshand (Сайншанд)
Thursday, May 15, 2014 After crossing the border we found the local supermarket and stocked up on a few supplies like cheese (still of the plastic variety), salami and bread. Also managed to find some Mars bars. Lunch consisted of…
Èrliánhàotè (二连浩特)
Wednesday, May 14, 2014 We have internet – obviously 😉 The drive to the Chinese border town of Erenhot was fast and smooth: we were on the road by 8am and arrived around 1pm, just in time for lunch. We…
Car Preparations and Enhancements
Sterlin is our 2002 Land Rover Discovery II and our first expedition vehicle. The dream started in 1992 in a desert town in Morocco where 2 fully expedition worthy Discoverys were our neighbors for a night in the campground. These…
Jǐníng (济宁)
Tuesday, May 13, 2014 We had a leisurely morning, since we were waiting to hear news about Ivor. All went well in the end. Around 2:30pm we set off with Marijke and Coen to go and find remnants of the…
Dàtóng (大同)
Sunday, May 11, 2014 After our visit to the Hanging Monastery we drove to Dàtóng were we arrived before noon and checked in to our hotel. This was again a ‘Home Inn’, a chain we’ve come to like: nice, clean…
Húnyuán (浑源)
Saturday, May 10, 2014 We woke up to find that it had been raining overnight. A little surprising, as we haven’t seen rain in a good while. Another long day of driving planned so everyone was ready to head north…
Píngyáo (平遥)
Thursday, May 8, 2014 Another longish day of driving most of which were on the express-way to save some time and ease the pain a little. The afternoon activity was a guided visit to Zhangbi Underground Castle. The locals built…
Hánchéng (韩城)
Wednesday, May 7, 2014 After a wonderful three day break in Xi’an it was time to continue the journey north. We got up and away early to try and beat the morning traffic, we were partly successful. The first stop…