In early 2016, Ukraine was not on my travel radar at all. Russia had been aggressive towards them and Crimea was basically a no-go zone. My real destination was Jordan. Petra has been on my wish list for years, as well as Syria, and after seeing what had happened in Syria I wanted to get to Petra soon. Jordan is certainly worth a week or so, and since I had more time than that, Israel was a natural add-on. So, I started to look for airfares from NYC since I was occasionally traveling there for work, on my own schedule. One airfare was coming up 100’s of dollars cheaper than the others – Ukraine International Air (UIA). I’d never flow with them, much less heard of them. I wondered what it would cost to stop over in Ukraine for a few days and it didn’t add much to the cost. So, I went to TripAdvisor to see what there was to do in Kyiv to discover the #1 tour was Chernobyl. It looked to fascinating, I HAD TO GO! The three-legged airfare JFK – KBP, KBP – TLV, AMM – JFK (New York to Kyiv, Kyiv to Tel Aviv, Amman Jordan to New York) was only $777. Lucky sevens! So a stop in Kyiv Ukraine, it is!
My friend was on a different flight as she was coming from Seattle so we met at the airport. The hostel arranged a private driver which made arrival easy. Ukraine is a visa free country so entry was a snap.
We had two full days in Kyiv – one before and one after our Chernobyl tour. Two days was a good amount of time to get a feel for the city, but I could have stayed longer.
Affordable Eats
Ukraine is really a budget destination. We went out for a light dinner the night we arrived and I had these dumplings and a beer for $5.
Coffee Stands
Ukrainians must love coffee because there are all these gourmet coffee stands where you can get coffees for $1 or less.
The Kyiv Subway System
Kyiv Ukraine has an amazing subway system and it’s dirt cheap. One station is one of the world’s most beautiful stations.
Kyiv Free Walking Tour
We did a free walking tour that took us to some funky and historical stops. I highly recommend this, but please leave a nice tip. Check out these other free walking tours around the world.
Statue of lampposts in love.
St. Michael’s Cathedral. Just behind the Cathedral you can catch this tram down to the riverside.
St. Sophia Cathedral. An Art display inside was made from painted eggs:
Park where Alice in Wonderland story is a playground of mosaic statues.
Easter in Kyiv – we just missed it
The city was taking down their Easter decorations. They looked spectacular. Easter must be a good time to visit.
Kiev-Perchersk Lavra Caves Monastery
On our second full day in Kiev, we spent a lot of time in the grounds of the Kiev-Perchersk Lavra Caves Monastery. We did a tour into the cave where their local saints are buried. Within the complex is a bell tower and several museums.
An absolute must is a visit to the Mykola Syadrisky Micro-Miniatures Museum. This artist has made the most amazing sculptures by hand that can only be seen by microscope – for example a chess board and pieces, a tall ship, gold boots on a real flea, and a rose in a human hair.
Kyiv Ukraine military park
We also went to the military park. Here the Mother Ukraine stands tall with her sword over the city. There are lots of Ukrainian military equipment, but most interesting is the captured Russian military vehicles captured in Crimea and displayed with signs about the aggression in Ukrainian, Russian, and English.
For our last night, I just had to eat Chicken Kiev! They certainly like butter! There were chains of this all around Kyiv Ukraine – sort of the Ukrainian Cracker Barrel! This is one of the Ukrainian foods you must try in Kyiv.
Thinking about traveling to Kyiv and Ukraine? Check out this Ukraine Travel FAQ.
Most people visiting Chernobyl do so in a whirlwind 1-day tour from Kyiv, with 2 hours diving each way. It’s also possible to do longer trips, but these are much more expensive and for those that have a deep interest in Chernobyl. My friend and I decided to do the middle trip – a 2-day trip that saw all the sites of the 1-day tour with a little more time, a few other sites, and got to spend a night in a hotel in Chernobyl town. The date of our 2-day Soloeast tour was exactly 30 years and 3 weeks after the April 26, 1986 disaster. Many of the things we were about to see showed the impact of 30 years of desertion.
The Start of the 2-day SoloEast Chernobyl Tour
We met in central Kyiv to start our 2-day SoloEast tour. We first needed to pay the $300 cash each remaining for our tour, the remaining balance on our $50 deposit a couple months ago. Our passports were checked and we were given a wristband to show that we were “insured” to visit Chernobyl.
There were more than 20 people hanging around and I thought our tour was limited to 10 – but they handled this by splitting us into two groups with two buses, drivers, and guides. I didn’t have any preconceptions about the typical Chernobyl tourist but tourist but soon found out – predominately male and predominately young (around 30ish). Our group consisted my friend and I (40’s females), a journalist from the Phoenix New times (20’s female), three friends from the UK (20-30’s males), two police officers from Cologne Germany (20’s males), an avid photographer from Wisconsin (50’s male), and a guy from Detroit writing a book about guides in Chernobyl (30ish male).
It was a 2-hour drive to the entrance of the zone and we watched a video about the disaster and fallout on the way.
We entered a checkpoint and we were in the roughly 30km diameter from the plant that is known as the Chernobyl Exclusion zone!
The first small village visited
Our first stops were at a memorial where there were signs of life (many box elder bugs), and a deserted small town. I stepped through a rotten floor board and realized this was going to be an adventure!
Chernobyl Town
We continued onto the town of Chernobyl. This is the largest populated town in the exclusion zone. Many of the 8000 employees of the Chernobyl plant and surrounding exclusion zone live in this town on a temporary basis. Only 162 of the residents permanently live here, the others only live in the zone on their work days (either 4 days on, 3 off or 15 days on, 15 off). Chernobyl town is 14 kms. from Reactor 4. Most of the town is deserted but there are occupied apartments and a few other buildings in use (the church, the city hall, and a few shops). We were to stay in the poshest hotel in town that night, but we also had a big lunch there before setting off for our afternoon activities. We made a quick stop at the river, where the ferries have been rotting for 30 years.
Each sign is a name of a village in the Chernobyl zone that is now deserted.Angel monumentChernobyl town mural.No Soviet town is complete without its own Lenin statue.The orthodox church, still in use.Rusting ferry boats on the river.A monument to the firefighters who were the first casualties of the accident.
We had a stop at another checkpoint. This checkpoint is at the 10km border. No one is allowed to lives in this inner zone, but many people work here.
The Kindergarten
Our last stop before entering the Chernobyl plant area was a kindergarten. There were lots of creepy dolls and toys in this small school.
Dorm room in the school.Dirty dollOther random toy, posed by tourists.Don’t look at this creepy doll’s eye. I swear it will hypnotize you!
The Chernobyl Nuclear Plant
Driving into the plant area, we could see Reactor 4 and the new sarcophagus that will eventually entomb the radioactive reactor that’s currently covered in cement that is at risk of failing.
We stopped to see the giant catfish in the cooling ponds. They don’t seem to mind the light radiation.
I was surprised we could get so close to the Reactor 4 – about 270 meters away. We had no protective wear during our visit – our only requirement was to wear long sleeve shirts, long pants, and closed shoes. Even the employees walk around with no extra precautions.
The guys that work here every day have no protective wear.
Pripyat
We drove only another 3 km to arrive to the deserted city of Pripyatt – the highlight of a Chernobyl tour. When you see pictures of “Chernobyl” like the famous Ferris Wheel or concert hall, or swimming pool, it’s in Pripyat. This site is best described in this picture diary – Pripyat in Pictures.
The Chernobyl Town Hotel
After running around town for over 3 hours, we headed back to the hotel in Chernobyl town. We had a huge dinner. The bar was open from 7 to 9 so we enjoyed chatting with the other tourists over $1 pints of Ukrainian beer. The tour requires that no one is allowed to leave the guides or go out into Chernobyl town on their own. There were fascinating buildings, but I obeyed the rules to stay in the hotel for the night.
The modest, but poshest hotel in Chernobyl town.Dining room & bar. We had 3 hearty meals & a few beers in this room.Limited bar hours – the Chernobyl “Happy Hour”. Pints were $1!
Overnight, I discovered I picked up a passenger at Pripyat the previous day. We had gone in some long grass since there are obviously no working toilets in the town and a small tick attached itself in my belly button! We had to have a small surgery to extract it in the morning.
It was pouring rain the next day and I was ill prepared – neither with rain gear nor warm clothes warmer than a long sleeved t-shirt. So, we stopped into the local shop which was a cool stop to see what goods were available to the local residents. The store was pretty sparse, but I was able to pick up a blue raincoat/poncho with snaps AND a green t-shirt with the embroidered word “Chernobyl
in Ukrainian script, spent a total of $6 for these two items.
The Russian Woodpecker
Our first big stop of the day was the Russian Woodpecker (a Cold War era spy structure) and it’s surrounding control tower and support town – another site best described in picture diary – Russian Woodpecker in pictures.
Settlers of Chernobyl
We stopped in to visit a Chernobyl “Settler” so that we could bring gifts and ask any questions we wanted through our guide. These were older folks that never left Chernobyl after the disaster as this was the only home they had ever known. There are only a few of them that are still living – most are in their 70’s or above. We had been warned that this settler’s wife had recently been hospitalized. He came out and met the van and told our guide his wife had passed away the previous night. Understandingly, we didn’t get our Q&A or take any pictures, and just left him to mourn. It was a very emotional moment – a few tears were shed.
The Fish Hatchery & Lake
The next stop was the fish hatchery. Lots of science was performed here. You could still see fish samples in small jars, left to collect dust for 30 years.
Cooling Tower for Reactor 5
We hiked a short distance across some train tracks to visit the half-built cooling tower for Reactor 5. This was mid-construction when the disaster occurred. We were warned to not step in the moss, as that’s one of the most reactive substances in the Chernobyl Zone today (the nature of moss is that it soaks up and stores the radiation). A haunting mural was painted inside the cooling tower just a week before we visited.
The scaffolding is still on the cooling tower.This mural was paint on the side of a structure.
Lunch at the Plant
We stopped for a late lunch at the plant cafeteria. Tour groups must eat very early or late – we didn’t get to eat while the plant employees are having their lunch. Lunch was plentiful – we got to pick one of everything as part of our tour.
Przewalski’s horses in Chernobyl
While driving around the zone, we were lucky to come upon some wild horses. These wild horses are descendants from some rare Mongolian wild horses that were relocated to the Zone as an experiment of impact on the zone on animals. These horses had thrived, with the exception that many had been illegally poached, most likely for food. I was thrilled so see this horses because I hadn’t seen of these wild horses while in Mongolia a few years earlier.
Mongolian wild horses in Chernobyl
Children’s Summer Camp
Our last stop in the Zone was a children’s summer camp. As the buildings were all made of wood, they will be decayed into the woods in the near future.
While leaving the 10-km inner zone, we had to step into a machine to test our hands and feet for radiation. The guides said there was only one time a tourist had set this machine off, and he had ventured away from the tour into a basement that contained some contaminated materials.
Upon leaving the town, we stopped for a group photo before driving back to Kyiv.
Our guides – two brothers – incredibly cute, funny guys.Our group photo by the Chernobyl town sign.
Traveled May, 2016
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A highlight of a Chernobyl tour is a visit to the Russian Woodpecker, or Duga-3. It’s a 1 km long, by 150 meter high hunk of rotting metal radar technology. The “woodpecker” name comes from the tapping Russian Woodpecker sound it makes while in use. This remnant of Cold War time was a way for the Soviets to spy on the Americans. For the last few years, tourists to the Chernobyl Zone can visit this tower, and even climb the ladders. The Duga-3 radar tower and it’s surrounds are so interesting. Look at this picture guide and see if you agree.
Mural entering this secretive military town, and support location for the Duga tower.Everything was so green walking towards the tower. Lots of spring rain had fallen.Interesting dragonfly-wing like pattern of the radars.At 150 meters high, I couldn’t get the top in my photos of the tower reflecting in this puddle.A close-up.The 1-km long tower was backed up by this 1-km long servicing building. You had to watch your step, there were holes that fell to another floor underground.Trashed equipment outside the control center for the Duga radar.more trashed equipment.Mural and junk inside the control center.The control center had at least 5 stories and huge rooms for workers.Control panels. Did NASA look like this in the 1980’s?Inside the “propaganda” room.More anti- US propaganda. Notice the American in his cowboy hat, holding his head in shame.A window in the propaganda room.View of the Russian Woodpecker from the roof of the control center.Trees are starting to grow on the roof!Light shining thru one of the control panels.1980’s technology and other bits. You can still press the buttons!A kiln seen on the walk to the supporting town.Murals at the playground in the support city.Inside the rec center of the Duga support city, this room was a movie theater.Boys restroom in the rec center.Gym in the rec center. There’s even a pummel horse.More equipment and junk seen on our way out of town.
There is a documentary called “The Russian Woodpecker” that I recommend. It may be available at your library. In addition to providing visits to Chernobyl exclusion zone, and more about the Russian Woodpecker, it explains a theory that the Chernobyl disaster was actually a cover-up to disguise the failure of the very expensive Duga technology. Supposedly, the development costs were 2 times that of the entire Chernobyl Nuclear plant. There’s also a rumor that a new Duga has been built and is being used somewhere in Russia, and the woodpecker “tapping” has begun again.
On April 25, 1986, the city of Pripyat, Ukraine had a population of 50,000 people. Many of them employees of the Chernobyl Nuclear plant and their families. Within a couple days, everyone would be evacuated after the April 26 accident. The pictures here show the impact of 30 years of desertion on the city of Pripyat as seen on my 2-day tour to Chernobyl.
Soviet symbols on street lamps welcomed our visit.Trees were starting to grow on the steps of this school.Soviet military murals adorned the wall of a schoolBefore going into any buildings, our guide showed us the walls of this school. Technically it is banned to enter any buildings in Prypiat but we would be entering buildings today but this is the risk. Notice the desks and chalkboards on the 2nd and 3rd story classrooms.Inside the hospital, lots of debris.We saw many stairwells like this, with plaster bits all over the floor and steps.Two beds in the hospital. This is one of my favorite pictures.A baby bed and lone chair in the hospital. Nice afternoon light.Hospital waiting room. Notice the plant potThe highest reading we saw on the Geiger counter during the whole trip at 47.10. This was a contaminated glove that the guide knew was there. Most of the two day tour, the reading was 0.12.Inside a pleasant cafe by the lake.Beautiful stained glass. Some of the panels have fallen out or been punched out by visitors.The musical hall. Mosaic tiles from the art outside are starting to crumble.Inside the recital hall. The wooden floor in here is so rotten, this will be inaccessible within a few years.View from the roof of an 8-story hotel. The building with the smoke stake is reactor 4 and the shed-like building is the sarcaphagus that will eventually entomb it.Mural in the athletic center.A view of the famous ferris wheel from the gymProof of life. The gymnasium had a small leak, and rain falls to this spot on the gymnasium floor. Where there is water, the wood rots and small plants start to grow. Eventually the town will be overtaken.Inside the gymnasium. The indoor soccer goal still stands.Bumper cars at the amusement park of Prypiat. This amusement park was supposed to open on May 1, 1986. It never opened.Another ride at the amusement park. The wooden parks of the ride are almost completely gone.The famous ferris wheel. I was surprised how tall it was.Behind the amusement park, I took a picture of this path in the “woods”……only to discover the “woods” was the local football field and this was the bleachers overlooking the field.Another gymnasium. I can only assume people dug up the floor boards.The competitive swimming pool. All of the windows were blown out or broken.The starting blocks at the swimming pool.Tourists obviously posed this doll and gas masks in a school.100’s of gas masks discarded in a school, probably left behind by the “liquidators”, or men that cleaned the earth after the disaster to remove the radiation.Inside the school, metal bars that divided the cafeteria from the kitchen.Fascinating halls of the school.More hallways with some great afternoon light. It was hard to not take good photos!Stalagtites in the school.They were forming from this drain too.View from the roof of a 17-story building. You could see how large the town was, and how close the town is to the plant.Mailboxes in the 17-story apartment building.Outside the police office.My friend & I in the holding cell.Abandoned bus.More abandoned equipment. Too contaminated to use after the accident.
Pripyat was a great experience. It was the first time I experimented with black and white photography. Some of these buildings will be inaccessible in the near future, so get there if you want to see these cool sites!
I stayed for a glorious smog-free day in Beijing and then continued with an overnight train to Xi’an for my 4 days in Xian. Although I had a berth for this overnight ride, it was the 3rd (top) bunk. I made sure I didn’t drink anything before bed because the last thing I wanted to do was to hurt myself falling down on the way to the loo!
Upon arrival in Xi’an, I immediately met an older gentleman at the hostel who was from Austin, MN. He had often visited his grandparents in my hometown, not far away. We made plans to visit Hua Shan in a couple days. Proves what a small world we live in and shows the flexibility of independent travel in China. Check here for tips for independent travel in China.
Day 1
I spent my first day visiting the two pagodas in Xi’an and walking many miles. I really dislike the over-restoration of historical sites in China. These pagodas look like they’re brand new and one of the pagodas is surrounded by shopping and fast food restaurants like KFC and Burger King.
Day 2
The next day, Dane and I took the bus and cable car to the top of Hua Shan, one of the 5 sacred mountains of China. It was a bit like Disneyland – a very expensive trip and the cable car had a 1 hour snaking line with music videos blaring on flat screen TVs about our head. The top of the mountain was beautiful but overcrowded. It was a granite mountain with several small temples.
Day 3-4
My remainder of days in Xi’an included a morning visit to the Terra Cotta Warriors. Top Tip: go very early in the morning to beat the crowds. There is nice, natural light in the morning on some of the Warriors. It’s easy and cheaper to do this trip by public bus.
And a visit to the Muslim quarter and great mosque.
It was great walking the city walls at sunset.
I stopped in a little roadside restaurant for a $1 hot pot.
Don’t know what meat was in this, but it was good!
There were several shows to see at night including a fountain show and Chinese dance show.
I like visiting parks to see what local life is like and upon visiting one park came upon a large group of people with papers and pictures they had posted on trees and handrails. It turns out it was a weekly “meet-market” where people and families are looking for spouses for themselves and their loved ones. Many of these papers had vital info like occupation, height, etc. A lady who spoke English tried to get me set up but I hightailed it out of there!
Beijing marks the end of the Trans-Mongolian railway of our train ride from Ulaanbaatar. Upon arrival in Beijing, we had a very busy 4 days in Beijing. With 4 days in Beijing, you can see all of the following:
Temple of Heaven
Great Wall of China – we chose to visit the Mutianyu section of the wall as several of the sections closer to Beijing are notoriously busy. We took a Mutianyu Great Wall of China Tour. The cool thing about this section is that you can cable car up or down, saving you a steep hike, and you can take an alpine slide down! Funny Story: a Chinese family set off before me and the guide made me wait a long time – I was getting too impatient. But a few minutes into the ride, I discovered why… the family was braking all the way down and going way too slow. It was silly slow, but at least I got to enjoy a few minutes of thrills.
Summer Palace – the highlight of this place was the little village built on the canal.
Many Parks
Dumpling night at the hostel & Peking Duck – the hostel made the yummiest dumplings – all we could eat. And some of the folks went out for Peking Duck one night.
Forbidden City – this place is massive. Insider Tips: at the time I visited, you could only enter at the southern entrance. Just avoid the bathrooms (one of the nastiest toilets I’ve ever seen) and the pedi-cap drivers at the northern exit who are 100% scams – it’s cheaper to take a regular taxi anywhere.
Dinner on Ghost Street, full of it’s red lamps. We were going for a late dinner so we had McD’s as a mid afternoon snack.
Once the smog cleared, it was actually a nice day.
What amazed me about China was the vast number of Chinese tourists and lack of western tourists. Even though we were in the high season, in my 4 days in Beijing it felt like only 1% of the tourists were from western countries.
You can’t visit Beijing without stopping at the most famous Donghuamen Night Market where you can eat Creepy Crawlies. Here are my Adventures at the Beijing Night Market!
Treats from the sea, including whole starfish!Not sure how you eat these fish.Centipedes, skinned snakes, and spiders, oh my!Bugs!Let’s try these scorpions That scorpion wasn’t so bad. Let’s eat this silkworm pulpae.Um… yuck I need this out of my mouth now! I’m going to puke. Something to wash it down with. Tea with dry ice! Look at all the choices. What next?
When taking the TransMongolian train trip from Moscow to Beijing, you can’t miss the last leg – the Ulaanbaatar to Beijing Train.
The Ulaanbaatar train station is not far from the center of town. It’s worth arriving a little early to have a look around this Soviet-style train station.
We checked in and were shown our 2nd class cabin. In Russia, 2nd class is the middle class. In Mongolia, it’s the worst class. The trains in Mongolia were much nicer than Russia. We had 4 beds and a locking door, which we shared with a French couple.
The train makes it’s way through the Gobi desert, but this portion of the desert is not as photogenic as the portions we visited on our 7 day trip to the Gobi. We had one longer stop in a Gobi town on the train route. The town has a statue for the first Mongolian cosmonaut.
We stopped for quite a few hours on the Mongolia/China border so they could change the wheels since track sizes vary in the two countries.
The scenery changed considerably in China. No more flat desert but trees, mountains, and water.
If visiting Mongolia, and absolute must is a Gobi Desert Trip. I met a few ladies on the internet and we booked a trip through Khonghor Guesthouse.
Our group of 5 ladies, a driver, guide, and our Russian van stopped to stock up on groceries in the capital city before we slowly made our way to the Gobi Desert. While you might see actual roads on the maps of Mongolia, these roads were just dirt tracks. Signs, directions, and mile markers are non-existent.
On our first day, we crossed through beautiful grasslands.
Mongolian Cowboys
we stopped for lunch at a remote diner.
Typical Mongolian diner food – noodles and mutton with a little bit of carrotMongolia Cargo
We saw a monastery in a small town,
Mongolia temple
and slept on the floor during our “family stay” – a first of 6 nights in yurts. It was spooky driving in nearly complete darkness to find this nomad family’s home and we were lucky to find the place. The night, we ate some goodies the family made for us (cheese, hard bread cookies, and mutton leg) and glared at the starry night.
Dried cheeseDung, or fuel for the fireThe kitchenYurts are not very tall
On day two, we started seeing desert views.
What do you call a group of camels? A caravan, flock, or trainOur Russian van in the Gobi
We stopped to have fermented mares milk at a farm/yurt.
Fermenting milkDrinking the milk
We stopped to eat camel ice cream
Camel milk creamery
and got to see a mini-Nadaam (a local wrestling match).
Mongolian wrestlingThe refereeAmbulance ready if anyone gets hurt
Next, we were on to the Flaming Cliffs. Dinosaur fossils and eggs have been found there.
The Flaming Cliffs from afarCamel Skulls
At the yurt camp, Jolly and I sat outside to watch the sunset and lots of goats travel thru the campsite.
At the Gobi goat farmBilly Goat
On day three, we had a long drive. We stopped in a small town for treats. Every store seems to have Coke and Snickers Bars.
Typical shop in rural Mongolia
We stopped for a bathroom break amongst millions of blooming purple desert chives in the cracked orange earth. I smelled like we were peeing in a salad!
The driver takes a group photo.Blooming Desert Chives as far as the eye could see
We made our way to the Khonghor sand dunes. I love sand dunes and these didn’t disappoint. It had been so hot in previous days and I was worried about the climb to the top of the dunes, but this day had stayed cloudy all day. We rode camels to the end of the dunes.
Mongolian horse grazing in front of the dunes
And then climbed almost an hour in steep, soft sand to the top and to our luck, the sun started to come out and provide ups with a sunset over the dunes.
Appropriate name for bottled water in the Gobi
I slid down the dunes on my butt in about 1/25th of the time it took me to climb up and walked to camp for the dinner our guide had made for us. She was a little angry that we weren’t on time but we had to take advantage of the interesting sunset that night.
Even the ramen noodles come in mutton flavor
On day four, only Edna and I got up at 5am to watch the sunrise against the dunes. This was probably the most amazing sunrises I have ever seen. The colors just kept on changing – I’ve never seen something like this.
Gobi Desert frog
We returned to the yurt camp for breakfast and then continued to Yol valley, a valley of springs and ice (although the last of the ice had melted the week before)
Our stay that night was another goat farm.
On day five, we continued to Dalandgazad, the largest “city” in the Gobi Desert and had lunch at a cafe, a chance to take a shower and a look around the town.
Dinosaur statues around Dalandgazad
We stopped and camped at the “White Stupa” – basically a painted desert.
By evening we stayed at a camel farm. It was fun to watch the baby camels drink milk from the mommas. As the sunset, I tried to get the perfect photograph of a camel and the setting sun. The camels didn’t make it easy, but some of these shots are not too bad.
On day six, we stopped in another Gobi city for lunch.
We stopped at Chulu, caves and ruined monastery.
Outhouse in the Gobi
Our camp this night was a goat farm amongst interesting pancake rocks. It poured rain in the evening – enough that the yurt was leaking.
On day seven, we stopped for Airag, or mare’s milk at the yurt home of one of our driver’s friends. They handed me a huge bowl of the stuff and I really tried to drink it but my stomach was telling me “NO!”. I managed to down about 1/4th of the fermented drink. Later we stopped at a roadside diner for more of that mutton noodle hot dish. I wasn’t feeling well to begin with but when I looked at my dish and realized there were several black human hairs in it, I lost it. I ran as fast as I could out of the restaurant into the grass and started to throw-up. Just as I was finishing, I looked up to realize a Mongolian cowboy, complete in a long coat, boots, and hat was looking at me. Imagine what he was thinking. Probably shaking his head and thinking those tourists.
Overall, it was a fantastic Gobi Desert trip with gorgeous sites.
We took a short break from the TransMongolian train and for the leg into Mongolia, we took the Ulan Ude to Ulaanbaatar Bus.
After our lovely afternoon sightseeing and sleeping in Ulan Ude, Russia before our bus to Mongolia. We walked from the Ulan Ude Traveller’s House Hostel (Check Rates and Availability) to the starting point for the Ulan Ude to Ulannbaatar Bus. This hostel is the best place to stay in Ulan Ude – it’s cheap and clean, it’s incredibly close to everything… we walked to the bus stop and the train station is within walking distance too. All the major sites of Ulan Ude like the Lenin Statue and the pedestrian street with places to eat and drink cheap beers were just a short walk away.
The bus is a good way to travel because it’s much cheaper than the train and it’s much faster. The bus takes over 24 hours and the bus is less than 12 hours. No long waiting time at the border. Hot Tip:If you book at the hostel listed above, you can e-mail the owner and he should be able to reserve a spot on the bus for you. We were glad we had reservations because the bus was completely full.
The Russia/Mongolia border to the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar was an easy trip. This was the biggest traffic jam we saw:
Arriving in Ulaanbaatar was a traffic nightmare. This city of over a million people and most of the population of Mongolia doesn’t have any expressways – just a 6 lane, red stop light street that cuts west-east thru the city. It’s called “Peace Avenue” but there is no peace on that road – just honking cars.
At our hostel, we met up with the other 3 ladies who were going to be on our 7-day tour to the Gobi Desert – Diane, a retiree from West Seattle, Joy, an actress from NYC, and Amanda, a Canadian who had been teaching English in Korea.
After our amazing tour to the Gobi, my travel partner and I had another full day in Ulan Bator. We visited the largest monastery in the country.
The natural history museum is a good laugh. Some of the displays are so sad, but there is an excellent dinosaur fossil exhibit, sponsored by a foreign party. Then I walked around the capital,
had a beer at the Irish pub,
and attended the Mongolian cultural show at the National Theater.
An fantastic night of dance, symphony with instruments I’d never seen before, and Mongolian throat singing. Although many instruments were string instruments and versions of violin, cello, etc., they were adorned by carved horse heads!
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