Last night Penny got a message from Anna the lady we met in Irkutsk, she had just arrived in Beijing and on the same carriage as her was Judge Rinder (Rob) with his traveling partner. He asked her to pass on his best wishes to both Penny and I. She had some bad news, the taxi at the train station, the driver put her bags in the boot and he drove off and left her stranded with only her ruck sack which had here passport and credit cards. She could not call the embassy or the insurance company as it was the first. I would be totally pissed off and an inconvenience. Penny and I discussed this incident and now she will get in the taxi first whilst I load the bags in the boot and when at our destination she will stay in the taxi until I give her the okay to get out.

10:30 headed out to the National History Museum and the ground was covered in a light dusting of snow and it was a warm – 16 C, I am not bullshitting when you have experienced over – 50 C this is warm. An interesting museum when communism took over in 1921 the illiteracy was terrible 2 to 3% of the people could read and write and in the late 1990 when communism was replaced by democracy 96% of people could read and write. Today, more than half of Mongolians live in Yurts or Gers, including about 61% in the capital of Ulaanbaatar and 90% of the rural population.

Got some T shirts and decided to have a light snack as we are dining at a Mongolian restaurant tonight. Decided on a Korean restaurant and I picked a pork dish and Penny another meat dish. Bloody hell they bought the food out it was a banquet and we only wanted a light snack. There was soup each rice and 6 other bowls with different foods. Came out of there bloated and had to walk it off.

Tried to find the Bogd Khan Winter Palace but gave up after a while and came across these vintage trains, train buffs would have been ecstatic. So we decided to head to Choijin Lama Temple where we tried to get into the other day. On the way saw these 3 mature local ladies chatting away in the sun, I asked if I could take a photo of them and thanked them very much. The Temple did not take credit cards for entrance fees and I was a little short on the cash but she let us in which was nice of her. It was interesting to visit and we will see many more when in Tibet.

Penny is packing I did mine yesterday, we depart the hotel at 06:30 train leaves at 07:30 to Beijing. Be passing through the Gobi desert which will be interesting. Have to go through Mongolian and then Chinese customs and immigration. Have been told in China some times you have to get off the train as they process you like that. Again could take up to 3 hours. We do not know if there is a restaurant on the train so we will stock up with the usual train junk food. We arrive in Beijing the next day at 14:30. Will try and get all our booked train tickets when we arrive at the station. There is 8 journeys so far.

Got to bed at 02:30 up at 08:00 and Penny at 10:30 just a lazy day. The hotel did not do breakfast this morning. Early afternoon we just walked through town to see if any food places were opened as we were told everything would be closed. Found a couple of coffee shops and Burger King open so we had a burger and surprisingly Penny enjoyed her meal. Got talking to 2 young woman from the US who were on a 2 year assignment here in Mongolia with the USA Peace Corp, 1 teaching English and the other Public Health. They were interesting to talk too and we wished them well. Quite warm today -17C it will be back in the 30’s at night time. Last night taking video clips of the celebrations my fingers were frozen and hurting, back in the hotel I had to run them under cold water and slowly increase the temperature to stop the pain.

Being NY Day there were bugger all traffic in town and WOW less pollution and the significant smog haze we have become accustom too was not that prevalent. Just makes you wonder what health issues the locals succumb too with this major issue of pollution? Smoking among men is high and open ash trays are dotted around if not the butts are discarded on the foot path or street. Spitting is quite common and you can see where the men gob on the foot paths, as there are these frozen gobs every where, the equivalent to chewing gum on UK foot paths.

English has become the 2nd foreign language here in Mongolia over taking Russian. The street signs are in Mongolian and English all land marks are again in both languages. The quality of their roads and footpaths is not brilliant I wonder if the extreme temperatures has anything to do with it, but they both need to be addressed.

Since Penny and I commenced our travels together back in 2017, she has been taking photos of VW Beetle cars, started off in Mexico where there is a lot of them in all states of repair. We only photoed one in Perm in Russia missed one in Moscow to Penny’s annoyance. Here in Mongolia there have been none spotted by us until we were walking back through Parliament Square and I spotted one and it has made Penny very happy. (kids electric VW Beetle car). Wonder if we see them in China?

The travel agent I used to get my Mongolian train ticket to Beijing arranged a private tour to drive out of UB and went to Genghis Khan statue, Turtle Rock and had lunch with a Mongolian tribal family in their Yurt/Ger and then on to Terelj National Park Monastery. We had a brilliant day great to get away from polluted UB and breathe fresh mountain air. Genghis Khan and his horse is the largest statue in the world according to The Guinness Book of Records. We climbed up inside the statue and took in a panoramic view what was on offer. We moved on to Turtle Rock so easy to see why they named it. Having lunch with the family in the Yurt or Ger was interesting. It was -30 C outside and inside with the pot belly stove roaring away you could easily just wear shorts and T shirt. The 2 little girls were watching 101 Dalmatians and it was in Mongolian. We were served 5 dumplings with some salad and pickles each for our lunch, really too much 3 would have sufficed but we ate them to be polite. Then we headed to
Terelj National Park Monastery all on a rough dirt road. We got there and it took us 20 minutes to climb up to the Monastery, the views where spectacular. I would not like to be there in the summer time as we were the only 2 there brilliant. With this extreme cold the camera batteries some times last up to 20 minutes so once taken photos have to keep the camera close to the body and keep warm. We are carrying a spare battery.

Coming back into UB you could see the smog what a horrible sight. I do not rate the locals driving practices, cars turning left across a 6 lane major road, they just pull out and all traffic has to stop and cars turning right just pull out in front of you expecting you to stop. The pollution from the vehicles is accentuated with the – 30 C temperatures you see it bellowing from the exhausts.

Back to the hotel thanked the driver for a great trip today, showered did the clothes washing in the shower and it is drying out on radiators in the room. We will be going out later on to celebrate 2019 in Parliament Square with all the locals.

Had a good sleep last night which I needed, got Penny up before 09:00 as breakfast finished at 10:00. Penny was not that impressed with what was on offer but I enjoyed it and first time I have had toast in a month. We have been on the go for 1 month now and seen and experienced a lot.

Penny has been wanting Siberian Reindeer boots since she has seen them in Irkutsk. She checked out 3 shops and they were wanting £250 which she felt she could not justify buying them. Since then she has cursed herself for not buying them. Someone had told us to go to Sunday Plaza and behind there is the Narantuul Market. Found the route and was there in 30 minutes. On the way we took some back streets, the foot paths are not even man hole covers can be half a meter below the foot path. Some areas are paved and they certainly are not lock blocked so you have to keep an eye where you walk. I thought Spanish parking was bad, now Mongolia has got that honour. They park on all angles, on the foot path and where ever they can park there car and get away from it. The car driving is interesting, in town 3 lanes each direction and numerous times I have seen a car do a 180 turn to go the other direction and even a 3 point turn to achieve the maneuver. People honk their vehicle horns a lot seem to be impatient drivers. There are right and left hand driven cars, apparently the right hand cars come from Japan. One interesting thing I saw was they have these car covers which were quilted, what a brilliant idea you could do with them in the UK in the winter time and no need to scrape the ice off the car in the morning, but then you think how long would it stay on the car in built up areas?

Went to Sunday Plaza and Penny found some Siberian Reindeer boots, after trying on a few pairs and checking out some different shops she settled on a black pair of black ones after lusting over the cream ones for the past week. We found Narantuul Market it was out door and very large a woman would absolutely love this. Found the area where the boots and shoes were on offer for sale I said to Penny I wonder how many pairs of shoes and and boots are on this planet. Comment a woman can not have enough of these. She found a light colour pair of Siberian Reindeer boots that fitted her so I haggled and got them for £64 and the black ones were £80 a big difference from £250 in Irkutsk. Penny left there a very happy lady. Dropped our gear off at the hotel and went to look at Choijin Lama Temple unfortunately it was not open and a lot of rubbish on the street surrounding it. Took some photos and headed back to the hotel -21 C warmer than this morning when it was – 31 C. The beard still freezes the water bottle I was carrying had ice blocks floating in it.

We are 1600m above sea level here this climate dries the skin out a lot. The pollution irritates Penny and she coughs a lot outside. Seen a lot of woman wearing a lot of make ups due to the dry conditions here.

Went out to the burger restaurant close by and it was a different and lovely experience. Penny is not a burger person and she thoroughly enjoyed it. They gave you black gloves to put on very different. For 2 big burgers, chips and 2 big salads a coke and a pint of beer £13. MacDonald’s and Burger King you can learn.

Strolled over to Parliament Square all the lights were on and bloody cold – 33 C and the smog in the air unfortunately. We will be there tomorrow night to bring in the New Year.

Arrived at Ulaanbaatar at 06:40 said good bye to Rob Judge Rinder they are staying only 1 night moving on to Beijing tomorrow. Found the lady who was to pick us up and take us to our apartment. She told me there was an issue as the apartment is still occupied so she has us booked into another hotel and the same price as the apartment. Took us to the hotel and she got us checked in and we have been upgraded to a Business Suite which has 2 bedrooms but no washing machine as the apartment had as we have a bit of washing to do, so I will have to hand wash it. Ulaanbaatar is the most polluted city in the world especially in the winter time with all the fires they have for heating the houses, she advised us to by masks from the chemist shop.

I contacted my man here in Ulaanbaatar who booked our rail tickets from UB to Beijing 1st class. I had to pay him 1.1 million Mongolian Togrog. We went to the hole in the wall down the road and I with drew 1.5 million Togrog. This is the first time I have withdrawn over a million in any currency.

Penny had a sleep and we settled into our room and then decided to go and explore the city. A 5 minute walk we were at the Parliament Building, there were police stopping traffic and you could see a military band and soldiers all dressed up smartly standing to attention. Right behind us the President, Prime Minister and others walked into the building. The military band were playing music, this looked spectacular. I asked a TV announcer what was the occasion and she said it was Independence Day, 1921 was the revolution. Then another TV announcer and crew came up to us and interviewed us , we had only been in the country 7 hours so we could be on TV tonight? LOL

Found the State Department store 7 levels high and had a few high street clothing brands, the sales were on so it was busy. The ladies would enjoy it lots of 100% Cashmere and any fur lovers coats, jackets and hats. We explored some more of the center of town and found an area with lots of restaurants, even the first Irish Pub in Ulaanbaatar. We decided on Mongolian cuisine, but they seem to have the same issue as the Russians, we ordered a salad and then a main course and they both come out at the same time, we just laughed.

Got a good feel for this city a lot of people speak English and they are friendly there is a mixture of old and new buildings quite different from Russia. Chilling tonight need a good sleep after not much in the past 48 hours.

Up at 06:15 taxi picked us up at 07:00 and off to the station, it was 11 days ago we were last at Irkutsk railway station. Penny and I both commented it has been amazing staying in Siberia. Train to depart at 08:15 and 07:40 our platform number came up 4. Back in the routine of getting the bags loaded up down a lot of steps and then up again the same amount. Not a long train at all, we were in carriage #5 which was the last one. Showed the tickets and passports to the friendly train lady and off we went to our compartment #4. Got the vodka and coffee/tea out for Penny and got the bags put away under the bunks and overhead. I went to take some final photos of Irkutsk station and a bloody train decided to put a stop to that parked itself in front of me. Penny in her knickers and top in the corridor was also going to take some photos. The compartment next to me this guy and woman come out and blow me down it is Judge Rinder and we got chatting. I did not let on I knew who he was, we both agreed Russia is an amazing place and people so friendly and he mentioned the media had been following him around as well. and they spotted Penny in her knickers. LOL. The train lady again asked for the passports, when she came back, I asked is there any power points in the compartment, no only out side in the corridor, where I am perched on a flip down seat cramped. Then she said there is no food on here. Luckily, we bought some and we stop in Ulan Ude at 15:00 for 40 minutes so I will get some more food then from the platform kiosks. I mentioned to the Judge no food on board he said not a problem we have Vodka.

Some amazing scenery but you get to see much more in winter time, Penny was talking to someone who said their friends did the train trip in the summer time and they could not see much as the trees near the track were covered in leaves. We are passing through some amazing scenery about to take some photos and a bloody freight train goes by in the opposite direction and they are long this has happened numerous times. 

Reflecting on the time we had in Russia, a 30 day visa is not long enough for what we are doing 40 days would have been ideal and we would have go over to Vladivostok and spent some extra days at places where we stayed. The Russian people are lovely and at no time did we feel threatened. Trump and the Western world need to STOP the trade sanctions on Russia this only affects the people not the Government. I feel Russia is only scratching the surface with tourism, St Petersburg and Moscow had the main attractions covered. Perm, Yekaterinburg & Irkutsk had tour routes in the cities follow the green and red lines but when it is winter and the pathways covered in ice and snow a bit hard to follow. Olkhon Island the potential is great but the Buryats control things and they seem to live for the day. Certainly, need some bars to cater for the tourists and create more attractions. Penny and I leave Russia feeling privileged to visit this beautiful country with so much history and meeting lovely people. We would like to fly back to Irkutsk one day in February go to Olkhon Island as Lake Baikal is totally frozen over apparently it is amazing to see and experience this and then go back to Listvyanka.

Stopped in Ulan Ude for 45 minutes got off the train to find some food not much to offer outside the station. Bought 2 pasties and a bread roll with some sausages stuck in the middle. That was my dinner for tonight. Around 20:00 we stop for immigration first in Russia. On came the drug dog followed by a lady who wanted to look in our bags, that did not take long then passport man and I had to stand up glass off he took 10 minutes to process me and Penny then another man wanted to look at our passports. Then the train lady gave us Mongolian forms to fill out. Arrived at the Mongolian border town had to pull our blinds down and on came the immigration and customs people. Had to stand up glass off as he looked at our passports. He said to Penny you look much younger with your pink hair compared to the passport photo, so keep the pink hair she gave him a big hug for the compliment and he said to me you need to shave the beard off. I said whilst it is cold it is staying on. One hour 40 minutes later we could open up the blind in the compartment and the train carried on to Ulaanbaatar and off to sleep for us.

Up at our usual time and breakfast after 10:00 comical as ever as the food does not arrive in order, but they try their best and it also happens in restaurants too. Packed our bag and headed down to reception, the funny Xmas head decorations we wore for Xmas Penny gave them to the receptionist and she was so thrilled to get them she put on the Xmas tree earrings and head piece and her colleague wore my head piece. Their boss took photos of them in front of their Xmas tree. The bus back to Irkutsk arrived outside the hotel and we got on with the big bag and 90 minutes later we were in Irkutsk.

It was bloody cold there -38 C icicles formed in my nostrils and the beard froze as normal now. A 20 minute walk we arrived back at the Rolling Stones Hostel welcomed by familiar friendly people who own run the place. I got Alexandria to print off all of our flight, train and hotel confirmation 20 pages later and did not charge. I got talking to the 3 owners and said they should start designing and selling T shirts first of the hostel, but the main one is the trans Siberian, trans Mongolian/ China rail trip no one is producing them and everyone staying at the hostel is doing this trip and sell online to people who have done this amazing trip.

Penny got talking to a mature English lady Anna and they hit it off really well talking about everything. A lot of the Russian ladies here are wearing these boots made of some hide like an Ugg boot sheep skin lined but with a decorative top part of the boot. So we went looking for them 20 minute walk, icicles coming from the nostrils the beard frozen again. Penny checked out 3 shops that specialise in these boots wanting £200-300 for them as much as she loved them, she could not justify the price as the money would be better spent doing so activities on the way. Got some provisions for the train trip to Mongolia tomorrow, from experience you have to do this as you don’t know if they have food or not. Got back to the hostel and we invited Anna to join us for dinner at a local restaurant we have eaten at before. She loved the interesting food and again my main arrived 10 minutes after their mains.

Back at the hostel the owners were having a xmas party and offered pizza but we declined and I got the ladies some wine. Penny and Anna were chatting away so I went to bed early as we had to be up at 06:15. Penny crawled into bed at 00:30 happily playing some tunes. Penny told me afterwards that Anna knew people she knew through her professional life. Her husband is in Antarctica for a year so she decided to travel through Russia China down to Singapore and then on to Perth for a wedding and expects to get back to her home in Oct/Nov next year. Her and her husband are planning to do the Pan American highway from Alaska down to the bottom of South America over a period of a year. What a brilliant trip planned in a couple of year’s time.

I was up at 07:30 and the air in the room was cold even with the heater going. I found last night a draft coming through one of the large window frames, don’t need cool air conditioning here. With the wind chill factor the temperature was – 46 C. Penny awoke at 09:30 complaining of a cold nose, got her a cup of tea in bed and she was happy. Made our way to breakfast and there was no food laid out as it has been. We were given a breakfast menu and waited 20 minutes before any one served us and there was 5 staff and 3 couples eating. Again they can’t bring both mains out like last night, Penny had 2 courses on the table and I had to wait nearly 10 minutes for my 2.

Got all dressed up which is quite an ordeal and ventured outside bloody freezing. I needed to put my balaclava on and I took off my gloves, I will learn, got it on and hood up and gloves back on my fingers were freezing big time, cursed myself should have done it in the hotel before we left. Showed Penny the out door market they were setting up their wares for the day. One of the ladies recognised me as I bought Penny a few gifts from there, you from NZ. She spoke a little English, I asked her what she thought of Trump as I did a couple of days ago, “don’t like he is a wanker” and she did not talk highly of Vladimir P.

We then walked 3 miles to the outdoor center to go husky sledding. Got in the reception area and warmed up and had to wait 40 minutes and I was the first one to go riding. Got told sit, put feet here and hang on and off we went. Did not have time to get my camera out as I was wearing my gloves with the inners. Managed to get my camera out and shot wildly when I did not need to hands to hang on. It was not a smooth ride at all with numerous rides around this 15-20 minute course it was bumpy reminding me driving on Olkhon Island and there was no back support cushion. Was glad when it was over, it was okay can now say I have been on a husky sled, but for £40 for that duration, no. Penny went and had her ride whilst I warmed up by the stove and let my camera warm up in the room. Penny came back safe and well and said it was okay as she had done it previously in Lapland and it was for a couple of hours and she followed a guide with her team of dogs.

Went them walked back to the hotel all covered up icicles in my beard and coming from my nostrils and Penny had frozen eye lashes. Penny had found these crampons which fit over our boots online back in the UK did not cost much but a must to wear on icy roads, thanks Penny. Bought some snickers bars from the shop I bought the vodka from a few days ago. The guy was really nice spoke English and he tried to sell us tea coffee water, sorry we have all of that. Back in the hotel get most of our clothes off hang it where possible and let it dry out. Time for a siesta we need it.

Woke up this morning and it had been snowing and freezing during the night temperature showing -26 C and with the wind chill factor -36 C. Lady Penelope arose at 09:30 as day light appeared. I had bought her some small gifts a lovely blue agate necklace and small agate elephant Penny collects them and fridge magnets from where we have been on Lake Baikal and she gave me a lovely card. We can’t buy much as we are over weight at the moment with our luggage. Had to bring clothes for winter, Siberia and warm parts of China and Vietnam. Going to fly a bag back to NZ with the Siberian clothing and some winter clothes.

We went to breakfast wearing hair band with Xmas tree adornments and Penny wore Xmas tree earrings. We made a few people smile but no one else was in the spirit. Had vegetables and cold meats for breakfast very tasty.

12:30 we got a taxi to take us to the center where you go husky sledding and horse riding. We put on our riding helmets and met our horses which had woolly coats and you can’t blame them in this temperature. We rode around menage for 10 minutes and he was happy we could ride a horse and off we followed him on virginal snow tracks through the forest and a road. There were a bunch of people doing ice sculpture and the sun was out. Also we had a weanling colt join us and he was in front of me and became a pain in the arse as he would not let me pass him and he took a bite of Penny’s leg and luckily bit into her selopettes. We walked and cantered for just under an hour. The horse I rode had icicles hanging from his nostrils and I had them as well. It certainly was a different way to spend Xmas and we will remember this for a very long time. An Italian couple had just finished their husky sled ride so we have booked a 20 minute ride tomorrow at 13:00 for about £80. We walked back to the hotel with them and when we reached the main road it was quite windy and the temperature with the wind chill factor was – 46 C my fingers were cold, if you take your gloves off you have to get them back on very quickly. It is going to be colder tomorrow.

We just had our Xmas dinner in the hotel restaurant and we were the only people there. They do some excellent salads I had the borscht soup and Penny had a fish soup with a large shot of vodka to go with it. I had a pork dish and Penny had a steak which arrived after I finished my pork. I had to chase the waiter for the menu for the desserts Penny ordered the apple strudel and ice cream and we were told we would have to wait 30 minutes so we missed it. Bought back the Pinot Gris bottle back and she is one happy bubbly lady.

A beautiful sunrise this morning around 09:30 and around our lake side it was eerie with a broken frozen mist. Then arrive whirlwinds which was spectacular all we needed was Deep Purple song playing Smoke on the Water.

You look online at the BBC weather where we are now, said warm -12 C it was actually -18 C and considering the wind chill factor of 30 mph winds the really temperature was -32 C I had icicles on my beard and my fingers where bloody freezing. The secondary school is next door to the hotel and the kids were at school today. Penny caught a cold the day before and stayed in door all yesterday she is feeling better today. Had the heater on in the room last night as the duvet on our bed would equate to a summer duvet and the temperature dropped a lot during the night. I even wore thermals to bed last night.

Had to remind reception at 15:00 that room service had forgotten us and we had run out of the 1 roll of toilet paper. The guy got on to it and Penny and I played crib whilst the room was been serviced. met a Welsh guy and his Austrian partner they were on there way to go on a 30 km husky sled ride and staying in a hut and coming back tomorrow, £550 for the experience. Got an extra duvet installed so should be good to sleep tonight. Our room is interesting it is curved with great views and you can hear the waves on the lake crashing on the beach. Penny has a fridge right next to her side of the bed, was well stocked of chocolate. The vodka bottle is sitting outside on the balcony it is 40% proof. Penny was trying out the Russian cure for a cold last night drink Vodka.

Decided to go out for dinner it was bloody cold and with the wind chill factor it was -39 C the beard and the moustache instantly froze. Did not find anything open as they were during the day so we ended back in the hotel and had a good feed. It is great eating the local cuisine and some dishes we will cook for ourselves in the future.

Well I hope you have a great Xmas tomorrow over do it on the food and alcohol and enjoy. Penny and I will have breakfast the locals don’t celebrate their Xmas until next month. Then we are booked to go horse riding at 13:00 for an hour, got the sauna at 16:00 get to beat one another birch and oak twigs and dinner in the evening.