We woke up today in mourning, knowing that in a couple of hours we'd be crossing the border from Mongolia into China - and that the days of blue skies and fresh air were about to disappear. We think everyone should go to Mongolia - but please don't, because then it wouldn't be Mongolia anymore! We have love every second of our trip, have met great people (foreigners and Mongolians alike), and are already dreaming of the day we can return to Mongolia. Perhaps we will even make it back on the Trans-Siberian from Russia one day - ahhh, the travel dreams...
At the border the Mongolian customs officers were pretty efficient and really nice, and soon we were rolling our way back into China. We had to wait another 2 hours on the train while Chinese customs sweated us out, and eventually we set foot on Chinese soil again. We definitely knew we were in China again when the first thing we heard when exiting the train station was "hhhheeeellllooooooooooooooooo".
We cashed up at an atm and headed for the bus station where friendly men tried to help us buy our tickets - though being back in a country where we can speak the language meant we could do it by ourselves! Tickets in hand we headed for a last supper with Franco and Marco, where ordering was easy and we all devoured the delicious Chinese food.
At 1.30pm we got on the bus and were promptly bored by the flat, straight, paved roads that took us from point A to point B without any stops for airag, cheese, and directions.
The closer we got to the city the greyer the skies became, and a familiar smell made its way into the bus. By 9pm we were back in Hohhot, had bus tickets for tomorrow to our next destination, were settled into the same smelly hotel from about 3 weeks ago, and had munched down another cheap Chinese meal.
Adlibing it back onto a budget.
Friday, July 25, 2008
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2 comments:
I love traveling too, your trip sounds amazing!!How have your accommodations been so far? I remember staying in this one hotel that smelled like being downwind of a row of porta-potties, mixed with cigar smoke...it was disgusting! Have you ever had any bad experiences, I know you must have some great stories to tell, OMG please share!
Check out this funny video, called "Ballad of a Traveler", it is hilarious. He totally sums up the travelers experience:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2tgnUsj8NE>
YouTube - Ballad of a Traveler
I work with Hampton Inn, and I'd love to hear your horror stories! What's the worst experience you've ever had at a hotel? (I always get a kick outta this!)
Haha, yeah we sure have had some bad accommodation experiences - the worst we can think of was in Qingdao where we stayed in a basement with sheets so dirty (including dried blood and mashed bugs), we were afraid of catching some sort of disease. The communal toilets/showers down the hall simply needed a biohazard sign put up they were so bad. Plus the showers and loos we in the same one big room, for men and women with no doors whatsoever. Ahhhh, don't want to rememeber anymore!!!
Thanks for the comment,
The adlibers
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