inner mongolia

it's difficult to appreciate how big Siberia is without actually traveling across it. it is absolutely massive, awe-inspiring.
we're in mongolia now, once you cross the border the scenery changes quite alot and you can begin to appreciate just how big it is. huge plains with mountains in the background.

mongolia is a brilliant place. the people say that they have eastern philosophy with western culture and that pretty much sums them up. SO much friendlier and warmer people than the russians. they cannot do enough to assist us.

coming through the border was pretty hairy. we'd heard so many scare stories about people having all their cash taken off them and cameras and such by mentally unstable border patrol guards with guns, but we saw nothing of the sort. it took a long time, but mainly because there is such a huge amount of bureaucracy in russia. it's trying to shake off it's communist roots, but some things are taking longer than others.

from tomorrow we're in jeeps touring around northern mongolia, seeing the scenery and living with local nomadic families. the people at the hostel here share the mongolian warmth and spirit and are basically sorting the whole thing out for us.

the weather has been incredible since we got off the plane in moscow. i think our coldest day has been 23*C. today in ulan bator i think it must've bounced over the 30 degree mark. not at all what we expected at all, certainly from siberia!

the internet is a precious thing in this part of the world, there is a queue behind me, so i'll be off again for now. not sure there will be much in the mongol countryside (or mobile phone signal) so communication may go blank for a while. until then, be excellent to each other...

pictures = proof

we're now right smack bang in the centre of siberia - irkutsk to be exact...
but here are some photos to prove that we've come this far:










it's all very exciting. siberia is massive. we've just got off a train this morning that we sat on for 4 days. the whole trip was a bit scary at first but now we've gotten into it and it's just a sort of way of life.

tomorrow we'll head to the biggest lake in the world. so that'll be nice.

exceeding expectations

moscow is the new black.

this city is beautiful and far removed from the oppressed, militant reputation it suffers. it is young, trendy and free. the sun has been our friend and it has yet to dip below 26*C.

these russians don't do things by halves. the architecture is so enormous and imposing it reaches a point of hilarity. coming face to face with the university, all we could do was laugh. it was as though someones taken the top half of the empire state building and decorated it with 4 canary wharfs.

absolutely nuts!

and the tube stations are like individual underground palaces, complete with chandeliers and bronzed statues.

i estimate we have walked about 1000 miles in the last 2 days, so i'm off to bed.

keep checking this blog, tomorrow we're popping into The Kremlin and then venturing into siberia.

absolutely nuts.

seriously now

theres probably a car somewhere, on it's way to us.

0315hrs.

here we blimmin' go.

a lovely informative map

this is our route.
it's still big.

we're off!

this is our blog
for our big fat trip

it's big

it's fat

it's trip