Ebony Bones rocks your hutong

West to East
Baltika to Tsingtao
Beef stroganoff to gong bao ji ding
Red square to Tiananmen square
Roubles to Rinminbi
Lenin to Mao
Moscow to Beijing
Na'zdrowje to Ganbei
Blini to Dim sum
Vodka Baikal to Vodka Chinggis Khan
Spasiba to Baialala
Kak dila to Ni hao

It was a wicked trip!

Arriving in Beijing, being greeted by a "vodka train" sign and right
off to a place where Ebony Bones rocks your Hutong. The whole place
was exploding. Imagine it's 1977, punk rock is born and you were right
there! That's what it felt like. Sweat dripping from the ceiling. The
crowd dancing and jumping like there was no tomorrow. Ebony Bones
cover "another brick in the wall" and the Chinese crowd goes mad. They
play Iggy's "now I wanna be your dog" and the place goes absolutely
ballistic. I am so happy that I start to cry. The best things are
happening in places where they are least expected. It was a wild
night. We head out into a warm Beijing night, laughing about
shanghai-wa vs. Beijing-wa in a cab with a chinese girl speaking with
an austrian accent, headed for the white rabbit, back to the hood
where Ben Sherman is always on sale and shots need to be tasted. A night to remember...

 Pet Conspiracy

 Pet Conspiracy

 Ebony Bones

 Ebony Bones

 Ebony Bones

 peeping tom

a talented leader...

The label on the vodka bottle of "Chinggis Gold" told me that Chinggis Khan was a talented leader. In fact all the information I have gathered about the man of the millennium are either from a tacky German schlager song or from labels of Mongolian vodka bottles. I am a good student. You can learn a lot. There is a lot Chinggis Khan going on in Mongolia. If you don't arrive by train you will most likely touch ground on Chinggis Khan International Airport in Ulaan Baatar. There are numerous brands of Chinggis Khan vodka (we compared most of them). Chinggis Khan beer. Chinggis Khan crisps. Chinggis Khan you name it.

After two days in UB six of us went on a trip in one of the old Russian minibuses I learned to trust in Siberia. Our first stop was a national park west of the capital where we saw wild horses that were reintroduced to the Mongolian steppe just a few years ago. Also a lot of dead animals were seen everywhere. The cold and long winter killed millions of animals this season. When we took a stop our guide started to sing Mongolian traditionals. Her voice was amazing. When she was done, she asked whether we wanted to buy her CD. I got a signed copy.

All nights were spent with nomad families or in a camp in traditional gers. Most of the population is still living a nomadic lifestyle and is moving the ger 2 - 4 times a year, depending on the conditions for the cattle. Many of the gers are equipped with solar power systems for some basic electricity. some have b/w telly. There's an oven in the middle. No water, toilet is a hole in the ground outside.

The next day we moved on through a small sandstorm to Kharakorum, Mongolia's old capital from where the empire once was ruled. The capital has moved 25 times since then. Nomadic lifestyle. Now it's a very small town with a population of 2000 and one of the largest Buddhist monasteries in Mongolia. We had some Saturday night entertainment in our ger by an older Mongolian who played the traditional instruments for us and was a master in throat singing. The best part was however, when half-way through his performance his mobile was ringing (funny ringtone, blinking LEDs all over) and he had to answer his call and send a text message thereafter. The show went on and after he was done with his songs he asked whether we wanted to buy some CDs. I started to wonder if every single Mongolian had a record contract. I bought another signed CD.

Later that night we ran out of supplies and embarked on a mission to buy some more vodka Chinggis Khan. Our camp was lit and the roof was green, so it should be easy to find the way back. There was a filling station with a 24 hour store not far from our ger, so the six of us wandered towards the lights. We lost two of us while gazing at the stars. The 24 hour store was closed. We continued to a hotel where our wish for supplies was fulfilled. Now we only had to find our way back. At midnight the lights went out in town. But we new the directions and it couldn't be too hard to find our camp. We had to be very close by now, but just could not find it. The remaining four (and I promise, we were all sobered up by now) had no clue where our ger was. We walked  around in circles over and over again passing the same spots but just could not find our way back. It went on for an hour and a half until we saw lights in the distance. It was our guide and our driver. We were found. And how angry was our guide. She started telling us that we must let her know when we were going out at night. "Mongolian people very dangerous! We barbarians! We all relatives of Chinggis Khan!" We were grounded for the next two nights. It's always good to have a talented leader with you...

I am back in the world's coldest capital now and will get on the train to Beijing tomorrow. I am not sure how I will manage to update this blog once I am behind China's great firewall. Anyways, I will be busy eating my way through the best the Chinese cuisine has on offer. And I am much looking forward to it!

Some impressions from Mongolia:

Basketball is very popular with Mongolian cows

Our ger. Solar powered, satellite telly

Mongolian girls love Chinggis Khan vodka. Packages. Filled with candy.

Saturday night entertainment in the ger

Erdenzuu monastery

Playing farmville, Mongolian stylee.

One steppe beyond

It's advisable to have a talented leader by your side

guidebooks

The trip requires a certain amount of research to be carried out before setting off.

You can download free cityguides in pdf format from in your pocket. Since they are for free, there are obviously lots of advertisements included but otherwise they are not bad at all, in particular if its a city you just pass through and don't want to spend money on a guide book. Also, when you left the place you can simply recycle them and don't need to carry them along. I always have a hard time letting go of real guidebooks. Inyourpocket guides are available for Minsk and Moscow (and many other cities).

For the Trans-Siberian Railway:
IMHO the two best guidebooks covering the railway are Bryan Thomas and the LP edition of the track.

City guides:
Moscow and Beijing mar the beginning and the end and deserve some more days and more extensive coverage.

For Shanghai I trust my personal city guide Shanghai-Sändi to lead me to the darkest alleyways and seediest etablissements.

The LP Mongolian country guide was purchased to do some pre-trip research but given the time I will get to spend there and the meetings with local vs. the weight to carry it, it will most likely stay home. sorry...

The small world atlas is a little book I tend to have in my bag which comes in handy if you meet someone and you want to show them which part of the world you're from, where you've been to, where you're going and to plan future trips.

Mongolia, the missing link

The Consular service of Mongolia offers a section where you can fill in your visa application form online. When you finalize the form it generates a PDF document that you can print, sign and include in your visa application documents. The section on what is required for a visa is rather empty here, but the Embassy of Mongolia in Belgium has more information. It is advisable to call before sending off your documents to check what exactly is required and how exactly to apply.

I have also read that you can get visas on the spot at the Chinggis Khaan International airport in UB (check before you set off). Cool Airport name by the way, right up there with the John Lennon Airport of Liverpool and the Indira Ghandi International Airport of Delhi.

Note to self: When I grow up I want to work as an airport namer. I will start with Seattle and rename the airport to the Kurt Cobain International Airport (Your gate to Nirvana).

adding it up:

Russia:
applied February 4, 2010, received February 11, 2010, tourist visa for the price of € 35.00
Belarus:
applied February 12, 2010, received February 19, 2010, transit visa for the price of € 20.00
China:
applied February 22, 2010, received February 25, 2010, tourist visa for the price of € 33.00
Mongolia:
applied February 26, 2010, received March 3, 2010, tourist visa for the price of € 60.00 + € 10.00 for post

That makes 4 visas in 28 days for € 158.00

worth knowing: The embassies of Russia, Belarus and China are conveniently located in the town I live (The Hague, Netherlands), so I could drop by in the morning on the way to work and bring or pick up my passport. Count in additional days if you need to send your document by mail. That said, I did not opt for express service in any of these embassies, which is offered by all of them, so if you are in a hurry and willing to pay the price: Go for it. The Mongolian embassy that deals with visa applications from the Netherlands is in Bruxelles and I sent my passport by registered mail. I was very impressed by how fast I got my document with the visa back, considering that I did not pay for express service. They do offer express service, but I doubt that it can be much faster.

to be sure, to be sure, to be sure...
...call in advance to be really, really sure that you have all the documents required.
...show up early! I have seen impressive queues at some embassies and people were sent home as the embassy could not handle all requests on that day. A bummer if you traveled from far away.
...get your things in order! Don't expect an employee from, say,  the Russian embassy to accept a statement from your Egyptian health insurance (no offense to the Egyptian health system intended here). They won't understand what it says and hence not accept it. It's civil servants your dealing with after all and they have their rules. Understand them.
...consider hiring someone. Visa support agencies can do the job for you, they know exactly what is required, have priority treatment. It can well be worth the additional money.
...when sending your passport by mail to an embassy in another city or country make sure to send it by registered mail and also make sure that the embassy sends it back to you using registered mail as well. Also, supply them with an envelope or address stickers of the place your passport shall be returned to.

There's an аппаратчик for that! Part I - keeping in touch

Oh, iPhone, how did we manage to travel without you back in the days...?


Stay in touch and communication аппаратчикs:

Flickr: Take pics, upload pics, share the sights. Let them get jealous. Or worried.

(iTuneslink)













facebook:The facebook app, essential to keep up with the gossip from home. How could you survive without being in the know that Natasha is single now, Vladimir became a fan of "Vodka Putin" and - most important - what is happening on all those farms and in all these mafias out there? Never leave home without!!! (iTuneslink)

twitter: 140 characters.
A sign of life from the road or a shout out to the rest of the world. It probably won't become a trending topic, but at least it keeps you up to date with the headlines and keep your own journal of the road in a condensed fashion... (iTuneslink)











foodspotting: Food. Omnomnom. A major part of travelling. Remember that Blini in St.Petersburg? Or rather want to forget the Plov in Ashgabat? Food recommendations for the road and warnings for fellow travellers. Foodspotting is about dishes not restaurants. The application lets you picture, tag and place the food you had and upload it to the site. The site lets you search food by location. Sweet. Or Savoury. (iTuneslink)

skype: Get connected on WiFi and call other skype users for free of landlines (and in some countries mobiles as well) on the cheap. Need I say more?Many hostels and cafés offer free WiFi to their customers. The calling costs and rates can be found here.

You can charge your account online and have it topped up automatically once the remaining balance falls under a certain limit. You can also buy flat rate packages that allow you to call a certain country, continent or worldwide for a monthly subscription fee. The iPhone app allows you to access the numbers directly from the contacts list of your iPhone, so no awkward typing needed. Also, there's the possibility to set up a caller ID for free and to set it to e.g. your mobile number, so your friends and family can see who's calling and don't ignore the call because this weird number from Mongolia is showing up again. (iTuneslink)

audioboo: What I missed from previous trips was to take typical sounds home. Like the constant washing up of aluminium dishes at the Golden Temple in Amritsar where the pilgrims are fed 24 hours a day with free daal and rice. Or the shouting at Iranian Bus terminals. 
Or the haggling about a goat on Kashgar's livestock market. Or the debating of the buddhist monks in the courtyard of Sera monastery. Or the entrepreneur human telephonekiosks standing with a mobile phone chained to themselves on the streets of La Paz constantly calling "Llamada, llamada, llamada..." (which I first mistook for "Your mother, your mother, your mother..." and left me wondering why mum should be calling me here when she isn't even aware of my whereabouts). audioboo does just that (without telling your mum where you are hiding). Record a sound, name it and tag it and then upload it. audioboo also places a marker on a map where the recording was done. (iTuneslink)



Note: some of the аппаратчикs require an internet connection which may cost you an arm and a leg when abroad and roaming in a GPRS/3G network. Avoid costs by using the WiFi connection of your iPhone (where available) instead. You can disable data roaming in the settings of your iPhone.