Thursday 4th September - Ulan Baatar (UB)
Let's just say that the crossing of the border from China to Mongolia isn't what you would call pleasant. So you arrive at a place called Erlian at about 11.30pm on the China side. This is where they change the bogies under the carriage as the tracks are narrower in China compared to Mongolia and Russia. Before they get started though, immigration board the train and take your passports for processing. Fair enough. So we decided we'd stay on the train for the bogie changing process. They wheel you into the workshop, jack you up and then swap the bogies out from underneath you. The whole process takes a little over 2.5 hours. The whole time you can't go to the bathroom as the toilet drops straight out onto the track below and of course, Jodi is busting.

After the bogies are changed, they wheel you back out of the workshop, you receive your passport back provided you're not a wanted fugitive and then transfer across the border. Mongolian Immigration board the train and take your passport for processing. This process takes another hour or so and of course the toilets are still locked so you still can't go to the bathroom.

By 3am the whole process is over. Jodi is about to wet herself and Brenden's eyes are as red as the Chinese flag. The person that looks after the carriage was nice enough to come get Jodi first as he opened the toilet doors. Time to get some sleep. The plan was to get up early and watch the sunrise as we went through the Gobi desert. Well as you can imagine that didn't happen.

The scenery we saw through Mongolia is stunning and stunningly monotonous at the same time. The bare, grassy hills just go on for ever and that's all you really see. The shear vastness of the country is what really gets you.

By about lunch time the train pulled into UB. Apart from the border crossing the first leg of our train trip had been awesome. To our surprise the hostel that we were booked into, Sunpath, had a courtesy car waiting for us and some others at the train station. Score!!! There was an Australian guy, Lewis, and also a Japanese mother and daughter, Iain and Toubi their English names were, were all going to same hostel as us. So we all piled into this van and made our way to the hostel. From the outside, you look like you're walking into an abandoned factory. But once you walk through the door into the hostel your whole view changes. The hostel was really warm, welcoming and clean. We highly recommend you staying here if you ever make your way to UB.

Friday 5th September - UB
After teaming up with Lewis to find a Mongolian Tour to go on, we decided to hang around UB for a day before heading off. We managed to hire a driver for the afternoon and head out to this massive statue of Chengis Khan. When we say massive, we mean massive. It's the largest statue in the world of a man mounting a horse. And it's made entirely of stainless steel and weighs over 450 tonnes. There is an elevator that goes up the back legs and then you walk out onto a viewing platform at the top of the horses head. It's pretty cool and worth the visit. And just for everyone reading, we all decided that is was a male horse.

Saturday 6th September
The lady at the hostel who organises all the tours managed to convince a couple of Danish guys who were staying at the same hostel to jump on our tour with us. This was awesome as it dropped our daily price of $70 pp to $50 pp and that included fuel, food and accommodation. Sorren and Mads were their names. We ended up deciding on a 4 night / 5 day tour of Central Mongolia that included camel and horse riding, a couple of monasteries and the only 2 waterfalls in Mongolia. Also all accommodation was in the traditional Ger's and no showers for the entirety of the trip.

So with toilet paper and wet wipes stocked up in our bags, we set off at about 8.30am. Our mode of travel was one of those old Russian 4WD vans. Gutless as anything, suspension that does nothing, 3 seats facing forward and 3 seats facing back - so comfortable……. Our driver, Bat-ulzi was the hippest Mongolians we'd met and our guide, Bilguun was only 21 but spoke very good English and knew basically everything in regards to the history of Mongolian. He'd been doing it for over 3 years so we guess it sort of goes with the territory. The first destination was a place known as the Ancient City. This is where Buddhism was first introduced into Mongolia and the first ever temples were built here too. The 6 hour trip was hell. To get anywhere in Mongolia takes a long time and the roads are absolutely s***. The day was freezing cold and raining too. To add to the frustration there was heaps of roadworks happening so although the map marked the road as paved, we actually spent more time driving on the grass and through the mud beside the road.

About 3.5 hours into our trip, we'd all pretty much fell asleep. The scenery had been the same for the past 2.5 hours and the rain and the cold was making us pretty miserable. OK, so picture this, we're travelling along the road at let's say about 90k's. There is a Land Cruiser in front of us that all of a sudden breaks to stop for a pot hole in the road. We're travelling too close behind him to break in time due to the wet road so we swing around him onto the other side of the road to avoid running up his back end. At the same time, there is a car coming in the opposite direction so we continue our turn and end up in the ditch beside the road. Everyone's awake now!!!!!

After checking out the monastery and ancient city, we pull into a tourist camp for the night. Our first night staying in a Ger. They're actually really warm once you get the fire going. That night we also taught the other guys how to play Monopoly Deal - they found it just as addictive as we do.

Sunday 7th September
After breakfast we jump back into the car (begrudgingly) and head off into the grassy hills. The track was pretty much the same as what we drove on next to the road the day before. As you can imagine we were all pretty sick of it within about 2 hours into the drive. The scenery however did change to more of a forest/woody landscape. This was a welcome change to the grassy hills.

After about 3 hours we stopped in this amazing valley and had lunch. We were surrounded by yaks and cows and it must have been mating season as there was lots of 'cow porn' happening. Unfortunately we didn't get any photos.

After lunch we headed up to a Monastery that is built basically at the top of a mountain. It took about an hour to walk up and when we got there it was too late and all the temple buildings were closed so we didn't get to see inside. That's OK, we weren't really up for another Buddhist history lesson. The views from the top of the mountain were worth the walk as well. Unfortunately for some reason though women aren't allowed at the very top of the peak so Jodi had to stay behind. :( We then headed back down the hill and back into the car for the 60km journey to our final stop for the day.

The 60km journey took over 3 hours. It was hell. Everyone in the car was so over it by the time we got there. But the scenery when we got there made it all worth while. We ended up staying on this amazing plain with rivers and streams running all the way through it. We climbed the hill next to the camp and the view was amazing. We all stayed and watched the sunset from the top even though it was f***ing freezing cold. That night we all played Monopoly Deal and drank beer in the Ger.

Monday 8th September
The best part of the this day was the fact that we didn't have to drive any where. We would spend the whole day in the valley visiting waterfalls and horse riding in the afternoon. I'm pretty sure we all would have killed each other if we had to get back into the car for another 5 or 6 hours.

Mongolia supposably has only 2 waterfalls in the entire country, both on this plain. Just before lunch we walked over to the first one, which is actually the tallest one in the country. We ventured down to the bottom bank for a closer look and there was a group of locals, probably early 20's, all sitting down cooking and drinking. Their drink of choice, fermented mare's milk. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. So we all tried a bit. It sort of had a woody texture in it. Brenden had about half a drop and not much more, Jodi, Mads and Sorren had about a glass and half each, but Lewis, the Aussie guy, had over 2 cups of it. He really liked it (at this point) and skulled it down fairly quickly.

After lunch we all suited up in our traditional Mongolian outfits and jumped on some horses. The horses aren't as big as the ones back home but this was definitely a bucket list item. To get the horse to go faster, we had to say "Choo, Choo." Brenden's horse had won some races before retiring to the plains so he was keen to run. Jodi couldn't get her horse to gallop without a fair bit of persistence and the other boys were still getting used to the rhythm of trotting, which was quite funny to watch. After about the first 20 minutes, we came to a stop so everyone could catch up and re-group. We were all just standing around with the horses feeding when this f***ing goat came out of this rocky outcrop right beside Brenden. Well Brenden's horse flipped out and basically just launched itself sideways leaving Brenden flat on his arse on the ground. No injuries but the worst thing was he'd only just turned the Gopro off so we didn't get any of it on camera.

We continued on our way and eventually found our way to a small camp where we were welcomed into a family's Ger for tea and a rest. More milk but not fermented mare's milk at least. After tea we got back onto the horses and then rode for probably another 2-3 hours. The scenery was amazing - we also stopped in at the second waterfall and had a look, rode through herds of goats and sheep and crossed a few rivers. Definitely our best day in Mongolia and would do it all again in a heart beat.

When we got back to camp, poor Lewis was in all sorts of pain. The fermented mare's milk he'd had before lunch had gone straight through him. He could hardly get off the horse or even run to the toilet. That night he had us in absolute stitches as he recited the whole experience. We've copied his Facebook post and pasted it below.

"Turns out, horse milk and goats cheese isn't the best lunch for 5 hours of galloping around in the desert heat, and my stomach takes a turn for the worse. We were about 15 minutes from getting back to our Ger's, and I let the guide know, "not feeling well, I'm just going to trot my horse at the back, I'll catch up", he gives me the thumbs up and returns to the others.

He obviously forgot to tell the other guide, because every couple of minutes this big Mongolian dude would circle back, give me some sympathetic look like, "oh, this poor foreigner can't get his horse to go", then proceed to whip my horse, yelling out "CHOO! CHOO!"

My horse would lunge into full gallop, my balls smacking against the saddle before receding into my stomach, which by this point was nothing more than a vessel for the anti-Christ. I would pull back on the reins, "MATE! I'm not well! Don't do that!" But he couldn't speak any English, and readies another whip. I start frantically hand gesturing, "I drank too much horse (pretend to drink from cup), now my belly is bad! (rub belly and look sad) If you do that again, I'm going to let loose a river of s*** on your beautiful horse! (hold clenched fist below waist and then spread fingers out quickly, making an explosion sound)"

He gives me a hearty laugh, seemingly only understanding the first part, "Yes! Horse milk good! ...CHOO! CHOO!" Ugh. Through sheer willpower, I make it back, dignity intact; I've never been so happy to see 3 walls and a hole in the ground."

Tuesday 9th September
With just about every muscle and bone aching in our bodies from the horse riding the day before we reluctantly all got back in the car and headed off for our final destination before the final leg home. Today we would travel to what's known as the Semi-Gobi. It's sort of halfway between the full Gobi desert and the grassy plains we'd already seen so much of. It's a bit more sandy with small shrubs that cover the majority of the landscape. On the way there there was this massive vulture that flew straight in front of the car - these things are huge. We stopped and tried to take some photos but we couldn't get close enough as it just kept flying away. Reluctantly we got back into the car and continued on.

It had done so well up until now but we finally had our first break down when we stopped for lunch. Well, it wasn't really a breakdown but the rubber hose that feeds the fuel tank from the fuel inlet had split so whenever we filled up with fuel, the majority of it would end up on the ground. After about 2 hours we came up with a solution, not a fix, but a solution that would get us to the camp where we would stay the night.

We arrived at our final destination mid afternoon and welcomed the departure of the car with great enthusiasm. The afternoon was spent learning how to play 'Knuckles', playing basketball and just generally relaxing. It was a nice afternoon.

Wednesday 10th September
Our final day. The last of our activities before the 6 hour drive back to UB consisted of a 1 hour ride on some camels down through the sand dunes. We're sure it would have been more enjoyable if we hadn't have spent 5 hours horse back riding a day or so before. We were not comfortable that's for sure and by about 20 minutes in we were all wishing it to be over. Fortunately Lewis didn't have any stomach issues this time so that was a bonus.

The trip back to UB was as expected long and exhausting. We got back at about 4pm and headed straight for the showers - none of us had one since leaving 5 days earlier. We tipped our driver and guide and bid them farewell. Unfortunately for Bilgunn there was little rest for him as the very next day he was heading out for a 14 day tour - poor guy. That night all 5 of us went for dinner before we said good bye to Mads and Sorren as they were leaving early the next morning.

Thursday 11th September
Bit of a lazy day. We caught up on all our washing and cleaning, catching up on FB news and general internet requirements and shopping for the next leg of the train journey. Our train was at 8pm so we had one last dinner with Lewis before heading off. So the hostel dropped us off at the train station along with Toubi and Iain who were on the same train as us again. We were just sitting at the station and we both realised that we'd left all our shopping back at the hostel. f***!!! So we quickly got in contact with them and they were nice enough to bring it to us. Thankfully as there was no meal cart on the train.

This part of the train journey we shared our dorm with a travel guide, Natalia, and another Russian whom we can't remember. Natalia was playing tour guide for an older group of Aussies who were in the cart next to us. Turns out they were from Bundaberg - small world.

The next day we would cross the border in Russia. Mongolia - you've been fantastic, we wish we could have stayed longer. If anyone is heading to UB, we suggest you stay at Sunpath, they were fantastic!!!

Monopoly Deal Running Total

Brenden: 10
Jodi: 8