Back in UB for 1 night, booked a driver (Sumeya), guide (Nara) and a Toyota Land Cruiser (sorry guys - no Land Rovers) for a 10 day trip to the Gobi and interior. We found a vegetarian restaurant and enjoyed what was probably the best meal since leaving Finland (surprisingly). Set off early in the morning and swiftly left the heavy smog of UB behind us. After about 70 Kilometres, we also left roads behind; from now on it would be single track and variably mud,...

We left Ulaan Baator early in the morning heading for Gun Galuut, a nature reserve 3 hours from UB, our transport was shared by Angie and Nick, a young travelling couple from the Netherlands, who turned out to be a lot of fun over the next few days. On the way we stopped at a giant silver statue of Genghis Khan, it was 40 metres high, it appeared out of nowhere, totally majestic and totally surreal. The giant warrior stood guard over an endless vista of the Step...

Ulaan Baatar is an extremely polluted city with the busiest traffic and craziest drivers I have ever seen - They take no prisoners, a pedestrian crossing provides no protection, in fact I think the drivers regard it as a target. Amongst the various statues of warlike heroes including Genghis, we came across a statue of The Beatles, prime position in the centre, no idea why. We had very nice and unusual meal with some fellow travellers who we met on the bus, Mae...

We arrived at the bus station at 7:00 am , ready for our 12 hour bus ride and our attempt to cross the border. The vehicle reminded me of a school Bus, in that the seats were designed for children - RyanAir we miss your spacious luxury. We boarded the bus and it was packed, it looked like a Genghis Khan Lookalike contest….. Worse still we had been given separate seat assignments. We had two huge seat partners placed on opposite sides of bus for stability, my ...