Travelled from Beijing to Pingyao, a small ancient walled city, one of the last surviving in fairly original form and spent three days there in courtyard style accommodation - our host was helpful and friendly, though not over familiar - "just call me Mr Jai" he pompously said when we asked his name. Confirming that "it's a small world" ; we met an Irish couple (Jerry & Anne Marie) who we had met randomly in Beijing and a French guy (Medhi) who we had previo...

We arrived in Beijing by train to be met by the biggest crowds we have ever seen - From beginning to end Beijing was like leaving a football ground (probably not CCFC) and have the crowd stay with you all day. We queued and took a taxi, then had an interesting tour of Beijing for the next hour - a little earlier than we had planned but the taxi driver was obviously keen for us to see his city! The driver drove deep into the hutong area, turned off the road into...

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...