Day 48 June 7 2013 Ulan Bataar to Russian borderIs silence really “Golden?” The lady of the house had made pancakes for breakfast which was absolutely delicious and whilst trying to have a conversation with her husband, who was showing me more archeological items plus some medals he had won for god knows what,… well I suppose you don’t get them for shooting rabbits, his wife kept on making more pancakes which she put in a plastic b...

Day 47 June 6 2013 Today, plus a bit of history and customs The lady of the house had made breakfast consisting of a sort of fried egg or was it a cheese filled pancake? to be put on my slice of bread. Then the master of the house joined me for a while sharing the teapot while I fixed their electric clock. His wife told me that he had been a doctor all of his life and his hobby had been archeology. As soon as I said that that was interesting (and I meant it) h...

Day 46 5 June 4 2013 Erlian (Mongolian border)- Ulaan Bataar Mongolia Someone tapped me on the hand. I woke up and was greeted by a young woman in an impeccable blue uniform who said: "May I have you passport sir?" The train had stopped at Dzamyn Ude, about 2 hours inside Mongolia. Dzamyn Ude is the first town after crossing the border from China and is the place where passports are checked. I had read that they only checked the luggage of Chinese or Mongolian...