The last of Siberia

Porridge and Noodles for the next 4 nights!

Today is the day we start our 4 night stay on a train to moscow! We arrive on the 23rd. We have really enjoyed siberia! Dont work to hard leading up to christmas! Love you all xxx Talk to you on christmas eve xxx

Siberia

Yesterday we had a blast! We had a very busy day. We started at 12 as it doesnt get light till 10am. We walked along lake baikal to get to the dog sleeding. We walked over a frozen river to get to the place. When we arrived the dogs were going crazy, barking, jumping on top of there huts and down. Trust me you wouldnt want to let them of there leash! There were about 30 of them. Dog sleeding was alot of fun. We went through the snowy forest. It took about 10 to 15 min to go around the coarse.@ sleeds were going but the 2nd would wait till the 1st one came around to make sure we would not crash into each other. while the dogs were waiting on the harness tied to the sleed, a man walked past with a bowl full of horses food and the dogs jumped up and attacked the bowl. Horse food, lettuce and carrots went everywhere. The dogs were fed whole fish in between each run. After that we became blacksmiths for 15min. Tim made a horse shoe and i made a necklace. About 4pm we walked to the snowmobiles. I drove the 1st half, i found them to be hard to drive, the steering was very stiff. Tim drove the second half and it was much more fun! I was a bit slow! Its our last day in Siberia today then we are off to the train station, on the train for 4 nights to moscow! our last stop! EiY/s1600/DSC08194.JPG" imageanchor="1" >

We are now in Russia

Hi everyone, we are now in russia after 2 nights on the train. Mongolia was spectacular, we had a amazing time. We stayed in a ger which is one of those huts. They were very warm, they had a fire in the middle and during the night a mongolian lady stoked our fire 3 times a night. She would just drop a whole plastic bag of coal including the bag. The coldest it got was -28. Was very very cold. We went and saw a lady at her village and were welcomed in to see her ger home and tried some of her fermented milk and cheese. Not nice! Mongolia was like being on a cowboy movie set.

We arrived yesterday morning into russia. We are staying in Siberia next to lake baikal. It doesnt get light here till 10am very strange. Yesterday we went for a walk along the lake the edges were frezzing. We walked up to a chair lift and the view was spectacular was like looking at a painting. The photos really dont do it justice at all. Today we are dog sleeding, snow mobiling and going to a blacksmith to make something.

Ger Camp with the Mongals

5

30 Hours on a Coal Train!

Hi everyone! We have made our way to Mongolia, a very strarnge place to say where you are in the world! We caught the Vodka Train at 6am in the morning to find our selves walking on a old crusty coal train! We didnt care though as we where on our way out of filfthy china and we are heading to russia! Wahhooligan! I was actually glad the train was a very slow train it meant i could take some amazing photos! Us 6 basically had the whole train to our selves we were the only crazy ones heading to a destenation that is -28. Amazing landscape on our travels, vast, desolate, dry, barron. Then all of a sudden you would see a teny tiny village 5 crumbling buildings max. Then you would see a ger in the distance. A hour later you would see some one on a horse with nothing around him. Wild horses, cows, sheep. Felt like we were in a cowboy movie!! It was awsome!! One of the best experiences! At night looking out the window you would see the sparks from the coal flying past your window! Boarding crossings....they are always so useless and slow takes them 5 hours to stamp our passport. We stoped once to exit china and get our wheels changed on the train as we were about to climb a mountain.jolt jolt jolt they are moving the carraige feels like we are at a dreamworld ride...then all of a sudden we are up in the air hanging. We are all wanting to sleep but we have been forced into dreamworld! Off we go with our new set of wheels and we stop again a few hours later to meet our first mongalian, we hit the boarder and get our passport stamped! We finally get some sleep and wake up to see the sunrise tgat went on forever. We walk down to the dinning cart and tge whole cart had changed into a mongolian wonderland. They must of changed carriages. We are slowly getting colder and colder, snow is starting to appear more and more! We hope out quickly on a few stops as they only stop for 10mins or less!! Frezzing! Our meals on the train where a challange, porridge, noodles, wetbix, coffee with all the grinds floating in our cups. Not sure how we will cope on our 3 day straight train ride with stodgey food! We arrived today at 1.30pm, we went to the mongalian musuem and then got indian for lunch/dinner. Apparently mongolian food is rich and fermented so our honcho said it wasnt the best for us! Tomorrow we are going to our ger camp for 2 nights! Not sure if it will be snowing as it is too cold and dry for snow! Ill try and out some photos up, internet is not very strong! Love you guys! Think of us while we are in -28 xxxx

Tomorrow we hit the tracks!

6am tomorrow morning we get up to start our journey on the trans siberian railway! We meet our group yesterday only 6 of us altogether. 2 aussies, 1 nz, 1 ireland but lives in aussie. Tonight we are going to a kung foo show! We dont think we will have any acess to internet. We may get a sim card, not sure. If not you will hear from us in 17 days on Christmas day! Love you all xxxxx big hugs xxxxxx