WE THOUGHT "GENGHIS KHAN" WAS A PUNK BAND FROM IOWA!
TUESDAY!....ER....AH....WEDNESDAY! Holy Mongolia Batman! - We crossed the Gobi Desert! Can you say, "Genghis Khan?" - sure you can. Greetings from Ulaanbaatar (Google it you junior high drop outs!), the capital of Outer Mongolia! We left Beijing, China yesterday at some ungodly hour, like 8am, and after over 30 hours on the Trans-Mongolian Express we've made it to Ulaanbaatar. Look, some people go to Disney World and think naughty thoughts about Minnie Mouse. We ride a 100 year old train across the Gobi Desert and teach Mongols how to pole dance!
At the Beijing station most of the people boarding the train were Mongol smugglers (NOT KIDDING!) with suitcases and boxes the size of small cars. We were smuggling stuff too, but it was only a dozen Budweisers we won in a Mahjong parlor from some drunken Shanghai sailor. Well, as it turns out, the Mongols are allot better at smuggling than we are. Somehow they hid all their crates of sh_t from the customs officials at the Chinese border, and our remaining two cans of Bud (we drank the other ten) were seized!
Speaking of the border - GET THIS! The distance between rails on the Chinese train system is 3 inches less than in Mongolia (we know that allot of you think 3 inches is allot, but in train tracks it's everything!). So, do they just switch trains at the border? NOPE! They spend eight hours jacking up every car and literally changing out the entire wheel sets (called "bogies") in the middle of the f'ing night! Is it any wonder that we've put men on the moon and the Mongols still live in yurts and eat yak for dinner? Folks, Ulaanbaatar is cool, but we got tickets today on the #5 train that comes here on Fridays running through Irutusk (remember it from "Risk," the board game?), across Siberia and on to Moscow. It's a five day ride (yup, 128 hours! - the longest in the world at 11,000 miles!) so we'll post again tomorrow, but then you won't here from us (or about us) until next Tuesday if everything goes according to plan (or terribly wrong!). In the meantime, there's no Budweiser here in Mongolia, but there is Ghinggis Beer (8% alcohol - YEAH, BABY!) so...
SORRY! NO PICS & NO VIDEO - MONGOLIA INTERNET LACKS THE BANDWIDTH TO UPLOAD!
At the Beijing station most of the people boarding the train were Mongol smugglers (NOT KIDDING!) with suitcases and boxes the size of small cars. We were smuggling stuff too, but it was only a dozen Budweisers we won in a Mahjong parlor from some drunken Shanghai sailor. Well, as it turns out, the Mongols are allot better at smuggling than we are. Somehow they hid all their crates of sh_t from the customs officials at the Chinese border, and our remaining two cans of Bud (we drank the other ten) were seized!
Speaking of the border - GET THIS! The distance between rails on the Chinese train system is 3 inches less than in Mongolia (we know that allot of you think 3 inches is allot, but in train tracks it's everything!). So, do they just switch trains at the border? NOPE! They spend eight hours jacking up every car and literally changing out the entire wheel sets (called "bogies") in the middle of the f'ing night! Is it any wonder that we've put men on the moon and the Mongols still live in yurts and eat yak for dinner? Folks, Ulaanbaatar is cool, but we got tickets today on the #5 train that comes here on Fridays running through Irutusk (remember it from "Risk," the board game?), across Siberia and on to Moscow. It's a five day ride (yup, 128 hours! - the longest in the world at 11,000 miles!) so we'll post again tomorrow, but then you won't here from us (or about us) until next Tuesday if everything goes according to plan (or terribly wrong!). In the meantime, there's no Budweiser here in Mongolia, but there is Ghinggis Beer (8% alcohol - YEAH, BABY!) so...
SORRY! NO PICS & NO VIDEO - MONGOLIA INTERNET LACKS THE BANDWIDTH TO UPLOAD!
You silly bastards, now your hanging around getting drunk with the Mongols. What are we going to see next? We can only imagine! It is always a surprise with you kooks! Have lots of fun and remember, we cannot help but love you two.
guy and cary.
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Video from Ulaanbaatar don't look likely tonight, Damn it!! F&*%# third world country! But, There is always next Wed. Unless you two end up in some Mongolian jai and can't make it across Siberia to Moscow!
While in Ulaanbaatar will you be dining at BD'S Mongolian Barbecue?
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