From Ulaan Bataar (martina.eng)

Wow... so much to say right now?
where should i start form? the beginning? where and whan was the beginning? only one week since my mum and me left, and still it seems one month... days full of colours, full of fantastic views, full of people, full of life!
Let's start from beijing then!
We left beijing with the night train for ualaan bataar: my mum, me, a little girl from inner mkongolia with her dad... this was the team. I didn't speak too much to the girl, but we often looked at each other, and smile, though i was crying (it hasn't been very easy to leave china this time...)... and actually she seemed to understand perfectly why i was criyng and she was looking at me with a sweet expression, mixing curiosity and comprehension...

When we arrived at Hohhot, we discovered that our train was leaving at ten in the night and not at ten am, as we expected... misunderstanding... so one great unexpected day in Hohhot: walk in the city center and visit to a big big monastery... more faithfull people than tourists, the opposite of beijing's lama temple. Hohhot, chinese city and yet already different from the part of china i am used to, people have another accent and i don't feel really home there anymore... I was leaving china and that was the beginning!

Hohhot - Erlian. Team formed by mum, me and two cantonese guys... they were going to mongolia with other two colleages to work there... so nice those cantonese! i could speak to them and laugh at their weird accent... we were leaving china, but part of china was coming with us and that was pretty conforting...
We spent the day in Erlian (the big version of chongli... see other blog for reference) waiting for the train to have its wheels changed in order to fit mongolian railways... and finally, at ten in the night we left for Ulaan Bataar! On the train with us there were also two guys form Israel, they explained that every Israelin young person, boys and girls, use to travel around the world after they finish the military service... there is plenty of young people travelling around the world to see how beautiful it is, after they discovered how terrible it can be...

We got to Ulaan Bataar with more than one hour late...as soon as we got of fthe train we saw a guy handing a sheet with my name and surname... he was Obo, waiting for us with Orgil. They are two mongolian friends... friends of a friend i met at school in beiing, Bob or Boroldoi. Bob contacted them and made sure that they would have come to pick us up... and here we are!
After meeting Bob's family in their house, we lelft with our two friends, who are also our driver and guide. Obo is a professional rally driver ... he is 21 and he started driving when he was 8... awesome trip off pist! i wish my brother were with us... he would have enjoyed it sooooooo much!!!!
We got to the ger (tipical mongolian tents for nomads) tourist camp for dinner... with a very particular dessert... Obo ordered for us a Mongolian delicious dish: mutton head.... ahem... ahem.. ahem... we tasted it... not really bad honestly! but as we did not finish it, Obo just made sure that he could find it again in the morning for breakfast... it seems to be great in milk tea: mongolian cereals!!!! well... we had our bread and jam, and enjoyed looking at him :-)

For pictures and other script... sorry, but dinner and my friends are waiting for me... Lucy just arrived form Beijing today... so the trip is officially starting!!!

ITALIANO:
Siccome la cena sta aspettando, e la mamma e i miei amici pure... a presto per versione in italiano e foto!

marti