ULAANBAATAR

           We're in the dining car with the Louis Vuitton gang crossing the border into Mongolia

                                                                Greeted by a duststorm

                                                                           More dust

                                                                 Houses at the border

                                                                Awed by the log cabin

                        ...because each log has the number of assembly on it: cabin by numbers!

                                                                  Inside our fancy ger!

                                                Wierd club nearby -- dragon's playhouse

                                                    Hiking up the mountain thru village

                                                           Back at our holiday camp!

                          Guitarman statue on the back of the Beatles statue in downtown UB

                                                            Giant Mongolian Magpie!

                                                                   Hiking the hills

                                           Looking bk at our village, view down mountain

                           

                                The summit -- where folks leave their crutches -- quite moving

                             A flourescent veggie stand in UB (John's bag is trying to blend in)

Wishing Tree

 

the hills are alive...

 

music of the spheres as we cross into Mongolia   

                                      second try for a truck trying to get out of the river bed

Trans-Mongolian Express

Just had a great trip across Siberia to Mongolia. Rocking away in a compartment for four days isn't as claustrophobic as it sounds. We had a shared 'shower'. And the wide wide world out the window. Lot's of travelers to chat with. The Conductor guys shepherding us, had their  hands full wrangling passengers at all the stops along the way.  Practiced my Chinese with them, a little bit. Louis Vuittoon was aboard with a film crew documenting every whistle stop. On the train platforms, ladies with their portable markets were selling boiled eggs, mutton-stuffed fry breads, apples, crackers, pop...and snap

                                                                         a station

           There was never more than 20 minutes at any given stop so exploring was a bit curtailed. So a lot of the photos will look painterly because they were mostly take through dirty windows. A very special effect.

                                                                 Midnight whistle stop

          Sunset with TV reflection. Russian pre-recorded MTV accompanied meals in the dining car

                                  Every town has a tower. This one only appears to be leaning

 Spring comes late to the north east. People had just begun planting their vegetable gardens

                                           the middle of nowhere has taken on new meaning

                               The famous Lake Baikal. The silver buckle on the Tsar's Siberian belt

                                        "we rolled right past that tragedy' sang Ms. Mitchell

                                                                           Wiggly

More Moscow

It was a quick visit and I feel we haven't even scratch the surface of this amazing, intense town. Next time we will plan in advance so that we can see and hear some of the theatre, dance and music on offer here. One of the many interesting things about the place is the lack of signage. You realize how inundated we are with advertising back home. The number of billboards in the entire metro you could count on one hand.  Likewise the cityscape is relatively logo free. With the exception of the amazing Cosmos Hotel sign, of course

                               window washer at the Cosmos on the 22th floor looking down

                                           Boys with Tsar's bell. It broke before it ever rang

 The subway is full of amazing art. Every station is different. Everything from Soviet era realism to more abstract works. I would recommend just spending a day and doing a tour of the stations.
Here is a couple of bas reliefs.

 the bells are everywhere in the city. According to John's research the bells are rung in a percussive way rather than a harmonic, tuneful way. This small set are in a church complex under renovation

                                               Gilroy was here (subway ceiling mosaic)

                                                                     Various onions

various abstracts

                                                                       eveningtime

                                                                    Statue undressed

                                                          don we now our gay apparel

                                                                    eternal flame

                                              The arrival of the train into Moscow station.

next stop Mongolia