Sydney, Australia October 20, 2012

 

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

We arrived to Sydney at 7:30 am and were at our Four Seasons Hotel by 9 am.  We have the full day to explore Sydney.

Sunrise over Australia

The Four Seasons is very close to the Harbor

We first walked to the Sydney Harbor Bridge and climbed up the inside of one of the support pylons.  The views across the harbor are terrific.  What a beautiful harbor.  We are beginning to think it is the most beautiful  harbor we have ever seen.  

View of Harbor from the bridge.

Lots of sailing vessels

View of downtown harbor area with a Carnival Cruise ship docked.

Great View

Then we walked across the Sydney Harbor Bridge.  What a beautiful bridge.

Beautiful Bridge

Another self portrait

Full view of the bridge

Some people pay $250 Australian dollars to climb in goofy looking jump suits to the top of the bridge and back.  It takes them 3 hours.  We climbed to nearly the same height on the pylon for $15 and it took us 10 minutes.

They are all roped into the rail with a harness 

Later in the day we took a ferry over to Manly Beach.  The harbor views from the ferry were fun.  There was heavy wind and the sailboats were having fun!!

View of the Opera house from the ferry

Photo from the ferry

Manly Beach was a hoppin' place

Barb enjoying the sunshine

Scott at the beach

It was fun to watch the sailboats

Front of the Opera House

After we got off the ferry we got stuck in a sports store and we each bought a couple of swim suits to use on Lord Howe Island and Lizard Island, and Kangaroo Island.  I guess a lot of our tour of Australia will be on the islands surrounding Australia.

That night we bought tickets to a comedy show by Drew Carey in the main hall at the Sydney Opera House.  It was fun to be at the Opera House.  Appearing with Drew Carey were both U.S. and Australian comedians and they were mostly funny.  We got tired and left early.  We have to catch an early flight to Lord Howe Island in the morning.

The Drew Carey Comedy show at the Opera House Concert Hall

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam October 13-14, 2012

VIETNAM

Flying into Vietnam. 

Ho Chi Minh City was called Saigon before the American Armed Forces pulled out in 1974.  Those of us that were around during the seventies remember the journalist photos of the North Vietnamese tanks knocking down the gates of what is now called the reunification palace in Saigon.  

Reunification Palace

 There are 7,000,000 residents in Ho Chi Minh City and we think they are all riding motorcycles today.  These motorcycles flow like a river on the streets.  They fill up around the cars and block the cars from moving.

Motorbikes are EVERYWHERE.

We are staying one night at the Park Hyatt Hotel.  We lounged by the pool on the afternoon of our arrival.

Rain periodically

Our Room walked out to the pool

Inside our room.

Notice Scott's new do.  Yes, we shaved his head when after doing one stripe using clippers for a haircut, the clippers blew up and he had a reverse mohawk.  Needless to say, it was time for a change.

Barb has a shaved coconut filled with Coconut Juice.

We had mixed emotions about visiting Vietnam.  The Vietnam War and all the domestic protest and trauma that accompanied that war was displayed on the network nightly news reports as we were growing up.  We did not want anything to do with Vietnam when we were in junior high and high school.  Just as we graduated from high school all college deferments were revoked and a lottery was put in place to determine who would be required to join the military and most likely be sent to Vietnam to fight in a very unpopular war.  All 365 days of the year were put in a hat.  Each date was pulled out one at a time.  If you were born on the 1^st date that was pulled out then you were drafted into the armed forces immediately.  Scott’s birthday was the 333^rd birth date pulled out of the hat.  That year they only drafted up to 94 birth dates so he did not have to serve in the military and avoided Vietnam.  The number 333 has been our lucky number ever since. 

We went to the War Museum.  They recently changed the name.  It was called the Chinese and American War Crimes Museum before the name change.

The War Museum.

 On display outside the museum are U.S. helicopters, tanks, guns, and aircraft captured or recovered from the U.S. military after the war ended.  Inside there are newspaper clippings and photos documenting the war and conflict that engulfed Vietnam especially during the U.S. involvement.  There are very graphic photos depicting atrocities committed by the U.S. military.  This is a one sided account of the war from the point of view of victorious North Vietnamese.  

Aircraft

Helicopters

Machine gun in window.

It made us reflect upon all of the loss of life and suffering caused by actions and wrongdoing by all powers involved.  

Some of the weapons

More Weapons

The use of herbicides and defoliants by the U.S. was prominently shown in the Museum with photos and documentation of the lasting effects on the environment and the humans who were sprayed.

The spraying of defoliants

Gas masks worn by the US

 The battle conditions must have been nearly unbearable for all those involved.  The monsoons, heat and humidity must have been very difficult.  We have great respect for those who answered the call to serve in our military in Vietnam.  They are heroes.  They deserve all the honor and respect that we can give to them.  They did what they were asked to do and served with honor.  We believe that our political leaders betrayed us.  Our secret service agencies began interfering in Vietnam just as the French government began withdrawing from Vietnam during the 1950s after 70 years of unhappy French occupation. 

The Museum had many photos and articles about the war.

The French built this small replica of the Notre Dame.

Replica of Notre Dam

Barb in front of the Replica of Notre Dam

Inside the Church

Barb at church.

The French also built this train station that has now been converted to a post office.

Train station built by the French.  Now it is a Post Office.

Inside the Train Station/Post Office

 Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon all made bad decisions.  Cambodians and Laotians all remember that the U.S. bombed across the borders in order to stop supply lines from reaching the North Vietnamese fighters.  These cross border bombings were initially not divulged to the American people.  As we became friendly with Cambodians and Laotians they will talk about this history.  They hold no malice.  They are warm and friendly people who are happy to be conflict free and they are eager to participate in the world economy. 

Outer Mongolia, Oct. 15-19, 2012

MONGOLIA:  Land of Genghis Khan.

We flew 1 hour from Ho Chi Minh City to Bangkok and 5 hours to Seoul and then connected with a MITA Mongolian airlines 3.5 hour flight to Ulaanbaatar “UB”.  With all layovers this adventure took us 16 hours.  We did get some sleep on the overnight flight on the completely flat airline seats.

Barb looks like she could pass out without a flat seat!

When we landed in UB our guide who is nicknamed “Baggy” met us.  We were supposed to drive 1 hour to our hotel.  BUT, there was a major unannounced road closure and we were stuck in traffic for 4 hours. 

Some of these stark and plain buildings remind us of the architecture in Moscow.  It looks cold and uninviting.  Oh, it is cold… -1 C or about 29 degrees F.  UB is the coldest capital in the world.

Architecture similar to Moscow

Typical apartments

This was the only building with a little character.  We think it was a Buddhist temple.

People walk between cars.  Forget crosswalks.

The Soviet Union has had a presence in Mongolia for many years.  After World War II there were as many as one million Russians in Mongolia.  The Russians quickly disappeared after 1990 when the Soviet economic system collapsed.  Baggy told us that the Russians treated the Mongolians very poorly.  During the Stalin era as many as 15,000 Mongolian Monks were killed along with thousands and thousands of other Mongolians who were believed to be a danger to the communist way of doing things.  Today Mongolia has free elections and the communist party takes only about 5% of the vote.

Russian Influence.

After 2 hours of inching forward in a terrible traffic jamb Barb and the guide spotted a store that specializes in cashmere so we spent 2 hours there while Barb went crazy buying things.  There are cashmere socks, mittens, scarves, pajamas, sweaters, hats, dresses, and tracksuits.  I bought 2 sweaters (US $120 each), a pair of socks ($16), and a pajama bottom ($60).  I think that the socks, sweaters and pajama bottom will keep me warm while riding horses.  Barb bought one of everything else.  I paid for everything once and Barb sneaked away and started trying more clothes on and so I had to pay again.  I haven’t seen Barb so excited to shop since the last Lululemon store she visited.  The total cashmere bill was about US $1100 but Barb said similar quality in the US would have been 3 times the price.  Where else can you get cashmere pajamas???

We drove 2 more hours in a traffic jam (probably 5 miles), ate a Mongolian dinner at a restaurant that doubled as a museum of Mongolian artifacts (it was cool) and finally got to our Kempinski Hotel at 9:30 pm.  We were exhausted so the fact that this 4 star hotel felt more like a 2 star hotel did not matter to us.

Barb's first taste of Mongolian Tea.  Salty, with bits of meat in it.  Shall we say interesting?

A musical instrument at the restaurant.  We saw many like this.  It has a horse head at the top.

Our hotel room at the Kempinski Hotel.

We left the hotel at 9 am, stopped to pick up some fruit and snacks at a nice grocery store and were in the wilderness outside of town and riding on our horses at 10:30 am.

These were the horses that were brought to meet us.  Notice the saddle?

A typical Mongolian Saddle.  They also ride with pretty short stirrups.

The Mongolian landscape is a lot more scenic than the UB cityscape.

Lots of blue sky when you get out of the city.

Pretty colors.

We did see some vultures along the way.

Blue sky, white clouds.

Cowboys use a stick with a loop on the end to lasso cattle goats and sheep.

Mongolian horses are short and stout.  Genghis Khan conquered parts of Europe, Middle East, Asia, and China on these horses in about 1200 AD.  The Mongolian Empire was the second largest in history and second only to the British Empire in size.

This cowboy has the stick with a lasso on the end to catch goats, sheep or horses.

One of our horses.  Very strong and stout, even though they are short.

Barb meets our horses and our horse guide.  He rode the typical Mongolian saddle and wore typical Mongolian clothing.

Scott surprised the guide and the Mongolian horseman who brought the horses by jumping up on the back of his horse without using a stirrup.  The horseman laughed out loud and told our guide that he had never seen anyone do that before.

Scott didn't need stirrups to climb aboard.

Our guide told us to put on all the clothes and coats that we had but when Barb pulled out her Gore-Tex shell jacket he told her she could not wear it on top because Mongolian horses are “very active” and will be afraid of the noise made by the fabric of the shell.  So, we put our turtlenecks on over our shells.

Barb is wearing her cashmere sweater and scarf under 4 other layers.

Scott has his cashmere pajama bottoms underneath his ski pants.

It was cold, probably -1 degree Celsius, but it was sunny and beautiful.  Scott was glad to have his new cashmere pajamas on underneath his pants and his cashmere socks and sweater.  We each had three layers of clothing on the bottom and 4 or 5 layers on top.  We had our lightweight storm gear but we would have been more comfortable with heavier gear.  We put our hands on our horses’ necks to keep our hands warm while we were riding.

Our guide is on the white horse.  His nickname is Baggy.

Brisk but beautiful.

Getting on and off is not too far for Scott.

We are riding our horses to the Hustai National Park 13 kilometers to the East.  We see herdsman with their goats and sheep along the way.

Our horse guide.

Barb was freezing.

Herds of sheep and goats all along the way.  Also lots of herds of horses.

Our horses are reasonably calm with a smooth and swift gait.  Scott's horse will neck rein or two-hand rein and is very responsive.  If he slows, just show him my heel and he picks up the pace.  If I want him to trot I just nudge him in the ribs and he breaks into a smooth trot.  Down the steppe (the Mongolian plateau) a couple of hours later Barb was in the lead with her horse and surprised the guide and horseman by kicking her horse into a lope.  Our horses followed her lead and the guide and horseman were laughing about how brave Barb is with her horse.  Barb said she just wanted to see her horse lope.

After awhile we came to some sand dunes and we road our horses through and up and down the dune ridges.  We decided to have lunch so the horseman tied the horses together and hobbled Barb’s horse and we ate our lunch sitting in the sand next to our horses.

The horses are sure footed going up and down the dunes.

This is how he hobbled Barb's horse.

Horses tied up while we ate lunch.

Our lunch consisted of chewy beef meatballs and rice with blue cabbage.  Blue cabbage?  Our guide said it was a natural cabbage color.

Lunch on the dunes.

Yummy!

Really?  Blue Cabbage?

We flushed out a red fox similar in appearance to the red fox we have in our backyard.  We didn’t get a picture so we took a picture of this red fox on the wildlife board at the Hutsai National Park entrance.

Red fox.

Hutsai National Park is famous for its wild horses.  We hope we are lucky enough to see these wild horses.  They are a beautiful buckskin color with tan bodies and black mane and tail and black socks.  Some of them have zebra markings on their hind legs.

These are the Wild horses (Takhi) that we found.  Notice the zebra stipes on the legs.

These wild horses are not like the horses that we call wild that run free in the four corners area of the United States.  The Mongolian wild horses have never been domesticated.  They molt their mane and tail once a year.

A couple hours of riding after lunch we came upon a Ger.  I guess the custom in Mongolia is that anyone can stop and come in for tea at anytime.  Our guide explains that it is a Mongolian custom to stop and visit and take tea and food or repairs or lodging and these things are never refused.  It is like a network of motels across the country and is a necessity since the country is 3 times larger than France and there are no services for thousands of kilometers.  There was no one home at this Ger so we continued on our way.

No one was home at the Ger.

We passed someone with their herds and he asked our guide to take one of his horses to the next Ger.  It's just a neighborly thing to do.

We passed a spot where a Shaman has strung prayer flags.

Herds.

When you arrive to the Ger you apparently don’t knock but you yell out “Nokhoi khor” which means literally “HOLD THE DOG!”  Mongolians don’t have the same concept of privacy that we have.  Our guide warned us that when we are in our Ger not to be surprised if someone just opens the door and looks inside. 

We passed water holes where herds of animals come daily to drink.

After travelling further through the open steppe we came upon another Ger.  Our horseman approached the Ger and said Nokhoi khor and went inside.  We followed our horseman inside.  There were three women and a couple of men.  They seemed camera shy so we did not take pictures except that we took some pictures of the food they were cooking.  They were very nice and shared tea with us.  Mongolian tea is milky and salty and thick and has pieces of meat and fat floating in it.  It is hard to drink but Baggy told us that all we need to do is try everything that they offer and we don’t have to finish anything.  They also offered a dried curd that we nibbled.  The inside walls of the Ger were covered with wall rugs.  The Ger superstructure is made with sticks and covered with sheep hair mixed with grass and dirt from the steppe.  Our guide said it is “sheep felt”.  It is about ¾ inch thick.  The sheep felt is tied onto the sticks with horsehair rope.

This is how a Ger is constructed.

It is made with sheep wool that is made into a felt.

This is the pot that was offered to us.  Dried curd, pieces of bread, and a few stale cookies thrown in.

When it was time to eat we noticed that the cooking lady took some of the food from the approximate 24-inch pot on the stove and put it in a 12-inch pot on the table.  Then the oldest man sat down and ate first using a sharp knife and then ate the food directly out of the pot off the knife by pushing it off the knife with his thumb and into his mouth.  There was very little lamb meat on the bone.  There was a homemade noodle that was rolled out like a pizza and cooked whole.  There were also potatoes.  When the oldest man had eaten then the next oldest male sat down at the same pot and ate in the same way.  Then the last male ate.  When he had finished the oldest female ate and then the other two females also ate.  They all ate in the same way by just using the sharp knife and their thumb.  Some of them would pick up a bone and strip all remaining meat off the bone with their teeth.

It doesn't look like there is much meat on those bones, but they stripped them clean.  The noodle was rolled out like a pizza and put in the pot.

We asked our guide if there were any children.  He said the children of the nomadic people go to the nearest town and go to school and live in dorms in the winter.  They only return for holidays and summer vacation.  We asked how many people live and sleep in one Ger.  He said that four, five or six would sleep in one Ger.  The children all sleep in a separate Ger and the adults all sleep together.  We asked if they were related and he said that they were and that they stay either with the wife’s family or the husband’s family and there are no rules or customs about that.

We were excited to have the opportunity to peek inside the life of a nomadic family.  Our guide said that this family group was not very wealthy and only had a medium sized herd of goats and sheep of about 300.  They move to different locations at different seasons of the year.  Our guide said that this is their winter Ger.

Notice the satellite.

After the Ger visit we rode another hour or so to our Ger for the night just inside the entrance to the Hutsai National Park.  There are about 10 Gers set up for visitors. 

Entrance to the Hustai National Park.

This is a map of the Hustai National Park and the area where we are riding horses to and staying in Ger's.

Our Ger is on the right.

Scott only has to fold himself in half to get through the door.

It's a regular hotel chain.

Night time at our Hotel.

Our Ger is set up in the same way as the Ger we visited.  We learned that all Gers are set up the same except that our Ger at this camp is made of concrete.  Our guide said it is the nicest and most comfortable Ger in the camp.  We wanted to try the traditional Ger but he said our Ger tomorrow is a traditional Ger and will not be as comfortable and that we would be happy to have the comfort and warmth of the concrete Ger tonight.  All doors face to the east.  Your bed always faces so your feet are facing the door.  When men enter they always go to the right.  Women go to the left when they enter.  The west wall is always the place of honor for the older members of the household.  Children never pass further west into the Ger further than the center posts. 

Colorful.

Barb getting comfortable in our new home.

The stove needs to keep going all night to stay warm.

Scott in our Ger.

We had a Mongolian dinner consisting of carrot salad and noodles with beef and carrots.  It was a very simple dinner. 

Our driver came to our Ger and made sure our stove was lit and burning.  After it was burning with wood he took the top off the stove and dropped in a big baggie full of clumps of coal.  Then he lay on our bed and was enthralled watching Ice Age on Barb’s IPhone.  Mongolians are very social.  Our guide and driver walk in and out of our Ger whenever they want.  I guess we should wear pajamas tonight.

Baggy explains to us that at 5 am in the morning the owner of the Ger camp is going to come into our Ger and put more coal into the stove.  We are supposed to leave our Ger doors unlatched when we go to sleep.  Dorothy, you are definitely not in Kansas anymore!

Wow, what a night.  We were cold so I had to keep throwing wood into the fire in our stove in the middle of our Ger.  The bathroom was out the door and out in the cold night air about 50 yards away.

At least it's an actual bathroom!

The next morning we had a simple breakfast of cheese, bread, tomatoes, cucumbers and tea.  Thank goodness it was normal tea.

Interesting breakfast.

The horseman had let our horses wander free during the night and it took him until 9:30 am to round them up.  By 10 am we were back on our horses and on our days journey to our next Ger camp.  Our guide kept warning us that the next camp was more remote and not as nice.

The Mongolian countryside is beautiful!  The scenery is changing and we ride over hills and up draws and begin an ascent up to a mountain pass.

It's a beautiful cold ride.

We could hear deer (what we would call Elk) bugle up the hill.

Vast Countryside.

The horses are working harder but have no problem walking up the slopes.  Their gait hardly slows as the terrain gets steep.  It is said that these horses are one of the important reasons that Genghis Khan was able to travel and conquer so widely.

Taking a break.

As we are traveling through the mountains we hear what sounds like the bugle of a bull elk.  Soon we spot a huge herd of what we would call elk.  There must be 100 or more cow elk.

Elk herds everywhere.

After sitting and taking photographs of elk we have our lunch.  It looks like yesterday’s lunch except it is curry chicken and rice instead of beef balls and rice.  We do our best to eat lunch but we our loving the scenery and the horse riding.

Our lunch spot.

Curry Chicken, rice, broccoli.  An interesting combination.

Looks good.

There are strange rock formations on the ridges.  And the rocks have brightly colored lichen on them.

Beautiful rock formations.

At the top of the ridges we go down steep grades.  My saddle is not the most comfortable going uphill so that you can imagine how uncomfortable it is on the downhill.  To relieve the pressure I put weight on my stirrups and sit up on the back edge of my saddle.  Sometimes I shift side to side just for occasional relief.  Even though we ride horses daily back home these four and five hour rides in strange saddles are a little tough.

Scott was getting a little saddle sore.

Barb and Scott

Just over the top of one of the ridges we come across a herd of bull elk.  There are a lot of elk and we hear a lot of bugling.  It is beautiful to be in remote nature in Mongolia and enjoy the beauty of this land.

Lots of herds of Elk

When we come close to our Ger camp we hear a dog barking.  We notice that there are a few dogs and one is staked up on the side of a hill and is barking incessantly.

We are invited into the Ger camp owner’s Ger and we have some normal tea.  They also offer bread with clotted cream.  We notice a bowl of raw cut meat under a table and wonder if that will be part of our dinner.

Barb ate a piece of bread with some clotted cream.  She couldn't bring herself to indulge in anything else.

Bowl on the floor under a small table.  Sanitary?

Scott with our driver

Barb with our horseman and guide, inside a family Ger.

Here is a photo of a Russian minivan outside the Ger owner’s tent.  Baggy said that they are great on the bad roads but that they overheat, breakdown and get poor gas mileage.  So I guess when they are actually running then they might be OK.

Russian Minivan.

The little girl at this Ger.  Helping to find keys.

We went to the Deer Stone burial area to look at the rock art.  There are 700 known Deer Stones and 500 are in Mongolia.

Deer Stone at a burial ground.

Scott next to the deer stone.

Burial site.

Our Ger is pretty rough looking.  We notice that the sheep felt does not quite reach the ground, which means that wind and animals can get into our Ger.

This is our home for the night.  We are the only people there except for the people who live here.

Home sweet home, complete with a dog.

Pull back the cover and there isn't much to hold out animals or the cold.

The look on Barb's face says, "Ok, I can do this, how bad could it be?

Good luck trying to stay warm.  Love the blue linoleum!

As it starts to get colder our driver fires up our Ger stove.  We have to heat this Ger stove by burning dried cow dung.  I wonder what fumes and smoke from dried cow shit will do to our lungs.  There are also a few dried tree limbs and a bag of coal. 

Dried cow dung.

We better document this event!

There is a problem with this stove.  It is made of thin metal and the metal does not do a very good job of absorbing and storing the heat.  So when the fire is blazing we are sweating and when the fire dims we are freezing.  We are not excited for this night.

This stove does not seem to heat our Ger properly.

Our Ger came with our own personal dog.

Dinner was a Mongolian empanada with the chunks of meat that we saw in the bowl in the owner’s Ger.  It was served with chili sauce and pickles.  Oh well.  Pizza is starting to sound really good!!!!  Chengdu Pizza Hut anyone????

Our night in this Ger was a survival experience.  It was so cold that we wore our cashmere pajamas and sweaters to bed and a ski hat.  I woke up about every hour to put more cow dung into the stove.  Then it would overheat and I would throw off my covers.  After about an hour it was too cold and I would have to get up again and put more dried cow shit on the fire.  I went through two tubs of cow dung trying to keep our Ger warm enough so we could sleep.  

The outhouse was about 100 yards away from our Ger.  The most fun I had that night was walking back and forth to the outhouse.  It was crystal clear and the stars were amazing.  We could also hear the bull elk bugling throughout the night.  When I would get back to the Ger I would practically lay down on the stove trying to get warm again.

Outhouse on the hill.

Inside the outhouse.

This is our Ger, and you can see the outhouse over on the hill.

Baggy talked to the owners of the Ger and found out that the Takhi (wild horses) were spotted recently a few canyon systems away.  We loaded up and drove over and searched for an hour or so.  At the top of a ridge we got out with our binoculars and telephoto lenses and walked up the ridge.  Just below us we saw 6 Takhi.

Wild horses called Takhi.

The six Takhi are on the hill behind Scott

Pretty color.

A Baby.

We also came upon herds of goats and yaks.

Goats and Yaks

Later on we saw another large herd of the Takhi.  Takhi and regular horses do not mix.  Our guide said that there was an occasion when a regular horse began to run with the wild horses and the authorities separated them so that bloodlines would not be mixed.  The wild horses have short manes and tails.  They have a distinctive color and some have zebra stripes on their hind legs.

A second herd of Takhi.

More Photos.

Barb having fun.

Barb after going to "see a man about a horse".

Barb rode an English saddle.

Look Mom, no Hands.

Can you have a bad day on a horse?

Back in Ulaanbaatar we shopped for some more cashmere.  Scott also bought an antique conch shell embroidered with silver used for religious purposes.  We saw these shell used to open and close religious ceremonies in Varanasi, India.

After shopping we went to the history museum in UB.  They had a full model of a Mongolian warrior on horseback dating from the 1200 AD era.  He was fierce looking and was protected with light ox leather armor.  In his boots he had metal protection between layers of leather.  He looked ready to conquer the world.

Mongolia was an interesting place and to see it on horseback made it amazing.