John and Elizabeth Travels

1 November 2010 AMERICA! Land of the Free... and the most amazingly friendly and helpful people we are ever likely to meet. This was part of the appeal to return to this beautiful country, and we are pleased to see that nothing has changed. While waiting for the trucks to clear Customs, John has enjoyed some super days with old friends, who are cowboys. The whole family was extremely competitive in shooting competitions, and their son has just won a scholarship to University, through rodeo! ** Tom on Tango Two of our trucks were offloaded successfully, but Customs decided to retain the other 2 trucks for X-ray, so a further charge of $800 each on top of the $800 we had already paid. A much more expensive exercise shipping into the States, than into Asia. However, we are off to Carlsbad, San Diego, to visit with a delightful 83yr old friend, who is truly inspirational! ** La Vonne and 1 of her 3 cars The truck has been serviced, and we are $2200 poorer, but confident of a good trip. Our

CHINA AGAIN An early start, collected by cab at 5.30am for the bus to Harbin. A long boring 15hr trip, but arrive at The Holiday Inn, to a luxurious room with the best bed we have slept in! Oooh luxury! Once we negotiate our way across the road, dodging crazy drivers as is customary in China, we prowl a great shopping area, with beautifully illuminated older buildings. Walk to the waterfront, but is cold, and of course, so much smog, you can't see beyond the other side! We spend 2 lovely days here. This is the Ice & Snow city, where the Ice Sculptures are done in January. Then, we fly to Beijing. Good 2hour flight. Caught a cab to Capital Hotel – right in downtown Beijing. I am amazed that there are not nearly as many people as I expected! Except when we went to watch the changing of the guard at sunset - then we saw some of the 1.6billion people! We paused a moment to visualise the young student who stood alone and faced an army of tanks, during the student revolution. An awe

Blog 10 - Russia Aug 15th We reluctantly leave our lovely riverside camp, to queue overnight at the border, amidst all the comings and goings! A very cold, noisy, night ensures we don’t get much sleep. The usual bedlam with all the pushing, shoving and queue jumping, and we are 5th in line for opening at 8am. Well, 6 hours later we leave Mongolia, 3 hrs later we enter Russia! 9 hrs! Enough said! However, we have been able to leave Mongolia, with not too many hassles! Having sufficient water is always an issue, and we never know where we might find it next. We stop at a gorgeous well, where locals queue to get theirs, and a friendly Russian tries to converse. He brings us a cup of tea, then returns with milk, then a big jar of raspberries!! Of course, he invites us into his log home – to drink vodka - 9am! Russian Watering hole Siberian Watering hole The homes are old, small, log cabins, with brightly decorated window and door frames – mainly in shades of blue. Usually a little vegie g

We have now arranged a guide (compulsory) to spend 2.5 weeks with us, taking us to restricted areas, so our adventures continue! Getting directions Home on the range With Muugi, a 25yr old Mongolian, we head east through Genghis Khan lands, towards the Strictly Protected Area of Nomrod. We do not have permits yet – they are to be flown out to us, at Choibalsan. 2 days hard drive brings us there – and no permits! They will arrive by plane 2 days later. Frustration! Shades of China! When we get the permit, it does not include the Nomrod area! Apparently 2 Germans camped there recently, and didn’t extinguish their fire, which caught alight! We camp at a huge lake, and watch camels and horses... The lake has China at northern side. Then we head to the site of the Mongolian/Japanese war. The Russians assisted Mongolia, who defeated Japan. Apparently, WWII could have had different outcome if the Japanese had not been defeated here, as then they turned their attention away from Europe,