Craving a shower

We're back in UB, Mongolia's capital, after 3 weeks of all sorts...

It all started gently with western toilets, pre-packed sandwiches and tarmacked roads. That lasted for approximately 2 hours when reality hit hard.

The first stop was the Gobi, where we had to pitch our tent in the middle of a sandstorm - they hurt! - actually, all we could do was lie on the canvas to stop it blowing away. When you could open your eyes you could literally see the sand blowing off the dunes in waves. When the storm was over, we saw an ice glacier (yep, ice in the desert!), climbed sand dunes and then slid back down them (which makes the strangest singing noise). We rode a bactrian (2 humped) camel and then with no washing facilities smelt of camel for the next fortnight. They have this annoying habit of wiping their noses on your trousers!

After the Gobi, we headed north to the steppe, mountains and the lakes where we did lots of trekking. We also visitied monasteries and Karakaroum, Ghenggis Khan's capital. Highlights include Lake Khovsgol, where we learnt to navigate by horse droppings, teaching our non-English speaking drivers to play cards with us and the wildlife - lots of hawks and eagles, yaks and horses.

Notable mentions should go to day 7 where a cold water tap was our first sight of running water and day 8 where we found a proper road, albeit only for 5 miles!

Sharon coped very well with camping, despite sometimes waking up to a tent collapsing under the weight of the snow (yep, sand storm and blizzard in the same trip), having to wash her hair in the river and dig her own toilet; actually digging a toilet was luxury compared to the toilet stops whilst driving - there are no bushes or ditches to hide you...

A couple of things have changed since we last updated - Craig now has a beard again, and Sharon has acquired a formidable reputation for devouring Mongolian mutton dumplings!

We're back in UK tomorrow for a few days and we're signing off now to go and take our first shower for a month.