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Pho Lessons

February 9, 2012 15 Comments »

pho

Before I left Vietnam I had a goal – I wanted to learn how to make Pho. I had eaten it a few times a week for a year while living in Ho Chi Minh City, and I never tired of it. The thought of eating boiling hot soup in humid 90 degrees somehow appealed […]

Visiting Mongolia with Ger to Ger

February 2, 2012 14 Comments »

The bus bounced along on the road north and for the first time in 5 weeks I just sat back, relaxed and didn’t have to worry about directions while visiting Mongolia.  I wasn’t responsible for breakdowns, or had to deal with the nagging internal question of “Will we make it?”  Even thought I was bouncing […]

Ulaanbaatar Mongolia 2.0

January 31, 2012 9 Comments »

ulaanbaatar bus

I instinctively made it to the office building; it had been two years since I was there and even though the buildings around it had changed, the Ger to Ger office building stood out to me teasing my memory and providing me flashes of deja vu. I remembered the stairs, the odd sculpture outside the […]

A Foreign Christmas

December 21, 2011 9 Comments »

One of the most unusual sites I witnessed in my travels was experiencing Christmas in Asia. I had been living in Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam for 3 months when December 25th rolled around. In a country with no real religion, and no westernized consumerism (yet), Vietnam surprised me with their Christmas spirit. Christmas in […]

What’s it all for?

October 11, 2011 9 Comments »

Blue Skies Ger Village

As much as participating in the Mongol Rally was to satiate my need for adventure and something different – it had another purpose…a big purpose. It was for this….  For Them… These are some of the children who live at the Christina Nobel Foundation Blue Skies Ger Village in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. It serves as a […]

What Happens to the Car?

October 10, 2011 4 Comments »

Odometer

The most frequent question I get asked is “How did you get along with your teammates?”…which I will answer in a later blog post…have patience! But the 2nd question is always, “What did you do with the car?” That is the beauty of the Mongol Rally – the car is used to raise more money […]

What is a Mongolian Ger and Traditions?

September 30, 2011 22 Comments »

Mongolian ger

One of my favorite things about traveling in Mongolia was going inside Mongolian gers. I’m not talking about a Mongolian ger camp that’s been modified for tourism, but a real family’s ger. I was fascinated at how whole families could live in the round structure with no walls. There was absolutely no privacy in a […]

Ulaanbaatar in our Sights

September 26, 2011 4 Comments »

steppe Mongolia

I woke up giddy, excited, anxious, and a bit sad. This was it – our last day of the Mongol Rally. It started exactly 5 weeks earlier on a Saturday in London. Now here we were 300 km from Ulaanbaatar Mongolia’s finish line. The day started like any other; local visitors brought gifts of food […]

Mongolian Cloudscapes – Photography

September 23, 2011 15 Comments »

I believe that there is something very special about the Mongolian skies. Out of all of the countries I’ve been to, the skies in Mongolia are the most memorable. They are vast. They are the most perfect color blue. Even when they get angry and dark, they are perfect. They make me feel small. And […]

Shocking Tarmac – Mongol Rally

September 22, 2011 4 Comments »

kissing tarmac mongol rally

“What’s that smell?” asked Deb. “I don’t know, but I smell it too.” said Dave. “I don’t smell a thing.” I said from the back seat. We stopped to investigate under the car and the hood. We had already had a tire repaired again today in a little ger truck stop…but now we had only […]