As soon as we arrived in Beijing we started to organize our visa for Mongolia as well as train tickets for the Trans Mongolian Railway to Ulan Bator.

After two days we left by train for Mongolia on a 30 hours train ride. In Ulan Bator we booked a nine days tour through the Mongolian country down to the Gobi Desert. Mogi our Mongolian guide arranged two nights in traditional ger tents with nomads. We got lots of different diary to try, of course some Vodka and Yak meat. We also tried out the Mongolian horses. Their small, but wild and it was quite a challenge to sit on a wooden saddle.

From Ulan Bator we flew to Irkutsk in Russia. On a one day trip we reached Lake Baikal, the biggest sweet water reservoir after the Antarctic ice. Already 1500 meters deep and still increasing, is the lake going to be the far-future ocean dividing Asia.

The Trans Siberian Railway brought us 72 hours through Russia to the eastern border, Vladivostok. Coping with a train full of drunken Russians for three days, we decided to take a plane instead of the 40+ hours boat to Japan.