Orjan is a Swedish PhD student who bought a one-way ticket to Mongolia to work at the base camp of our long-term research project. These are his adventures…
Well, so far everything has gone almost as planned. I had some trouble getting on the plane since I didn’t have any visa for Mongolia but 25 minutes before departure, the airline personnel decided to let me on. When I arrived in Chingis Khaan airport I found out that there were no visa waiting for me, after 10 nervous minutes Nadia from International Snow Leopard Trust (ISLT) came to the office and helped me out.
I’m staying in a hot hotelroom downtown, has spent the day checking out Ulaan Bataar (UB), visiting museum with lots of dinosaur fossils and visited Jan Wigsten, a Swede who has spent 28 summers in Mongolia and runs a tourist company called Nomadic journeys (www.nomadicjourneys.com). He is a really nice and experienced guy and I have learned a lot this afternoon.
I might tag along on a two day tour east to see some more of Mongolia before I head out to the desert. Not too much more to report, it’s hot here and it will be even hotter in the Gobi.
Orjan