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…
I realized that I have forgot to write some very important stuff. First, I was on the same plane as the Brazilian soccer team (female), they were actually sitting in the same area as me. But while they were travelling to fame and glory in the Olympics, I was on my way to solitude in what Lonely planet describes as “one of the harshest places on Earth”… Still, it’s pretty cool, eh?
Second, I have come up with three invaluable things to remember when moving abroad, especially if the country has an extreme climate and uses Chyrillic alphabet (making it hard to understand signs):
1. If you pack an extra bag and send it as cargo, meaning it will arrive a couple of days after you, it is wise to fill it with clothes that you will not use immediately (Check, I did that, it’s full of winter clothes). However it is not as wise to fill the extra space in the bag with all your socks and shoes (Check, did that too, Ohh…)
So, I have been walking around in my nice desert boots and the same socks for the past six days. I have washed the socks in the zink but it didn’t help much.
2. Make sure that you obtain your visa before you depart, I guess mine will be ready after I have left for the Gobi. No worries, I’m sure I will be fine anyway.
3. Don’t listen to your friend if he, before you leave home says: “No, you don’t need to buy batteries, it’s a capitol, off course they have batteries”.
Took me half a day to locate six AAA batteries (not packages, batteries) for my headlamp.
Tom and Kim from the Snow Leopard Trust will arrive early tomorrow, so soon I will have some more information about the project.