Author: vinceneil666

That stuff was delicious btw… Coolwhip ish and some nuts n caramel..

For tthis years wedding anniversary se decided to co to Tunis,

No direct flights from norway to Tunisia, so we had a short connection in Paris. I think the connection time was like 46 minutes, so we needed to stress trough passøortcontroll, brisk walk/jog, god damn I hate aifports.

But se made it, 2x 2’5 hour flights. Taxi from aifport to hotell (se are 6 people, two hetels.. Was like 105 dinars)

Se are at Radksson City center, the rest just  jo the street.

EXcelent weather, 23 ish, and Maren is rally enjoing the somewhat hogger humidity… I accept it.

Most og the day was recon and just walking around. We also had lunch just inside the media.. Lots og stuff is closed today, due to it being sunday. A it strange, se thought it was friday it was closed.

The beer laws herr are a bit like morocco, you will fond a few places selling. The difference is that a lot og the locals also drink beer and alchol in general. Mote pubs… We found a Nice.. Ish.. one

Smoking is allowed inside…. So rally not a place to spend hours :)… But that was a pretty gold beer.

I just wanted to post a few words on CTG, since I spent a lot of time on Google to check the feedback this company had gotten from other travelers.

It is a bit hard navigating the different travel sites in China, as some of them seem to be operating under several names and offering tons of other services to. So when I started emailing to CTG, and transfering money and pictures of passports – I was not a 100% sure what kind of company this was, and if I did get scammed.

Being used to web portals, reference numbers, receits and tons of updates – working with CTG can feel a bit… ” whats going on now? ” 🙂

I reached out to CTG to help me get from Beijing, via Hohhot, to Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia by train. I did this because we wanted to make sure we got on the correct trains, and made the right connections – we also wanted to make sure we had an upgraded cabin for the travel, All of these things are super hard to do online – because there are not really any decent train ticket booking sites in China, trust me, I tried them all.. (at least as of 2023/2024).

Anyways..

I just wanted to tell other travelers that you can trust CTG , they delivered on exactley what we agreed. All communication was trough email, transfer of money was no problem (or at least it was as easy as an international bank transfer can be). Tickets was delivered part by email and part personal at the station.

We even had one of the guys from CTG meeting us at Hohhot and taking time out of his non working hours, to drive us between the two trainstations there so that he was sure we get there in time.

Regarding the cost – yeah, probably if I traveled to China and booked everything there I could probably get it way cheaper. But for trips like these, where the trains only runs on some days.. there are things to plan for relating to border crossings,,stuff like that. I would probably use CTG again.

Narantuul market, or the black market, history goes back to the Soviet era, and is absolutely massive.

The market is largely un-regulated and is known for hosting a lot of counterfeit goods, but also lots and lots of other stuff. Here you will get everything from washers to tshorts, saddles, jewelry and suitcases. Also there is tons and tons of clothes, cloth and shoes….so so so many shoes.

Continue reading “Narantuul Market”

Got woken up at 0500 by the conductors, everybody off in 30 mins. Now it is time for change of the wheel sets to fit the wider tracks in Mongolia, og narrower – we are unsure. They are different at least.

It was absolutely freezing and windy – it at least felt so that early in the morning, think it was about 10c.

Continue reading “Got to Erlian”

We arrived in Hohhot after 2,5 hours on the bullet train, arriving at a huge rail station (the new one). And we where met by our travel-company-guy just outside. He had gotten a bit nervous that we would not be able to get from the new station to the old one (10 km), so he had gone and got his car after work – so he could drive us there. What a nice guy! ( He had been to Senja in Norway )

Continue reading “Hohhot to Erlian”

Today we start the travel that will/can/might bring us to Ulan Batar in Mongolia. We have spent months setting up these tickets, transferred money abroad.. 20 emails, so lets see how this will work out in the end.

The bullet train (speed just below 300 kmt) leaves from Beijing North railway station, and because of luggage we went with a taxi this time around.

Continue reading “Hohhot next !”

Its one of those places where its really hard to capture the scene in a picture You feel engulfed in the place – with all the massive buildings on all sides. History going back hundred of years.