An Improbable Journey: Wilds of Mongolia, Far West China & North Pakistan

We both wanted to travel to Kamchatka in far eastern Russia. And for some time, I had longed to travel to Mongolia. Was it possible to marry both trips into one journey? After all they are both high latitude northern hemisphere countries and at first glance surely not an impossible task to combine both countries in one travel mission. Our travels in 2015 had taken us to Moscow and St Petersburg. We loved our introduction to Russia. We were particularly impressed with the cities and the friendly and helpful local Russian people, and we especially taken with our day tour guides - Svetlana in Moscow and Nadya in St Petersburg. Svetlana was from Kamchatka, and from the minute she began to tell us about her home region we were hooked on a trip to this strange, remote volcanic peninsular hovering above the secluded Japanese islands of the Bering Straits, and whose only access was by air or ship. No roads? It sure sounded like our sort of adventure... Dutch friends Jose and Marcel with whom we had met during our travels in Ladakh, India were enormously passionate about their travels to Mongolia. "If you like wild and remote places, then you will LOVE Mongolia" they enthused. Good friends and past cat and house sitters Deb and Ian related similar impressions. And both couples were adamant they would return to Mongolia. As it happened, we decided that the logistics of combining both Mongolia and Kamchatka in the one trip for our 2016 travels were far too difficult. And to add to the difficulty, both trips would involve a significant amount of camping and/or rough accommodation. After all, Alan had said after our camping disaster at an altitude of 4,300 meters in the Himalayas of Ladakh, India in 2012 that he would NEVER camp again... At the time I agreed totally but like childbirth I guess, four years later when memories of acute altitude sickness, freezing uncomfortable tents and oozing toilets had largely evaporated, well it didn't sound all that bad.... Alan finally suggested that we restrict our 2016 travels to Mongolia and consider Kamchatka for another year. Mongolia is an enormous country with very little transport infrastructure and we knew that the distances we would be travelling would be huge. I was keen to combine Mongolia with travelling to neighbouring Kazakhstan, one of the few 'Stans we were yet to visit. Alan was not so enthusiastic. Pouring over maps during breakfast - as travellers tend to do - he suggested that we may be able to cross the Mongolian border into the far north-western Province of Xinjiang China. We had travelled extensively through Xinjiang on previous visits to China but we had not ever travelled in the far northern areas. To our delight we found that the small border crossing of Bulgan-Takishiken was now open to foreigners all year round. The trip was beginning to take a deliciously seductive shape. It was dangerous planning and we knew it. Yes, we were heading south in Xinjiang and if we really wanted to we could continue our journey to one of our favourite destinations of Kashgar, an iconic city on one of the fabled Silk Road routes - and dare we suggest it, cross the Khunjerab Pass and travel once again into Pakistan? Pakistan was another of our favourite destinations. We had decided however after our third trip that we had probably used up enough of our "nine lives" and given the world volatility and continuing US drone air strikes against the Taliban in Pakistan's Waziristan Province, it was becoming far too dangerous. Our Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade had listed much of Pakistan as "No Go" zones and even recommended taking out Kidnapping Insurance for Peshawar and Swat Valley... No, it was just too dangerous. It was my fault. I pushed for our journey to include our beloved Pakistan once again and within days we had finalised our plans to include Mongolia, far western China and now Pakistan. "You are NOT REALLY considering going to Pakistan again, are you?" moaned my friend Sue who had more than lived out our previous Pakistan adventures in full detail. As for our past trips, Sue's reaction was no different from any of our other well meaning friends. A close relative and ex-drug runner in Afghanistan advised "Remember to take a cyanide tablet with you. You know, if you get kidnapped what can happen...." Even our steady psychologist friend Rob said "Oh, just give me a call when - or if - you get back..". And I cannot tell you how many people wished us a SAFE trip. In the end we stopped mentioning Pakistan as being part of our travels. For this trip, we were adamant that we did not want to spend too much time doing any sort of traditional tourist sightseeing. We were well and truly over tourist sites, churches, mosques, mausoleums and even museums. Our main desire was to see the people, explore their culture and enjoy our travels through the countryside. Our first task was to find a good travel agent in Mongolia. We have always found Trip Advisor reviews to be very reliable sources and chose the company Dream Mongolia to organise our travels through the Gobi Desert and far western Mongolia. The company had excellent reviews and owner Doogii, provided prompt and efficient information and a competitive quote. We were not to be sorry. Doogii was probably one of the best agents we had ever dealt with. China and Pakistan were easier. We had travelled twice before with Abdulrahman of Xinjiang Silk Road Adventures through far western China and also on several occasions with Ishaq Ali's company North Pakistan Adventure. We regarded both as old friends and family. All companies provided interesting itineraries. It was however going to be a huge journey through some very remote country - and we knew some of the going would be pretty tough and sometimes challenging. Our friends were incredulous with our proposed trip. At our ages they asked - what on earth did we think we were doing? And at times we wondered whether being 78 and 63 years, were we really too old to undertake this improbable journey? NOTES ON OUR TRAVELS AGENTS We used the following travel agents for our journeys through Mongolia, Far West China and Pakistan: MONGOLIA Company: Dream Mongolia Website: www.dreammongolia.com Contact: Doogii NB: Dream Mongolia sub-contracted our tour in far north western Mongolia to: Company: Jolaush Travel Website: www.travelwestmongolia.com Contact: Sabit Nurgaib FAR WEST CHINA Company: Silk Road Adventures Xinjiang Website: www.silkroute.cn Contact: Abdulrahman NORTH PAKISTAN Company: North Pakistan Adventure Website: www.trekkingpakistan.com & www.northpakistan.com Contact: Ishaq Ali

Planned Dates

May 30, 2016 to Jul 10, 2016

Countries

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