blueprint Mongolia ...

At last our plans for Mongolia are in place ...

With the help of a guesthouse in the capital, we've organised 3 weeks in a Jeep with camping equipment exploring the country in big loop down to the Gobi Desert in the South - then back up to the pine forests & pristine lakes of Northern Mongolia for our horseback expedition.

The trip promises everything from a visit to a Soviet-era spa resort (where you get covered in mud & take vitamin injections !?!) to the ruins of monasteries and ancient cities.

It should be a real wilderness adventure, and other than a night staying with a Nomadic family in a traditional Ger we'll be in a tent for the whole 3 weeks - it should really test our resolve (and definitely our toilet habits).

Anyway, much more on that after the event.

The last big task on the list got done this week - we sold our Smart Roadster on Ebay in just 48 hours - at £12.99 for a classified ad and no "tyre kickers" I was impressed - Autotrader watch out !

So with all the hard stuff done, it's just a question of sorting our gear out, along with hotel bookings for those few spots where our dates are fixed. If we get really stuck of course, we can always try a spot of couch surfing - now if I can just find the Ger section of the website ...