Beijing: May 14 - 22

Beijing

Our Long March

You can't play the Good, Culturally-Sensitive Tourist all the time.

Sometimes you need to retreat from what's outside--find a backpackers' hostel and binge on Cohen Brothers' story-telling and Monopoly Deal.

Inner Mongolia: May 10 - 13

Erenhot

Under the Weather

Here's a good joke: someone cashed-up/job-free/21st Century enough to be travelling for five months pulls up to a blog and says,  I'm just not feeling it this week.

Welcome to Erenhot, where something like homesickness rode the coattails of boredom.

Ulaanbaatar: Apr 30 - May 8

Mutton-Mouthed Wild West

Ulaanbaatar is the sort of capital city you inherit when your ancestors were nomads, your closest neighbour is Russia and you sit on top of staggering amounts of recently-tapped mineral wealth.

Bowlegged ex-horsemen lean onto canes next to rich young things. Both travel over cracked footpaths past drab Soviet-era tenaments, outlying gers and just-built skyscrapers, skirting crumbling roads where everyone is a taxi driver but no-one covers manholes.