tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90430462011-11-28T08:59:34.083+08:00Travels and ponderings of a wandering guy.The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.comBlogger441100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-51239515315231457332007-05-06T11:10:00.000+08:002007-05-06T18:14:07.795+08:00

Finding time to look back at the blog has been limited recently, how people manage to do a daily blog while living a normal life I'll never know...Looking back my last post was on the 16th Jan. My son, Alex, was born shortly after that and Nadia and I had a couple of weeks in Bangkok working out all the things new parents have to do. Having been in Bangkok for a few months by then we decided to

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-38904216276014454052007-01-16T13:42:00.000+08:002007-01-16T13:43:23.683+08:00

Well, the Powerbook went in for service. They checked the HDD, found it to be physically okay, reinstalled the OS, replaced the superdrive (it didn’t burn DVDs for the last 6 months) and replaced the battery so it didn’t blow-up.I got the laptop home and decided the first thing to do would be to check it with DiskWarrior again. DW found about 50 directory errors on the new install but hung when

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-83827797141424756622007-01-16T13:20:00.000+08:002007-01-16T15:30:15.670+08:00

My reply to a reply commenting on sand dunes in the Gobi - an open wager worth 2 pints in UB - some random comments about hotels in UB...C'om Riccardo, you know those dunes aren't 300m high... 80m is my guess from climbing up them in a few places and from what is written in one of the old 'Mongolian' Mongolia guide books. I believe one of the older english guide books mis-typed this as 800m in

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-32366256311798291252007-01-16T13:18:00.000+08:002007-01-16T13:19:47.735+08:00

The biggest problem in Mongolia for cycling would be a strong and constant headwind...I've not cycled in Mongolia but I used to cycle a lot and know what difference the wind can make. While driving in Mongolia I've seen poor souls heading on a road with 100km or more to go to the next attraction, zero shelter, and a 30 kmph headwind that will last for days. Absolutly exhausting work.Remember that

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-57247621122655931402007-01-16T13:16:00.000+08:002007-01-16T13:18:45.048+08:00

Again, relating to a recent post on Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree message site about what vaccinations should be considered for Mongolia...The main thing to realise re heath in Mongolia is that if something does happen you may be a long time away from good medical-aid or health care. Vaccination for some things may make the difference by giving you a few extra days to get back to UB or on to Beijing

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-74586245370444173642007-01-16T13:12:00.000+08:002007-01-16T13:16:12.551+08:00

The following quotes were posted by someone on Lonely PLanet's Thorn Tree message board relating to camping in Mongolia...Carry out all non-biodegradable items and deposit them in rubbish bins in the nearest town. Make an effort to carry out rubbish left by others.andNever bury your rubbish. Digging disturbs soil and groundcover and encourages soil erosion. Buried rubbish will likely be dug up by

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-20677262454535674292007-01-04T13:41:00.000+08:002007-01-04T14:14:01.509+08:00

To save people some sleuthing (except the sluthing to find this thread of course) here is a map to get to the new Apple service office in Bangkok, open now for about 3 months. So far you can't find any details of it on Google or on Apple's support website (poor form again from Apple). Even the Applecare person I called in the UK could only give me the phone number rather than an address...The

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-46305396374646422942007-01-02T11:20:00.000+08:002007-01-02T11:29:09.145+08:00

Following on from a thread on another website I've just been thinking about books available as an introduction to Mongolia. There are many out there but the info below links to some of my favourites...Yep, 'Last Disco' and 'Wild East' are dated, 'Dragon Hunter' is a great book but not really relevant to today - does have some insight into the local character but from a fairly colonial viewpoint.‘

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-47012781890439938722006-12-25T18:04:00.000+08:002006-12-25T18:46:34.628+08:00

Thank you Apple. I have had my Powerbook for 15 months now and I'd like to give you an update on it...The impish nature of your product fist came to light when the power adaptor stopped working just a few months from new. Oh the fun I had trying to get a new one while in Mongolia as even with Applecare (costing a few hundred quid) you couldn't find a way to send one out to me. Surfing your

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-18698495170074680512006-12-23T10:33:00.000+08:002006-12-23T11:29:02.205+08:00

Well, back on the 10th Jan Garmin announced that it's GPS software products would be compatible with mac computers by the end of 2006. I found a Garmin 'blog' site the other day here and asked them if their developers' Christmas bonus were dependent on that, as with only a few days to go it's doesn't look promising... Obviously the criticism didn't go down well as my post never

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-32146579915492327262006-12-22T09:41:00.000+08:002006-12-22T09:44:41.208+08:00

Complete luxury today – it’s so cold outside I’m sitting here in trousers and a jumper. According to the nearby weather station (Near Asoke/Soi Cowboy) it dropped to 18.3 Celsius early this morning. UB is reading minus 24 and smokey… Choice A or choice B?Yesterday evening saw a large fire just down the street. I think it was in an area with detached residences and it must have destroyed at least

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-6602892903832141232006-12-14T10:04:00.000+08:002006-12-14T10:06:46.216+08:00

Don't the Bangkok Thai's get peed-off at the creeping Christmas time invasion of Christianity into their lives?As I walked along the skywalk between Siam and Chidlom yesterday I was almost deafened by Christmas songs being blared out of speakers every 25m along the way. Is this purely commercial marketing or a not too subtle attempt by the god-squad to infiltrate a Buddhist country on the sly?

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-8024160443513329532006-12-13T10:41:00.000+08:002006-12-13T10:45:09.577+08:00

A post I recently put on Lonely Planet's thorn tree branch for Mongolia, the discussion was started by taking about vehicle fuel use...Hi riccardo,hadn't seen your reply to the other post - very good info and fairly spot on, looks like we are thinking along the same lines, other than that I love those "worthless, arid, dusty flat and huge place" - there aren't too many of them left in the world

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-74017001645040335742006-12-05T18:02:00.001+08:002006-12-05T18:02:55.971+08:00

Today is the 79th birthday oh the King of Thailand. Many happy returns if you happen to be reading…

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-71662153361344885062006-12-04T11:50:00.001+08:002006-12-04T11:52:53.281+08:00

Unbelievable but true... A MIAT flight from Dalanzadgad to UB was apparently held up by 2 passengers who pulled out pistols upon landing at UB airport last week. Some people were tied up but it all ended peacefully, the only casualties being a lady who received cuts on her face and lips and one person who was taken to hospital due to high blood pressure.Unbeknownst to the passengers or flight

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-45945675263936106302006-12-03T12:16:00.000+08:002006-12-03T12:19:37.690+08:00

Russian jeeps and vans - fuel use. Just reading some posts on another travel website and it seems people are getting ripped-off with buying petrol on their jeep trips...Russian vans and jeeps if well maintained should both average around 15 L / 100 km on a long jeep trip when mixing driving on asphalt, flat dirt-tracks and rugged areas. Thats 1 L of fuel for 6.6 km on average - use

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-82853833715675753322006-12-03T12:09:00.000+08:002006-12-03T12:11:50.753+08:00

I used my ATM card once when I got to Thailand a few weeks ago to take out cash. It worked the first time but the next few times I tried it, over several days in various ATM machines it was rejected. I called my bank and they said it had been blocked (not cancelled - don't panic) because they had recorded a single cash withdraw transaction in Thailand, which they regard as a country with high

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-37057630260529548782006-11-28T10:32:00.000+08:002006-11-28T10:37:37.894+08:00

What do you call an old update? Well whatever it is, it has happened to my main website recently with new (?) photos from back in September being added. These were taken in Uzbekistan as part of a study-group trip to see a couple of Central Asia's largest copper and gold mines. Don't worry, the photos aren't of rocks (well, most of them...).Go look at http://www.geocities.com/thomaspsant/

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-42533544535250009672006-11-16T21:48:00.000+08:002006-11-16T21:49:44.847+08:00

Okay, okay, okay. So I've been totally slack during the last few months and haven't updated much at all. Some of us are just too busy...After having the break in Thailand in July it was back to Mongolia for a while before heading off to Kazakhstan where I ended up spending a couple of months on and off in a small mining town in the NE of the country. Short transits through Almaty reminded me

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-1150150968817622222006-06-13T07:22:00.000+09:002006-11-09T15:37:31.979+08:00

Sitting in UB airport at twenty to three in the morning is not the best start to any trip. The airport was strangely quiet earlier today at a couple of hours before flight time, apart from for Postcard Man – the longest surviving airport ‘employee’. The reason being that the flight had been delayed until eleven that evening, a ten-hour delay. Now call me suspicious but when a airline tells you

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-1148963053483173542006-05-30T13:24:00.000+09:002006-11-09T15:37:31.895+08:00

May the 29th, and here in UB we just had a summer blizzard. Rather a wet one but the hills outside town are covered in snow and the streets are up to six-inches deep in water. At least one tourist was seen today jumping over snowy puddles in a pair of shorts, someone should have warned them the Gobi starts about 300 km to the south... Down in the Gobi there are dust storms going on with some

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-1143103964515153432006-03-23T16:48:00.000+08:002006-11-09T15:37:31.808+08:00

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. Busy back in Mongolia.Here is a little something for all you frustrated GoogleEarth + GPS users out there working out how the heck to get GPS waypoints out of the thing…If you splash the cash of 20USD you can upgrade to Google Earth plus and plug in your GPS, or more usefully open Garmin Mapsource *.mps files into the GE viewer.“So what” I hear you cry – you

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-1135495933839699662005-12-25T15:31:00.000+08:002006-11-09T15:37:31.729+08:00

Oh well, al least its a white Christmas, although as the snow has been on the ground for a few days now the definition of white is a little grey, literally. This morning dawned clear with a blue sky that was to last until mid-day when the pollution elbowed its way in sideways – though the sun is still spreading quite a strong light its hard to tell exactly where it is coming from anymore.As a

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-1133594813144679512005-12-03T15:25:00.000+08:002006-11-09T15:37:31.654+08:00

Just to give a warning… “Strings” nightclub in UB is one of the more popular places to head on a Friday night and you may hear about it and visit it if you are passing through UB.In the last few months 3 of my friends have run into trouble when leaving the nightclub in the morning hours. In one incident a doorman and policeman did absolutely nothing to stop a robbery while in another incident the

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-1133019342795449482005-11-26T23:34:00.000+08:002006-11-09T15:37:31.582+08:00

26 Nov 2005. Bangkok.There I was in the middle of Bangkok, sat on the corner of Soi 5 and Sukhumvit, drinking a icy Singha and watching the world go by, when I was interrupted by the ‘tri-ummph’ of an adolescent Loxodonta cyclotis Elephas maximum. Only one of the strange things I had seen so far this evening. The mahout, or elephant handler, was leading his charge along the street and pavement

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-1132722945616038942005-11-23T12:55:00.000+08:002006-11-09T15:37:31.503+08:00

22 Nov 2004, An island in the Andaman Sea.Hmm, DEET, Diethyl tolamide, the manly smell of the tropics. To be honest I think it's starting to affect me in more ways than one. At the start of the trip I'd just been using it on my ankles in the evening to stop the damn mosquitoes biting in the windless void under the terrace dining table. Unfortunately, my trousers were made of a super hi-tech

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-1131864921304123582005-11-13T14:54:00.000+08:002006-11-09T15:37:31.433+08:00

Well, down in Bangkok and wasting time with this f@@@ing mac. With my Windows laptop I can buy an external hard-drive and have it up an running straightaway and find simple synchronisation shareware to use for backups. Fine, my new 400Gb external drive seemed to mount okay and the backup software started and chugged along (exceedingly slowly) so I decided to go out for dinner (hey, I’m on holiday

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-1130211443975769582005-10-25T11:36:00.000+08:002006-11-09T15:37:31.355+08:00

Well, the summer months are the busy season so no apologies for not posting in a while. A few work trips have taken place including a couple of weeks on the road and a short bit of helicopter work We had a large mining investment conference in UB that also ran a visit to Mongolia’s latest zinc mine. Unfortunately this coincided with the first snows in UB so we got stranded for a night in

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-1123148332406976822005-08-04T18:36:00.000+09:002006-11-09T15:37:31.283+08:00

Hi all,I'm off tomorrow for another two-week drive around, for work this time so can't tell you where...Photos from the last road trip around south and central Mongolia are now up on my webpage, though I haven't had the time to add the text and they are in fairly large (up to 900kb) 'flash' slideshows, so sorry to those of you on slower links.Have a look now at:http://www.geocities.com/

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-1122629879373139412005-07-29T18:36:00.000+09:002006-11-09T15:37:31.208+08:00

Just about to head out on Friday evening but it just started chucking it down so a few more minutes at the desk… Not really managed to get much dome with photos from the last trip yet, plugging through them slowly but shooting 10Mb raw files really slows things down – slowly I’m getting to know the batch file capabilities in Nikon Capture software but it’s a bit of a change from dealing with

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-1122335557451165602005-07-26T08:40:00.000+09:002006-11-09T15:37:31.129+08:00

Been back in UB for the last few days busy at work and trying to find time to deal with 18Gb of raw files from photos taken on the last trip.In the end I got around 3000 km of Mongolia heading to the far south and then cross-country (is there any other way in this place?) to Bayankhongor in the centre. After that a route was pushed through the Khangai Mountains which was the highlight for scenery

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-1120020276359541642005-06-29T13:39:00.000+09:002006-11-09T15:37:31.043+08:00

Well that didn't take too long. Kevin and Karen have opted to join me for the trip in June so no more offers please.Updates of preparation will go up here before the off and watch this space for images from the trip in a few weeks time (if we make it back alive).T

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-1119686351199734442005-06-25T16:58:00.000+09:002006-11-09T15:37:30.956+08:00

I’ve got one or two seats free during July when I’m driving myself on a photo-tour for 10 days. This is not a commercial trip – I’m looking for someone or two people as travel companions, not as paying tourists. I’m planning to leave UB by landcruiser on the 9th or 10th July and get to Dalanzadgad for Naadam on the 11th and 12th. I went here 2 years ago and it’s a great place to see Naadam as you

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-1119656375720869642005-06-25T08:37:00.000+09:002006-11-09T15:37:30.879+08:00

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-1119612796528914882005-06-24T20:27:00.000+09:002006-11-09T15:37:30.781+08:00

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-1119612211842604732005-06-24T20:11:00.000+09:002006-11-09T15:37:30.680+08:00

Briefly back in UB after a couple of weeks of not showering in the Gobi. I drove out to Bayankhongor to start with, taking about 11 hrs. The first couple of hours from UB the asphalt has so many pot-holes you can’t do much more than 60km/hr, then you get on a couple of hundred km of good black-top until Arvaykheer (410km from UB) where you can roll along at 100km/hr quite nicely. After Arvaykheer

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-1117530404132897852005-05-31T18:03:00.000+09:002006-11-09T15:37:30.567+08:00

Sorry for the gap. I’ve had another brief foray outside Mongolia – the second this year already, and possibly the last for at least the next 6 months. Most time was spent back in the UK and a big shout goes out to everyone I bumped into with special mention to: Becca for the lift and discussing life (as always, it seems), Mum and Dad for another lift and being there, Neil and Sorrel for the

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-1114083161844923462005-04-21T20:13:00.000+09:002006-11-09T15:37:30.447+08:00

Hmm, sitting in UB waiting for photos to print. The pain of a high mega-pixel camera with a decent printer. Came back from Vancouver to here and it was warm and sunny, a few days later it was snowing again. April in Mongolia is one of the most variable months of the year. The green is slowly coming out in the countryside and the muggers out onto the streets of UB. The US embassy here issued a

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-1111262105306836072005-03-20T03:54:00.000+08:002006-11-09T15:37:30.337+08:00

This may be of interest to photographers visiting Mongolia later this year. When I get back to UB I’m hoping to buy a four-wheel drive to do three road trips around the country. The trips will be of around 10 days each and will probably be in July, (possibly to the south Gobi and to see the Naadam festival at Dalanzadgad), during mid-September (possibly to the eagle festival in Bayan Olgi) and a

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-1111262014841801482005-03-19T10:52:00.000+08:002006-11-09T15:37:30.053+08:00

Wow its hot. Well, relatively speaking. I’m taking a sojourn away from Mongolia for a while and after a night in Beijing I got here, to Vancouver. The mission is to pick up kit for the next year and possibly do some snowboarding, though the way the slopes look maybe I was being hopeful bringing my board with me. Anyway, have the camera as well so maybe I’ll get another gallery for the web site.

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-1111262060828920332005-03-19T00:53:00.000+08:002006-11-09T15:37:30.229+08:00

If you have come to my blog without visiting my homepage then you won’t have seen a new gallery that has just been added. This one features a selected sequence of photos from my last visit to Turkey, now way back in 2003. The photos are slightly disjointed so are arranged from the cool of a morning sunrise in Istanbul to the baking mid-day heat of the Mediterranean. Take a look, let me know what

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-1109987471557222552005-03-05T09:42:00.000+08:002006-11-09T15:37:29.946+08:00

OK, not many taxi drivers in Ulaanbaatar will probably find this page but if one of you does, please spread the following words of enlightenment to your colleagues… Your meter should not be counting down the distance when the taxi is stationary. Should your passenger vomit, or leave any other bodily product in the car, kick him out and clear up the mess before

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-1109467557648236062005-02-27T09:24:00.000+08:002006-11-09T15:37:29.855+08:00

Only in Mongolia could you get in a taxi decked out with stickers of the Nazi flag… When it is minus 25 in the morning you jump in the first car going your way. Fortunately almost anyone in UB will stop for you if they are driving alone and it’s fairly safe to jump in as long as you check no-one is in the back and you don’t mind being chauffeured by someone whose only driving skill was

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9043046.post-1109131464063040212005-02-23T12:03:00.000+08:002006-11-09T15:37:29.604+08:00

2005 and a new blog. After a month off to avoid some of the Mongolian winter I'm now back in UB (Ulaanbaatar for the un-initiated). It was minus 39 Celsius at the airport when I came in a couple of weeks ago, it's now slowly starting to warm up (minus 15 to minus 25 these days) and get much lighter - I no longer go to and from work in the dark - nice! After work I'm slowly trying to rebuild my

The Nomadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16961403793577115834noreply@blogger.com0