Tag Archives: drive After five days of bumping across the rough roads of Mongolia’s seemingly endless grassy steppes, it was with a sigh of relief that I watched our Russian UAZ (Ulyanovsky Avtomobilny Zavod) four-wheel-drive vehicle climb into the Altai Mountains that run along the north western border of the country. Mongolian guides G and Segi of Shaman Tours were looking after myself, a small group of photographic […]  Steering the car off the turnpikes and onto the Blue Ridge Parkway is like stepping back in time. One has to slow down instantly: the posted speed limit is never higher than 45 mph (72 kph), and the winding mountain curves ensure slower speeds in many sections. For the 469 miles (755 km) that snake through the valleys and passes […]  You could spend weeks – or even years – exploring the scenic views, the mountain trails, the towns and villages, and the flora, fauna, music, culture and craft along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Meandering along the spine of the Blue Ridge Mountains in America’s Appalachians, the National Parkway starts at Rockfish Gap, Virginia, where it continues south from the Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park (see: In the Virginia Woods), and […]  It looks like such a short drive: From Terkhiin Tsagaan Nuur in Tariat, Arkhangai Province, in Mongolia’s central west, it is just 203 kilometres through the Tarvagatai Mountains to Tosontsengel, in the western province of Zavkhan. That is about three and a half hours “without traffic” – and we expected none. Plus, we had the bonus of paved roads […]  It is hard to know what to say about a day on which one of the high points is a rough-hewn three-sided toilet shelter. For most of our bumpy drive across the Mongolian steppes, we made do with rocks to squat behind. Cross-country travel in Mongolia is not for the faint-hearted – or for those who are weak of […] |
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