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Thursday, June 16, 2016

Mongolia Action Asia 3 day Ultra Marathon Arrival

So excited for 4 reasons, 1. I will be in Outer Mongolia, very new to me and that satisfied my adventurous mind for many years I wanted to go to this kind of nomadic place. 2. I'm gonna run my very first Ultra marathon. 3. Gonna meet my friend Frederic, my good friend from Norway. 4. Going with Lyn and Evan and sharing our Ger imagine under the dazzling Galaxy. 

I do lots of shopping for this trip, sleeping bag, trekking equipment, water purified tablets (serious?) etc. from the organizer compulsory list. Digging my innermost of 10 years girl guide experience. Can't described how excited I will be. And this explain I can't stay too long in a comfortable environment. 

So all set to go, i packed light with on 1 backpack and one smaller rug sack. When we arrives the airport, we were told the flight delayed 4 hours. Which means we will be arriving Ulaanbaatar tonight around 11PM. The event organizer Action Asia started to distribute the tee shirts and the race bibs for all of us while we have nothing to do. We have already 2 meals at airports, and finally we are on board. We started to know each others on the plane and eventually i meet my Strava friend JC the very first time :) When we landed is already dark, weather is a bit cold. We quickly wear our jacket and moved to the shuttle bus. The lunch box is ready but we had our Pizza Express takeaway with us and the fun journey begins. 

"There should be a 6 hours shuttle bus ride down south to take us to the start line."One of the local Mongolian girl told me and i found out later that she is the student from the local Medical school she came for volunteer us. What? 6 hours bus ride down south, i firstly recall the map and navigation that should be Gobi. I can't express my feeling, excited and unknown. Really can't believe we are really going there! I share the two seater with one local young Mongolian volunteer and ask her if she would like a piece of pizza, she looked very happy. And i'm happy. ON the way, i hardly can see any road sign, thumbs up to the driver. Really have no ideas where is the direction. The land is no ends, dark, rocks and sands. Until i see a bunch of camel with the lights coming from far sunrise, we almost there. 

The race director decided to postpone the start time from 8AM to 10AM, so we've got an hour sleep. I remember when i landed from the bus, the first air breath in is so fresh and crisp. The land is strong and in terracotta colour. I rushed to our tent and greet Frederic, he has been waiting for us the whole night, we just say something and rushed our our sleeping bag and take a power sleep before we gone to wild. 

Action Asia Ultra Marathon Mongolia, after 6 hours of bus ride and 1 hours sleep we all set at the start line. 

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